[HPforGrownups] Re: What HP Character Scares You Most?

[dorothy dankanyin]

No: HPFGUIDX 191878


From: "Bart Lidofsky" <bart at moosewise.com>
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 11:40 AM

> Bart:
>     With Harry (and the story), DD had to play very close to the vest.
> As the leader of the opposition against Morty, who had a strong belief
> that Morty had NOT been killed during the attack on the Potters (as
> implied by the Prophecy), he had to be prepared for Morty's coming back,
> and had to figure out what it was that happened. He probably suspected a
> horcrux, but that wasn't confirmed (probably ruling out several other
> theories) until COS, and even then, multiple horcruxes, including Harry
> being one, was probably just one of several theories, and might not even
> have occurred to DD if it weren't for the Prophecy and evidence within
> Harry (such as the revelation that Harry was a parselmouth).
>
>     Now, the point I am getting to is that, unless a possibility was
> eliminated, DD could not act in a way that would unduly complicate the
> solution to a plan. And, by the time Morty has come back, he has come to
> the following conclusions:
>
> 1) Harry is a horcrux.
> 2) In order for Morty to die, the horcrux must be destroyed.
> 3) The destruction of a horcrux normally involves destruction of the
> container.
> 4) The Prophecy implies that there is a way to destroy the horcrux
> without destroying Harry.
> 5) This way must be found.
>
>     Everything DD does, from then on, is working towards #5. Note how
> DD stresses how important it is for Harry to learn occlumency (or
> however it's spelled), then, at the end of OOP, just drops it. This
> doesn't make a lot of sense, unless you consider that, if Harry had been
> able to develop the skill, he would be able to insulate himself from the
> Mortysoul, enabling it to be destroyed without killing him. But DD, upon
> seeing that Morty could not stand to connect to Harry, and realizing
> that Harry's personality precluded him from reaching the level of skill
> in occlumency necessary to completely insulate himself from the
> Mortysoul, a different solution had to be formulated.
>
>     And that solution was, as I have said before, akin to a a real
> world fact: when a drunken driver gets into an accident with one or more
> other vehicles, the drunken driver often sustains the least injuries.
> This is due to the fact that, in accident situation, people's muscles
> usually tense up, holding the bones in place, so that the full force of
> the impact hits them. The drunk person's muscles are relaxed, so that
> the impact is more distributed, and less damage is done. For the horcux
> to be destroyed and Harry to live, he has to be completely relaxed at
> the time of the destruction. In order for this to happen, Harry must be
> absolutely willing to die; any concept that he might survive the
> encounter would paradoxically guarantee that he wouldn't. So, instead of
> telling Harry, "OK, you have to find and destroy the horcruxes, and
> after that, you need to let Morty kill you, but if you are absolutely,
> completely relaxed, you will survive", he had to get Harry in a mental
> state of willing to sacrifice himself; hence the complications of the DH.
>

   I'm sorry for including the whole of this post, but I want to add that I 
wholeheartedly agree with it.  This is what I felt and believed as I read 
the series, both the first time and subsequent ones as well.   I've read it 
many times over the years.
  Dorothy