Note: Raiden is actually like, smart. It's Ameh that's being inane.
 

Daphne examined her nails thoughtfully from where she sat on the squishy bean bag. There were a few answers floating around the classroom and the blond was trying to figure out what she had of important to add. Did she even have anything this time around? Not much.

"Fear of being defeated?" suggested Daphne and promptly realized that she most likely was just regurgitating what everyone else had said. Trying to make up for it, she started talking once more. "Fear of not being strong enough. Fear of death. Fear of being forgotten so there is a need to make one's name remembered? Although--I guess I'm just...repeating..."

Saying the same thing over and over again and--Who was Celadine?

"Fear is a very powerful emotion. It can cause feelings inside of people that will cause them to act in a number of different ways," LouAnn said, her hand raised high. She lowered it and then continued with her answer. "If people are afraid, they will often times do whatever it takes to conquer that which they are afraid of. Those desiring to master the dark arts may fear a more powerful being, and they feel as if they can better defend themselves if they master a dark art. They may also fear being defeated by those who are against them, and they feel as if mastering a dark art will help them overcome anyone who wishes to battle them."

Fear as a motivator, huh? Rachel, who had kept mostly silent all through the class, decided that now would be as good a time as any to participate. "Fear is the biggest motivator, in my opinion - far more influential than power since the power induces the fear in most cases. For dark wizards, fear is an everyday emotion which they will never admit to feeling," she stated, then paused for a bit to clear her head and continued.

"There is the fear of defeat, fear of death, fear of combat with someone more powerful - but there is also a fear of success, since what does one do after he has achieved his goal of killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people? It's a scary thought to those who base their whole world on something so changeable, so unsteady as the dark arts." The sixth year blinked after she finished and folded her arms around herself protectively as a shiver ran down her back. This lesson was officially creeping her out - the subject seemed to make the air really cold; like ice.

"Excellent; the fear that they elicit from others and self-preservation." Ethan nodded.

Ah another Ravenclaw. This one always had an answer.

"Fear of secrets being uncovered and fear of defeat." Truebridge slowly started wandering around the observatory. "The strongest fear is that which we create for ourselves. That is worth noting. Everyone should write that down."

"That is a good example of a cycle of fear and opression and that is one of the ways that blood feuds of old often began. A question for you though Chris, if they learned it so that they will not be a victim of it, do you think they'd use it defensively or offensively? Do you think they'd truly escape being victimized?" Truebridge asked the Gryffindor.

"Fear creates a dependence or reliance on something. That is true Tammy. If someone is afraid, often they will find something to use as a tool to avoid that fear. Dark Magic is indeed one of those tools. As for provoking an attack," Ethan looked around the class, "Fear and ignorance often go hand in hand. As with my classes, so too I challenge you all to make up your own minds when someone attempts to sway you against a person. Use your reason and your common sense and do not throw any kindling on the fire so to speak."

And that was about as involved as Ethan was willing to get when it came to referring to the whole deal with the werewolves. He himself couldn't care less that Lupa and Bontecou were lycanthropes, it was them personally he had a problem with.

Stupid probation.

Ethan listened carefully, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Sometimes people think, if they ignore something difficult, like a fear, then it will cease to exist. Certainly the 'If I don't do it, someone else will' concept can apply." He nodded encouragingly.

"Celandine." Ethan corrected and then listened carefully. "So fear might motivate a dark witch or wizard to join with someone stronger than they are? Would you consider those people to truly be dark? Or just misled?"

"Ah Daphne, excellent. Fear of being weak and fear of being forgotten are both very good answers. Many Dark Artists desire a legacy." Truebridge continued walking around.

"Most of those examples are more the case when the witch or wizard in question isn't actually aware that it is fear that is driving them." Ethan observed with an appreciative nod.

"Do be careful of generalisations, Rachel. Everyone feels a degree of fear and indeed there are dark wizards that do not have fear at all; they have faced it and overcome it and it no longer has any bearing on their life. But excellent answer! Fear of success is indeed a motivator." Ethan almost smiled in encouragement.

"Fight or Flight. Some people do believe it is better to stand your ground than to run away." E

than's face closed off for a moment, as if he were somewhere else entirely, but he snapped back in only a moment.

"Of course it really depends on the situation doesn't it? Win or die trying? Fear is, unto itself, a motivator. If you acknowledge that you have fear and work with it, often it can help you more than hinder you."

Truebridge stopped pacing and turned to face the class, looking around and meeting the eyes of each and every one of his students.

