Villains

If you disagree, I unapologetically tell you: TOUGH COOKIES.

I just listened to a version of Hank Green's song "This is Not Harry Potter" that I haven't listened to before, and in this one he slams books closed as a drum beat. One of the books he uses is Mockingjay, but no, I am not about to complain about him abusing the greatness that is Mockingjay.

I am going to complain because one of the lines in this song says "President Snow is no Voldemort," implying somehow that President Snow isn't quite as malevolent or cruel as Voldemort, which is NOT true. I realize posting this publicly will probably make *someone* disown me as a friend. I hope that *that person* can see it from my perspective, though. :)

Yes, Voldemort is evil and cruel and selfish. Yes, he kills people for reasons similar to Hitler's reasons for killing people. HOWEVER, Voldemort has people who support him for reasons other than fear. He has a pet, which generally requires some bit of care. Now I'm not saying that he is the one who takes care of the snake; maybe he is, maybe he isn't. I'm just saying that the snake is his pet and he loves it (granted that is probably mostly because the snake holds part of his own soul). He believes that what he is doing is for the greater "good," no matter how convoluted that seems. He doesn't enforce laws that squash the quality of life; he doesn't take from the poor and give to the rich. The worst things he does are kill some people and make others live in fear.

President Snow does this and worse. He does not love anything but himself. He doesn't hesitate to kill anyone he perceives as a threat to him and his system. He is so cruel that even the system he has created is cruel by nature. The minority reap the benefits of the majority's suffering, and he benefits the most of all. His only loyal followers support him because they fear him, not because they believe in what he's doing. He doesn't just kill people; he tortures them. He gets inside their heads, takes away the things they love, forces them to become people they're not, and lets the whole country watch while it happens. He'll tell someone to do something, and then when they do it, he'll use it against them to make them do something else (I cannot explain this without giving away probably the biggest spoiler ever, but trust me it proves once and for all that he is an evil genius). He will willingly drink poison in order to trick his enemies into drinking it. He has people's TONGUES REMOVED if they disobey him... that is, assuming he doesn't just have them killed.

Oh, and here's the kicker: he forces TWENTY-FOUR CHILDREN TO FIGHT TO THE DEATH ONCE A YEAR ON LIVE TELEVISION. YEAH, I KNOW, WTF, RIGHT?!

And the worst part is that he's a human being. He's not a wizard, he's not a master of dark magic, and he doesn't have seven pieces of himself waiting to keep him alive if he's ever defeated. Because he truly believes he is invincible. And, honestly, when you believe that strongly that you are invincible, other people start to believe it too. And people stop believing they can change anything... which is kind of the worst thing you can do to someone. President Snow does that to a whole country.

In my opinion, Voldemort is a perfectly sufficient villain, but President Snow is the villain of all villains. His blood and roses kind of make Voldemort's wand look like a cat toy.

Hank, I think you need to reevaluate your definition of a proper antagonist.