Comparisons & contrasts re: DD, Snape and LV

[Zara]

No: HPFGUIDX 179083

> Jen:
> Reading the first six books I thought JKR was going for the contrast
> of Evil Voldemort vs. Good Dumbledore.  Now I'm pretty convinced the 
> contrast meant to be important for Harry was seemingly Good 
> Dumbledore who betrayed Harry in his eyes at one point, and seemingly
> bad Snape who redeemed himself in Harry's eyes.  Eventually the two 
> merged into Albus Severus, both good enough to name a son after 
> them.  Voldemort was entwined with Dumbledore throughout the story,
>  most specifically in DH when it came to having an interest in 
> defeating death, Hallows vs. Horcruxes.  So they became the 
> comparison rather than the contrast in my view, both described as 
> secretive, working alone and asking too much from their followers for 
> instance.  What do others think, did you follow a similar process in 
> reading through the series or different?

zgirnius:
Well, the revelations about Dumbledore certainly did show some 
commonality with Tom Riddle, in terms of secrecy, some common 
interests, and asking a lot of their followers. On the other hand, the 
big difference I always suspected, is still there. Dumbledore's 
understanding of those followers is light-years beyond Voldemort's, and 
it is because of his ability to empathize and his understanding of 'the 
power of love'. Dumbledorealso, IMO, does have genuine affection for 
other people, something of which Riddle is incapable.

You draw a contrast with Snape, but I would not, as Harry's impression 
of Dumbledore as betrayer and Snape as (shockingly) his protector is 
fleeting. Though it is quite powerfully written, the short scene in 
which Dumbledore reveals Harry "must" die is probably my favorite scene 
of the series. Harry, after surviving his 'inevitable' death comes to 
realize that Dumbledore always did hope his plan would enable Harry to 
win *and* live, and saw no other way to accomplish it.

The Dumbledore revelations of DH instead, in my mind, bring up 
*parallels* to Snape. Both, as children, experienced suboptimal home 
lives (DD's marred by tragedy, Snape's by parents who could not get 
along). Both, as young adults, were led astray by friends whose dark 
sides both ignored, and both came to see their mistakes when those 
mistakes proved to have devastating consequences for their loved ones.

There has also been, though you did not mention it, a 
comparison/contrast of Snape to Voldemort, made most explicit at the 
end of HBP when Harry comments on the similarities between their chosen 
names. Of the four central half-blood characters, they are the two with 
Muggle fathers and witch mothers, both sets unhappily married. (Harry 
and Dumbledore, also half-bloods, are both children of Muggleborn 
mothers). The DH revelations prove (to me anyway) that these two 
characters were always more different than similar. Riddle was 
extremely self-sufficient emotionally, incapable of love and 
uninterested in receiving it, by the time we meet him pre-Hogwarts. 
Little Snape longed for a friend and finally found one in Lily. 
Voldemort saw power as the only purpose to have, power over others, and 
over death. Snape in school may have been attracted by the Death Eaters 
becaue of the power he thought it would give him, but to him, it seems 
to me, it was a tool - a way to belong somewhere, to be able to protect 
himself, and to impress others.