"I think, sir... that in their own minds, Dark Artists who are motivated by fear realise what they're doing and what they're capable of, and maybe they believe that if they don't act to put down their own fears, then someone will... er, do to them what they'd thought of doing to others?" That sounded odd. "They take their fear of something and try to prevent it from getting close to them."

Well... hmm. Raiden stared at his hands. His answer hadn't sounded quite like he'd wanted it to. He'd failed at explanation.

"Celadine mentioned Voldemort. Peter Pettigrew joined him because he was afraid of what would happen to him if Voldemort gained control of the wizarding world. During that time a number of people joined Voldemort because they feared the consequences of not joining him. A lot of witches and wizards were killed simply because they were fighting against Voldemort."

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.

Listening to his peers discussing their opinions on the matter, Dominic just sat quietly taking it all in. Though after a few moments, Professor Truebridge started the class up again. Listening to the Professor first, and then his classmates responses, Dominic contemplated the question again.

Oh. A motivator for a witch or wizard to master the dark arts. NOT why is it used by dark wizards and witches. Think Dominic, the Hufflepuff scolded himself mentally as he reflected back on all that had been said.

That Gryffindor girl, LouAnn or something, she said something interesting... about fear being a powerful emotion. His eyebrows pulling together in concentration, the seventh year raised his hand. "Perhaps, as someone pointed out, fear motivated a witch or wizard to excel in the dark arts because of the emotions it creates and also the ones caused from it. Fear is, in essence, run by our Sympathetic Nervous System. That is to say the whole concept of 'