What matters is that some types of love are good power, and some are bad power, but strong love always causes something, regardless of will or choice. That's where the important of choice comes in, in fact. You have to know which love you've got, and choose correctly whether to pursue it or suppress it. Cedric and Harry made a very willful, mutually informed and respected choice to honor their friendship love for each other, and that was precisely what killed Cedric. Aberforce's respect for Harry's own will was nil when he sent him his friendly love and protection through the mirror, without giving him a chance to informedly accept or reject his warm feelings, but that did not hinder his affection from producing saving many lives. Respect for freedom of will is not what makes love (or love-motivated actions) good or bad in this universe.
Because this story is *not* about will and choice. Once we understand that, we understand everything else more clearly. And it's important to note that while the HP narrative prevaricates and misleads, it never outright *lies* to us. As many have pointed out, Dumbledore never says it's the choices that *make* us who we are. He says the truth, in telling Harry that it's the choices that "show" what we are. That's a very straightforward sentence he's speaking, telling us exactly what the truth of the HP world is, but it's extremely easy to get lost in the smokescreen that the HP narrative constantly throws up around its fundamental elements, because the smokes look much more coherent than the fundamental structure. Yet the structure is completely consistent, and so when you set aside your own value system and worldly presuppositions, the whole system is there for anybody to see.
I have no idea if JKR *intended* things that way, but however it got there, the pattern is very clear.
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Date: 2008-07-10 08:19 pm (UTC)Because this story is *not* about will and choice. Once we understand that, we understand everything else more clearly. And it's important to note that while the HP narrative prevaricates and misleads, it never outright *lies* to us. As many have pointed out, Dumbledore never says it's the choices that *make* us who we are. He says the truth, in telling Harry that it's the choices that "show" what we are. That's a very straightforward sentence he's speaking, telling us exactly what the truth of the HP world is, but it's extremely easy to get lost in the smokescreen that the HP narrative constantly throws up around its fundamental elements, because the smokes look much more coherent than the fundamental structure. Yet the structure is completely consistent, and so when you set aside your own value system and worldly presuppositions, the whole system is there for anybody to see.
I have no idea if JKR *intended* things that way, but however it got there, the pattern is very clear.