One True Hero and Hero By Committee - LONG

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 182359

---  "Zara" <zgirnius at ...> wrote:

> 
> zgirnius:
> 
> ...
> 
> Harry did defeat Voldemort, and he was able to do so, owing 
> to fortuitous circumstances which resulted when Albus's 
> carefully laid plan regarding the Elder Wand went astray. 
> Because of these circumstances, it was much easier for Harry 
> than anyone else to defeat Voldemort in the final battle, but 
> someone else could have.
> 
> And then there is the other mission. To die, so that a piece 
> of Voldemort's soul is destroyed. Only Harry can do this. He
> is placed in this position through circumstances I personally
> find crystal clear, and a thing of beauty. Snape reports 
> prophecy, Voldemort chooses to act murderously on said prophecy,
> Snape begs for Lily's life, Voldemort asks Lily to step aside, 
> Lily refuses, Voldemort zaps her, and Bingo! Horcrux!Harry is 
> born.
>

bboyminn:

Well, certainly /anyone/ could have defeated Voldemort, just
like anyone can catch Osama Bin Laden...if only they would. 
But they didn't and they don't. The Ministry, like most 
governments, is so caught up in creating the impression of
doing something that they have little time left over to 
actually do something. This impression over substance
pervades our society at all levels, and is mirrored in the
Potterverse. 

In theory, any one can do anything, except, in the end, it is
always one person who actually does do it. Anyone could have
discovered the Theory of Relativity. It was pure mathematics,
all you had to do was work it out. That solution has existed
since the beginning of time, yet no one got it, until Einstein
actually did the work and figured it out. They /could have/ but
he DID.

The same it true of Harry. Anyone could have solved the problem
and defeated Voldemort, only they didn't. It matters little if
you could, if in fact, you don't.


Let's look at the confluence of events that lead Harry to reach
the point where he had the opportunity to defeat Voldemort, and
not only the opportunity, but the means. 

1.) All the Horcruxes including Harry have been destroyed. Harry
did that. He created that circumstance. Likely at some point
in some undetermined future, some one else could have done that,
but with each passing day in which Voldemort gains greater power,
the opportunity and the likelihood to do so diminishes.

Voldemort tends to insulate himself. The more powerful he 
becomes, the more protected and protective he will become. Making
the opportunity to attack him as some point in the future 
extremely slim. 

Harry, knowingly or unknowingly, creates a circumstance in
which Voldemort exposes himself. Where he feels so invincible
that for that moment in time, he feels he does not have to hide
or stay in the background. Harry brought Voldemort out into
the open. 

2.) Harry is the presumed Master of the Elder Wand which 
Voldemort is wielding. Harry created that circumstance, though
he did so inadvertently. Who else could have created a similar
circumstance? Better yet, who did? No one. 

3.) When Voldemort lets down his guard, Harry can sense his
feelings and desires. From experience, Harry know he must 
cast his countercurse at the exact moment Voldemort acts. Only
Harry has this sense of Voldemort's internal landscape and only
he can predict when this is going to happen. 

Yes, others might use Legilimency on Voldemort, but where were
they? When would they ever get around to it? When would they
ever be able to get close enough to Voldemort to engage him 
this way? Harry was in a situation he created; a situation no
one else had the fortitude or foresight to create.

4.) Harry does not act with vengence, or a will or desire to 
kill. Though he certainly has more reason than most. He defends
himself, but does not really attack Voldemort.

Who else would have thought to or been able to do this? 

Yes, some other person could have done this, just as some other
person could have theoretically discovered the Theory of
Relativity, but they didn't.

As to the assertion made by other that this 'smart kid, stupid
adult' scenario was unrealistic. Try asking a kid about this.
I think you will find a great many of them who think adults
are completely out of it, and lost in their own pointless world
of mortgages and insurance payments and television programs.

How many times in real life do adults blow kids off with the
admonition that the adult will handle it, when it is crystal
clear to the kid that the adults are not handling it, or are
handling it in the most ineffective way possible?

Frequently, adults are idiots.

And, it matters not if someone /can/ do something, it only 
matters if they actually do. 

Steve/bboyminn