The fan's perspective on Dark magic...

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

So, elsewhere on the 'net, I came across someone tearing apart The Draco Trilogy, and this person had something very interesting to say about Dark magic:

When you use Dark Magic, it's because you want someone to die, or feel terrible pain, or bend unquestioningly to your will; you want that for its own sake, and not necessarily to accomplish anything. Dark Magic has nothing to do with whether or not a spell causes pain, just the wizard casting it.

This came from a fan of the series, of course, but without meaning to it in essence confirms what we've been saying all along about the way morality and Dark magic work in this series--it's not the spells a wizard uses that are Dark or otherwise, it's whether the wizard themselves is good or evil. If the wizard using a spell is "evil," then no matter what they do it will be evil and Dark. If the wizard using a spell is "good," then no matter what they do it will be good and not-Dark.

Comments

[nx74defiant.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately true.

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

What makes it worse is that this fan has, without even realizing it, pretty much admitted that in the Potterverse spells that kill, hurt, or cause grievous bodily harm can never be considered Dark as long as they have other goals that do not revolve around killing, torturing, or whatever for their own sake. Which is all well and good in theory, until you realize that something like Puking Pastilles (which could conceivably make you throw up until you died of dehydration--and most likely would, in some situations), by definition, is not Dark strictly because its purpose is being silly or getting out of class rather than killing people. And that itself wouldn't matter, if the books weren't so keen on dividing everything into "Dark and therefore evil" and "not-Dark so anyone who isn't evil can use it with impunity no matter who gets hurt!"

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

/If the wizard using a spell is "evil," then no matter what they do it will be evil and Dark. If the wizard using a spell is "good," then no matter what they do it will be good and not-Dark./

Which is why Harry doesn’t face any consequences for using a Cruciatus Curse, but Draco is sliced open after trying to use one. And why Snape’s purported immersion into the Dark Arts is justification for the Marauders bullying him.

Just out of curiosity, could you give me a link to the Draco Trilogy sporking? Who was the sporker?

[sweettalkeress.livejournal.com]

It's being sporked by one of the newbies who joined within the past month or so. The table of contents is at the following address:

http://das-sporking.livejournal.com/644535.html

However it's open to members only (of course, if you are a member you've got nothing to worry about).

I've tried reading through the sporking but it's just so boring. There's almost no variation in the way the text looks so the entire thing feels like a suffocating wall of text (even though it's not), and it seems like she spends too much time on grammar mistakes rather than the actual content of the work.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

So--wait. When Bellatrix cast the Cruciatus on the Longbottoms (senior), and on Neville, and on Hermione, she wasn't REALLY performing Dark Magic. Because in all those cases, her use of torture was purposeful--she wanted to make the Longbottom's and Hermione talk, and she was using Neville's pain to put pressure on Harry to give up the Prophecy.

So, uh, really, as far as we can see, Bellatrix really isn't a Dark Witch as all? Just a loyal soldier utterly devoted to her cause? The Hermione of the other side?

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

Wow, that is sick and disturbing...

Side note: do you have link to the spork of TDT?

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

I should have read the other comments.

Yeah, it's blocked for me or I would have noticed it, because I think I follow this community.

[josephinestone.livejournal.com]

The Hermione of the other side?

This made the idea pop into my head: what if every character has an opposite? Like, Bella is what Hermione is like when you aren't in Harry's POV.