MyFinalEdits
(Ten years in the joint)
Dec 18th 2016 at 3:26:11 PM
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I agree with the removal. Voldemort is the one who pulls the strings in all books on the villainous side, just as Dumbledore is the Big Good for pulling the strings on the heroic side. A Greater-Scope Villain has to be an even greater mastermind, remotely carrying over their plans via the actions of the Big Bad. Salazar sure as hell doesn't fit, and the example naming him clearly violates Examples Are Not Arguable. So does the "if you count the Horcruxes as different characters" one. Snape definitely isn't even a Big Bad, as he was Good All Along; and Pettigrew is The Dragon.
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- Lord Voldemort, the official Big Bad of Harry Potter, is in this role instead sometimes:
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. If you consider each Horcrux as a separate person, the main portion of Voldemort's soul (residing in the disembodied Voldemort himself) was a Greater Scope Villain in this book. Tom Riddle was more a manifestation of Voldemort's will, and in any way acted independently from him (although in his interests).
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He wasn't directly involved in that book's events at all, although the villain does work for him.
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince doesn't feature Voldemort at all, and all his actions take place outside the main events of the plot. The Big Bad of the book eventually turns out to be Severus Snape, who kills Dumbledore and set most of the events in motion to further himself in Voldemort's eyes. Although the next book reveals that Snape was actually a deep-cover double agent for the good guys.
- Also, Salazar Slytherin in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Although he is long dead by the time the book takes place and so has no direct hand in the plot, he was the one who built the chamber and hid the basilisk there for his heir to find. Ultimately, while Tom Riddle is the main antagonist, it's Slytherin's plan to purge the school of 'unworthy' muggle-borns he is trying to carry out.
I think whoever made this entry has confused Big Bad with this and/or The Heavy. In the series Tom the Dark Lord is the Big Bad, period. While he's not directly present in books 2,3 and 6 he's STILL a Big Bad, his actions are what drives to present conflict, even if he himself is not present. Tommy from the diary, is The Heavy, his direct actions drive the conflict in the book, but it's still real Tommy who created the diary and drove Lucius to use it to release the monster. The main conflict in Prisoner is pretty much White And White Morality, good Sirius is targeted by equally good Good Guys, who doesn't know he's on their side. Peter is a villain but he doesn't drive the plot, and primary problem is that he and Tommy might combine forces. In book 6 Malfoy is The Heavy, as his actions drive the direct plot but still Tommy was the one who sent him, and aside from trying to take Malfoy, good guys' focus in on finding ways to defeat Tommy. Salazar is probably closest thing to this trope, but we simply don't know enough about him to consider him a real villain. Hide / Show Replies