I Wrote Too Much About Harry Potter

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, when Harry felt the most vulnerable to the connection he and Voldemort shared, his godfather imparted some advice on him, and I've been turning those words over in my head ever since.  "We've all got light and dark inside of us.  What matters is the part we choose to act on.  That's who we really are."  These words, coming from a framed murderer, who becomes one of Harry's biggest mentors.  Does that make Sirius wholly good?  He chose to turn away from his pureblood-supremacist family to fight a war against one of the darkest wizards of all time.  But, he was also prepared to kill Peter Pettigrew, a man he once considered to be a friend.  Does that make him wholly bad?

Let's turn to another, and perhaps the most controversial Harry Potter character: Severus Snape.  Regarded as the "bravest man [Harry] ever knew," his childhood friendship-turned-love drove him to spend 17 years protecting a Harry Potter, a boy who grossly resembled Snape's school-yard tormentor, James Potter.  The 17 years he spent living as a double-agent between the Death Eaters and the Order of the Phoenix was done purely out of love for Harry's mother, Lily.  But because of his courage, nobleness, and apparent selflessness, he still tormented and traumatized students to the point of pure fear, as featured in Prisoner of Azkaban when Neville Longbottom's boggart (the embodiment of someone's true fear) was Snape.  Many argue that Harry should not have named his son after Snape because of the problematic nature of his character and motives.  He was the one who reacted rashly and called Lily a slur, breaking their friendship. 

The dichotomy in the Harry Potter lies between the Death Eaters, the followers of Lord Voldemort, and the people who disagree, the bravest of whom join the Order of the Phoenix.  The Death Eaters continue to represent something along the line of the Klu Klux Klan or Nazis, as many of them are affluent and influential aristocrats and hold high positions in the Ministry of Magic.  They are pure evil, as then strive to eliminate every muggle wizard until there is only one pureblood magical race.  Let's keep in mind that their leader, Voldemort, is name after his muggle father: Tom Riddle.  

Then we have Harry Potter and his rag-tag bunch of misfit school friends (Dumbledore's Army) and the organization built by Dumbledore when Voldemort first rose to power, the Order of the Phoenix.  The members of the Order are of the marginalized groups including people like the Weasley's, a poor pureblood family and Remus Lupin, a werewolf.  They are the resistance to Voldemort's power. 

The crux in the wizarding war is that since the murder of his parents, unbeknownst to Voldemort, Harry is a Horcrux.  A piece of Voldemort's corrupt, power-hungry, and evil soul lives inside Harry.  That's why the Sorting Hat suggested that he could belong in Slytherin, the house Voldemort was in (and is also a descendant of the house's founder).  That's why Harry can speak to snakes like Voldemort.  That's why Harry is able to infiltrate Voldemort's mind, and tries to shut him out because the more he lets Voldemort in, the more he falls prey to evil.  It isn't until the end, when Harry accepts the fact and goes to sacrifice himself, similar to how Svetlana accepts her curse, in turn breaking it.  Harry's brave act allows him to choose life or the afterlife.  He chooses life, and love, two forces of nature Voldemort will never be able to understand.

This brings us to Anton.  What Nightwatch is able to do so expertly is not only address the relations between light and dark, but also the extensive grey area that lives between the two extremes.  Characters like Anton and Snape are part of that gray area.  For most of the film, in my opinion, we are lead to believe that Anton carries more evil in him than the people around him think he does, even though he belongs to the supposed "light" side.  Even from the beginning, when he tries to kill his unborn son so that his girlfriend will love him again is undoubtedly selfish.  He breaks the Truce and kills a vampire.  He is blinded by anger which pushes him to the point where Yegor chooses the Darks over his own father.  And in that, we realize that even though Nightwatch protects against the "evil" vampires, Daywatch is much more benevolent and accepting than they lead on.

While Harry Potter presents a stronger and more recognizable clash between forces, both it and Nightwatch are able to humanize the characters on either extremes.  The Malfoy family, prominent Death Eaters, are able to realize that their family means more to them than a silly war.  The Darks grieve the loss of one of their own and Gesser and Zavulon make efforts to negotiate and interact with one another without immediate violence.

Like Sirius told Harry, we are all born with good and evil.  We are all prey to agression, anger, and fear.  But we naturally seek love, warmth, and acceptance.  I think the side we align ourselves with is the side we want to be accepted into.  We all live in the grey area, skidding between either side.  Anton joins Nightwatch, after committing a fairly evil act, possible to repent and to prove he can be better even though his efforts are not fruitful as Yegor turns away and justfully joins the Darks.  This is goes along with Harry, when the connection between him and Voldemort grows stronger, refuses to give in to his aggression and finds the light in himself to continue on in the war. 

Was this too much close analysis into Harry Potter?  Yes.  Any regrets?  None that I can think of.