Round Four: Villains! July 23, 2009

Big happenings going on in the Twilight world, folks.  Big. time. stuff.  With all the Comic-Con hoopla today AND New Moon releasing its fancy new official website full of goodies, it’s hard to tear myself away.  I’m still in the midst of an internal struggle:  Do I want to soak up any clip, picture, interview for New Moon I can, or do I want to wait until I see the movie so that I will be surprised?  It’s a tough choice, one I still haven’t made and one that I’m pretty sure I need to decide soon.  But before I do, I think I’ve still got a few rounds of this battle royale in me, so we’re on to Round 4:Villains Edition!

This round gives us a chance to consider quite a few characters.  In the Twilight series, we’ve got James, Victoria, Laurent, the Volturi…and Jacob.  (I’m kidding about that last one, don’t freak out and send me hate mail.  We’ll discuss it later.)  The Harry Potter series has Voldemort, Bellatrix Lestrange, Lucius Malfoy, (I’m not including Draco because I love him too much, did I mention I think he’s sexy?), Severus Snape (I guess we could argue about this one too, yeah?), Fenrir Greyback (eep!), just to name a few.

In my humble opinion, the best villain in the Twilight series is Victoria.     She is super-scary.  Vengeful, with long, flaming-red hair, a creepy, high-pitched voice, piercing red eyes, those are some good ingredients for a first-class villain.  Part of her creepiness to me is that she kind of sneaks up on us.  You don’t pay too much attention to her in the first book, and then all of the sudden she shows up in New Moon, ready to take somebody OUT.  (As if Bella needed something else to freak out about.  Poor Bella!)  I think it’s cool how she’s always creeping around, testing the boundaries, seeing how close she can get to Bella, seeing how strong the wolf pack is.  THEN when the Cullens come back and suddenly her revenge gets ten times more difficult, what does she do?  Does she give up and run away?  NO!  Does she go cry to the Voturi about it?  NO!  She builds herself an army of newborn vampires. That’s pretty bad ass, I must say.

Now my favorite Harry Potter villain is by far Bellatrix Lestrange.  Voldemort’s right-hand girl, his most-faithful Death Eater…not to mention crazy like a fox.  She’s creepy too, but in the way like, “She’s so creepy I want to be just like her.”  I love her crazy black hair and her ragged witch-clothes.  She’s got a very confident way about her, even when she’s locked up in Azkaban she knows that her Dark Lord will rise again.  She’s a super-powerful wizard, those little Hogwarts kids are no match for her.  And then she goes and kills Harry’s godfather!  Poor Harry.  Then she has to rub it in his face!  “I killed Sirius Black!  I killed Sirius Black!”  That’s just cruel, Bellatrix.  That name too, it’s just so cool, Bellatrix Lestrange.  Awesome.

Since we’re talking about all the villians though, I guess I need consider them all when making my decision.  I think both authors give us some great ones, both series have characters who truly did scare me as I was reading these books.  But looking over the lists above, I think I’m going to have to give it to Rowling again.  My reason being that a lot of her characters cannot necessarily be defined as villains or heroes for sure.  Snape did some evil things, and was questionable throughout the entire series, but does Chapter 33 of Deathly Hallows erase all that?  Is Draco to blame if his hatred of mudbloods has been ingrained in him his entire life?  Sirius Black is incredibly scary in the 3rd book, until you learn that he was framed and is the exact opposite of what everyone thinks he is.  This is why I’m giving this round to JoJo, she has the ability to create multi-layered characters that can be argued for years to come, which is exactly what I plan on doing with my HP-nerd friends until I die.  HARRY POTTER VILLAINS WIN!!!

I’m off for the weekend, camping with the family, but I’ll be back on Monday to finish up this little showdown and declare a final winner!  See you then!

Round 3: Vampires vs. Wizards! July 20, 2009

Apologies all around for the lack of posts during these exciting times, I was too hopped-up on Pottermania to go anywhere near a computer.  (I haven’t even had a chance to look at all the pictures of Rob in New York for this week!  He’s got a hot-pink sleeping bag!  His face is bleeding!  He’s wearing plaid again!  Weeee!!!)  On to Round 3: VAMPIRES vs. WIZARDS!!!

Last week we discussed a very specific vampire (Edward Cullen) and a very

I daresay he may be sexier than Edward...well, sexier than Emmett at the very least.

specific wizard (Harry Potter.)  Today I’d like to talk about vampires and wizards in a more general sense.  Specifically, which would I rather be?  This is a tough one for sure.  Let’s look at some facts, shall we?  Vampires have definitely got something going for them.  Sex appeal is a major plus.  Vampires are sexy.  Wizards are not.  (Unless you’re Draco Malfoy.)  Vampires are super-fast, super-strong, super-beautiful, etc.  The list goes on and on.  They don’t get hurt, they have amazing memories, AND becoming a vampire opens up the possibility of having some sort of super power!  How exciting!  (Of course, there is always the potential that you don’t end up with any special gifts, or you get a lame one like Esme…the ability to love passionately?  LAME.  They all do that, duh.  But you could end up with something cool, which is very enticing, I must admit.)  With these gifts you can live a life of luxury, traveling the world looking beautiful in designer clothes, driving fast cars and feasting on whichever mammal you choose, then having all-night sex with your eternal life partner.  Sounds good, right?  Not so fast…

There are some downsides to being a vampire, for sure.  Becoming a vampire is a BIG commitment.  Once you go through those 3 days of vicious pain, that’s it.  No turning back.  Wizards, on the other hand, always have the option of giving up their wizardly ways and taking up the muggle way of life.  They can do that whenever they want.  For a day, a week, or a lifetime. (Similar to the motto of my hometown.  “Welcome to ______, for a day or a lifetime.”  Maybe that should be the wizards motto too…Welcome to our wizarding world, for a day or a lifetime.)  There’s also the issue of living forever.  Some might see this as a pro for the vampires, but I’m not so sure.  Apart from getting to wear clothes from every era, I just don’t see the appeal.  You also don’t get to eat regular food anymore.  I am not okay with that.  Even worse for the vampires, wizards get to eat amazing food.  Have you ever been to a Hogwarts feast?  Well…me neither, but what I picture in my head is totally worth choosing wizards over vampires.  Roast turkeys, boiled potatoes, pumpkin juice, puddings, pies, ohhhh man, sign me up right now.  Put me on that Hogwarts Express, my owl is in his cage and my trunk is packed!  (Nerd alert!)

Even without the food though, I think I’d still choose to be a wizard.  It just simply sounds like more fun, yeah?  Being a vampire just sounds like too much of a hassle.  You don’t have the freedom to do whatever you want, you can’t even enjoy a sunny day without worrying about someone seeing your sparkly skin.  Plus you’ve got the Volturi breathing down your icy neck 24-7, that’s a hassle.  Bottom line, being a vampire may sound like fun at first, but wizards are where it’s at.  WIZARDS WIN!!!

What about you?  Which would you rather be???

One more shot of Draco, just because I can. He's even sexy when he's crying!