Remote Control

[mike_smith]

My job's gotten a little more hectic since I got back from Vegas, which kind of throws off my plans. Nevertheless, I'm too masochistic to stop myself from reviewing this book, so no worries there. It'll just take me till Christmas to finish

Comments

[seductivedark]

The thing is, other than the Quidditch World Cup scene, I don't recall seeing or hearing of any Death Eater torment of Muggles that isn't also done to WW folk as well. And, as has been mentioned, we almost always see things from the narrator sitting on Harry's shoulder and listening to his thoughts at his ear. He only knows so much.

Yes, I do think the Death Eaters are bad. But then you have the issue of vigilantism with the Order. The MoM seems not to be doing anything effective, but it is the legitimate government of the British WW. So, on that point alone, both sides are to some degree outside of the law. The Ministry comes off as a third side to me, not as one with the Order.

And, I can't see any indication in the books, even in the scenes without Harry - the beginning of PS/SS, the beginning of GoF, and the beginning of HBP - of the Death Eaters being anything but bad guys, some, like Bellatrix, worse than others. But then, there's Sirius, who seems to have the Black family penchant for dramatics and possibly for raging loyalty to his side as well. If I had to base my opinion of the Order on Sirius alone, I would think they were a fanatical group as well, only their morals seem to be more in the Right Place.

But I just think that in my darker moments. I can't see JKR throwing us that one in book 7 without any real build-up. My problem, I think, is the Unreliable Narrator, and all the things this can disguise.

[merenwen_81]

I see your point and agree with it. The Order are not perfect, but they are more fitting for the Good Guy role if the needs to be one. The Ministry is too corrupted and it doesn't seem like you can just vote for a different Minister in the next election if the current one sucks. Dumbledore had his puppetmaster tendencies, but from the information we have so far, he seemed to be the least of these evils.

[jim_smith]

So, if the Death Eaters aren't the good guys and Harry's not the good guy, who is?

[seductivedark]

See, that's the problem. The DEs are shown to be pretty bad, even without Harry there. The Order seems to be the best bet, with the Ministry bogged down in the usual bureaucratic red tape and cozy little niches for its drones. But the Order isn't quite the French Underground with the Ministry as the Vichy (puppet) Gov't, they're outside of the direct command of the legitimate WW government.

It's just this odd feeling I get sometimes, when the Good Guys start behaving like Bad Guys would if someone else, say Marietta, was telling the story. This will probably not pan out.