Grief and Vengeance: A close-reading of 'Silver and Opals'
I'm pleased to have this opportunity to pinch-hit for Chapter 12, "Silver and Opals," in part because, here, as also was the case in the chapter I summarized earlier, the important advancements of the novel's (and series') major plot occurs behind-the-scenes, while those aspects that I feel are most crucial to Harry's development are easy to
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I certainly see Hermione as vastly deified by fandom, and not particularly deserving at all of most of the laurels that have accumulated at her feet; she is a deeply manipulative and ruthless person, despite her heart being in the right place, as they say. Not many people are willing to acknowledge her cruel streak. I definitely concur that Harry is not a planner at all (with the exception of the Felix Felicis feint, but that was more about how well he knows his best friends than about this ability to plot). And this is not a weakness on his part, because Voldemort IS a planner, of Byzantine proportions, with a tendency to depart from the plan at the first sign of success, which has a tendency to swing things in Harry's favor far more often than not.
And Harry patently was not seeking revenge on Mundungus at all; one of the reasons I drew in material from Order was to demonstrate how repressed his emotions are regarding Sirius. While he does not-and cannot-blame Mundungus for Sirius' murder, this is the only real, genuine emotion regarding the loss of his godfather that we see in the entire novel.
Your point regarding Harry and his emotional connection to Voldemort brings to mind my unorthodox observation on the confrontation between the two in the Ministry, where, I contend, it was not Harry's emotion per se that prevented the possession, but a feedback loop caused by Harry's very genuine, very raw desire for death. Whether or not you read Harry as a Horcrux (which I, for the record, do), this embracing of that which he has set his entire existance in opposition to was intolerable to Voldemort, and caused him to sever the connection. The cause was Harry's emotion, but not directly. So yes, his emotions will be key in defeating Voldemort; the only troubling bit about this interpretation is that it runs directly counter to the advice that Professor Snape has been giving him the past two books, and I truly feel that Harry should be following all of the advice his Potion Master has set him.
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