Comments | methleigh: My Aeternitas Talk.

methleigh

My Aeternitas Talk.

Jun 06, 2011 02:25

Title: There but for Fortune: Gellert's Legacy and the Soldiers of the Dark Lord
Author: Janus
Word Count: 4377
Rating: M
Summary: My intent in this presentation is to demonstrate the idealistic roots of the so-called Dark side of the Wizarding Wars and to show that the war is not comprised of angels and demons, but of humans who believe in ideals ( Read more... )

dark ideas, gellert, janus, nonfic, azkaban, death eaters

Comments 11

alley_skywalker June 6 2011, 08:44:53 UTC

Very moving. I sympathize and agree with a lot of what you've written. You presented this at the last convention, right?

methleigh June 7 2011, 04:06:03 UTC

Thank you so much. I gave this talk at the convention, yes. It's reception was a disaster. Thank you so much for reading it and for knowing it with sympathy. I love your new icon. Such joy. This is supposed to be joy as well. The light of Hope and pride.

alley_skywalker June 7 2011, 06:08:22 UTC

Oh oh. I'm sorry it didn't go so well. Did people ask a lot of stupid questions or just not get it all together?
(I love my new icon too! I spent so much time figuring out lj and gifs lol. But I just love how happy they are in that moment :) )

mingbutterfly June 6 2011, 12:49:23 UTC

*hugs* Thanks for posting, especially since I missed this at con!

This made me realize, Gellert is presented more sympathetically than the DL and Death Eaters. Perhaps, because Dumbledore had to justify to Harry (and himself) why he once subscribed to Gellert's ideals. With the DL, Dumbledore is free to vilify and as he tells Snape, "You disgust me."

That Dumbledore was in love doesn't fix this for me. I have been in love, and I still couldn't be talked into drowning puppies, or doing anything I didn't colorably see as right. (And by the same logic, Bellatrix would be equally justified in her actions as Dumbledore.)

I also was unsettled by the casual use of unforgivables by the Order, aurors, Harry, McGonagall, etc., which was presented in the story's moral universe as totally fine and justifiable, but also as the sort of act that makes dark wizards dark. That really opens a moral can of worms, and one I don't think JKR fully explored. Well, I think it would have made telling a children's story difficult for her, but still ( ... )

methleigh June 7 2011, 04:43:40 UTC

I think that there is a part of Dumbledore that knows Gellert was right. He subscribed to his ideas, collaborated with Gellert and furthered them. But he turned his back on them for petty personal reasons. I also believe that, apart from the characters, that the author could not bear to have Dumbledore love someone who was completely unsympathetic, as if it would taint him.

Yes, the evil of the 'good' side is surprising when you look at it. This is not a children's story. The story of the trio walking untouched through the landscape is a children's story, but the rest is deeper and more revelatory and even, I think, iconic.

Thank you so much. This is the story I love, where I live.

severed_lies June 7 2011, 03:19:46 UTC

I have so been longing to read this. I always looked at the text with Snape glasses, and felt little comfort even then. You are right that the strictures imposed upon those with ambition to make a better, freer society were unbearable, and those who held everyone back out of fear and jealousy ought to have expected revolution ( ... )

methleigh June 7 2011, 05:38:55 UTC

Oh, how I wish you had been there too! I really believe in the Death Eaters, and their cause. The Death Eaters as portrayed didn't make sense, so I tried to find what they were about, how they could be. And I found they were right! And the 'good' side was not good! So I Am proud. And your gentleness and your Snape with his aura of wistfulness and sweetness despite everything probably has coloured everything I have written. <3 How I wish you had been there!

alley_skywalker June 7 2011, 06:31:05 UTC

You know, I always say that in RL I wouldn't have joined with the DEs because they I think they are conservative and elitist and I tend to not like those things... But, I think, for me the point isn't so much "who was right" but the point is more... "everyone is human." What always bothered me is the objectification of the antagonists. That's not real, it's not. The only people who don't have objectified are either those who switch to the Order's side (Regulus, Severus) and the one in-you-face example, the Malfoys. Although, in a lot of ways, they fit into the prior category as well. Everyone else is Pure Evil. That's unreasonable. I'm willing to accept that Voldemort was a power-hungry maniac or that he went insane at some point because of all the Horcruxes. I can accept that some of the DEs were on a power trip, but that's only a few out of many. There had to be many for Voldemort to have so much power in his troops, for him to say "My Death Eaters outnumber you." The second way is a slightly different, bleaker landscape I think. ( ... )

methleigh June 7 2011, 05:43:39 UTC

oops wrong icon!
but also, yes. I will post the rune handout. I didn't write it down but only talked from my head, so I don't have a presentation. It needs a lot of work before I will have something readable to post. <3

Thread 5

plaidalicious June 11 2011, 05:09:55 UTC

I really like this piece. i think your thoughts are accurate when thinking of the HP books as a universe with real people and it being a real war.

When you think about it, the Ministry of Magic is a lot like the government in V for Vendetta.
My problem with the DE sect in teh HP saga is, when they had the opportunity to take over the Ministry, change the gov't, they just created another regime with different rules....