The Deathly Hallows

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 164603

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" <justcarol67 at ...> wrote:

loves_the_lit:

<snipped>

> JKR believes there is such as
> thing as evil. And evil has to be fought. I don't think she believes
> that all the love and magic in the world could have saved Hitler.  He
> just had to be stopped.  That's why the prophecy states that for Harry
> and Voldemort, in the end, neither can survive while the other one lives.
 
Carol:
> You raise an interesting point regarding the nature of evil in the HP
> books: "JKR believes there is such a thing as evil. And evil has to be
> fought." But what *is* evil in JKR's view? Is it a negative, the
> absence of good (as cold is the absence of heat and darkness is the
> absence of light)? Or is it an essence in itself?
 
Geoff:
If JKR is looking at it from a Christian point of view, I suspect that she 
will see evil as an essence in itself.

Satan is seen as a person. Christians believe that he was Lucifer, one 
of the greatest of the angels, who, through overweening pride, sought 
to grasp power for himself and was ejected from heaven. Jesus 
acknowledged this:

"He (Jesus) said, "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Luke 10:18 
New International Version).

We believe that he is a person dedicated to destroying all that is good 
and creating distrust and chaos in the world.

Tolkien echoed this in the "Silmarillion" when Melkor rebelled against 
Ilúvatar and was exiled to Middle-Earth with all who followed him and 
later became Morgoth.

Sauron continued after Morgoth's exile to make every effort to underine 
any good which was being done by the wizards, such as Gandalf, 
attempting to pervert both people and actions to his own evil ends.

C.S.Lewis also echoed the same theme. The White Witch is seen in "The 
Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" as evil through and through wanting 
only power and seeking the destruction of any opposition. She is shown 
in all her awfulness when we first see her first contact with Narnia in 
"The Magician's Nephew".

As a Christian, I believe in a sentient spirit of evil not just in a lack of 
things such as goodness or light. I see Voldemort as being one 
manifestation of the embodiment of pure evil.