Julian Womble (0:00)

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Geese who'd encourage you to leave your 24.7geico motorcycle claims insurance behind, as they would take you in and even share their dinner of crickets and clovers with you. Geico assumes no liability for any indigestion that may occur from a clover cricket dinner. Geico expertise for your motorcycle. Welcome to Critical Magic Theory, where we deconstruct the wizarding world of Harry Potter. Because loving something doesn't mean we can't be critical of it. I'm Professor Julian Womble and today. Today is our second episode on the one and only Voldi V. Okay, because last time we did Tommy Ridd's, this time it's Voldy V. Right? We did nos and now we're doing no no's right y'all. I cannot wait for this episode. Because it Voldemort is just such an incredible character. Not because he's like the most evil of evil or anything other than the fact that he is the most ridiculous. Like, absurdity reigns supreme whenever he enters the scene bars. And it just strikes me as so incredible because he takes himself so like, you cannot tell this person that, like, he is not the it girl. And he really lives in a land of delusion that is so fascinating to experience because you're like, are we in the same place? Like, are we witnessing the same thing? Because, babe, you literally have been losing to a child from day one and that's crazy work. And the fact that you haven't come to the conclusion that maybe you should try different methods is really a testament to the ills of one's ego. And so I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am that we are going to be Diving into noseless Voldemort. Because even more than Tom Riddle, the absurdity is just so aggressive. It's top notch. It's amazing. The drama, the madness, the absurdity, it's all there. He gives it to us in spades. And so, y'all, you know, this is gonna be so much fun. But before we dive into all of this, you know what you have to do. You know what time it is. Don't pretend. Don't play games with me. You know what time it is. It's time for us to bop along to the theme song. And so you have a few more seconds to get yourselves ready before we really get into the bop. Because once you bop, the fun don't stop. Okay, that was a bit forced, so we won't account that as hashtag. That was embarrassing. I'm not deleting it, but we won't discuss it again because it never happened. So anyways, just get ready to bop. I. I feel the judgment and it's embarrassing for you because I'm already embarrassed. So judge away. Judgers, get ready to bop in three, two, one. Let's bop. We need to talk about Harry Potter. I have no idea what that let's bop voice was. I don't know if I was possessed by a BoP demon. I have no idea. But whatever it was, I'm sorry, that wasn't me. And we won't speak of it again. There's a lot of things that we won't be speaking of from this episode. We're about four minutes in, and I've already done a number of things that I'm ashamed of, but it's okay because I'm the only one in this room with me right now. And your judgment can be felt but is not seen and thus isn't real. So take that. I want to welcome us all to this episode. For those of us who are joining us after catching up, welcome. For those of us who have taken some time off and are back, welcome. Welcome to everybody. Welcome to madness. Welcome to Absurdity. Welcome to Voldemort. All right. I'm just embodying the energy that he brings to bear so often for most things. I want to take a moment to thank those of you who joined in the Patreon post episode chat on the Prof. Responds episode on Tommy Riddes, y'all. You gave me a lot to respond to, and I feel like we could just do back and forth episodes of me making something and then you responding because it just keeps the conversation going. And so making the response episodes is so much fun because it really does allow me to just dive into the things that you all say, to explicitly call out certain people for their comments, which is always a good time. And it also just helps us round out our thoughts and really brings home a lot of the things that we think about as we listen to the episodes. And so for that I am so grateful. I'm hoping that you all enjoy them as much as I enjoy doing them. And I'm just so happy that you all are joining in on the Patreon post episode chats because that's really where the chaos happens. That is where the chaos reigns supreme. That is where the fun is had. If you have not joined us, please feel free to do so. I also want to take a moment to thank the Chronic Overthinkers for our monthly meetup. We had it today actually, and it was a lot of fun, as always. We talked about what's going on with the TV show, our concerns, our fears, all the things which was a lot of fun. And then we ended with a bombshell of a not even a conversation, just a precursor to what the next meeting is going to be, which is gonna be our least favorite characters. And I'm very excited because it's gonna be chaotic and I know that it's gonna be chaotic. And so I'm very grateful to them for joining me today for a few hours to just chat and have a good time. It was so much fun. It was a conversation that was a little bit deep, but that's what we do here. We deep dive. So it's right on brand with what we do. For those of you who are Chronic Overthinkers who couldn't us or are not yet up to joining us in person or on the Zoom as it is those episodes episodes, those conversations are available for you on the Patreon. I also want to take a moment to shout out our newest Chronic Overthinkers, Marissa, Devin, Alaina and Merritt who joined us. Thank you so much for your support. It means so much to us and we hope to have you on our next well, Merritt was there today, but for those of you who haven't who've not joined us, please feel free to do so. It is a lot of fun. Again, very low stakes. You can just come and watch us chat and there's often a very lively Zoom chat situation going on. If you're not necessarily feeling up to participating with your voice, your voice can still be heard in other ways. And so if that's your vibe, I definitely welcome you joining us. There are other options for those of you who may not want to go full tilt and be a chronic overthinker. They're the deep divers. They are the outstanding owls. All of that is there for you to think about and consider. You can always join for free and be a part of our post episode chats and our Question of the Weeks. This week's Question of the Week is putting you in charge of resorting people who you think were not sorted correctly. It is lit right now. The chaos is chaosing, as it were, and people are having all kinds of fun and shenanigans on that particular thread. So I definitely invite you to check it out because it is a good, good, good time, y'all. I was serious about putting together a Tommy Riddz T shirt. I'm also thinking of potentially doing one for Voldemort so that we have like a legitimate Tom Riddle one and a Voldemort one. But we can't put all of our iterations on so we have to narrow it down to like five or six because it's just. Although some people said that they wanted like an image, but from, if I remember correctly, from when I've designed things for the other merch, I don't think it'll look as good. Maybe I'll mock some up and we can look at them and make some decisions. But anyways, please feel free to take your time in coming up with new nicknames for Voldemort. Like Post Nose Voldemort. Okay. You know we got Voldi V. You all have been incredible with coming up for with these nicknames and so let's keep it going and maybe we'll have two special edition shirts that we can have. Because