Voldemort and Comparisons to Historical Leaders

[han lin]

LV is well known for only liking pure blood wizards and shunning those who are not his ideal. This is exactly what Hitler tried to do in the second world war with his perfect race.

Also by recruiting warewolves and giants LV is mirroring Hitler when he joined with japan and with some more remote countrys. He allowed people of different race and religion die for his ideas about a perfect society which didn't include tham anyway.

i might think of more simelaritys but if you think i'm way off the mark please tell me!, all thougths appreciated

Fabulous topic, Han Lin! I only edited the title so that it better matched the other topics in the forum and so people could see why it belonged in the character section as opposed to the book 5 discussion section...am I making ANY sense? At any rate, I love your thread, and I hope you do not mind my editing the title. ~ Lizzy

[Barry Trotter]

woah, i see what you mean i saw a programme on it the other day it was about himmler as well.

the more i think about it the more i see it.

[masterofsparks]

Another similarity is that both Hitler and LV have the blood of those they hate flowing in their own veins (Hitler's grandmother was Jewish; LV's father was a Muggle)

Don't know if these similarities were intentional.

[Barry Trotter]

i doubt they were but then with JK you never know. anything else about hitler?

[Lizzy Bennet]

I think you're right on the money, Han Lin. Like Hitler as well, LV promotes a 'perfect race' (purebloods) which he isn't (Hitler certainly wasn't blonde nor blue-eyed!)...I've always found that interesting...how you can promote the 'perfect race' when you don't even qualify yourself! Not that it's right in any way, shape, or form, but at least it would have made a little more sense if Hitler, himself, were blonde and blue-eyed, and if LV, himself, were a pureblood wizard! I know he has the hatred towards his father for being a muggle and for rejecting his witch wife (is there a similar parallel in regards to Hitler's parents? ), but like Hitler, I wonder how he got all those legions to follow him when what he was promoting was so obviously hypocritical. Sadly, I think I know the partial answer to that: LV like Hitler is very charismatic and preys on the weak of mind and promotes power that so many crave.

Great thread, Han Lin! What you said here just sums it all up:

Also by recruiting warewolves and giants LV is mirroring Hitler when he joined with japan and with some more remote countrys. He allowed people of different race and religion die for his ideas about a perfect society which didn't include tham anyway.

I think the parallels are endless...I can't wait to see how people respond to this thread! It should be fascinating , but it does foreshadow a great deal of senseless deaths and mudblood persecution books 6 and 7. I hope Lupin is not one of the people to fall! What are all your thoughts?


~ Lizzy

[azn wizard]

Also by recruiting warewolves and giants LV is mirroring Hitler when he joined with japan and with some more remote countrys. He allowed people of different race and religion die for his ideas about a perfect society which didn't include tham anyway.

i might think of more simelaritys but if you think i'm way off the mark please tell me!, all thougths appreciated

excellent analysis (although i have the urge to point out that japan didn't join in to promote hitler's ideals)
anywayz...LV, i think is not only a parallel to dictators...cuz his fall and rise do remind me of napoleon too...

[Sacred Guardian]

not with hitlers parents, his race, he basicly said in Mein Kampf (My struggle) that the jews were to blame for the bad situation in germany with the economy and the treaty of versillies, which is like LV, seeing as how he blames bad stuff with wizards on muggleborns and the like

[han lin]

( point taken about the Japanese, but i mean hitler didn't discriminate against them for not being blonde haired or blue eyed simply because they were willing to fight for him)

both very nasty pieces of work very messed up about their own origins and wanting to take it out on others who (maybe) were the same race as the person who messed them up?

[Gypsy]

Another interesting thing abouyt this, is that it is somewhere said about Dumbledore, possibly on his chocolate frog card, that he is famous for his defeat of the dark wizard Grindelward in 1945. Notice the date anybody? I think JK is likening Hitlers values to those of the Dark side.

[han lin]

curiouser and curiouser.

itd like the lion the witch and the wardrobe ( only not at all as obvieously symbolic)

because in that each child represents the allies and the witch is hitler etc ( i didn't work it out myself iwas taught it in my DARE lesson)

[Kaizer]

i dont think hitler is what JK had in mind when she wrote the books, but it is a nice idea

[han lin]

I don't think so either but isnt it strange how lots of 'baddies' tend to mirror each others behavior? ( i mean other than them both being bad)

[Blaise Zabini]

Whether or not JKR created LV with the intent of him being a parallel for Hitler, I think that it's a brilliant observation and an excellent topic for discussion, Han!

Though I doubt that JKR wants her books to be an allegory for European history, I find it highly unlikely that she created LV without thinking of Hitler. I mean, there are so many similarities, that it'd be impossible not to compare the two.

And I'm also glad that someone mentioned Grindewald. So little is said about him, and what we do know seems to be quite intriguing! Based on the year of his downfall, perhaps he's the one to whom a parallel with Hitler is drawn, and more is to come regarding him in future books.

Oh, and about The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (great series, btw,) I'd always had it taught as being a Christian allegory, not one for WWII and the like. I'll definitely need to read it again with that in mind, as it's an interesting possibility.

But anyway, great thread, Han!

[han lin]

i was taught the LWW as a christian thing as well. but also as the second world war. because there is an Italy character there isn't there? i didn't pay much attention and it was 3 years ago.

I think it would be great if Grindleweed was brought up more in the next books, maybe Dumbledore had a personal grudge against him like harry does against LV.

[azn wizard]

well, Voldie's character is quite apparent throughout other stories too....i think itz this general sense and character of a "bad guy" dark lord rather than jkr trying to model european history....