Scary Voldemort? WAS : Re: Suspension of disbelief - Being dependent

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 182485

Mike wrote:
> ,snip> I do think JKR tried to paint Voldemort as a very powerful
and demonic figure. What with all that "you-know-who" BS, we were
supposed to believe that everyone except Dumbledore was scared of him,
and even Dumbledore admits that Tom knows more vile, evil magic than
he does.

> But, she failed and she failed in DH specifically because we got to
see sooo much more of him than we got in the other six books combined.
I stopped being scared of him (and I mean as a reader putting myself
in Harry's shoes) when I heard all the idiotic notions that seeped out
of his mouth. The Nagini-in-Bathilda was some scary and creepy magic,
but there wasn't enough of that compared to what had become the
mundane magic of a megalomaniac (say that 6 times fast).
<SNIP>

Carol:
<BIG SNIP>
I don't think the problem is that we see so much of him in DH (I think
for example, that seeing Godric's Hollow from his perspective worked
nicely) as that, as you say, he's using mundane magic--the same old
Unforgiveable Curses we've seen so much of already (and even Harry is
now using two of them, which diminishes them considerably)--and he's
sidetracked, as in OoP, from world (or at least British/Western
European) domination by wands and Horcruxes. Like Sauron putting most
of the power that was native to him into the One Ring, he's created
the means for his own downfall. (Not that Sauron is anywhere near as
stupid as LV at the end of Dh!) <BIG SNIP>

Alla:

Well, to me neither what Mike described nor what you are saying is a 
problem on its own, but probably a mixture of two and plus something 
else.

Let me try to explain. Everybody knows that description in GoF that 
Sirius gives us about atmosphere during first war where you could not 
trust anybody, etc. I found that paragraph to be very scary, in fact 
far scarier than many other things. I thought it was very effective 
and with no magic at all. I thought that person who has the talent to 
spread such mistrust between people IS to be afraid a lot.
I wonder if something like this would have helped me to be more 
scared of Lordie Thing. Like if Trio would have suddenly started to 
doubt themselves, their every move, etc and they would not quite 
understand why and there were signs that each of them could be a 
traitor, but it was always a fake planted by Voldemort or something 
like this.

I do not know, I am not trying to write a new story, as I said, it 
does not turn me off or anything, because if anything in DH I was 
MORE scared of Voldemort, not less, it is just initially I started 
from very low point of scariness.

I am just trying to work it out for myself, I mean as I said before I 
so do give him points for Ministry take over. Well done Voldie, 
sometimes you can think. And sometimes you know that to get a job 
done, you should not rely on your minions and do it yourself, like 
killing Amelia Bones.

But but your overwhelming stupidity in untying Harry instead of 
killing him in GoF is just oh so very hard to forget Voldie dear. 
Here he is, your enemy helpless in pain and scared and instead of 
finishing him off with nice quick Avada, what do you do? Oh yes, you 
want to play. STUPID Voldie, Stupid. 

So what I am trying to say I guess what I would love to see more from 
Voldie is using his bold head with red eyes more often and more 
effectively.  

And well, his behavior in OOP is also seems bizarre to me. I mean, I 
guess if he is a psychopath, then it is not bizarre, but then I would 
need more random acts of madness, I suppose. And of course more 
creepy magic with Batilda would be nice too.

He could not just apparate in MoM and take prophecy? I mean, with 
fight or no fight, it still seems to be to be easier operation than 
to try and  lure Harry in as well. I mean, get prophecy first, kill 
Harry later? 

I do not know, as I said, I think his scariness improved in DH to me, 
but I still wanted more.

JMO,

Alla