again, nothing says exclusivity like merch that no one understands. Okay. Oh my goodness. It's like our dark mark. Except not dark or problematic. Anyways, you get what I'm saying? We're a club. The judgment coming off of you all tonight, well, when I'm recording it is really problematic. You want to think about that? Anyways, all of the fun that's being had is being had on the Patreon. Please feel free to join us again. You can join for free. Also, please feel free to follow me on social media. I am on Instagram Prof. JW on TikTok roffw. We have a website, criticalmagictheory.com if you decide this is important and I forgot to say it when we were talking about Patreon, so just pretend that I said it. Then if you're going to join our Patreon and you would like to become a financial subscriber, I highly recommend you do it via your browser and not via the app. Because if you do it via the app, Apple is doing all kinds of chicanery, foolishness and madness, and we're not here for just money grabbing. So I highly recommend doing it via your browser to save yourself some money. Okay? And before we dive into the episode, our next Half blood that we will be discussing is none other than Wormtail himself, Wormy Peter Pettigrew. Okay? And if you have not gone and looked at the question of the week, please go. Because what you will see is what I believe is a precursor to the madness and chaos that is going to be coming from this particular episode for this particular person. The survey will be available on the Patreon first on Thursday, so you will have it. And then I will disseminate it widely on Friday. So again, if you haven't gotten on the Patreon, this is your moment, this is your time, so that you can share your thoughts and beliefs about the one and only Peter Pettigrew. I can tell you now that one of the questions will be, is he a good Gryffindor? Okay, So I need your minds to start really ruminating on that fact. I know some people literally just screamed no just like that. You sounded like a cat. I know that you did that. I'm not even with you, but I know. And you can confirm in the post episode chat for this episode, because I know that's exactly what you did. Huh? I know it. Anyways, before we get to Wormtail, we have to finish and round out our conversation about his master. So it's time. Let's chat about the one and only Voldemort. Y'all. Some people have brought up to me the idea of how we say Voldemort. And you know, it's, it's strange because in the beginning of the Jim Dale books, he says Voldemort. And then I think it's right around Prisoner of Azkaban, he starts doing the tea. And so you might hear me use them interchangeably depending on my feelings. I know it comes from the French Voldemort. You know, I know that that's where it comes from. I can't do that every time I say it. And I also can't be clear or sure about what I'm going to do. So just know that I know that it's very highly likely that I am gonna mess it up and I'm not saying it right, but if I say it multiple ways, then we're all included because many of us also say it in different ways. So really, I'm just building community. Ever heard of it, y'all? I had to think about my favorite moment, and then I had to go back in and I had to ask ChatGPT, also known as Tom Riddle's Diary, what I said my favorite moment was in the last episode because I said that there were multiple favorite moments, and I had to make sure that I didn't repeat myself because that would be embarrassing. And I've already done that a couple times in this episode. And chat. Excuse me, I can't even say my diary's name. ChatGPT told me that I alluded to one, but didn't go into too much detail. And it literally said in parentheses, you're saving it for the next episode. And you know what that moment is, y'all? It's the graveyard scene. Hmm. It's the graveyard scene. Because that graveyard scene is one of the best moments in the entire series. Undeniably, hands down, one of the top moments of the entire series. The drama, the madness, the incredible execution of bringing yourself back into a body and then completely fumbling by not being able to kill your arch nemesis, who you did all of this to kill. How embarrassing, y'all. This moment has everything. But the reason why I love it so much is because I just. I can't get over the fact that Voldemort literally said, you know what? I know I have you here, Harry. I know I've got you trapped. I know I did this whole thing, literally came up with this entire plan to get your name in the Goblet of Fire, to get you all the way through it. I got one of my most loyal servants out of the mind control from his dad. I did all of this stuff. Spent a full on year planning this. But you know what? I don't have time to kill you right now. I really need to call all the girls. I need them here. I need them to see me do this. Because, like, if a tree falls in the forest and no one hears it, did it fall? And if Harry Potter is killed at my hand and no one sees it, did I do it? Like, we spent a considerable amount of time in the last episode discussing Voldemort's insecurity. And this is one of those moments where it's like, so to be clear, you've literally just like, for all intents and purposes, resurrected yourself. You have done crazy magic that no one heretofore has ever thought to do or, like, try to figure out. And you said, it's not enough. Everyone needs to see it. I need to call back the girls. It's crazy, because also, it's like, so you could have killed Harry and then called them and been like, look, y'all. Look what I did. Like, they would have believed it was you. You've just come back from the dead. You've just gotten a body. Like, they would have believed you. And so the fact that you said, no, no, no, I know I have you here, and it would be a lot easier, but you know what else I'm gonna do instead of just calling them all here and being like, Avada Kedavra, I want to make sport of it. I want to make a show. Like, he's a diva. I joke all the time with my students. I'm like, this is real housewife behavior. It's literally giving. When the housewives throw some random party at a house or at a restaurant for reasons unknown. And it really is just so that, like, the person throwing the party can corner another person who slighted them in a very minimal way, but they want everyone there so that they can, like, cuss them out and have an audience. Because it's not good if I just called you over, because I need witnesses so that they can say that I said the thing that I said. Even though this is all being televised and will be discussed at the reunion, I think it's better if we do it over bruschetta and a glass of wine or whatever cocktail they come up with. And it is just so funny to me that Voldemort was like, yeah, honestly, I know that I went through all of this, but I think I need an audience. And if I have an audience, well, I mean, obviously, we have to give them a show. So, Harry, let's do a little duel. Let's do all of this stuff. And then he completely fumbles the bag. It's incredible. It's amazing, and it really does, for me, sum up who Voldemort is as a person, where there's so little actual substance to the villainy and so much pomp and circumstance. I'm like, you're cosplaying what you think a villain should do, and that's why you're messing up, because you actually don't have the, like, villainous wherewithal to be able to pull this off the way that you need to. You can come up with a good plan. Oh, you can hatch a scheme. But when it comes to actually doing it. Your insecurity gets in the way of your execution every single time. Like, and we talked a little bit in the last episode about the ego, but it's. It's