"Refering back to the dark wizards we identified earlier, which do you think were motivated by fear? Which by power? One more than the other? Both equally? Lets discuss."

"Well, I think that Lord Voldemort could have actually been motivated by both power and fear. Voldemort obviously thirsted for power and did everything in his power to get even MORE power. But couldn't you say that he was also driven by fear, considering his pure hatred for muggles, and muggle-born witches and wizards? Perhaps he feared that too many muggle-borns being entered into their world, meaning there would be less pure-blood families. I mean, I know that a lot of his followers claimed to be pure-bloods and all, and that chances were almost all of them were not. The more you make yourself believe in something that isn't true, the more it becomes true to you and others. So, in the minds of Voldemort and his followers, they feared muggle-borns becoming to great in number and possibly overcoming Voldemort and his power. There's also the fear that muggles might possibly rise up against Voldemort, too, however, that assumption is a bit faulty. I think it's safe to say that the majority of dark wizards who wished to cause terror against muggle-borns and muggles, or rule over the muggle world as well as the wizarding world are fueled by both fear and power." Lucy said at last, attempting to rethink her thoughts.

Good gracious, it seemed like none of what she said made any sense. Eep!

Abby smiles at Tino. "Thanks for mentioning that. I had completely forgotten about the horcruxes. I think Voldemort was also afraid of being considered ordinary. I remember reading about the first time Dumbledore met Tom Riddle in the orphanage. Tom made a big deal about being different from the other children there. He called himself special. Tom was special at the orphanage, but when he came to Hogwarts he was just another wizard. Then Tom found out he was the heir of Salazar Slytherin. That made Tom special with the pureblood Slytherins. I think fear was a reason Tom became obsessed with magic and learning all the magic he could. Tom Riddle wanted to be special in the wizarding world. By becoming Voldemort, he became the most special and most powerful wizard of his time."

OOC: Sorry about misspelling Celandine again. I don't know what it is about that name. I mess it up everytime I try to write it. I need to write it 100 times. Then I might remember the correct way spelling.

"I would call them misled. Peter Pettigrew did willing perform dark magic, but I don't think he ever really believed in what Voldemort was doing. In the end his doubts about dark magic cost him his life. If Peter hadn't hesitated in the dungeons at Lucius Malfoy's house, his silver hand wouldn't have strangled him."


"I think when it came to the purebreed wizards of the the old wizarding families, it was power more than fear that encouraged them to become dark wizards. They generally thought themselves to be superior to the other wizards. I doubt there was much in the wizarding world they feared. Voldemort preached pureblood superiority. The deatheaters bought into his mad vision."

Rachel nodded, wondering why she had indeed generalized... It wasn't really in her nature - she was more of a 'stick to examples' girl; maybe this whole "Revival" thing was changing her.

. . . Eh, doesn't matter now. He said it was an excellent answer anyway! Professor Truebridge had ACTUALLY complimented her and she was just fine with that.

"I think that the two main examples of dark wizards led by fear and power are Voldemort and Grindelwald,respectively. As has already been mentioned before," she looked at the people who had spoken before continuing, "Voldemort lived in constant fear for his Horcruxes and of Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore - Grindelwald, on the other hand, had unimaginable powers which drove him to become dark. In the end, the results of the two most evil Dark wizards are similar yet the way they handled things was as different as it can get," Rachel came to a finish, looking down at her hands. She could elaborate more, and possibly make herself more clear, but she didn't really like this topic.

It scared her.

It had happened three times before - Grindelwald, Voldemort and Voldemortist... What's to prevent it from happening again? There has already been a second Voldemort, why not a Grindelwaldist? The wizarding world is what it is - and apparently, blood STILL matters. It might not matter to the people who suffered the causalties - but the future leaders of the community, the ones learning in this very room with her - thought it mattered.

And THAT, in her opinion, wasn't good. At all.

"I've often heard that those who do wrong unto others are often cowards, cowards who are afraid of something much more powerful than themselves. You know, they feel afraid of someone who can destroy them, so they attempt to destroy the 'little people' as a means to overcome those fears," LouAnn suggested, her hand raised high as she spoke. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that the answer to your question is both, they're motivated by fear and the need for power. Like I said earlier, fear is a powerful emotion that can cause people to do a number of different things. I think someone who does wrong unto others is ultimately afraid of some higher being or some terrible situation. At the same time, though, they feel a need for some sort of power to make up for that which they are so afraid of. If they gained more power or felt like a better person by torturing someone, I think they see that as way to overcome or feel better about their fears."

