Giants and Voldemort (WAS: What's your favorite *now*?)

[montavilla47]

No: HPFGUIDX 183118

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at ...> wrote:
>
> Mike:
> > It's your second part (below the <snip>) where I'm not following. Why 
> > did we have to be put through 'Hagrid's Tale' in OotP? Were we 
> > supposed to see the parallel between the new Gurg and Voldemort's 
> > second coming? Or was the giant's story a cautionary tale 
> > forshadowing Voldemort's entire story and what would happen to him?
> > 
> 
> Pippin:
> I think it's supposed to give us the worst case scenario. The Hat
> warns that Hogwarts, and by extension the WW, may crumple from within
> -- we have to see what that means. The giants aren't threatened
> directly by either Hagrid's embassy or the DE's, but their coming sets
> the giants at war with each other.
>  
> Without  Hagrid's Tale, we would still have all the individual losses
> in war, but we wouldn't see that regardless of who wins, war can
> destroy a society.
> 
> Pippin

Montavilla47:
Well, that's A reason, anyway.  My take on it was that JKR had to 
deal somehow with the concept of other races and magical beings,
and Hagrid's tale was to kill of the idea that the giants would have
any significant role to play.  

In a sense it was the opposite of the excellent planting of Peter
as Scabbers in the early books.  She had planted the idea of
an international war beginning any minute now that Voldemort
had returned, and then in the next book, she ripped it up by
the roots--taking back to a point where Voldemort is out
there, but without making any overt moves.

As for the destroying of a society, I think we got that concept
from the entire Umbridge/Fudge/Dumbledore storyline.  
Because of Fudge's fear of war, there was schism between
him and Dumbledore (whereas before, Fudge was always
asking for Dumbledore's advice).  

Because of the schism, Umbridge was placed at Hogwarts
to discredit Dumbledore, and "interfere," as Hermione put it.
Because of her meddlesome interference and refusal to 
teach students the skills of war, the school erupted into 
vandalism and insurrection.  (One could wish that a 
certain world leader had read this cautionary tale!)

This storyline, to me at least, brilliantly showed that 
in a political conflict, no one really won.  By the end of the
year, the castle was a mess, a couple of students seemed
to have suffered grievous (if not permanent) magical 
damage, several of the teachers had been fired or sent to
St. Mungo's, and the resulting absence of trusted adults
caused Harry to make a terrible mistake.

What I got from Hagrid's Tale was that Fudge (and the
conventional wisdom of the wizarding world) was 
correct about the giants.  They were a primitive,
savage society which couldn't make any positive 
contribution to the War Against Death Eaters (WADE), 
and their own self-destruction was the best thing 
for all concerned.  Which, I suppose, must have been
Dumbledore's plan all along....

After all, he told Fudge that ambassadors must be 
sent immediately to the giants.  He didn't say that they
had to enlist them to help against Voldemort, but only
prevent them from joining the Dark Lord's side.

Montavilla47