a combination of the two, right? And it's just that the graveyard scene is so amazing. But as I was thinking about it, one thing that also stood out to me. And please feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, and I know that you will, because I think you all like correcting me. All right? I think you do. But I also think that this is a moment where, you know, when Harry first shows up, Voldemort gets his body back. Wormtail is wormtailing wherever he's wormtailing. And, you know, Voldemort tells his story. He tells Harry, like, this is my father's grave. This is. And Harry has no idea about any of this. And I think that this is the only moment where we really do get a sense of, you know, Voldemort really openly acknowledging the fact that he is a Half Blood, right? Like, up until this moment, we have never known that about him. Like, we don't know anything about his background. And Harry is kind of traumatized to the point of not really even recollecting that when we learn more about him in Half Blood Prince. But this moment in the graveyard, in addition to all of the madness and ridiculousness is really one of the few moments where we actually see Voldemort openly acknowledging and discussing his parentage in, like, a meaningful way. And part of it is because I think he feels like he's getting revenge on his dad for being a Muggle by having to use his bone in the potion to bring him back. But it also is just such a fascinating thing because it's another weird moment of bonding between Voldemort and Harry because he's basically trusting Harry with information that he's told literally no one. And, I mean, I think he probably did it under the guise that he was gonna kill Harry that night, so it wouldn't really matter. But I still think it's fascinating that that was a choice that he made. But that's not why I love the scene. I love the scene because it could easily be on Bravo and would feel very, very apropos. And it's one of the best scenes in the movie. Like, I think Grace Fiennes does some of the best Voldemort acting in that scene. And it's just. It's so iconic on so many dimensions. And I love it so, so, so, so much. For this episode's arithmancy lesson, we had 777 responses. And the first question that we're going to tackle is, is Voldemort a good person? Now, I know that many of us were looking for 100% in terms of the answer to this question, and unfortunately, we didn't get it. 98.7% of us said, no, he is not a good person. And 1.2% of us said, don't know. I'm convinced, I am convinced that Those people, that 1.2% chaos people, people who knew that the answer was going to be undoubtedly no, and decided, like, I don't want there to be unanimity, so we're just going to be chaotic. It's like the people who voted against Renaissance being made Album of the Year because they thought it was a foregone conclusion and they thought that was boring, so they decided to do something else. Harbingers of chaos, agents of dissent. And honestly, you know that I love it. I didn't love it for Beyonce because Renaissance is a masterpiece, but I do love it for this because I just think it's funny. Someone wrote, is Voldemort a good person? Hell, no. As an adult, he made every choice possible to be as evil as he could be. He didn't even seem to struggle with morality. He fully embraced being awful. Another person wrote, voldemort doesn't seem to have been a good person at any point in his life. He never showed kindness, compassion or remorse. Even when he was young. He used his power to dominate others rather than connect with them. And one more person wrote, I see what you're doing separating Tom and Voldemort. But if we take Voldemort as he is, the man is obsessed with power and immortality. He is as far from good as possible. He had no care for anything but himself. Y'all, this question is the easiest question I think we've answered for most of these characters, because like Bellatrix, like Lucius, he has no intention or desire to be good. He doesn't care about being good. He's not invested in being good. Voldemort is invested in being powerful. And it's so fascinating, right, because he tells Harry in Sorcerer Philosopher's Stone, there is no good or evil, there's only power. And I think he firmly, fully believes that. Like, that's not just stuff that he's saying to try to get the Stone from Harry. I think he fully believes that whatever it takes to get to what you need is good. And what is so Interesting about these books, right, is we really do come across multiple characters whose behavior is kind of captured in the idea of whatever it takes, right? The ends justify the means. It's a very Gryffindorian kind of mentality, right, of, like, doing whatever it takes to get the job done. And I think that this speaks to the fact that Slytherins and Gryffindors are two sides of the same coin. Because I think for Voldemort, he's like, whatever it takes. I know that I want to live forever. I'm gonna split my soul. Are there repercussions? Probably. Are there things that could happen? You know, me splintering my soul so much? It's possible, but at the end of the day, I know what I want, and I'm willing to do whatever it takes to get that thing, and so I'm gonna do it. And I don't need to be a good person. I'm not interested in being a good person. I'm interested in being a powerful person. And if you see that my pursuit of power is evil, that's your business, not mine. I firmly believe that that's the way that he views that, that he isn't interested in being good. And you know what? And I just thought about this. I love that. I love that, because I think that. And I've talked about this a lot, you know, for a lot of our Pure Blood characters. But I talked a little bit about how, like, in the fandom, it's much easier to be a bad character than it is to be a good character, because everyone always wants to redeem you, and they want to find the reason why you are the way that you are so that they can kind of try to fix you. Because, like, you know, someone once asked me, like, if you can't, if there's no redemption for Draco, then what's the point? And I love that we have a character where he doesn't even want to be redeemed. He's not interested in redemption. He doesn't even think that what he's doing is wrong because it's all in pursuit of his goals. And, like, that's Peak Slytherin to me. I love the fact that Voldemort introduces us to the idea that, like, some people are beyond saving, some people don't want to be saved. Some people don't care about what you think about them and are really interested in just doing what they believe is best for them. And I love that he is this character. I love that he is a person who's like, I mean, yeah, love, take it. I mean, love foiled my plans, so that's a bit annoying. But in the grand scheme of things, I know what I want and I know what I have to do to get it, and I'm going to do it. I'm not gonna do it well. I'm not gonna be effective at doing it, but I am going to do it. And that, to me, is incredible. I just. I'm. I like that we have this kind of character because I know we have a lot of characters who live in the shade of gray, and I love that as well. But I love that there's a character, particularly a man character, because a lot of the women characters don't even get the opportunity to be redeemed. But I love that we have a man character that very few of us are actually interested in redeeming. And it seems to me that with what we know of his character, he's not actually interested in being redeemed. And that's amazing because, like, I just think that's real life. Like, there are just some people who do not care. They're not interested in trying to be