What it Means to be Voldemort

In Harry Potter Voldemort seems some how beyond human. After all, it isn't even up till the 4th book we see Vodemort in a human form. He is introduced with out a body of his own in the 1st book. It isn't even till the 6th book we see his distant past. You know, like when he had a nose. Is this because he isn't supposed to be human? He is just a general symbol of all evil, racist and corrupt in the world or a talented boy who was misguided? I thought it was that he was the later but I think he is more of a symbol. Very few people on earth are just that overall bad. Voldemort symbolizes and magnifies all this evil.

Voldemort is purely evil because he can't love. Dumbledore often criticized Voldemort for not being able to love. He was never loved, so he could never comprehend any power beyond actual power over others. Then again, you could say that this lack of love in such a twisted, yet gifted child was why he couldn't comprehend love and became a monster. Evil is the lack of any love or sympathy to make someone do truly incomprehensible acts of unkindness. Most people have love, either have been loved or loved someone or loved even something, so we wouldn't do the things Voldemort does.

He is also evil because of his fear of death. This fear is caused by his lack of love. In "Deathly Hallows" chapter 32 Voldemort says "Potter will come to me. I know his weakness, you see, his one great flaw. He will hate watching the others struck down around him, knowing that it is for him that it happens. He will stop it at any cost." He doesn't understand why there are people Harry would die for. He fears death more than anything. With out love he never had anyone he would die for, making his own death the worst thing imaginable rather than fearing living with out someone.

J.K Rowling shows he is evil through the Horcruxs. He has split his soul so many times he has gone insane. Every person has the ability to love but he has split up his soul and whatever love was in him got torn apart while spliting his soul. Much like how a broken heart can leave some one love sick, a broken soul leaves Voldemort's ability to love completely dead.

In a way Voldemort is similar to Snape. Snape sort of helped Voldemort in his way, they both were in Slytherin and they both were odd children who hated their muggle-side of their family. Snape however loved Lily and that kept him for becoming power-hungry and emotionless like Voldemort. Voldemort never was so close to anyone because he viewed it as weak. Snape knew Lily was so important to him that saving Lily's son was more important than surviving. Why live forever with no point? Voldemort didn't see this. His only goal was to live, who cares if there is a point?

In the end, whether Voldemort is total evil, or talent gone wrong, he is a warning. Give people a chance, learn to love them. If no one does they can become dangerous. We need to love others or else the only life we will cherish is our own, causing us to protect it to the point of our own destruction. In a way Voldemort is similar to Snape. Snape sort of helped Voldemort in his way, they both were in Slytherin and they both were odd children who hated their muggle-side of their family. Snape however loved Lily and that

Wand of Elder, Never Prosper

            Our main debate is who the hero really is in the Harry Potter series.  I think that it’s Harry.  While Snape and Dumbledore and really all of the other characters all helped him become the wizard he was, it was Harry who made the biggest choices.  Saving Malfoy’s life when they’d hated each other for seven years.  Approaching Snape as he was dying.  But the biggest difference, what truly separates him from Voldemort, and what always separates good from evil, is what he decided to do with power once he had it.

            At the end of the book, Harry is the owner of the Elder Wand.  Voldemort spent the entire seventh book searching for the Wand, and when he got it he used it to kill.  Harry, on the other hand, simply put the wand down, and repaired his own.  To do that takes a lot.  Harry was holding enormous power.  The question is, before his own wand was broken, or even just before he defeated Voldemort, would he have done the same?  Or would he have kept it?

            If he had kept it, though, I don’t think he’d have gone the same way as Voldemort.  And that is the difference between the two of them.  Tom Riddle came from a place where he wasn’t loved, as did Harry.  They were both fascinated by magic, and loved Hogwarts as the home they’d never had.  They were both popular.  But Tom, unlike Harry, never loved his friends, and being in Slytherin, he was cunning.  He wanted power.  His grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, was entirely anti-muggle, and his own father was prejudiced against wizards.  This combined for a strong hate that his parents had left him in the orphanage. 

Harry, on the other hand, though an orphan as well, loved his friends, and was a Gryffindor.  He was brave.  And his parents were unprejudiced, and loved him, unlike Riddle’s.  He had good memories of them, unlike Riddle, who had none.  As Dumbledore says, it’s our choices that make us who we really are.  And choices are influenced by our experiences.  Harry has a more positive past, and Riddle’s….well, thinking back to his life at the orphanage and his background, it’s not altogether surprising the way he turned out.

Death

     Death is an immensely important topic that comes up many different times throughout this book.  A very big part of it is "living after death" or the contributions if you will of a person after they have already died as well as keeping faith in them.  There is also the whole idea of mastering death.  Mastering death comes up with both Voldemort as well as the nicer characters in the book.

