Merlin, Gandalf, and that lot
Jul. 1st, 2003 09:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
malsperanzaDinner last night: Am still laughing myself sick, esp. over The Truth Behind Tithe and Its Secret Hidden Meaning.
*dies*
No, no, my lips are sealed.
Much to think about re OOTP, but will for the moment just toss out this bit.
Well, Dumbledore/Harry. (Some of this is not mine; those from whom I am borrowing won't mind, though.)
We know that Dumbledore is passing the baton of leadership to Harry, as Gandalf does Frodo, and Merlin does Arthur. The older generation making way for the new. And Harry, in the bildungsroman tradition, is growing up and learning how to be a hero. But one of the interesting differences is that Gandalf and Merlin are both Magical immortals passing the rule of the world to humans--heroic humans, humans who have been touched by the power of the divine, but humans nonetheless. It's the old old story of the gods withdrawing from earth and giving its care over to humans, who immediately fuck it up.
But the whole point of HP is that it is not that story. Harry is a wizard. He is the greatest of them all, and his job is to save the magical world--not to let it disappear from the earth, as Gandalf and Merlin both let the magical realm be defeated by the Age of Mortal Men.
So the parallels between Dumbledore and Merlin (or Gandalf) seem strangely skewed here. Dumbledore says that the biggest mistake he made is in having let himself care too much for Harry's happiness, rather than telling him the truth. But he ought to know by now that Harry can never be happy until he knows the truth. It's the one thing Sirius gets right: he has to be told. And it is Dumbledore himself who says that what makes Harry stronger than Voldemort is his heart, the power of love. I presume that eventually, when Harry returns to the Dept of Mysteries, he will enter the Chamber of the Heart and unlearn all the lessons of revenge, anger, hatred, and betrayal that he has recently begun to learn.
I'm just hopin' Ginny Weasley isn't with him when he does.
*dies*
No, no, my lips are sealed.
Much to think about re OOTP, but will for the moment just toss out this bit.
Well, Dumbledore/Harry. (Some of this is not mine; those from whom I am borrowing won't mind, though.)
We know that Dumbledore is passing the baton of leadership to Harry, as Gandalf does Frodo, and Merlin does Arthur. The older generation making way for the new. And Harry, in the bildungsroman tradition, is growing up and learning how to be a hero. But one of the interesting differences is that Gandalf and Merlin are both Magical immortals passing the rule of the world to humans--heroic humans, humans who have been touched by the power of the divine, but humans nonetheless. It's the old old story of the gods withdrawing from earth and giving its care over to humans, who immediately fuck it up.
"In the reign of Tiberius a sailor passing by the Echinades Islands heard a mysterious voice call out three times 'When you reach Palodes proclaim that the great god Pan is dead.' "
But the whole point of HP is that it is not that story. Harry is a wizard. He is the greatest of them all, and his job is to save the magical world--not to let it disappear from the earth, as Gandalf and Merlin both let the magical realm be defeated by the Age of Mortal Men.
So the parallels between Dumbledore and Merlin (or Gandalf) seem strangely skewed here. Dumbledore says that the biggest mistake he made is in having let himself care too much for Harry's happiness, rather than telling him the truth. But he ought to know by now that Harry can never be happy until he knows the truth. It's the one thing Sirius gets right: he has to be told. And it is Dumbledore himself who says that what makes Harry stronger than Voldemort is his heart, the power of love. I presume that eventually, when Harry returns to the Dept of Mysteries, he will enter the Chamber of the Heart and unlearn all the lessons of revenge, anger, hatred, and betrayal that he has recently begun to learn.
I'm just hopin' Ginny Weasley isn't with him when he does.
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Date: 2003-07-01 04:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-07-01 08:53 pm (UTC)