good people. And they're. And what's more is they're not interested in trying to project the idea that they are good people. Right? There are a lot of people in the world who want you to think they are good people even when they are not good people. Right? And then there are people who are good people, and that has nothing to do with, you know, you perceiving them as such. And then there are the Voldemort's of the world, where it's like, I simply do not care what you think of me. I'm going to do what I want to do. And whether or not you think it's justified isn't my business. Whether or not you think it's good isn't my business. And there's something about that that I find outlandishly refreshing. Just someone who's like, I give zero Fs and frankly, it's none of my business what you think of me. I want to live forever. And if that means that I've got to, you know, take a couple people down on the journey, I will. If it means that I literally am going to go into a home and try to kill a baby, I will. And for no other reason than self interest, I'm gonna do that. And you know what? I'm not gonna say kudos to Voldemort, but I will say that I like that we have this kind of character that invites us to really think about what are the kind of bounds of goodness and what are the things where it's like this person is beyond the ability for us to want, to fix, to want to repair, to want and what's more they don't even want it. The next question is one that I'm really excited about which is is Voldemort a good leader to the death eaters? About 80% of us said no, 15% of us said yes and about 5% of us said don't know. Someone wrote I am torn on the is he a good leader to the Death Eaters question but I find my answer when I stop reading after the word leader. Voldemort is almost exclusively self serving and therefore cannot be a good leader. While there are literal slaves throughout the wizarding world, Voldemort treats everyone below him as such. Being a Death Eater only protects you when there is someone else in the room to abuse. Another person wrote Voldy is not a good leader to the Death Eaters although he is their unifier in hate and oppression. All he cares about is his quest for immortality and obsession with Harry at the cost of their lives at times by his own hand Most of them don't even go looking for him after he disappears or show up when he returns. They are all too afraid of him and only follow him out of fear and or as an excuse to be cruel to others. His downfall also is due to his indifference to his followers feelings. Looking at you Snape another person wrote Voldemort is not a good leader to the Death Eaters. He runs that thing like an mlm. He gets his followers to recruit others including their own children and makes intense investments to his cause placing their life and livelihoods manor bank accounts at his disposal for fake and fickle status rewards. Oh my God this is literally giving cult it's giving documentary on hbo. He forces them to get tattoos that make them social pariahs in the rest of the wizarding society giving them no choice but to lean in. He also he'd kill them if they didn't. He knows how to make them feel special when he needs to for example giving Wormtail a silver BMW hand but ultimately Peter couldn't make that car the car payment and Voldemort knew that the metaphors, the Colts, the BMWs car payments incredible incredible work and someone else wrote I struggled with this one because he is not a good leader but he leads them effectively. His cruelty and lack of awareness of his followers weakness was critical in his downfall, y'all. This is interesting. And I knew when I asked the question that it was gonna be a chaotic one because I think that we have to think about, you know, what does it mean to be a good leader? And this is something that we're gonna have to think about for Dumbledore as well. So get your answers ready now. Because Voldemort, as people alluded to in their responses really only uses the Death Eaters for the purposes of kind of furthering his own agenda and not for the purposes of actually, like doing anything. He seemingly has them around because it makes him feel powerful. But in the grand scheme of things the only big scheme we see them really doing at his behest is looking for the prophecy in order of the Phoenix. In all of the other contexts, we don't really see them doing anything for him as a collective, right? Like, we see individual Death Eaters being chosen to do certain things. We see Malfoy being charged with, you know, going to kill Dumbledore. We see Snape given the backup for that very thing. We see. But like, as a collective, he doesn't really do anything with them. He kind of brings them all together. But that again, it's almost as if he's afraid to be alone. Like, it's like a codependency thing, right? Like, after 13 years of being, you know, less than smoke he's like, I just need people around me. Right? And so he gathers the Death Eaters not really to do anything because again, like, the tasks he's been given or that he's given them are really individualized, right? And so. And I think that a lot of the responses really hit the nail on the head with the idea of, like, yeah, and they don't really care to do anything for him. I think for many the Death Eater, many of the Death Eaters, it's a status symbol. I think that many of them probably joined up because they. Not necessarily because they full on believe in whatever they believe Voldemort believes. That's very meta, but you get it. But because it's a status symbol in their social circles we're talking about a bunch of bored rich people who have very little to do with their lives other than be in social clubs. I feel like the Death Eaters, particularly before Voldemort returned was basically just like going to the country club and being like, what did you do today? And having a special little cigar room when you can wax poetic on days of old when you used to go torture Muggles and you can use Slurs in this place and no one's gonna say anything because you're in good company, right? Like, to be a Death Eater was meant to kind of find belonging. And in that way, it's like, even worse than a cult because, like, at least in an mlm, you're getting something out of it. I think they got more out of being Death Eaters before he came back than they did when he returned. And so if that's true, you know, I don't think he's a good leader. I think he's a decent delegator. But I'm, like, leading them to do what? Like, what is he leading them to do? I mean, he really doesn't even do much in the way of put, you know, putting forth pure blood supremacy. Right? Like, we know he holds the ideology, but I highly doubt that the Muggle born registry was his idea. I think it was probably something he was like, yeah, sure, you all do whatever you need to do. Because for most of Deathly Hallows, he's not even around. He's running around looking for a new wand. He's running around, like, trying to make sure the Horcruxes are secure by the end. Like, he's not around. He's on trips, okay? He's jet setting off and basically letting them do whatever they wanted because his goal has nothing to do with whatever theirs is. How can you be a leader when, like, you may share an ideology, but the goal structure of you and your followers is drastically different? Like, it has nothing. They have nothing to do with one another. And I mean, I guess there are cults where that's the case. He's not even, like, engaging with them in any meaningful way. It's just he's given them the status to be able to feel superior to other people and he gives other people within the rank status, right? Like, Lucius used to walk around