Dragons...etc, now philosophical vs individual allegiance

[Lyn J. Mangiameli]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, silmariel <silmariel at t...> wrote:

> > > Pippin:
> > > And despite this long habit, neither Dumbledore nor Voldemort
> > > regards him as particularly slippery? OFH!Lucius Malfoy is more
> > > like it, methinks.
> >
> 
> Yes yes, I have some OFH characters in mind and they don't quite overlap with 
> Snape but with Lucius, Mundungus, Slughorn... and particularly Voldemort, I 
> don't perceive any sense of belonging in him, he's all for himself. To guard 
> apparent allegiance to a wizard 1000 years dead is quite of an excuse, I'm 
> sure that if old Sally resurrected, they wouldn't join forces and happily 
> hunt the bad side (from their PoV). Voldemort won't accept anything or anyone 
> opposing to /him/, imo, not to his side.There's a reason that wizards don't 
> rule the world, it's called wizards... (waves to Pratchett)
> 
<snip"

> Nora:
> > Lucius Malfoy maybe--but one thing I got absolutely dead-to-rights in
> > HBP is that Lucius Malfoy is the most over-estimated character in the
> > fandom, not the second coming of the Dark Lord.
> >


Now Lyn:

I would posit that Lucius is a philosophical and true follower of Slytherin. Only to the 
extent that LV exemplifies and furthers the mission of Sally, is Lucius truly on board. Yes, 
Lucius is self serving, but he defines what is self serving in terms of a political/social 
philosophy that he and others identify as Sally's. Lucius is more devoted to his House, than 
to LV.

Riddle, of course, is notable in that as Tom, the source of his wizarding identity came from 
his Slytherin lineage, which he appreciated as a means to validate his personal sense of 
importance (in the usual fashion of a Narcissistic Personality Disorder). In transforming his 
identity into LV (rather than drawing on a name that would play up his lineage--say 
changing it to Thomas Slytherin), he began to make clear his desire to exist above and 
seperate from his lineage, rather than merely the foremost disciple of his ancestor. Those 
who knew LV least, many of whom joined as followers of the Slytherin political/social 
philosophy, did so believing that support for LV was an advancement of the Slytherin 
cause; what they came to learn was that LV demanded an all encompassing personal 
allegiance that was more a cult based on an individual, rather than a social/political 
philosophy. I suspect this is the source of the underlying tension between him and Lucius. 
Lucius is not so much in it solely for himself, and certainly not for LV, but entered into LV's 
service to advance Slytherin's mission. Bella, on the other hand, clearly exemplifies an 
allegience to LV the individual, with political/philosophical missions really being rather 
incidental to her infatuation.

Just some thoughts.