Thinking about Harry Potter versus Avatar and how Aang's victory over Ozai is a trimuph of Aang sticking to his ideals and culture while Harry "not killing" Voldy is a testament to neoliberalism's obsession with rules and technicalities to keep Harry from a moral dilemna.

Like its kind of amazing: Avatar builds up Aang's pacifism as pretty believable: Not every character endorses it, some think it's naive but's never presented as absolutly, morally correct: But it is intregal to Aang's worlview, esp as the last member of his culture.

Aang as *does* get blood o his hands, albiet indirectly and it haunts him. The hardest person to Aang about how he should never take a life is Aang himself.

Harry...in hindsight I don't think he believes in anything. If anything he mirror's Rowling's own views.. And she sees killing someone as always morally destructive, no matter the circumstances.

Which....whole can of worms I could ramble on but the books...kind of don't?

Again HP doesn't try grapple with any kind of moral questions about killing. An insta kill spell is treated as one the worst things you can do, backed up by the meta-physics. There's no question if the killing is justified. Like...at all.

Again Harry "beats" Voldemort due to a rule on how the Elder Wand works, and due a series of contrivances, Harry is now techically the owner. Since the Wand can't kill the owner when Harry is the owner, Voldy tries to use power word: Kill and it rebounds and dead voldy

Which....is kind of disturbing to me? Like moreso then if Harry fucking Power Word: killed the dude and said a snappy one liner.

LIke it's presented as this clever soslution but Harry had no part in this. Things just...happened to work out for him.

So Harry gets to "kill" Voldemort in a way that keeps his hands clean so we never doubt his heroism. Due to what is techinicality. Harry didn't "Kill" Voldy, Voldy Killed Voldy! The day is saved and the protag and sleep with a clean conscious.

And when I was 17...It felt...hollow. This wasn't Luke tossing his lightsaber away in defiance.

And I think Avatar highlights why: there's no struggle with it. It just....kind of works out.

And there's something insidious about that I guess.