8-Bit_Jack said:
Ok, I could have been clearer: in no way does the series ever give the idea that voldemort is capable of remorse, but rather proves the opposite. I was asking how you got the idea that that would ever HAPPEN, unless you thought that the quote was foreshadowing and that Rowling has even less sense of continuity than she already has.
And, you claimed harry had a "christ-like journey" of redemption. He doesn't. At all.
You yourself noted, he's almost ineffectual in his whole series, and certainly never does anything related to christ except die at the end for a very contrived reason and then come back to life for reasons even moreso.
You are wrong, but for reasons other than what you think I said.
Let's dispense with the whole "redeemer" issue first.
AndiGravity said:
...which would complete Harry's journey as a Christ-like redeemer figure...
Note the word "complete"... as in "he has yet to do this." I did not say he had already become one, but she did set him up where he could have gone that direction, especially given, as you noted, that he metaphorically sacrificed himself for the good of mankind. In any case, as I noted, he did make the attempt in the end, so the only thing lacking was Voldemort choosing to take him up on his offer (and if I recall correctly, one of the central beliefs of Christianity is that a person must choose to take Christ up on his offer before he can redeem them).
As for whether Voldemort had any reason to bother with it, J.K. Rowling indicates in an indirect way that he is capable of human emotion and self-doubt. Even though he has no real reason to, he places his trust in Snape. He does the same thing with the LeStranges, and J.K. Rowling goes out of her way to make the following note:
"Nevertheless, it would be prudent to alert Snape to the fact that the boy might try to reenter the castle.... To tell Snape why the boy might return would be foolish, of course; it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy: Didn't their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust?"
--Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, American Hardcover Edition, Chapter Twenty-Seven, Page 551.
That seems to indicate at some point he is capable of trusting in others since he has done so up to this point, and it also indicates he has internal doubts about the issue. They may not be large ones, but it is a flaw which provides some sort of opening.
In any case, he would not have needed to feel any remorse in advance. She says outright in the quote I previously provided that Harry's offer shocked him "beyond any revelation or taunt", and this wasn't the first time he had overlooked a detail that proved important, especially where Harry Potter was concerned.
"His mother died in the attempt to save him-- and unwittingly provided him with a protection I admit I had not foreseen.... I could not touch the boy."...
"His mother left upon him the traces of her sacrifice.... This is old magic. I should have remembered it. I was foolish to overlook it..."
--Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, American Hardcover Edition, Chapter Thirty-Three, Pages 652-653.
This is a sentiment he echoes in book seven, as well.
"I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of these have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs."...
"I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be."
--Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, American Hardcover Edition, Chapter One, Pages 6-7.
The entire book after that was one big lesson in how Voldemort's plans could fail. Switching wands did not work the way he thought it would. His Horcruxes turned out not to be safe, as he thought they were. Retrieving the Elder Wand did not work the way he planned, and he was aware of it. Attempting to kill Harry had not worked as he thought it should, and J.K. Rowling does mention during their final confrontation that Voldemort was "held back by the faintest possibility that Harry might indeed know a final secret" (738-739). Of course, he ended up ignoring it, and it got him killed.
However, my point was that she
could have gone in a different direction-- one which I would have greatly preferred-- and been able to justify doing so without needing either Voldemort or Harry to do anything out of character.
Voldemort didn't need to feel any remorse up to that point, or trust anyone, and in fact it would have worked better if he didn't. He only needed to do something he had done on more than one occasion (admit the possibility he had overlooked a minor but important detail, and acknowledge the foolishness of continuing to do so), and be curious enough to check for himself.
Harry was already making the attempt to dissuade Voldemort from what he was set on doing, so he wouldn't have needed to do anything different except take it one step further and let Voldemort learn the truth for himself.
He still would have ended up defeating Voldemort, but by using his greatest strength to directly overcome Voldemort's greatest weaknesses, without the need to bring any contrivances about wands into the picture. J.K. Rowling already had enough material for a satisfactory ending. To me, the Deathly Hallows felt like something she tacked on at the last minute.
That's what I didn't like about it.
