Indestructible - Food For Thought (optional stuff to geek out over, not an essay) - Updated

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Indestructible – Food for Thought

I mentioned that there were a lot of literary and pop culture and other references occurring to me as I work on this project, and that I’d put up a list in case anyone’s interested and wants to check them out while reading my blatherings, instead of mashing them all in to the essays. So, here you go. None of these are necessary to know for understanding the essays, they’re just…thematic enhancements.

I promise I’m getting close to my actual reading of the HP books themselves. Not much farther now.

I've added a few more things to this list, and a date so you can tell when it's been added to again.

Last updated: September 12, 2015.

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Indestructible - Part VI - Dark Marks and Dark Arts

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Indestructible – Part VI – Dark Marks and Dark Arts

Ok, let’s get back to talking about the books themselves for a bit, shall we?

We’ve talked about Albus, and alchemy, so perhaps we should skip ahead in the alphabet a bit and head on over to D. D for Dark; D for Death.

Dark Marks, Dark Arts, Dark Creatures, Dark Lords… Death, and Death Eaters.

Then we can get to occlumency and to Severus and Voldemort.

I should note at the outset that ‘dark’ is something of a fuzzy term to use when talking about moral and spiritual things and about that big ball of wibbly-wobbly vaguely-defined magical stuff we get in the Potterverse. In general, ‘dark’ should not necessarily be taken as a strict synonym for ‘evil’ – far from it. Darkness is natural and necessary and a part of life and it has great lessons to teach. Nor is ‘light’ the same as ‘good.’ Severus – our resident Dark Wizard – would be the first person to tell you that. For all that the HP books, and even Tolkien, like to conflate the two spectra.

But. Darkness does make it easy to do evil, because it allows one to hide. From others, and from oneself. Spiritual blindness, ignorance, forces that overwhelm one and prevent true sight or perspective… Things can be hidden to good ends or bad, and while sometimes we need to close our eyes, we also do need to open them again, as we see and see anew.

Right?

Ok. Onward.

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Just thought I'd note, for anyone who finds it confusing to keep up with all the pieces of this Indestructible meta series as they get posted, that I'm now also putting them up over at my own archive, Alchemical Fiction.

I've set it up there as a series, with the main essays under the story "Indestructible" and the post with optional references under "Food For Thought." The parts are all in order there.

You're welcome to read and comment wherever you like, and to become members of the archive if you want. (If you'd also be interested in posting your own fic or meta there, just drop me a note and I'll add you.)