like a peacock before he was humbled and sent to the band. Right? Snape doesn't really care about any of this because he has to kind of go to a sociopathic place to kind of be able to play double agent. But, like, Voldemort does not care about any of these people. And I don't even think that they care about that. I think the only one who's truly invested is Bellatrix. And we've talked a lot about that. But in terms of him being a leader, he is literally just, like, using them for, like, their houses. It's giving Fyre Festival, right? Like, it's giving. This is a scam. Like, we've Made you believe a thing is going to be a thing and I can give you a piece of it. Like, I can fly you out to whatever the island the Fyre Festival was on. But you thought you were going to be eating steak because you paid the extra price. You're not, you're not. You're gonna get cheese sandwiches because we have no food. You thought you were gonna get a live performance. You're not. You're not getting that. Like, you're not getting any of that. It's really giving Fyre Festival type vibes. And to the points made in the other responses, everyone's just too afraid to acknowledge it. And that's why nobody cared when he was gone, right? Like, because I don't think that most other people who are Death Eaters who took the Dark Mark took it because they full on believed in him. They believed in pure blood supremacy and he was a means to an end. And when he left, they still had the status and frankly, that's all they wanted. They did not want anything else other than the status. To be in a space with each other and be like, remember Nguyen and do you know who I am? That's all they wanted, y'all. I recorded this a second ago and did a little Mariah Carey impression and it didn't work. It was a little too jarring and terrifying and I decided to spin spare you that. So you're welcome. It is time for us to talk about whether or not Voldemort is a good half blood. Okay, we're going to approach this a little bit differently than we did for Good Pure blood. So just, we're going on a journey. Come with me on this. 78% of us said, no, he is not a good half blood. 7% of us, give or take, said, yes, he is. And about 15% of us said, don't know. Someone wrote, I don't believe that Voldemort is a good half blood because I think that the prescribed role of half bloods in wizarding society is out of assimilation. He may have wanted to pretend that he wasn't a half blood and he may have bought wholeheartedly into wizarding supremacy, but he intentionally misses the good half blood mark. A good half blood refills the ranks of the wizarding world so that wizarding society can survive the challenges that generations of intermarrying has wrought while often leaving their non magical culture at the door. Voldemort's decimation of the wizarding society runs in direct opposition to this. Someone else wrote, is Voldemort a good half blood. No, he hides that part of himself for clout. Another person wrote, I would define a good half blood as someone who sees the value in both parts of their heritage and uses the strengths of both. So again, he's not doing a great job there. He, he could be more effective at being evil if he used some of his Muggle upbringing in combination with magic. And one more person wrote, the Death Eaters were more of a cheering squad for him to make himself feel better about being half blood, he knew he was at the top of that group and ensure that he stayed that way by giving out punishments that didn't fit the bill. Now this is fascinating because I think the way that many of us conceptualize the idea of what it meant to be a good pureblood. As per our questions on the Patreon, I asked two questions for those of you who either aren't on the Patreon or are joining us after all this has happened. But anyways, I asked two questions. One was open ended, what is a good half blood? And then I had my diary distill down those two things into two kind of responses so that I could create a poll so that we could try to standardize this. The two options were a good half blood is one who fully assimilates, upholds the blood hierarchy and does not acknowledge or celebrate their Muggle ancestry. And the second option was a good half blood is someone who embraces both identities and actively challenges the discrimination embedded within the Wizarding society. We had about 235 people from the Patreon and, you know, answer the question so that we could see if we could get a standardized response. And 81% of us chose the latter, which is the one about embracing both identities. And only 19% of us said it's one that fully assimilates. Now then, of course, because it's us and we can never make anything too easy. People wrote in the comments about how they felt like, you know, we didn't really have, we needed the nuance. And one of the things that really stood out to me in the comments is, is the fact that we had two. Our two answer options, right, that were kind of synthesized down were the reality and the hope and goal, right? Like the reality of the situation is, is that in a society that privileges pure blood people and is kind of run by pure blood supremacy, the goal of having half bloods come in is that they kind of buy into the society the way that it is, not try to change it, not try to integrate anything into it. But rather just accept it for what it is and become an operating member of that society and not trying to disrupt it in any way. Because that's how societies are maintained, right? Like that's the assimilation. And I think that that is the ultimate goal of the magical world. On the other hand, I think that we presented another option which is the idealized version of individuals being able to kind of integrate other aspects of their lives into the magical world. Now part of this works on the assumption that isn't correct, right? That every half blood is bringing in Muggle blood or Muggle society into the magical world. Which isn't true, right? Because again as I talked about in the post episode chat for the pureblood showdown, I believe if you are not pureblood or Muggle born, you are half blood, right? Like half blood is a catch all. So there are a lot of half bloods that are socialized and grow up in the magical world who have no sense of what it is to not be in it, right? So we meet Harry obviously, who is a half blood, but he is more of a rarity I think, than what we get from other individuals, right? Like Severus Snape is someone who grew up in the Muggle world but also had a magical parent. And so he probably might have had the Hannah Montana of it all. The best of both worlds for those of you who didn't watch Disney Channel in the early aughts. But we also have Dumbledore, right, who is someone who is also half blood but had a mother who was Muggle born and a father who was pure blood and he did not grow up in the Muggle world, right? So the expectation that a good half blood would be someone who is bringing in and integrating in the Muggle part of their lives is kind of a fallacy because there are a lot of half bloods for whom that is not going to be true. So we have to kind of amend that particular expectation for certain individuals because they're not going to be able to do that. Now for Voldemort he could because he was socialized and grew up in the non magical world. And so he has the ability to potentially be able to bring these two things together. But also remember that there is no incentive to do that in the structure. You gain nothing by bringing in any sort of Muggle anything into the magical world. In fact, if we think about the way that individuals are educated at Hogwarts, they are educated to really see themselves as