re: lawfulness and dueling
(Anonymous)
Leah here.
Shows a lot of lost opportunities for the Voldemort character, I think.
A code in support of dueling would have explained a lot about him, like why he didn't attack Dumbledore - he thought it would make him look unsporting, he was afraid of losing the duel, etc. We could have been given a world in which some wizards have believable motivations to ally with Tom - I mean, there's Lucius, but other than that, all his goons are, well, goons. It all makes D. look pretty pathetic for not taking Tom out earlier.
Of course, dueling in itself isn't exactly lawful, depending on the social context. Come to think of it, a code regulating duels might have allowed Harry the chance to demonstrate some convincing moral growth as well. As it is, I'm not sure he ever got that it's not cool to hex Slytherins just because you can.
Shows a lot of lost opportunities for the Voldemort character, I think.
A code in support of dueling would have explained a lot about him, like why he didn't attack Dumbledore - he thought it would make him look unsporting, he was afraid of losing the duel, etc. We could have been given a world in which some wizards have believable motivations to ally with Tom - I mean, there's Lucius, but other than that, all his goons are, well, goons. It all makes D. look pretty pathetic for not taking Tom out earlier.
Of course, dueling in itself isn't exactly lawful, depending on the social context. Come to think of it, a code regulating duels might have allowed Harry the chance to demonstrate some convincing moral growth as well. As it is, I'm not sure he ever got that it's not cool to hex Slytherins just because you can.