Comments on: Episode #4: Voldemort – What makes him so bad?

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 06:37:51 +0000

Voldemort is obviosly bad because he killed Harry Parents an lots of people and I hate him and his followers.

By: Frank

Frank — Sun, 14 Jan 2007 13:39:34 +0000

Penny,

Thanks for your thoughts on my response. Good to know that you’re reading them (even the old ones). I did neet to drop a quick note to point out Greg’s error regarding Star Wars. He said that one of the things that Darth Vader did that made him so bad was destroying Alderran. I assume it was just a momentary lapse, because all true geeks know that it was Grand Moff Tarkin who ordered the destruction (as well as the kidnapping and torture of Princess Leia). In Star Wars, Vader was much more muscle than Imperial leader.

By: Nancy

Nancy — Tue, 21 Nov 2006 21:26:22 +0000

Might have been my age (close to 50), but please listen to your own podcast for once — there are too many “you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know…” between the two of you and it’s driving me mad!
Please do not torture your listeners!
The discussion itself is interesting, and I will like to listen to it over and over again but I don’t think I can sit through all the “you knows”.

By: penny

penny — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:14:03 +0000

By the way, thanks for the b-day wishes. It was a fantastic Birthday!

By: penny

penny — Sun, 05 Nov 2006 00:13:44 +0000

Janice= Great thoughts as usual. I don’t think we brought up Hate at all, but remember there are those that say the opposite of love is not Hate, but Indifference. Not sure where that comes in with evil. I wonder if it is worse to be apathetic about something than passionately hate something. This really has nothing to do with Voldemort, but it is just a thought.

I like your thoughts on the Imperius curse. There is definitely something bone chillingly evil about having the power to control someone else. It would seem tthat imperio would be the least powerful of the 3 unspeakables, but it is definitely so much more horrible than the other two. Pain and death are nothing compared to the inability to have your own free will.

By: janice

janice — Fri, 03 Nov 2006 21:47:46 +0000

I’ve been mulling over the idea that Voldemort is so bad because of his pursuit of power, and I think it’s accurate. Not all villains are bad for the same reason – we all kind of know that already, but this is the first time I’ve thought about what, exactly, is the “baddest bad” in the Rowling universe, and I think it is indeed hunger for power/control that’s painted as the greatest vice. The avada kadavra (murder) and crucio (torture) curses always seemed to me like obvious choices for unforgivable actions, but imperio (control/power over another) never seemed quite as obvious to me as the other two – but now it does make perfect sense in the context of power-seeking as the greatest vice.

I was thinking about this, and off the top of my head, it occurred to me that there are “patterns” of evil for many authors. For example, it seems to me that most Dickens villains (I’m currently reading Dickens) are greedy and selfish, and that greed and selfishness – which are not the same as power-hunger – are at the root of most evil in Dickens’ works. In Twain (whom I know both Greg and I coincidentally read right after Book 5!), I think we see a lot of “banal” evil – people who perpetuate evil out of intellectual and moral laziness, an unwillingness to question corrupt authorities or ways of life, so on. Tolkein, on the other hand, seems to join Rowling in the use of power-hunger as the root of all evil, as do the Star Wars movies mentioned earlier. I wonder if power is a more-common theme among works of fantasy and sci-fi – i.e., if there is actually a pattern to the kind of evil we see in villains in particular genres? (Not having been an English major, I don’t know if there is indeed already stuff written on these sorts of patterns.)

Another interesting thought – if “love” is the redemptive force, what does that say about hate’s role in evil, as hate is usually assumed to be the opposite of love? Is hate linked to power-hunger somehow? (Can’t remember if you guys got into hate or not – if you did, sorry for being repetitive.)

Thanks for giving me more think about!

By: Janice

Janice — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 01:38:02 +0000

Happy belated birthday, Penny

By: Penny

Penny — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 02:40:53 +0000

Excellent work, Aishel! Not only will you get a t-shirt (whenever we decide to make them), you will also get mentioned in the next hpprogs podcast! If you truly want a t-shirt from us, I am sure I can get you an old O.A.R. one.

By: aishel

aishel — Tue, 17 Oct 2006 14:55:18 +0000

It’s called a trailer because the previews used to be at the END of the film, thus trailing the movie.

(ok, I cheated, I used wikipedia)

Thanks for the mention and great outtake!