superior to non magical people. And we often get a sense that no one really goes Back to the non magical world when they finish. Hogwarts, right? Like the Hogwarts 2 Ministry pipeline is strong and the Hogwarts 2 staying in the magical world is also strong, right? Like they effectively punish you for using magic in the presence of non magical people. Which means that if you leave and you're in the, in a majority non magical place, you can't really perform magic because it would be against the Statute of Secrecy. So they've taught you how to do all of this amazing stuff and now all of a sudden you can't go back. So even those individuals who are coming out of non magical places, right, who are either, who are Muggle raised half blood people, they still aren't going back. And they probably aren't even really being that socialized in spaces that are super, super non magical because the magical parent, if indeed they are in the home with that person, can't do magic in those spaces. And so like what it's. It stands to reason, right, that a lot of these individuals are not being brought up in the Muggle world to the extent that they can then bring that in as a meaningful kind of contribution to their own identity, but also to the way that we understand the world. So I say all of that to say that our idealized version of is kind of based on a belief that isn't necessarily founded for every single character and also works against the way that the structure is set up. But that doesn't mean that we can't interrogate the possibility of this person doing this kind of work. And I think that there are some characters who would be more amenable and more willing to do that than others. Voldemort's not doing it, right? He is not going to meet Barr for being a good pure blood with this particular definition, right? With the definition of kind of bridging the world. He wants to leave the Muggle world behind. It has done nothing for him. It is a reminder of his father, who he does not like, who abandoned him. It is a reminder of mortality. It is a reminder of mediocrity. Nothing in the Muggle world has anything for him that he wants to bring into the magical world. And I think it's really for that reason that he leans so far into the goal structure of assimilating into the magical world. So much so that he actively, you know, forsakes a lot of any or a lot of the indicators that he is half blood at all, right? So much of what he does is trying to like forsake and leave behind all indicators of that particular aspect of his identity. And I think that a lot of that is the byproduct of a very, very deep desire to be away from that. And I think, interestingly, right, like he has this in common with Harry, who also, because of his own experiences in the non magical world, is very, very, very strong in his will and desire to jettison non magical things and kind of fall full tilt into the magical world. And again, there are kind of social and political and magical incentives to do that. But I also do think that the other incentive is there is nothing for them in the non magical world and they don't need a lot of prompting from the magical world to realize that is true. So when we think about whether or not Voldemort is a good half blood, I think the answer is yes and no, right? Yes to the notion of assimilation and no to the kind of idealized version of that question. And I think that the reason why he is such a good pureblood is because he fully buys in, he asks no questions and in fact is probably kind of the idealized version of what the magical world wants, which is someone who goes full tilt into believing and subscribing to a lot of the social and political structural details of the magical world without much provocation. Right? Because he wants so bad to be special. He wants so bad to be seen in a very particular way. He's not interested in trying to bridge the gap. And I think that a lot of the people that we meet won't be interested because, you know, while we as obviously non magical people, you know, can see the merits, they are socialized from 11 years old. And this is from people who are coming out of the Muggle world. Not even people who have magical people in their families, in their, you know, parentage, but they're socialized to see it as barbaric, right? As being very much less than. And so there's no reason for us to believe that any half blood truly would want to be a part of the magical, magical and non magical world simultaneously. Right. Voldemort does a great job through the lens of our understanding of kind of assimilation and bringing in all of these. He does a great job at really blending in. And it helps that he's really talented, but it also helps that he doesn't like the non magical world because most of the people in the magical world don't either. And so if I had to characterize whether he's a good half blood or not, I would say absolutely, he's probably the best. He's the most. He's the ideal candidate for what it would mean to be a good half blood, because you're not asking any questions, you've just bought in. And that means that the system gets to remain the way that it is. And there is no integration of anything because you don't want to integrate it. And honestly, we don't want you to integrate it. And so for that reason, I think he is the best half blood for that. Now, for our own idealized version, absolutely not. Right. He doesn't do any of that. And I think we're gonna be hard pressed to find half bloods that do. But I think it'll be interesting and a fun exercise for us to think about it through the lens of this kind of bifurcation, because I do think that there will be people who may be more likely to do it, but we have to remember the structure that we're operating within and that while it would be great, it is not beneficial to the individuals to do that because you lose the ability to do magic if you decide to leave or even bring anything in. And also, at least via the propaganda of the wizarding world, there aren't a lot of things that you can bring with you from the non magical world into the magical world. And because of the way the society is set up, why would you. You would be seen as a pariah and it's not socially beneficial. And so what we would be asking individuals to do is really push against the grain in a society that is already very small and already very polarized. And so we can see why Voldemort didn't do that, right? One, because he didn't want to. But two, because if he is a person who's out here looking for belonging, as I'm sure many people who are in the mag in the non magical world and showing magical abilities are, well, then you wouldn't want to be excommunicated from that place or kind of shunned because you're trying to bring in something that's looked down on. We start and we end. Our questions segment our arithmency lesson with fairly easy questions. The next question is, is Voldemort a villain? 