DD on "choice" (was: Tonks again)

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "susiequsie23" <susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:

Firstly, welcome to the latest batch of inductees to the merry throng
that is toc. It might take a while to get used to the more lesiurely pace
after the frantic floods of posts on other lists, but it does grow on you. 

SSS:
> Heh heh.  Come now, Kneasy, you're being too kind.  You know you
> *really* wanted to call me "naive," now, didn't you? ;-)
> 

Kneasy:
Tut. Would I say such a thing?
Many would regard not being steeped in mendacity or corroded by
suspicion to be a positive trait. On the other hand.....


> SSS:
> Kneasy, one area where you & I discussed -- and disagreed -- over at TOL concerned 
the degree of "real choice" Harry has had in the books.  This was discussed, iirc, primarily 
in terms of your view that DD is pretty much Puppetmaster!DD.  And your position, again 
iirc, was that Harry did not have REAL choice by and large because his range of options 
was so narrow because of DD's doings & his stress on the prophecy and all.
> 

Kneasy:
True. And I still hold to that opinion.
DD probably influenced Henry Ford - "You can have any colour so long
as it's black." Puppetmaster!DD is a devious old swine and well aware of
Ted Sturgeons Second Law - "There are more ways to futter a cat than by
sticking its head in a sea-boot." So there is not only the influence direct,
there're indirect methods too.

> As I read the section which occurs on US pp. 510-512, where DD & Harry discuss the 
significance of the prophecy -- esp. its significance to Harry vs. its significance to Voldy, 
and its significance in terms of Harry's having CHOICE -- I thought back to that and 
wondered whether you might have been royally displeased with this pronouncement of 
DD's:
> 
> "You see, the prophecy does not mean you *have* to do anything!  But the prophecy 
caused Lord Voldemort to *mark you as his equal*....  In other words, you are free to 
choose your way, quite free to turn your back on the prophecy!  But Voldemort continues 
to set store by the prophecy.  He will continue to hunt you... which makes it certain, really, 
that--"
> 
> "That one of us is going to end up killing the other," said Harry.  "Yes."
> 
> But he understood at last what DD had been trying to tell him.  It was, he thought, the 
difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking 
into the arena with your head held high.  Some people, perhaps, would say that there was 
little to choose between the two ways, but DD knew -- *and so do I,* thought Harry, with 
a rush of fierce pride, *and so did my parents* -- that there was all the difference in the 
world.  [p.512]
> 
> 

Kneasy:
Flim-flam. Harry had about as much choice as a mug punter up against
a three-card monte card-sharp.

DD has not only nurtured Harry much as an horticulturist espaliers a fruit
tree, but he pulls similar stunts on others.

Note that Harry does not discover about the existence of the Prophecy from
DD - he finds out by chance during his awayday excursion with his chums 
to the MoM. Only afterwards does DD deign to tell him what it's all about 
and present him with a choice -  "It's him or you." Some choice. 

The Prophecy was never going to influence Harry's choices,  he had no 
choice to make - not once Voldy made *his* choice. And I detect DD's
fine and subtle hand here too. No tyrant worthy of his salt can afford to
ignore the possibility of the rise of a usurper, it's the one thing all would-be
Rulers of the Universe fear - and that's exactly what the Prophecy 'foretells'. 
Voldy cannot ignore it.

And guess what? 
It leads to his downfall - for a few years at least. 
What a concatenation of coincidences.
DD holds an interview in a pub with a totally ungifted 'seer', who promptly
produces a prophesy that is overheard by someone who lets Voldy know
all about the coming threat to his joyous round of murder and mayhem.
And when he  investigates .... Gotcha! "Oh dear, there seem to be these
unfortunate spells around, just waiting for me to turn up. Now how did
that happen?" Ask DD. He planned it.

But Voldy survives and DD suspects as much - and that "Voldy - The 
Return; and this time it's no more Mr Nice-Guy"  is probable. From that 
point on, or rather from the point Harry re-enters the WW, a showdown 
finale is as sure as death and taxes.  

Walking or being dragged into the arena is window-dressing, because he 
has no choice except the arena.

Where has Harry been safest? Privet Drive. 
Not pleasant but at least nobody was trying to kill him.
So  why bring him back intto the WW? What is the point?
There's only one - Puppetmaster!DD's little plan.