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cahnSo, Dumbledore. Ever since I started trying to formulate excuses for his behavior back when rereading book 5, I started thinking about the HP books in conjunction with Patricia McKillip's Riddlemaster trilogy. They're very different books-- HP is, of course, the old "child in muggle world finds out he is actually Magic!" and is told in an intentionally humorous and mundane style to match the world of magic being much like ours. Riddlemaster, contrarily, is all in high fantasy world, and told in McKillip's wonderfully lyric style.
(A digression before you do or don't read the rest of my ramble: I LOVE the Riddlemaster books. To little bits and pieces. I read them as a wide-eyed adolescent, and I read the first one by flipping to the last page first-- which I totally, very much, really do not recommend, unless there is no possible way you will read it otherwise-- and I love McKillip's writing in general, and I love Morgon and Raederele and Eliard and Lyra and Deth and basically all of them, and it presses a good many of my buttons. But at least two people whose judgement I respect found them all but unreadable. So... your mileage may vary. I'd imagine they are better read during adolescence.)
However. Both feature a sweet main character who turns out to be more than he seems, a character who Tries (though with flaws) To Do The Right Thing. This main character archetypically goes through a number of fantastic and interesting elements (Harry through Hogwarts school, Morgon through traveling). But what I'm really interested in is the main plot element in Harpist in the Wind and the almost identical main subplot of Deathly Hallows, which I think McKillip did exactly right and Rowling did clumsily. That is, I'm talking about Dumbledore and Deth.
Dumbledore starts out as a sweet, nutty, all-knowing wizard in Books 1-3. Around Book 5-6, he starts becoming really irritating to me because he never tells anyone anything he/she needs to know, especially Harry. It is also, apparently, a huge plot element that he really loves Harry. (Which I think is kind of perverted, kind of like loving the cow you're about to slaughter for hamburgers-- wait, Gardner Dozois already did that story.) Book 7 reveals, finally, that Dumbledore really did Have A Plan (well, sort of): the idea was to keep Harry ignorant and fumbling towards fufilling Dumbledore's goals, because of the ultimate sacrifice Harry has to make, that Dumbledore is not sure Harry will have the courage to make if Harry has time to think about it.
Deth starts out as a courteous, soft-spoken figure: the High One's harpist. He asks Morgon to trust him "beyond hope." And Morgon does, only to be betrayed horribly. (Button-push!) Book 2 of the trilogy basically elaborates on the mystery: why does Deth do this? What are his motives? What could he have hoped to gain? He and Morgon even face off in Book 2 as enemies (given the horrible betrayal), but Deth manages to talk Morgon out of killing him, without actually giving him any useful information as to why. And in Book 3, McKillip delivers almost exactly the same reason that Rowling did: Deth is actually a fabulously powerful figure who Has A Plan for Morgon, which depends on Morgon not knowing what his destiny is or who Deth is until the time is right. The reason for this is slightly different: once Morgon knows who Deth is, so will their enemies, and Deth no longer retains enough power to keep them at bay. Furthermore, Morgon needs to understand both his enemies' mindset and the general implications of his future powers before he can accept his proper destiny. (I was hoping that JKR's reason for that whole interminable Riddle backstory in Book 6 would have gone along those lines-- understanding one's enemy-- but it didn't.) For these reasons, Deth needs to keep Morgon confused until the time is right for Morgon to accept his destiny and Deth's power. And it turns out that Deth really did love Morgon, though he didn't expect to, and though it didn't make any difference to what he had to do.
Okay, so, I thought McKillip's scene worked wonderfully, and Dumbledore's scene mostly left me thinking, "I knew he was a manipulative old bastard!" Partially, I'm sure, this is because I read one of these as a naive teenager and the other as a cynical, well, rather-post-teenager. Partially it's also because McKillip is an awesome writer, and so she can cover up possible logical holes with the sheer force of her prose.
But also... Dumbledore's reason for keeping Harry confused doesn't belong in the sort of story where Dumbledore is supposed to love Harry (something, mind you, that we are told, but never really shown). Either Dumbledore should trust Harry, or he should not. If not, don't give me this crap about how you love Harry, just accept that you are manipulative and have possibly never really loved anyone in a really pure way. (Which is a good description of Dumbledore, actually.) Furthermore, Dumbledore's cryptic instructions don't enlighten Harry, or teach him anything, or even serve any purpose.
Deth's reason is rather better-- he literally can't tell Morgon who he is, no matter how much he trusts him, and he has to teach Morgon things that he feels can only really be taught by giving Morgon actual (sometimes extraordinarily cruel) experiences. And I really like that the love is, in fact, incidental to what Deth has to do (and he even wishes that he didn't love Morgon).
And... the love between Deth and Morgon in this story is real-- it's not just told, but shown as well. (Well, okay, this is a little clumsy in places, especially the bit where it is apparently a feature of the world that everyone has a huge crush on whoever the High One is, but fine.) Morgon forgives Deth unconditionally, even without knowing why-- and not by telling him so, but by doing something that he could never have done had Deth not been forgiven. And Deth, who can see perfectly well what kind of gesture this is, does something both heartfelt and stupid (well, stupid for Deth) in response. And because Deth never does anything stupid, this shows the love better than anything else McKillip could have written. (Compare Dumbledore, who tells us in book 5? 6? that he did something stupid several years ago, that is, not telling Harry about the prophecy-- which really is kind of dumb especially if you love the kid. That's not love, that's selfish self-indulgence.)