99.1% of us said yes and 0.8% said no. I just. The chaos. I know that people were like, I know that this is probably going to be 100% but not on my watch. And the fact that it wasn't even. Don't know, it was just. No, it's even more chaotic and I don't want to promote this behavior because I do want to know what character we're going to get that's going to give us 100%. I think I already know. But I know that if I say the character, the contrarians amongst us will make it their duty to make sure that they ruin it. So I'm not going to say who I think it is, but I do have a person in mind who I think will unite the kingdoms and even the contrarians will not be able to stand against this particular person. But again, I'm not gonna say who it is because you won't get me. Someone wrote, is Voldemort a villain? Yes. He was shown to be a cruel bully when he was really young. He tortured other orphans to the point that adults noticed they were different. He killed animals. He. He murdered Myrtle and framed Hagrid for it. Even before he had power, he was harming others for his own amusement. He doesn't just do evil things, he enjoys it. Another person wrote, while I think Voldemort is a terrible bad guy in the sense that his downfall. Oh, is a terrible bad guy. Got it. Not a terrible comma bad guy, but a terrible bad guy in the sense that his downfall was embarrassingly predictable, that doesn't make him less of a villain. He is one of the most fear inducing figures in the wizarding world's history and he was willing to murder anyone, including children, to achieve power. His ideology of pure blood supremacy made him a genocidal maniac and his complete lack of empathy or remorse cements his status as a villain. Y'all, this is self evident. Not only is Voldemort a villain, he is the, the villain. He's our big bad. And I think that, again, what I enjoy about him is that he knows that like, you know, I do like a villain that is a villain because of a good reason. Right. Something happened to them and all of a sudden they turned out to be bad. But really they have a justification for why they're doing it. I like those kinds of characters. I find them to be interesting. You know, that's our Snape, right? I'm glad Voldemort's not one of those characters. I love that Voldemort is just a person who has an antisocial personality disorder and is an absolute, complete and utter disaster and doesn't care. And I just think that in a series where we live in shades of gray for all these characters, I like that we have a character who is very clear and is clear to himself. Like, again, I love that he's not trying to be something he's not. He's so very clear about who he is and what he wants and what he's willing to do to get it. And for me, that works. I love a clean cut, clear cut situation. And he offers that to us in a very meaningful and important way. I do think that, you know, some people have tried to absolve him of some of what he does because of how he was conceived, his experiences in the orphanage. And I think that this episode and the last episode, particularly the last episode and the response episode, really shines a light on why that just does not hit for me. And I, again, I don't think that even he would say that any of those circumstances led him to do what he wanted to do. And I, you know, I know that there are people in the world who are like, no one is inherently bad. I think Voldemort is. I think he. I think he is. And, you know, I don't know if you all remember that song, I Wanna Be Bad. You make bad look so good. Like, I feel like that's Voldemort's theme song. Like, who was that? Was that dream anyways? It was a bop, and you should look it up. That's definitely from the early aughts and it is a bop. And I think that it's Voldemort's theme song. And I, you know, and I think that. And what else is interesting, right, is I feel like he thinks he's justified in doing it because not only just for the power, but also I do think that if we wanted to create a narrative of like, well, you know, what is his justification? I think he feels like he was done wrong. And I feel like a lot of what he is doing is all in pursuit of trying to prove to himself and to others that, like, he was dealt the wrong hand in life. And he's like, we're reshuffling the deck and I'm redealing my hand and I'm getting back what I think I lost and what I believe I deserved. And so I'm rewriting the story. And I don't want to jump too much into that because this is a perfect segue into my reflection. But I want to give us a chance to have a little music before we get into it. So just know that we're going to dive right into that particular dynamic. But, yes, he is a villain. He is the villain. And I think it works really, really well. And I don't think that any of the other circumstances that People can point to. Even if those things didn't exist, I still think he would be the way that he is because I think that one, that's how he's written. But two, like his desire and his quest for certain things is what motivates him, right? And I think, I think I didn't ask this question for Voldemort but I do think that I keep thinking of, you know, the Sorting Hat being like Slytherins will do basically whatever it takes to achieve their ends. And I think in theory that just means whatever it takes to get a good grade at Hogwarts. But I think that Voldemort takes that particular mentality, that particular belief and really, really runs with it in an aggressive way. Because anytime you're willing to stand face to face with a one year old at a crib and you have the Killing Curse on your mind, that's crazy work. We've now reached the point of the episode where I'm going to reflect on voldv. When I was thinking about what this reflection would be about I kept coming back to the graveyard scene, duh, because it's the best. And one of the things that really stood out to me was the fact that he tells Harry that he is a half blood. And I talked about this at the beginning of the episode but it is a really kind of big moment because it's not something I think Tom Riddle, Voldy v, Tommy Riddoes very often, right, give voice to the fact that he is not a pureblood despite being a pureblood supremacist. And I kept thinking about, like, why wouldn't he just tell the Death Eaters? I remember years ago I made a video that I posted on TikTok about how Voldemort, how the Death Eaters knew that Voldemort was half blood. And people immediately got on like they didn't know. And I went back and they were right. You see, I'll admit sometimes when I'm wrong, okay, they were right insofar that he told Harry in that moment that he was a half blood. But this is not something that he kind of says a lot. And I, and I just, I can't understand why, like, why wouldn't you just tell them? Like, do you honestly believe that they're not gonna follow you anymore? Like these people have a tattoo that basically has like a tracking device in it. At this point they're locked in. At this point they believe in you. So what is this about? Like, why is it that you feel so inclined to keep this hidden And I think that it's because it has nothing to do with the Death Eater. It's like Voldemort is delusional. And I think he firmly believes that if he operates like a pure blood supremacist, like a pureblood, if people think that he is one because of his ideology, that he will actually become one. And maybe it's not that he'll become one, but rather that he believes that like it doesn't matter if everyone else believes you're pure blood then you are for all intents and purposes pure blood. And so, so much of his mentality is based on this idea of like, well, if no one knows my parentage, if no one knows my past, if all anyone knows is that I'm the heir of Slytherin. And I make that very clear all the time because I've got Nagini with me every chance I get and she and I are yakking it up, okay? In Parseltongue, I want you to know that I'm different from you. And the only other Parsel tongue that we know or Parsel mouth that we know is Salazar Slytherin. Locking me in to the pure bloodedness. I don't have all of the other accoutrements, but y'all do. This isn't about trying to convince them that he's pure blood. I think it's about making himself feel like he actually is. It has nothing to do with, you know, the desire to kind of trick them because I think he knows that they're locked in. I think he knows like, especially the people who, like Barty Crouch