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214. Misunderstood Greatness?
Jan. 22nd, 2008 08:11 pm"To be great is to be misunderstood."
And the smallest violins in the world are playing right now. Merlin, Nimue, and St. Wilgeford! Who came up with that quote? And by what standard are they basing it from? What equates greatness in their eyes? Is it someone achieving the same sort of things that Dumbledore did in his prime? As much as I didn't particularly care for the man, there was a reason he was referred to as "the greatest wizard of our time." He managed to do and achieve an astounding amount in his lifetime. Granted, I suspect very few people ever actually understood Dumbledore and his various motivations for doing things (the man should have been a Slytherin, really he should have), but half of that was because the man himself occluded much. Or do they mean someone like Tom Riddle? Is that what they would consider great? Misunderstood, he was not, mishandled perhaps, but generations of wizarding folk could tell you that misunderstood he wasn't. He made his views very clear and they terrorized people for two decades. Golden Boy Potter? Well, there you've got me. He's been great and also misunderstood. Not so much now as before, but Gryffindor bravery coupled with Slytherin canniness is bound to make for some misunderstanding, not counting the emotional handicaps he grew up with. I doubt anyone disputes that Potter is great. But is that really the same thing? I doubt Potter is great because he was misunderstood or is misunderstood now. It's all so very odd, I really don't care for this prompt. I'm going to go and get some coffee.
Blaise Zabini
Harry Potter
And the smallest violins in the world are playing right now. Merlin, Nimue, and St. Wilgeford! Who came up with that quote? And by what standard are they basing it from? What equates greatness in their eyes? Is it someone achieving the same sort of things that Dumbledore did in his prime? As much as I didn't particularly care for the man, there was a reason he was referred to as "the greatest wizard of our time." He managed to do and achieve an astounding amount in his lifetime. Granted, I suspect very few people ever actually understood Dumbledore and his various motivations for doing things (the man should have been a Slytherin, really he should have), but half of that was because the man himself occluded much. Or do they mean someone like Tom Riddle? Is that what they would consider great? Misunderstood, he was not, mishandled perhaps, but generations of wizarding folk could tell you that misunderstood he wasn't. He made his views very clear and they terrorized people for two decades. Golden Boy Potter? Well, there you've got me. He's been great and also misunderstood. Not so much now as before, but Gryffindor bravery coupled with Slytherin canniness is bound to make for some misunderstanding, not counting the emotional handicaps he grew up with. I doubt anyone disputes that Potter is great. But is that really the same thing? I doubt Potter is great because he was misunderstood or is misunderstood now. It's all so very odd, I really don't care for this prompt. I'm going to go and get some coffee.
Blaise Zabini
Harry Potter
