Next question: why on Earth would the Death Eaters want to rally around someone like that?
Perfect question, Chris. I often think that pop-culture villains are portrayed as too powerful
and too one-dimensionally evil, at least if they derive much of their strength from an army of followers.
One great thing about the last Harry Potter book was that it discussed what it means to be good, and Harry and Dumbledore were shown as two different types of good people, where Harry was ultimately the best. He was the best of them because of his humility, of his ability to always think of others as just as valuable as himself, and of his ability to say no to absolute power. Because, you know, absolute power corrupts absolutely.
But Rowling did not discuss the power and the lure of the evil leader at all. Why did the Death Eaters rally around Voldemort? She did not explain. Personally I think that if you meet this kind of simplification about "villains" in too many pop culture tales, it may affect your ability to think and reason adversely. It may, for example, lead you to expect that if your own country is going invade another country to deposit its supremely evil leader, then the majority of the population of that country will happily embrace you as their liberator, while the minority of the people, who supported the evil leader, will just mysteriously disappear along with their satanic "king". Because it always happens that way in stories and movies, so why shouldn't it be like that in real life, too?
I think it would be a good thing it we stopped simplifying the bad guys so much. They've got to have a few more things going for them than just that they are bad. And defeating the supporters of real-life baddies may require a little more than just killing their leader.
Ann
