Lord Voldemort from J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series needs no introduction. Perhaps he, more than any other villain I’ve talked about or will talk about, was written in an almost a perfect parallel with the hero.
Villains make heroes/heroines–driving them to find more courage, more ingenuity and just being more than they could ever imagine possible.
The similarities between Voldemort and Harry scare Harry, who wonders at various times throughout the seven books (eight movies), if he will fall to the same evil. The beauty of this set of books is the reminder of how the choices the we make throughout our lives, even when facing the same set of challenges, or possessing the same set of assets (or weaknesses) determines the road we travel and the people we become.
Often, it seems, its not just that the villain makes the hero, but in other circumstances, the villain perhaps could have been the here. Equally, our protagonist, but for a choice here or a choice there, could be the antagonist.
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Wonderful insight about the similarity between heroes and villains. I was just looking at an essay from Tennessee Williams in which he said he doesn’t believe in heroes and villains, that who people turned out to be was all about choices that people make along with influences on their lives. Guess Harry felt the same way.
It is choices, and its neat to see folks experience similar circumstances but make different choices, and see what happens.
I love your perspective on the villian and how he marks the other (hero) as his equal. Yes its our choices which make us who we are. I loved this premise in the Harry Potter books too – made him so much human and believable.
Vanillabeans & Peppercorns
Thanks. Harry Potter really did take this premise to the max, one of the reasons they are such great stories.