     The biggest example of a character contributing to the story, even after death was Dumbledore.  He gave Harry the quest to find and destroy all of the horcruxes that were created by Voldemort.  Harry had to keep faith in Dumbledore that he was correct and that Dumbledore knew what he was doing.  Dumbledore's impact was felt way after his death in the form of Harry's quest and he was vital, maybe even more so than Harry in the downfall of Voldemort.  He may have made some mistakes in his life, but he was devoted to stopping the dark arts and was a vital character, even in death.  He even gives Harry some vital advice after he is dead and he got respect from most of the other characters.

     Dumbledore isn't the only character that played a big role after death though.  Surprisingly, Lily Potter, Harry's mom, played a huge role in this book.  Lily is the reason that Snape was such a good character in this book.  Without her influence and his continued love of her, Snape would never have been the hero that he was.  If there weren't this tie between Lily and Snape, none of the plans that Dumbledore created would have worked and Voldemort would have stomped all over the wizardry world.  Another key character after death was Dobby the house elf.  Digging Dobby's grave is a key time for Harry.  It helps him realize how foolish he was being by doubting Dumbledore and helped him get his head straight.  The emotional shock of Dobby dying helped push Harry back into the right frame of mind which was key to the story.

     When Harry and Hermione went to Godric's Hollow, Harry saw what was written on his parents tombstones which disgusted him. The tombstones said "the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death,".  This reminded Harry of Voldemort's obsession of Mastering Death.  I think he is not correct here and that he unfairly made this connection.

     In Harry's parents case, mastering death meant that death was just the next step.  The only way to truly defeat death is to not dread it or try to resurrect those who have been stolen by it, but is to continue to love those that have passed away, even if they aren't alive.

     In Voldemort's case however, mastering death meant becoming immortal.  He tried to achieve this by creating horcruxes and obtaining the Elder Wand (Deathstick, Wand of Destiny, etc.), one of the hollows.  Death and Dumbledore were the only two things that Voldemort was afraid of.

     Death is a very important topic to follow in this book.

Fear of Death

     This book very obviously demonstrates the two polar opposites of good and evil: Harry is good, and Voldemort is evil. But while the book demonstrates this theme very clearly, I don't entirely agree with it. Yes, I think Voldemort is evil, but I don't think the Death Eaters are. While the Death Eaters have done evil things, what I think is most important is what drives them to do what they do.

       I find to be very easy to pinpoint the Death Eaters as evil people without giving much thought to it. They have committed many evil deeds, deeds that virtually cannot be forgiven. They are the followers of true evil. But how much of their lifestyle was their choice? When Voldemort first came to power, before Harry was even born, the people of the wizarding world only had two choices: you either had to be with him, or against him. I can see why the Death Eaters thought that to ally with Voldemort was safer way to go. It was the safer choice, but it was not  the right choice. The Death Eaters are not evil for siding with Voldemort. The only thing that the Death Eaters really are are cowards.

        In retrospect, though, being a Death Eater is not  that safe either. If any Death Eater does not carry out what Voldemort has wished, they do face certain death. That is why I believe that it is fear that is the true root of the Death Eater's actions, not evil. They fear death. Fear of death is why they commit those evil deeds. Fear of death is why they joined Voldemort in the first place. They were afraid of Voldemort, and they still are afraid of Voldemort. But when you look back even further, it turns out that if Voldemort did not fear death, he never would have became who he was. So is it fear of death that drives people to do evil things? And does doing evil things automatically make someone evil?

The Sneaky Uncertainty of Voldemort.

Through out the Harry Potter series, Voldemort always seems to have this very mysterious quality about him that makes him terrifying. No one ever knows how power he is. Is he alive, is he dead? Is he even human? This is especially relevant in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" because Voldemort becomes so powerful, but no one knows exactly how powerful because he works through various people rather then just going out and just shouting "hey world, I'm back, I'm in charge of the ministry of magic and if you aren't pure blood you are going to die." Obviously I'm kidding, but really, if he wanted to he could tell everyone he was in charge and no one could do anything about it because he has the ministry under his control.

Instead of openly killing all the muggles and muggle-borns, the ministry passes laws putting anyone who is muggle born through a trial which will most likely have them end up in Askaban. There is no real proof that Voldemort is behind this, though as the reader it seems safe to assume. That however is the problem, you are assuming, not certain. In life, when something is not certain the imagination is left to wander and wonder. Much more powerful then solid facts even if the facts work against you. Solid facts you can hold on to and figure things out with. Uncertainty is no help. The wizards aren't sure who is on Voldemort's side and who they can trust so no one can help them. Then, there is whispered gossip about Voldemort. I think that gossip is just uncertainty in a more real form. A form that can be passed on and changed causing misinformation. Like when you are little and play "telephone." You start with one word but end with another. I think Voldemort knows this and won't go out and say what the word is but passes it around knowing that it will change and become more deadly.