Stories of magic with battles of Good vs Evil fit well together.

Could a story of Harry Potter in the magical world have been complete and successful without the struggle to overcome evil? Say, if everyone still boarded the Hogwarts Express, got sorted into houses, learned the importance of Love, tolerance, and the strength of conviction -- would it still be a wonderful Harry Potter series?

OR, is the entire Harry Potter phenomenon based almost completely on the challenges Harry and Company face against Voldemort, and his henchmen?

What do you think?

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Lirene
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Oh, this is a interesting question, but I'm almost sure that HP wouldn't make the same success without Voldemort. The story wouldn't be so interesting, and it would not have the same kind of emotion.

Well, the series probably wouldn't have been as interesting, and a lot of people wouldn't have liked it. I would like to read a series without Voldemort- I'm sure I'd like it just as much as the one there is now. It would be very different though, I know that much.

An fascinating question.

I do not think it would be such a riveting story, if it was not for L.V, it would be a completly different story, I do not think it would be as epic and great as the HP phenomenon is today was it not for LVs part, it would still be interesting, I am sure, the whole HP universe is amazing, so it would be fascinating, but would never get the same level of entusiasm and fanbase as it has today!

What a blooming daft question! We wouldn't all be sitting here obsessed as we are if Voldemort and the Death Eaters were not essential to the story. The story would not exist if Voldemort and the Death Eaters were not used. It would be something totally different. They are a central plot theme for goodness sakes!

I think if Voldemort and the Death Eaters weren't used, the series would have been a much plainer story: Every year some sort of creature threatens the students, and Harry and Co. beat it. Boooring and childish, too. We needed to have intrigue, drama, mistery, action, traitors, dubious loyalties! I think that even above all the magic, that's where the core of Harry Potter is.

Well I don't know. Maybe. But it wouldn't be so interesting like all of this. I mean these battles made it great. And the thing that good won over the evil. I don't know. Maybe it would have been interesting. But i don't know. It wouldn't be so famous like now. I have been thinking about that, if Harry had parents it would have been different. So I don't know.

So if you say that the series would be a "no-go" without Voldemort (or without He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named), would you say he's needed so that Harry could become the famous "Boy Who Lived" (Boy who defeated the most horrible dark wizard in history)?

And if not, at what point in the series does Voldemort become essential?

Also, could Voldemort have done it alone -- without Death Eaters??

I too think Voldemort is a vital part of the story. The whole plot of the series is set around the struggle between him and Harry. But of course, the thing I love about Harry Potter is all the magnificent little subplots J.K. Rowling manages to weave into the stories. I think it's those that are a big part of why I love the series so much.

I suppose the story could survive without Voldemort if there was some alternative evildoer that created conflict and tied the books together. Otherwise, wouldn't we just be reading about, as Kaiser-Kun said, just a bunch of creatures creating a new problems per year. That's not very interesting.



That would be something keeping the story going, though. I sometimes forget how much of the books don't completely revolve around Voldemort and co. They could keep the whole Triwizard tournament storyline, for the most part.

Well see, this at first seems like an obvious thing, but the question really is interesting because Voldemort really isn't that important for half of the series. He becomes the main story, but everything is a little overshadowed by the school life at Hogwarts, and that still is frustrating to me. Despite being a teenager, reading about kids just hanging out is not that appealing to me. That's not to say it's bad in Harry Potter, but I prefer things that actually contribute to the Voldemort side of the plot.

I love to read about their classes, and life in the magical community.

I think the books needs both. It could not be good without Voldemort, since he is the one who are binding the books together, and it could not be good without the side-stories.

I agree. It's the mixture between the more serious stories of the approaching/ongoing war (depending on which book you're reading), and the (usually more lighthearted) side stories of what's happening in the lives of a bunch of preteen/teenage wizards, and how life still goes on even when the world you live in is filled with chaos. XD

Don't get me wrong; I do enjoy when the characters are just sitting around talking. Yet teen drama has always been a little "blah" for me. Yes, I know it's realistic and everything, but the adult characters are so much more interesting ("Spinner's End", "The Other Minister", anything with the Marauders, "The Dark Lord Ascending" for example).