Jr. He doesn't care. He's got daddy issues. He's looking for a surrogate father. Voldemort stepped up, right? Snape, Bellatrix, right? Like all of these people are not coming to him because they believe he's pureblood. They believe in him, they believe in what he believes. But he's also offering them something that they're not getting in other places. And so like them knowing he's half blood wouldn't change anything. I mean Snape is a half blood and he is Voldemort's like right hand man. Literally, right? Like it strikes me that this whole endeavor has nothing to do with the Death Eaters per usual, right? Like Voldemort doesn't care about the Death Eaters and this is all part of the delusion that he is creating for himself to actually pretend like this is his life. You know, it's like when you take the, the lie detector test and the way to beat it so that your heart rate doesn't spike is to basically believe the lie. I think that that's what he is doing. And it's fascinating because like in a lot of history books they talk about like African Americans who could pass for white during the 20s and 30s and 40s and 50s. And anyways, you get it that they would have to literally forsake their entire lives and live their lives as white people and have no connection whatsoever to black anything. Because if anyone found out, then that was basically like a death sentence, right? And it strikes me that you, in order for that to work, you really have to buy into the delusion and you have to go above and beyond. You really have to work hard for people to believe this, right? And so we talked a lot about how Voldemort just kind of does like really outrageously unnecessary things like calling the girls, the gays, the days to the, to the graveyard so that they can see him there to beat Harry, right? All of these instances of him doing the most dueling Dumbledore in the Ministry of Magic. Like, why do you even need to do that? Especially since you didn't want the Ministry to even know that you were there. This wasn't supposed to be your coming out party and yet somehow you decided that this was the moment. It just, it's all in service of trying to prove something to someone, right? And I think that that someone is himself. Like, I think he is actively working so hard to prove that he is not a half blood. Like, I think the changing of his name feels like more than just trying to get people to get on board with him being special. It's literally like I am completely trying to redefine who I. I am stepping into who I believe I am. And so I am changing my name, I am changing my appearance. Like I literally want to forsake every part of it. And it's not just his father, right? It's also his mom. It's the Gaunt family name which gives him nothing. It serves no purpose. It connects him to Salazar Slytherin, but so does Parseltongue. So he just completely transforms himself and fully believes in it. And it's not for the sake of being believed by the Death Eaters, but it's for the sake of believing it himself. Because all the insecurities that we've talked about him having don't matter if you are the top pure blood dog. And so when we look and see him doing all of these things, right, living in the manor house for a little While taking over Malfoy Manor, putting Hufflepuff's cup into Bellatrix's vault. Like all of these things, all of the trappings of pure bloodedness that he can't have. He uses the Death Eaters as a means by which to further his delusion. And they're willing to do it because they are willing to give him their undying loyalty. And so it allows for him to be able to do all of this when in reality it has nothing to do with them. He wants followers because he needs people to affirm him so that he feels better about the choices that he is making. But at the end of the day it's all about him. And that's why he's not a good leader. It's why he's so villainous. It's why he doesn't care about losing these individuals. It's because it's all about him and it's all about furthering his desire to be a Pure Blood. And so he is willing to assimilate so much that he is willing to literally forsake every aspect of his life except for the one thing that matters the most to him which is being connected to Salazar Slytherin. Because he was the Pure Blooded of the Pure Blooded, right? The creme de la creme. The purest of the pure. And so the idea of like him not telling the Death Eaters has nothing to do with the fact that he thinks that somehow they would leave him or forsake him, but rather because if he says it out loud to anyone else, it becomes real. And I think the fact that he told Harry is really, really, really monumental. And I do again think it's partially because he planned on killing Harry. And with Harry the secret died. And I wonder if he felt better, if he felt better about telling Harry. Like, if it just felt like a weight off his shoulders to say, like, hey, like here's another thing that we have in common. And like I took back ownership of who I am by taking my father's bone and getting this new body. Like I've done all of this work to reimagine myself and it's for me, it has nothing to do with anyone else. I don't want to be basic anymore. I don't want to feel like I'm basic. I don't want to look in the mirror and see the face of the person who abandoned me who was mediocre to the Nth degree because he was a Muggle. I don't want to have the last name of a family that can do nothing for me. I don't want to have a middle name of a family that can do nothing for me. I want none of it. I will rename myself and I will perform a lot of acts that get people on my side so that they won't ask any questions and that they will just assume. Because that's the beautiful thing about blood status. You only know if I tell you I can fake it, I can pretend to be pure blood and you will be none the wiser. Especially if I espouse the beliefs that I know that you have and not only espouse them if I go one step further. And so I think that for Voldemort, so much of his behavior and his actions are motivated by the desire to simply not be who he is. And that what he ultimately ends up doing and is kind of trying to rewrite history in a way that is impossible and what ultimately becomes one of Harry's biggest weapons is not only love, but it's the truth. It's knowing who he truly is and leveraging that knowledge in a way that is disarming for him in their final battle at Hogwarts. And I think that, you know, it's so fascinating because Dumbledore always tells people, like, fear of a name only increases fear itself. And I think that that's why Tom Riddle changed his name, because he was afraid of what it meant to be Tom Marvolo Riddle. Not afraid in the sense of, like, ooh, it's scary. But afraid. Because it meant that he was literally just like everyone else. And for him, normalcy is a fate worse than death. And we know how he feels about death. This has been another episode of Critical Magic Theory. I'm Professor Julian Womble and if you liked today's episode, first of all, thank you all so much. Please feel free to, like, rate, subscribe and do all the things that one does where pods are cast. Remember that we have our post episode chat on Patreon. Please feel free to join us@patreon.com criticalmagictheory y'all. Please feel free to follow me on social media, Roff, JW on Instagram and Prof. W on TikTok, Y'all, we are going to be having our Prof. Response episode. So please come to the Patreon and give me something to respond to. And then in two weeks we'll be talking about Peter Pettigrew. The survey will be up on Thursday. It is going to be a time, y'all. I can't wait. And until then, be critical and stay magical, my friends. Bye.