Snipping Puppetmaster!DD

[Smythe, Boyd T {FLNA}]

Howdy again, OC! Have been happily watching Kneasy try to draw you all out
and belatedly realized he had done it to me--damn you, old man! But your
keen intellect is no match for my poor sportsmanship, so I hereby announce
that in this thesis I shall withhold canon-based arguments in favor of
simple logic. En guarde!

Kneasy wrote:
>Again I may be wrong, but I feel that as more of the posting fraternity
have been wondering if there's more to Snape than just a miserable old
bugger dragged along, with reluctance, in DD's wake, so more have come to
question DD, his motives and his strategy.<

Ah, yes, the eternal HPfGU question: is DD a scheming Puppetmaster or merely
a powerful wizard? Do we believe that DD is so smart that he has caused
Weapon!Harry to be, or at least positioned him for success? The rebounded
AK? Turncoat!Peter? Priori Incantatem? The prophecy, Harry's visions,
Harry's victory in the MoM? All thanks to DD?

Two problems:

First, Dumbledore virtually never lets Harry in on anything, so he depends
on Harry to do the right thing--this from a kid/teenager. Does anyone here
remember when they were teenagers? Unpredictable on a good day, downright
narcissistically chaotic most others.

Yet to believe in Puppetmaster!DD, I would have to believe that DD set Harry
up to rush to the MoM with his friends, defeat the DE's (which required
Harry to have practiced dueling with his DA friends) and reject Voldemort's
possession. Plausible? Old Albus, that's really pushing things.

Now try to convince me that DD set up the whole GoF plot. It is simply too
incredible (as in not credible). Hmmm, OK, so he gets Barty Jr. to place
Harry's name in the Goblet, gets Harry help to pass all 3 stages, knows LV
will want Harry's blood + Peter's hand for a resurrection potion, makes sure
the wands are twins (oops, that was almost four years ago, glad I did that),
hopes Voldemort duels with Harry rather than simply AKing him on sight,
hopes Harry and Voldie throw spells at the same moment, hopes no DE is
competent enough to hit Harry, hope Harry remembers the portkey, hope hope
hope....

And that's where the second problem comes in.

Dumbledore does not equip Harry terribly well for these horrible situations
that he's putting Harry in, does he? I mean, if I were smart enough to
conjure such complex plots, I'd certainly think to give Harry a bag of
tricks. "Here's a portkey to the Room of Requirement, Harry. Just in case.
Oh, yes, and an extra wand (different core). Extra glasses. Keep this
sword--bloody useful, eh? Two-way mirrors to talk to me, a time-turner,
fireworks, Dobby & Fawkes as bodyguards, Veritaserum--can't be too
safe!--and, oh yes, a really big gun and hand grenade." Obvious stuff.

Never happens, does it? So we keep seeing Harry getting ambushed by powerful
dark wizards and other beasties with little to no help, and nothing to save
this VIW (Very Important Weapon) if something goes wrong with Dumbledore's
plans.

I see three options that still maintain Puppetmaster!DD: 1) Puppetmaster!DD
has foreseen Harry's victory and is thus unworried (but what about all that
choices claptrap?), 2) Puppetmaster!DD has powers we know not to protect
Harry from the unexpected no matter the situation (very deus ex machina), or
3) Jo's world has some logical flaws. <gasp!>

Which brings me to my last point against Puppetmaster!DD. We are over 70%
through the series, yet the typical reader (i.e. not us obsessive types)
does not have an inkling that DD could be manipulating *everything* behind
the scenes--and might even be offended at what would then be his gross
mistreatment of Harry. Would Jo do this intentionally?

Yet this and many other theories are still possible: MD, lots of ESE!s,
every acronym in Inish Alley. Leading me to think that either our beloved
author has left holes in her plot large enough to drive a truck through, or
she's gonna have some 'splaining to do, Lucy.

--boyd
who thinks that "three body problem" sounds very, very wrong