A Dark Glamour - Voldemort's Appeal - DDs Complicity

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 179091

> a_svirn wrote:
> Maybe.  But somehow it still doesn't look simple to me. We are
> talking about the WW aristocracy (natural nobility and all that),
> after all. It is one thing to resent muggleborns and mugglephiles
> taking away their natural right to practice the Dark Arts (whatever
> they are). It is quite another thing, however, to renounce the most
> natural right to be one's own master. Why on earth should they? 
> The Black seniors may have approved on Voldemort agenda, but they 
> didn't take to death eating. <snip>

Mike:
This is the crux, isn't it? Sirius told us that Voldemort had a lot 
of people convinced he was right. And yet his parents, from Riddle's 
generation, did not join. We don't know if Abraxas Malfoy joined, but 
I'm thinking he didn't. So what made these non-joining pure-bloods 
from Riddle's generation think it was a good idea for their sons and 
daughter's to join?

My perception is that the Blacks may have been old money (witness 
the Tapestry) that could have fallen on harder times. Certainly not 
to the degree of the Gaunts, but 12 GP is no manor in the country, 
is it? So, possibly the Blacks were looking for a way to rebuild 
their wealth when Voldemort came along.

But the Malfoys still had their wealth. So, as you asked, why would 
they (or Lucius) choose subserviency to Voldemort? 



> a_svirn wrote:

> Why would all those natural noblemen and noblewomen want to 
> impersonate house-elves? As you said, however glamorous Voldemort
> might have been, he never showed anything but contempt to his 
> followers. <snip>
> 
> Carol responds:
> At the time that, say, Lucius Malfoy joined the DEs, he probably
> didn't expect to be treated like a House-Elf, and he certainly 
> didn't find it degrading to bait and torment Muggles. He enjoyed 
> cursing people with impunity, and that, I imagine, is one of the 
> attractions to him of Death Eating, along with the pure-blood 
> agenda that attracted young Regulus Black. <snip>

Mike:
But the natural question is, why would he need to join the DEs to 
practice his Muggle tormenting? Further, does his desire to have his 
fun with Muggle torture outweigh the natural desire to be master of 
your own domain, especially for a pseudo-aristocrat like Malfoy? Even 
if he didn't know he would eventually be treated no better than a 
House Elf, he was agreeing from the get-go to be an underling.


> Carol:
> Lucius Malfoy loves being lord of the manor. He probably 
> thought that by joining Voldemort, he could have both power,
> or rather influence, and prestige without any effort beyond 
> poisoning or cursing those who got in his way.

Mike:
Doesn't joining someone else's organization mean you are no longer 
the "Lord of the Manor"? Unless he was under the delusion that he was 
joining as a junior partner to be eventually promoted to top dog upon 
his *master's" retirement. Since that's not the type of vibe that I 
got from Voldemort's recruitment angle, I'm thinking that would not 
be a reasonable expectation for an intelligent man like Lucius Malfoy 
to believe.
 

> Carol, quite sure that Lucius never dreamed that the Dark Lord
> would torment *his* family or treat him like a servant in his own 
> home

Mike:
Intelligent but short-sighted will lose your dignity and then your 
fortune.