How did the wizarding public know Voldemort's powers were broken on Halloween?

[sunnyskywalker]

I was trying to think of a reason for a rebounding Killing Curse to make Voldemort’s body disappear (no luck so far) when I thought of an entirely different question: with no body and no witnesses (other than Harry, who probably didn’t know more than a few words), why was the wizarding public so quick to believe Voldemort had been defeated?

Comments

[chantaldormand]

IMHO what convinced everybody was Albus' status, brainwashing and charisma. It isn't up until COS that people start to doubt his leadership and up until GOF his mental health is questioned by anyone who isn't his political opponent.
It's clear to me Albus used every resource he had available to bend "reality" to his will. We see it from the start- in PS Albus pretty much on his own decides to illegally remove Harry from his parents' house and place him with his relatives. And he makes sure to not be personally involved- he sends his very vulnerable henchman to kidnap Harry. If things go wrong all he has to do is erase this memory from Minnie's mind and claim Hagrid is lying.

Also Albus is "Voldemort expert"- he pretty much created the situation where he is the only reliable source of information on Tom. I wouldn't be surprised if he used this to his benefit.

The way I see it, somewhere between the attack and let's say 4 AM on Nov. 1st Albus wrote (on his figurative knee) a letter that was supposed to be published in morning editions of major publications on Nov. 1st. It was act independent from MOM narrative, but thanks to his influence (or perhaps his Big Book of Blackmail) they end up falling in with his narrative. Then after examining Harry- and perhaps detecting Horcrux- he started to plan out a long term plan for the Chosen One. I wouldn't be surprised if there were multiple books about Harry published that had only informations provided by Albus.
I wonder if there is some kind of law stopping press from interviewing wizards and witches under certain age. Either that or Rowling getting more and more annoyed with press as the series went xP

[sunnyskywalker]

A preemptive letter to the editor does sound like his style. And if McGonagall heard from Hagrid right before he left to pick up Harry and rumors at the Leaky Cauldron very early in the morning on her way to Little Whinging (because the pub got the rumors early enough that people kept coming in to talk and they didn't close), she might have missed the morning paper--so that she hasn't seen Dumbledore's letter and only knows what "they" are saying.

Maybe only the most, um, trusting and unreflective wizards, like Diggle, are actually celebrating that first day. Vernon also sees clusters of strangely-dressed people just out and talking, so maybe they're running around going, "OMG did you see the paper? Do you think it's true? Hey guys, did you see the extra edition that just came out with the story about Black?"

Sirius apparently killing Peter to shut him up and not getting rescued by Death Eater moles in the Ministry makes people wonder...maybe it really is true.

Hm, what really might clinch things for the majority is when all the Death Eaters (who do have evidence that Voldemort is weakened) start turning themselves in claiming to have suddenly been released from the Imperius Curse and gosh they can't believe the things they did. And the real Imperius victims whom the Death Eaters probably released with a strong compulsion to do the same, so there would be a flood of Imperius pleas for the Ministry to sort through and some obviously genuine victims to make the rest look more convincing. That might convince people that okay, if anyone Voldemort cursed is suddenly free, and anyone his Death Eaters cursed has been released, that means Voldemort is truly weakened and the Death Eaters are so sure that he's not coming back that they're trying to cut ties with the whole organization.

So by, say, Guy Fawkes Night, everyone else is ready to join in the celebrations.

[chantaldormand]

/Hm, what really might clinch things for the majority is when all the Death Eaters (who do have evidence that Voldemort is weakened) start turning themselves in claiming to have suddenly been released from the Imperius Curse and gosh they can't believe the things they did. And the real Imperius victims whom the Death Eaters probably released with a strong compulsion to do the same, so there would be a flood of Imperius pleas for the Ministry to sort through and some obviously genuine victims to make the rest look more convincing. That might convince people that okay, if anyone Voldemort cursed is suddenly free, and anyone his Death Eaters cursed has been released, that means Voldemort is truly weakened and the Death Eaters are so sure that he's not coming back that they're trying to cut ties with the whole organization./

Now that I think about it Rowling missed here a huge chance to both address and explore an issue that is very relevant to her setting: free will. Because if there were so many people claiming they were victims of mind control that DE managed to slip by, then how do you integrate these people into society?
My country never truly made settlements with it's communist past like Czech Republic. Occasionally someone will drag into public, information about someone else's cooperation with communist regime.
I can imagine just how much chaos in both daily life of average citizen of WW and in politics it would create if there were so many people claiming they were mind controlled for indeterminable amount of time.

[sunnyskywalker]

This makes me want to re-read Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore. It's set several years after the the death of the king of a fantasy kingdom--one whose secret magic power was that everything he said was really persuasive, to the point where he basically mind-controlled people. It even worked at second-hand, in weakened form: if someone told you the king was a great guy, because the king told that person he was, you were just a bit more inclined to believe it than you would be on your own. It was terrifying. Bitterblue was about that problem--how do you cope with the aftermath as a society? Do the court advisors etc. keep their jobs, for example? They did horrible things, but not of their own free will. Probably. How can you really be sure who was being mentally coerced and who didn't really need that magic push because they were already on board with what the king wanted?

One of the reasons this worked so well was that his power was like a magical version of the real effect powerful, prominent people have. The king didn't just generally mind-control everyone about everything; he had to say stuff. Then people gave his opinions and orders more weight than their own judgment, as real people do for powerful people and cult leaders without magic (and then later might think, "OMG, what, that was terrible, what was I thinking how could I"). If you've read this book, I'd be interested to know how it compares to that dynamic in your country!

That's what the wizarding world would have been facing in November 1981. You're right, Rowling could have done so much more with that.

[chantaldormand]

From what I can see Bitterblue is third part of series. Do I need to read previous books to enjoy this one?

I'm intrigued by your description of Bitterblue. Although with charismatic leaders manipulations plenty of people tend to process it as them not having any other choice or blaming it on someone else. It's much easier for human brain to process the situation this way.

[sunnyskywalker]

It would make a lot more sense to read the other two first. The first one has the discovery that the king is evil and the struggle against him, and the second is a prequel which shows some of his childhood.

It's a YA series and some bits are simplified to the point of absurdity. E.g., in the first book, there are several bad kings, so the main character starts a secret council of do-gooders to run around rescuing prisoners and stuff, which works perfectly with no traitors or even missions gone terribly wrong! Yeah, right... And, fair warning, Gracelings (who each have a striking talent) are identifiable by their mis-matched eye colors. Some Graceling talents are things like "being an amazing chef" and "being able to say anything backwards," but some are "amazing ability to survive basically anything, yes even if it means killing a mountain lion in a blizzard with a dagger." And of course the terrifying "everyone believes what you say" power.

But it has a lot of really good points, like the terrifyingly persuasive king whose legacy causes damage even after he's dead, female characters who like kids fine but don't want any of their own and aren't narratively punished or forced to change, a nurse/nanny who thinks girls all surely like pretty dresses and getting married yet is not an evil character, and other refreshing things like that. So whether to read it depends on whether your tolerance for a few absurd elements is high enough to enjoy the other stuff.