Questions for JKR

[juli17 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 173143



>  Bart:
> Look up "psychopath". I'm being serious. 

Dung:
You  mean it's synonymous with "idiot"? I'm sorry, I can't be bothered 
to look  it up, normally I don't need to look up technical terms not 
even mentioned  in the text in order to find childrens books 
comprehensible. I thought,  psychopathic as he was, Voldy was meant to 
be quite clever. 

Argh.  I'm sorry, I don't mean to snipe at you. I'm cheesed off (or 
can you  tell?). I shouldn't need to have an in-depth understanding of 
psychopaths  to understand Voldemort's behaviour. He makes a mistake, 
thinking that  he's the only person to have discovered the deeper 
secrets of Hogwarts,  when it's not that secret at all, and we don't 
get an explanation in the  text. I shouldn't have to research 
psychopaths to get  it.
 
Julie:
In some ways maybe psychopath is synonymous with idiot. It must be  synonymous
with egomaniac, because *that* definitely describes Voldemort. He cannot  
look past
himself to allow the concept that anyone else can be as smart as him, as  
deceitful
as him, as *anything* as him. As far as he's concerned he's surrounded by a  
bunch
of unintelligible bugs. While he may intellectually understand that  other 
people are 
motivated by different things than he is, like Lily by love for her  son, he 
doesn't
consider it pertinent to his life, thus he always  underestimates what his 
enemies
are capable of. 
 
Take young Snape as an example. Here Voldemort has this highly intelligent,  
highly
skilled and at the moment presumably fully loyal DE asking for something.  
For 
something it would cost Voldemort absolutely NOTHING to deliver. Save Lily,  
the
mother of that prophecy child, because I love her. And what does he do?  
Stupify
her and kill the child, to keep his perhaps most valuable DE contented  and 
loyal?
No, he kills her after she refuses to step aside. Really, how dare  she?!
 
Anyone with half a brain, who could think at all outside his own needs and  
experiences,
who could *strategize* worth crap, would have given Snape what he wanted,  as 
it came
with no downside whatsoever. Instead Voldemort gets turned to vapor,  Snape 
goes to
Dumbledore, and the stage is set for Voldemort to take the  road that leads 
directly to
his own doom.
 
So yes, he's an idiot. I really don't understand how he managed  to get so 
much power
in the first place. Of course, it's equally astounding how Hitler conquered  
half of Europe
when he was also a psychopathic egomaniac, so there you go...
 
Julie, wanting to rant a bit or something...

 



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