I think that Voldemort is needed for the Harry Potter series, but that at the same time J.K. Rowling could, if she wanted to, write a book or even a series simply about life at Hogwarts and the in the Wizarding world. Voldemort is essential to Harry because without him Harry wouldn't be who he is, but she has set a world with infinite possibilities where she could pick up the threads of other stories and do something completely different.

See, I've always been the type of person who likes a bit of 'normalcy' spruced up by things that aren't so normal. The mixture was what did it for me. If it had been just about teen drama, then no, I probably wouldn't have liked it as much. However, I'm not entirely sure I would have liked a story where Harry just fought Voldemort either. I liked the mixture. ^^

As for my answer to the thread's question, I think they are, because the series would be much different without them. Voldemort's in there right from the beginning.

Even though we don't see much of him until the later books, it is the shadow of his menace that shapes virtually the whole narrative. Even PoA, where he never appears at all, it is his assumed second-in-command, ie. Sirius, who gives the narrative its central driving force. Without Voldemort, Sirius would not be such a threatening figure, albeit erroneously, as it turns out.

Yes but i think this is because we are so in love the the books that us fans want more knowledge and more stories about this magical world that we've come to love (perhaps in some cases, love more than our own reality) and i doubt we would have this love for this world if the books missed such a major ingredient like Voldermort.

Also i think Voldermort and the Death Eater are important in the book because it gives an authentic feel to the book. It rings true with society on a large scale as we all know that it's not a far fetched idea - a group of people believing they are better than others and trying to 'cleanse' the population of these so called 'undesirables'. Voldemort and the Death Eaters = Hitler and the Nazi party.

Well, clearly, more so of Voldemort of the death eaters, but I'm sure Voldemort and the Death Eaters together had an impact
on the series as well because I'm not too positive if Voldemort could have done the deeds he did by himself.

The series would definately suffer if Voldemort was left out, there really wouldn't be much of a story. Harry's life would be too perfect, since his parents would be alive if Voldemort didn't exist, and that would make a boring story. The story really wouldn't have any conflict or tension which is essential to a good story and Draco and Harry's rivalary wouldn't be very strong either since there really wouldn't be much reason for it if Voldemort and thus Harry's fame was inexistant. Most of the themes and plot lines would be gone if Voldemort wasn't there,for example the main theme of good vs. evil wouldn't have any place in the book with the absence of Voldemort since he is the evil that Harry is fighting against. There just wouldn't be any substance to the series without the villian.

Without Voldemort and his followers, Harry Potter could have been written like the "Hardy Boys, Nancey Drew Mysteries" with magic.
The trio could have been solving mysteries and crimes.
PS/SS could have been written without Voldemort, Harry wouldn't be the boy who lived but he still could have lost his parent and been raised by Muggle relatives.
Of course you'd lose the fate of the world depending on Harry.

I most definetly agree. And it wouldent be as exiting without voldy and his death eaters. because then harry would still have his parents and there would be no dursleys. (which i personally think are a wonderful addition to the story) Most of the story would be different

The problem without Voldemort is that how can the students learn the importance of love, conviction, etc? They need a contrast, a person to lead by bad example of what happens to those who put immortal power as their number one goal in life.

Also, Voldemort and the deatheaters provide much more depth to the series. Voldemort himself has a most interesting past, which is similar to Harry's. This serves as a parallel to Dumbledore having a shared past with Grindelwald. The complexity of Voldemort as a character makes him more than the flat evil "villain" and yet does not place him in the "pitied" bad-childhood category.

The deatheaters are also an interesting take. Some are loyal to Voldemort because they truly love him (bellatrix) others do have priorities stronger than even their fear of death (the malfoys). And it certainly makes Snape a thorougly intricate character.

The book itself is not strictly good vs. evil. Take for instance the ministry, they became corrupted but I would not say that they were supporters of the Dark Lord, nor were they supporters of Harry. The deatheaters and Voldemort are essential for this gray category, because without their evil presence, the ministry would be the "villain" when in reality there are different levels of villainy.

Good question.
I think that the series would have been enjoyable without Voldermort and the Death Eaters, but it wouldn't have had the same suspense and excitement.
I think I would have read them but probably wouldn't have enjoyed them to the same level!