Wands and Wizards...Again

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 183665

> Magpie:
> Luke has a storyline about his learning it, culminating in the 
> big "will he stop himself from killing Vader" scene. Harry has a 
> scene where he watches Snape's life story and learns that the man's 
> been protecting him all along and regretted getting his mother 
> killed.  There's a difference between recognizing flaws in yourself 
> (on the page/screen) and recognizing the tragic flaws of other 
> people. 

Pippin:
I'm not sure I understand. Either way, the audience can recognize
tragic flaws in the characters. Hamlet never actually blames himself
for being indecisive, does he?

But I'll accept that the main story line isn't about getting Harry to
see that he's flawed.

OTOH, it doesn't seem to be about becoming a badass wizard either. 

Harry is preoccupied with the question of who he can trust.

And that's what our debate is about, isn't it? Are we, the readers,
supposed to trust Harry to do the things that we know still need to be
done in the WW? 

 It's not like we're disagreeing that House-elves are exploited, the
government should be reformed, non-wizards should be respected and
Slytherins should not be treated like they're the short bus, even if
some of them are,  er, challenged, morally speaking. <g>

I think JKR had Harry violate taboos so we could be faced with the
same doubts about him that he had about Snape and Dumbledore.   But we
don't get the luxury of looking inside his head. We're left to judge
Harry's character based on the actions we know about, just as we would
in real life.

I don't think there's a wrong answer, it's just that much of the story
becomes pointless if you don't think the Trio could really make much
difference with the rest of their lives.

Pippin