Mugglenet.com's Harry Potter Should Have Died - Emerson Spartz [43]
No!
So what if it isn’t an action-packed duel—Harry bravely faces the most evil wizard of all time and zaps him out of existence. And, of course, there is a lot of talk. This is Harry’s big chance to honor what he has seen in Snape’s memories, and that’s the big payoff, not some long violent duel with blood and gore. Harry lets Voldemort know that someone has fooled him for years—zing! What could be more damaging to a villain’s big ego? The final duel couldn’t be just bloody revenge for all the deaths, because that would drag Harry down to the level of a Death Eater. In the end, Harry acts in a way that would make Dumbledore proud—he gives Voldemort a last chance to express some remorse, showing mercy and proving he is the better man [DH, p. 741].
And it’s awesome and right that Harry uses Expelliarmus to kill Voldemort instead of Avada Kedavra. He uses a charm instead of a curse and a defensive spell instead of an Unforgivable Curse. Harry doesn’t need to use something complicated or to waste his time and energy throwing Stunners and making fireworks. Enough fighting already! Harry knows that Voldemort is going to try one spell only—Avada Kedavra—because he wants Harry gone in a flash. But the Elder Wand recognizes Harry as the true owner and when he shouts Expelliarmus, Voldemort’s own Avada curse rebounds on him. It’s simple, elegant, and gets rid of the Dark Lord forever. It’s extremely satisfying and anything else would have been almost inappropriate.
Verdict
Fans expected the duel at the end of DH to be like a shoot-out in the Old West. Instead, it is more like a talk-show interview with a deadly ending. While many fans can admire Harry’s restraint and his compassion for the psycho who killed his parents, most people were expecting the hero to kick Voldemort’s butt for his evil deeds. Since Voldemort mainly gets off with a lecture about love, the verdict has to be that the final duel fails to live up to some (admittedly) very high expectations.
Who would win in a fight: Dumbledore or Gandalf?
Gandalf
Gandalf from Lord of the Rings would win a fight against Dumbledore, hands down. Dumbledore has no will power, and in HBP, he fries his own hand to a blackened claw by trying on the Horcrux ring. But look at Gandalf—he isn’t even tempted by the Ring of Power and never puts it on. Dumbledore is so pitiful in HBP after drinking the poisonous potion in the Horcrux cave that the old guy can’t fight Draco on the tower. But Gandalf slugs it out with the giant Balrog Fire Demon for weeks without help of any kind. There’s just no contest there.
Dumbledore can never seem to do the one thing that matters—protect a bunch of little kids from the Dark Lord. Half the time, he doesn’t even know what is going on at Hogwarts, so what good is all that alleged superior intelligence? He has one good duel in the whole series—“The Only One He Ever Feared” in OotP—and really Harry wins that for him and frightens Voldemort away. Even in the afterlife, like we see in DH, Dumbledore is just a sad old man sitting around in a train station, and his life story is as full of flaws as any Muggle’s. How different from Gandalf, who roars back from death into Middle Earth to save the hobbits and men. None of the other characters, including the elves, would have had a clue without him. Plus, he can still ride his horse Shadowfax like a knight to the rescue. Dumbledore shall not pass!
Dumbledore
But wait—according to OotP, Dumbledore is the only wizard the Dark Lord ever feared, right? Did Sauron and his evil minions ever really fear Gandalf? No way—Sauron just goes on building up his Orc Army and watching people with his Eye, and there isn’t a thing Gandalf can do about it. Plus Sauron uses his warlord sidekick, Saruman, to kick Gandalf around like a hackysack. Kings Theoden and Denethor have no respect for Gandalf and make up foolish names about him like “Stormcrow” or “Greyhaim.” Even the hobbits disobey him continuously.