I think that Harry’s “alien power” is still unclear for the same reason that readers resisted identifying MoR!Quirrell as Voldemort. The author has so much fun writing Quirrellmort-the-clever that he has great difficulty writing Quirrellmort-the-flawed.
The only flaw in Quirrellmort that the author’s actually shown is Quirrellmort’s nonbelief in goodness. The backstory suggests that Voldemort had serious problems beyond mere cynicism. But there’s a big difference between “the story asserts” and “the story demonstrates”.
(I’m using “flawed” here in the sense of “make choices that work out badly”, not “make choices that would make us readers uncomfortable.” That is, “flawed” as relevant to “power”, not “flawed” as relevant to “approval”.)
Although it’s possible that Quirrellmort is deliberately meant to be much more clearheaded than Voldemort.
I think that Harry’s “alien power” is still unclear for the same reason that readers resisted identifying MoR!Quirrell as Voldemort. The author has so much fun writing Quirrellmort-the-clever that he has great difficulty writing Quirrellmort-the-flawed.
The only flaw in Quirrellmort that the author’s actually shown is Quirrellmort’s nonbelief in goodness. The backstory suggests that Voldemort had serious problems beyond mere cynicism. But there’s a big difference between “the story asserts” and “the story demonstrates”.
(I’m using “flawed” here in the sense of “make choices that work out badly”, not “make choices that would make us readers uncomfortable.” That is, “flawed” as relevant to “power”, not “flawed” as relevant to “approval”.)
Although it’s possible that Quirrellmort is deliberately meant to be much more clearheaded than Voldemort.