Wednesday, August 29, 2007

So Voldemort isn't Iago. What's wrong with that.

Can I tell you something that I'm sad to admit? Being a children's librarian and following this series from the beginning to the end, as we all have, I a little disgusted at my own disappointment. I guess I was hoping for a different ending. I'm not discounting the cleverness of it all, and not discounting the incredible creativity of the author or the hard work she put into it. Everything was wrapped up very nicely. I just imagined He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named a little differently.

Maybe I need to go back and reread so that I can grasp the full magnitude of his power and meanness. Maybe I missed something in his clever planning to execute Harry. Maybe Harry had too much help? In all my worries that Harry would turn out the be a weak hero, I never imagined that I would get to the end of the series thinking Voldemort was a weak villain.

Please, comment and tell me how you think the following strengthen the character of Voldemort.

I'm disappointed that Voldemort didn't see it coming. If he was such a great wizard, why didn't he know everything that Dumbledor did. - But then I guess he wasn't a great wizard, he wasn't wise or smart. He was just proud, and power-hungry with something to hide and something to prove.

I'm disappointed that Voldemort thought his secrets where so cleverly hidden and so safe. He realized too late that he wasn't as safe as he thought. He underestimated everyone around him. I mean, come on! Even Darth Vader knew that there was more to ultimate power than joining the Dark Side.

I was disappointed that I knew before Voldemort who had the Elder Wand, Harry was his last hope for life, and his most trusted assistant wasn't on his side. This is more than just dramatic irony, this is stupidity.

I guess there are two morals to Harry's story. 1) Love and unselfishness are the highest, strongest power. 2) When you think that strength and fear are the keys to ultimate power, you're not being very wise.

I guess I can't expect every villain to be as clever and ultimately evil as Shakespeare's Iago.

2 comments:

Dave & Chels said...

Yeah, I agree with you. Up until the last book, she made out Voldemort to be this master-minded, untouchable villian. Than it all goes down the hole in the last book. Who would have ever thought Harry would be smarter than Voldemort? Oh well, it's not like I could have done a better job than Rawling. :) It was still a good book, just not outstanding.

antimony said...

It's a point that's helping solidifying my opinion that the 6th book is my favorite of the series - though it was nice to have a chat with Dumbledore again.

Good to talk to you too! Hope everything is fantastic.

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