Yes, it’s super sad to let a little girl be tortured to death. But there is a cost large enough that it is not worth paying to prevent it, even if the cost is only in terms of mere cash, political capital, personal reputation as not being more fearsome than Fear itself, keeping important military secrets for the coming war secret, and the enmity of those you failed to lose to. That’s the meaning of the phrase “Taboo Tradeoffs”, it’s that stating you kept Hermione out of Azkaban is not enough justification.
Of course, if he had counted the cost, he would have been an awful hypocrite. Recall what he said after Hermione rescued him from the Dementor:
I’ll say that no matter what it ends up costing you to have kissed me, don’t ever doubt for a second that it was the right thing to do.
At least he’s holding himself to the same standard, even if it’s a bad one.
A lot of people would pay a lot of money for a reputation for being more fearsome than fear itself. Speaking entirely in terms of money, I think that this was probably a clear cut good idea, because in the long run, for Harry, money is likely not to be a limited resource in practical terms. Sure, millions of dollars worth of gold could theoretically be used to save a lot more people, but Harry doesn’t have management of his account for the time being. By the time he’s old enough to actually access his account at will, his debt to Lucius is likely to be a triviality, or already dispensed with.
The math here depends entirely on what the “certain rights” Lucius has over Harry are. Were the debt a purely financial issue, saving Hermione would be a no-brainer. Did those rights allow Lucius to realistically cripple Harry’s efforts to fix the world, not saving Hermione would be a no-brainer.
We still don’t know, although the fact that Dumbledore ultimately went along with it suggests that it’s closer to the former than the latter.
Any political capital that could only be preserved by NOT rescuing a 12-year-old-girl from having her dreams, hopes, and life tortured out of her until she dies… isn’t political capital I’d be willing to preserve, frankly.
Also; consider the political capital he just GAINED that day. “The Boy-Who-Lived is so powerful that even Dementors fear him! Clearly, he is a power to be reckoned with!” <-- political capital out the wazzoo.
I think you are equivocating political power and political capital. Scaring dementors doesn’t show legitimacy quite the way winning elections does. In other words, political capital is a kind of political power, but not the only kind.
The blood debt was political capital. Scaring the dementor will create political power of another kind.
Yes, it’s super sad to let a little girl be tortured to death. But there is a cost large enough that it is not worth paying to prevent it, even if the cost is only in terms of mere cash, political capital, personal reputation as not being more fearsome than Fear itself, keeping important military secrets for the coming war secret, and the enmity of those you failed to lose to. That’s the meaning of the phrase “Taboo Tradeoffs”, it’s that stating you kept Hermione out of Azkaban is not enough justification.
Of course, if he had counted the cost, he would have been an awful hypocrite. Recall what he said after Hermione rescued him from the Dementor:
At least he’s holding himself to the same standard, even if it’s a bad one.
A lot of people would pay a lot of money for a reputation for being more fearsome than fear itself. Speaking entirely in terms of money, I think that this was probably a clear cut good idea, because in the long run, for Harry, money is likely not to be a limited resource in practical terms. Sure, millions of dollars worth of gold could theoretically be used to save a lot more people, but Harry doesn’t have management of his account for the time being. By the time he’s old enough to actually access his account at will, his debt to Lucius is likely to be a triviality, or already dispensed with.
The math here depends entirely on what the “certain rights” Lucius has over Harry are. Were the debt a purely financial issue, saving Hermione would be a no-brainer. Did those rights allow Lucius to realistically cripple Harry’s efforts to fix the world, not saving Hermione would be a no-brainer.
We still don’t know, although the fact that Dumbledore ultimately went along with it suggests that it’s closer to the former than the latter.
The cost wouldn’t be worth it, except that it may well allow Harry to amass wealth in excess of what he had before if he plays his cards right.
Any political capital that could only be preserved by NOT rescuing a 12-year-old-girl from having her dreams, hopes, and life tortured out of her until she dies… isn’t political capital I’d be willing to preserve, frankly.
Also; consider the political capital he just GAINED that day. “The Boy-Who-Lived is so powerful that even Dementors fear him! Clearly, he is a power to be reckoned with!” <-- political capital out the wazzoo.
I think you are equivocating political power and political capital. Scaring dementors doesn’t show legitimacy quite the way winning elections does. In other words, political capital is a kind of political power, but not the only kind.
The blood debt was political capital. Scaring the dementor will create political power of another kind.
I’m not equivocating; I’m equating. Political power is political capital; political capital is political power. If you have one, you have the other.