[HPforGrownups] Re: Heroes in the Harry Potter Series

[random832 at fastmail.us]

No: HPFGUIDX 176372


On Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:23:07 -0000, "rowena_grunnionffitch"
<G3_Princess at MailCity.com> said:
> > houyhnhnm:
> > That kind of proves my point.  A world in which a mother 
> > refusing to stand aside and allow her child to be murdered 
> > is such a rare marvel as to invoke magic is a world in 
> > dire need of "simple human love".
> 
>   Rowena:
>   BTW I really don't think self sacrifice on behalf of one's children 
> need be rare to have magical repurcussions.

I think that it _is_ rare. How many times do you think the mother is
_offered_ the chance to stand aside and let her child be killed? I think
it's _very_ rare that there is someone who is not only a murderer, but
is so horribly detached from basic humanity as to even believe a mother
might accept such an offer, and so to sincerely offer the chance (JKR
_says_ Voldemort would have let her live if she had moved).

An 'ordinary' killer wouldn't even have made the offer, since anyone but
Voldemort would have known such an offer was a waste of time since there
was absolutely no chance it would be accepted. And, the fact that the
chance to live was sincerely offered _was_ important - James' sacrifice
didn't protect anyone for this reason; Voldemort was going to kill him
no matter what.

Incidentally, this means Snape, in effect, saved Harry's life by asking
Voldemort to spare Lily. If he had not, she would never have had the
chance to make that sacrifice.
-- 
Random832