The big Deathly Hallows reactions post

[sunnyskywalker]

On Saturday, I experienced a thrilling story of flight, pursuit, redemption, and the power of love. I am, of course, talking about the Sacramento Music Circus's production of Les Miserables. I can't recommend this enough. The actors playing Valjean and Javert are amazing - the first has played Valjean nearly 2000 times, so you know he knows what he

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

*re-reads to see what I said 7 years ago*

Probably that is what she meant, yeah. But parts of the book were incoherent enough and sappy enough that at the time, I was probably automatically expecting that she meant the most absurd, sappy interpretation of whatever she wrote. I can't really remember why I reacted that way now, though.

I think the tracking thing was more that I would have expected that--since Ron is not introducing the Taboo like some amazing new magical thing that has never been done before, and which therefore probably has some historical precedent (Voldemort or someone else)--we would have heard about the possibility before. And especially since everyone in the wizarding world has been afraid to say Voldemort's name, it would have made logical since if he had used it in the first war, or would at least have said that even though it wasn't used then because Voldemort didn't have the right tools to set it up for whatever reason people were afraid he would any day (with all the talk about not knowing whom to trust and that he nearly took over the WW) and were being preemptively cautious. The latter might have worked even better, since then at least Harry would have had a reason not to have heard of it (it wasn't used), but purebloods like Ron would think it was such an obvious possibility that they might forget to mention it. Or at least we could pretend that was the case.

[nyx_010]

*shrugs* Sometimes you miss things when you're reading. I know I've had some pretty...let's say odd misinterpretations of things.

I don't know, it just doesn't make sense to me. Why would Dumbledore go around telling everybody and their grandma to say 'Voldemort' if it meant Death Eaters could show up on their doorstep? And even if he was that crazy, wouldn't somebody have something to say about his whole 'fear of a name only increases fear of the thing itself' mantra? Why would Hagrid not have mentioned it back in PS when he and Harry were talking about Voldemort? And why would Voldemort have set up a Taboo in the first place? It seems like a waste of resources.

I think that avoiding Voldemort's name was something that people did on their own, maybe because the very thought of the guy had them quivering in their boots. Yeah, it's kind of silly, but it makes more sense.

I could see the Ministry using the Taboo. It would make catching people who use Unforgivables a breeze and it could be used in delightfully corrupt ways.

[sunnyskywalker]

If people had only been afraid that Voldemort might set up a Taboo during the first war, it wouldn't have had to have a logical reason for him to want to do it, necessarily--it would just have to be something that everyone knew was magically possible because someone else* had done it in the past before, so their "speak of the devil" superstition is even stronger than for Muggles because they know it might really be true. Hagrid et al. might not have thought to mention it because it didn't actually happen.

Though there is actually a reason he might have wanted to, and it's kind of Dumbledore's fault. Dumbledore says right in PS/SS Chapter 1 that he's been encouraging people to call Voldemort by his chosen name for the past 11 years. So Voldemort might well reason that anyone who actually says "Voldemort" is likely to be someone tight with Dumbledore, like an Order member, and therefore someone worth taking out. Which Dumbledore would realize fairly quickly when it didn't catch on, which is why he would redouble his efforts to convince everyone to use it, thus making it a useless tactic to Voldemort. Hopefully before Voldemort was able to put the Taboo on in the first place. In the first war, Voldemort vanishing made this a moot point, but once he realized Dumbledore had failed to make it commonplace and Harry was one of the only people who would say his name, he knew it would be worthwhile. Quicker than trying to sweep the entire island of Britain for the kid!

*I like the idea of the Ministry having been the ones to use it previously--you're right, that has some wonderfully nasty possibilities!