Sunday, November 15, 2009

Lord Voldemort is the Hitler of the Wizarding World

Face it, he is.

Similarities:

-Hitler = part Jewish, tried to get rid of the Jews. Lord Voldemort = Father was a muggle (non-wizard), he tried to get rid of “Mudbloods” (People with non-wizarding blood)

-Hitler took over the German government. Lord Voldemort took over the ministry of magic.

-Hitler made himself immortal (at least his memory is) by killing millions of people. Lord Voldemort tried to make himself immortal by killing others. (In the books, he makes magical devices called Horcruxes which are infused with a piece of his soul. In order to fracture is soul, he has to commit murder, which is the only way to break one’s soul apart)

-Hitler tried to get the support of families with strong German heritage. Lord Voldemort’s supporters were from the oldest wizarding families.

-Both Hitler and Lord Voldemort could fly without the use of broom. (Okay that’s not true. Hitler needed the broom)

[Added a few days later] So in the wizarding world after Voldemort returned to power the Ministry of Magic started to register all people with non-wizard blood, and they took away their wands. This is kind of like how Hitler started with the concentration camps. No obviously murderous intent, just the desire to have these people registered, controlled and afraid.

I recently re-read the Harry Potter books, recently here meaning this summer after I returned from Germany. I read them with a new lease on the idea of a terrible leader taking power, which was when I noticed the similarities.

To my Knowledge, J.K. Rowling hasn’t come out and said that Lord Voldemort is Hitler, but there are certainly enough reasons how he could be.


4 comments:

  1. Being an avid fan of Harry Potter, I think this post is quite interesting. However, I think all evil villains get compared to Hitler. Is Hitler the ultimate villain? Why is every character compared to him? Do you think it is conscience that authors and movie writers base their characters off of him? Or do you think that all evil people have the same characteristics?

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  2. Andrew,

    I loved the blog, I am so glad you followed through and wrote it after we talked about it in class. Your comparisons are striking and I am surprised I never noticed them before when I read the books. Your first comparison seems to me to be the strongest. How ironic that both of them target the people that hold a similar and identifying characteristic with their fathers. I wonder if there exists a psychological theory behind this. The only ones I can think of would be oedipal complex, for they might be jealous of their fathers which may spark their rage and in turn they may diffuse or redirect the anger towards people that are similar or remind them of their fathers. I know that is probably a stretch, but just a thought. I always wonder how bad people become bad? I just can not seem to understand what can motivate someone to commit such terrible crimes. I wonder if J.K. Rowling modeled Voldemort off of Hitler, or if there is anyway we can find this out. It would be interesting if it were true to then try to understand why she did this. Was she trying to send the world a message? I of course really enjoyed your blog!

    -Amanda U

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  3. I agree with both sets of comments. I mean, first, I do think EVERY villain is compared to Hitler, and that gets old. On the other hand, the comparison to a fictional character in addition to your sardonic tone adds to the satirical nature of this blog, and I enjoy a good satire. Nice job, Andrew.

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  4. I love this! In addition to all these comparisons, you can even go further to compare the holocaust to the wizarding war(s). For example, nurmenguard vs. Auschwitz, both of which were prisons made to confine a certain race (muggles, Jews) and both of which had a significant inscription over the entry (for the greater good, work will set you free)

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