He listened to everyone, and agreed mostly- but all he could think about was the fear thing. He pushed some of his hair back and looked at the professor, "Apart from all of them- wasn't the death eater... I believe he they called him 'Wormtail', motivated by fear? Everything he did was because he was afraid of being hurt by whoever held the most power over him." he let out a scoff of a laugh, shaking his head a bit. "Pathetic guy." he mumbled, barely audible.

"We have many more dark wizards to get through." Ethan flicked his wand at the list and a few additions were made.

"Good answers, Abby, Tino, Lucy, Rachel..." Ethan had to think for a moment on his class list before adding, "...and Audio. LouAnn, while you make some good points, I want specific answers rather than a generalisation of all the known dark wizards in history. Examples and justifications are useful, or at least they will be when it comes to your homework."

Rachel kept quiet for a bit and listened to the other's answers, all the while thinking of more Dark wizards who were motivated by either fear or power. Well, fear was really easy... "Sir, I think that all the Death Eaters, with no exceptions, were motivated by fear," the sixth year stated, quite confident. The Malfoy's, even with their position in the wizarding world, had been reduced to a quivering mass of fear by Voldemort - which is not to say that Malfoy Senior didn't WANT power... He wanted it in the beginning, but judging from the books she'd red, all he probably cared about in the end was making it out alive.

"Salazar Slytherin, I believe, was motivated purely by power," Rachel said, her mind drifting away from Malfoy and towards his House founder. She couldn't really imagine anything he had been afraid of... HAD he been scared? "Right?"

Chris raised his hand when Professor Truebridge had the list of Dark Wizards and their reasons placed up on the board to add a reason to one of the wizards without one. "Professor, I think that the Gaunt Family used Dark Magic on others because of their arrogance. Didn't they constantly talk about their relationship to Slytherin? Perhaps they used Dark maic because other withches and wizards didn't treat them the way that they believed decendents of Salazar Slytherin should be treated."

"Oh," LouAnn half-whispered, sinking down in her seat just a little. Why'd she always have to get so distracted? It caused her to miss key points in lesson, such as the one she'd just so obviously not picked up on. "Sorry, sir. How about, erm...Barty Crouch, Jr.?" she questioned, her hand raised. "I've read that he was very intelligent and often acted as if he just knew how smart he was, maybe even thinking he was better than others. His father even said he got twelve OWLs!"

She cleared her throat and lowered her hand, a thoughtful expression on her face. "So, he impersonated "Mad-Eye" Moody once, too, right? My line of thinking if that he knew and understood how very intelligent he was, and he knew he could outsmart a lot of other people. I think arrogance was a lot of the reasoning behind why he acted the way he did. He thought he was better than others and knew he could get away with things they might not have even seen coming."

"I believe that a lot of Deatheaters were motivated by fear and power at the same time. But I don't think that it was just fear of Voldemort. Think about it, if you were part of a family that always supported the Dark Lord than wouldn't you be afraid that they would disown you or kill you if you didn't join him too? Then after that people may be too scared to turn from Voldemort from fear of what the 'light side' may have forced them to do, from fear that in the end their defection from Voldemort would end with them spilling their guts for the light side before being shipped off to Azkaban as a traitor to both sides." Reid theorized, hoping that what he was saying was making some sense. He hadn't been recently but he was trying to start again, or if not start again than to ACT like he was going to be okay.

"That being said I believe that people like Morgan Le Fay were motivated by power, and the power that they were told they wouldn't be able to achieve. So then it could be said that some of them were simply motivated to prove others opinions of them false. Then I think there are wizards that started out with good intentions, were motivated to do what they did for the good of others, but who ended up corrupted by the power they were able to accumulate. After all power can corrupt anyone no matter how strong their spirit or just their intentions may be." he ended with a slight shrug.

x__________x Coherency. I can do that. At some point.
 

Distracted from her earlier discomfort, Celandine raised her hand thoughtfully.

"Professor, I think we can afford to make some generalisations based on what we know from the history books. Like any Wizards that are associated with Horcruxes, like Herpo the Foul and Lord Voldemort, are motivated by both fear and power; fear of death and power over it.

Likewise, I think we can safely say that the majority of dark wizards that were at one time or another the owner of the Elder Wand, are motivated by power more than fear. That would be Emeric The Evil, Loxias and the Goldelots.

Gellert Grindelwald is an exception because history tells us that he fled England, unable to face the guilt for his part in the death of Ariana Dumbledore. Guilt is sometimes a kind of fear I think. So Grindelwald was motivated by both."

Cela explained her views on a few of the wizards on the list, deciding not to go into detail on all of them.