What makes Voldy evil (was: Plugging my theory)

[pippin_999]

> Neri:
> I'm personally sure it is choice, but this is not what I meant. I 
> wanted to say that Voldy apparently turned himself (by choice) 
into  something evil. The question I was discussing is WHAT is 
this  something. I was arguing that, since JKR shows a good, 
nice snake  early in the story, the answer is not likely to be "he 
turned himself  into a snake". If you'd say "he turned himself into 
a dementor" I'd  say it sounds much more probable because 
dementors were presented as  pure evil throughout the books. <


Pippin:
He didn't turn himself into something evil, though he probably 
thought that's what he was doing. What makes Voldy evil is his 
human weaknesses and the choices they influenced him to 
make.  IMO, Voldemort became an evil snake/vampire/whatever 
because he was an evil human.

It's funny how we easily accept that people differ radically in their 
physical vulnerability -- it's a running gag that Hagrid can't grasp 
that other people aren't as safe from monsters as he is -- but 
resist the idea that moral vulnerability varies. 

Obviously it wasn't choice that made Harry more vulnerable to 
Aragog  or Grawp. Why should it be  choice that made Voldemort 
more vulnerable to evil? Voldemort lacks the ability to love, not by 
choice, any more than Harry chose to have that power in such 
abundance. 

It is easier for Voldemort to choose evil  because he can not 
identify with the suffering that his choices cause. But he is aware 
of it, and IMO that makes him responsible for his choices. 

Pippin