Harry Potter's Lord Voldemort and the Future Trajectory of the Literary Villain

There was a time starting around 2007 when the name J.K. Rowling conjured the fear that can't be named in the minds of every aspiring writer for children. It seemed by the time she released "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows", the chances of another children's book novel (or series of novels) succeeding and being declared innovative came close to hitting a brick wall. If you paid attention to media at the time, everybody was asking who would be the next J.K. Rowling and which book for young adults would become the next runaway bestseller. Well, arguably, it turned out to be Stephenie Meyer and her "Twilight" series for so-called young adults.

Whether you want to consider her to be Rowling's successor will depend on your view of whether Meyer managed to turn the antagonist in the young adult novel into the new protagonist to soothe the recent predilection of younger readers to want an edge to their protagonist.

In retrospect, Rowling's "Harry Potter" series may have been the final word in delivering a profound and clear distinction between the protagonist and the antagonist. Harry Potter himself stood for the ultimate good, even though there may be objectors to that considering some don't consider a wizard (in training) the ultimate good. But Rowling's creation of Voldemort was easily one of the most patently evil antagonists created for young readers in decades. That evil was so reprehensible, readers were able to discern one of the clearest distinctions of good and evil in any children's book within recent memory.

It's this epic depiction of evil on the level of a Hitler, Stalin or the devil himself that made every aspiring writer of fiction for young adults ponder how he or she was going to continue the classic structure of story within this genre without every antagonist being compared to Voldemort. Of course, the only way toward that is being a little daring and creating an antagonist that shows horrific and graphic violence in the vein of a Hitler or Stalin. Ultimately, though, that character development eventually gets squashed when fears of angry, letter-writing parents start dancing in the writer's head.

This isn't to say we don't see the occasional brave young adult writer who makes attempts to take things to the edge. If we really have to consider Stephenie Meyer to be Rowling's successor (as an alternative definition of success), then her idea of making the protagonist have murky principles in the "Twilight" series might be the direction young adult novels are going to take. It doesn't have to be said that Edward Cullen and Bella Swan aren't exactly the highest echelons of what constitutes the sense of good in a story for younger readers. In fact, all of the characters in the "Twilight" books can't clearly define a protagonist or antagonist for the young adult crowd, giving connotations of being both original and a slippery slope.

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If we philosophize a little more, we might be able to remove the idea that the ultimate evil depicted in a novel can't possibly draw forth anything to top it. In the real world, said real world thought Hitler was the ultimate evil after WWII, and yet we've seen equal if arguably worse evil following him (namely Stalin & Osama Bin Laden). J.K. Rowling claims she drew inspiration from Nazism and Stalinism in the creation of Voldemort, even though it seems she drew from a much deeper well. And I have no doubt in my mind that she was set from the start to create one of the most nefarious antagonists in the history of writing for children.

Based on recent polls conducted in both Britain and America for both the Harry Potter books and movies, Voldemort now seems to be considered the favorite villain in children's lit history. That all gave hints that no longer will kids go with a villain who has limitations in whatever evil deed he or she can concoct in the fabric of the plot. Voldemort broke the mold in how much evil can be done without freaking out younger readers or getting the ire of parents who actually pay attention to what their kids are reading. Wisely, though, Rowling slowly built up to the ultimate violence by Voldemort; instead giving hints of that brewing evil in the earlier books.

For those who thought the Potter books were too intense at times for younger readers, you have to give credit to Rowling for letting kids grow up with the characters so they'll be able to digest the apotheosis of all evil depicted in "Deathly Hallows." Whether this still tells us that nothing can top it in future books, perhaps the point becomes moot. There's every reason to believe that Rowling set up a compromise so a future writer for children doesn't have to sit with his or her head in their hands trying to find avenues to depict evil without showing a psychological or physical bloodbath and ruining any sense of innocence left in writing for this genre.

Let's keep in mind that Harry and Voldemort are linked through the literal depths of their souls briefly at the end of "Deathly Hallows" as well as through the fateful circumstances before. It's that quasi spiritual connection that gives the hidden possibilities of ambiguity in the definitions of antagonist and protagonist in the Potter universe. Also, as innovative as the Voldemort character may be in how he exhibits evil, Rowling kept with one literary constant for villains: There's always a chink in the armor.

Even if that gets eliminated in future young adult novels, we may just have the wavering of good characters between being the protagonist and the antagonist. Ambiguity of character has become the new standard in all writing now with a spread to younger readers. Some hints exist that points to it also happening in most books aimed for kids younger than 10. Whether you think that's worth celebrating or recoiling from, blame it all on Voldemort for making it the new character development that must be named.

Rowling was ultimately telling her more astute readers that Voldemort lurks in all who exhibit the role of protagonist. When it can't be tamed, we have far more interesting possibilities. No wonder then that vampires have become the leading character type to explore for young adults when a born evil showing hints of goodness makes the idea of a protagonist all the more meaningful.

We'll assume a young adult fiction writer out there will get around to creating a bestseller utilizing this in a normal human character that so happens to have a Voldemort spirit instilled via natural selection or some kind of grand design.

Reference:

http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/2008/7/11/lord-voldemort-number-one-movie-villain-according-to-moviefone