(A digression before you do or don't read the rest of my ramble: I LOVE the Riddlemaster books. To little bits and pieces. I read them as a wide-eyed adolescent, and I read the first one by flipping to the last page first-- which I totally, very much, really do not recommend, unless there is no possible way you will read it otherwise-- and I love McKillip's writing in general, and I love Morgon and Raederele and Eliard and Lyra and Deth and basically all of them, and it presses a good many of my buttons. But at least two people whose judgement I respect found them all but unreadable. So... your mileage may vary. I'd imagine they are better read during adolescence.)
However. Both feature a sweet main character who turns out to be more than he seems, a character who Tries (though with flaws) To Do The Right Thing. This main character archetypically goes through a number of fantastic and interesting elements (Harry through Hogwarts school, Morgon through traveling). But what I'm really interested in is the main plot element in Harpist in the Wind and the almost identical main subplot of Deathly Hallows, which I think McKillip did exactly right and Rowling did clumsily. That is, I'm talking about Dumbledore and Deth.
Dumbledore starts out as a sweet, nutty, all-knowing wizard in Books 1-3. Around Book 5-6, he starts becoming really irritating to me because he never tells anyone anything he/she needs to know, especially Harry. It is also, apparently, a huge plot element that he really loves Harry. (Which I think is kind of perverted, kind of like loving the cow you're about to slaughter for hamburgers-- wait, Gardner Dozois already did that story.) Book 7 reveals, finally, that Dumbledore really did Have A Plan (well, sort of): the idea was to keep Harry ignorant and fumbling towards fufilling Dumbledore's goals, because of the ultimate sacrifice Harry has to make, that Dumbledore is not sure Harry will have the courage to make if Harry has time to think about it.
Deth starts out as a courteous, soft-spoken figure: the High One's harpist. He asks Morgon to trust him "beyond hope." And Morgon does, only to be betrayed horribly. (Button-push!) Book 2 of the trilogy basically elaborates on the mystery: why does Deth do this? What are his motives? What could he have hoped to gain? He and Morgon even face off in Book 2 as enemies (given the horrible betrayal), but Deth manages to talk Morgon out of killing him, without actually giving him any useful information as to why. And in Book 3, McKillip delivers almost exactly the same reason that Rowling did: Deth is actually a fabulously powerful figure who Has A Plan for Morgon, which depends on Morgon not knowing what his destiny is or who Deth is until the time is right. The reason for this is slightly different: once Morgon knows who Deth is, so will their enemies, and Deth no longer retains enough power to keep them at bay. Furthermore, Morgon needs to understand both his enemies' mindset and the general implications of his future powers before he can accept his proper destiny. (I was hoping that JKR's reason for that whole interminable Riddle backstory in Book 6 would have gone along those lines-- understanding one's enemy-- but it didn't.) For these reasons, Deth needs to keep Morgon confused until the time is right for Morgon to accept his destiny and Deth's power. And it turns out that Deth really did love Morgon, though he didn't expect to, and though it didn't make any difference to what he had to do.
Okay, so, I thought McKillip's scene worked wonderfully, and Dumbledore's scene mostly left me thinking, "I knew he was a manipulative old bastard!" Partially, I'm sure, this is because I read one of these as a naive teenager and the other as a cynical, well, rather-post-teenager. Partially it's also because McKillip is an awesome writer, and so she can cover up possible logical holes with the sheer force of her prose.
But also... Dumbledore's reason for keeping Harry confused doesn't belong in the sort of story where Dumbledore is supposed to love Harry (something, mind you, that we are told, but never really shown). Either Dumbledore should trust Harry, or he should not. If not, don't give me this crap about how you love Harry, just accept that you are manipulative and have possibly never really loved anyone in a really pure way. (Which is a good description of Dumbledore, actually.) Furthermore, Dumbledore's cryptic instructions don't enlighten Harry, or teach him anything, or even serve any purpose.
Deth's reason is rather better-- he literally can't tell Morgon who he is, no matter how much he trusts him, and he has to teach Morgon things that he feels can only really be taught by giving Morgon actual (sometimes extraordinarily cruel) experiences. And I really like that the love is, in fact, incidental to what Deth has to do (and he even wishes that he didn't love Morgon).
And... the love between Deth and Morgon in this story is real-- it's not just told, but shown as well. (Well, okay, this is a little clumsy in places, especially the bit where it is apparently a feature of the world that everyone has a huge crush on whoever the High One is, but fine.) Morgon forgives Deth unconditionally, even without knowing why-- and not by telling him so, but by doing something that he could never have done had Deth not been forgiven. And Deth, who can see perfectly well what kind of gesture this is, does something both heartfelt and stupid (well, stupid for Deth) in response. And because Deth never does anything stupid, this shows the love better than anything else McKillip could have written. (Compare Dumbledore, who tells us in book 5? 6? that he did something stupid several years ago, that is, not telling Harry about the prophecy-- which really is kind of dumb especially if you love the kid. That's not love, that's selfish self-indulgence.)
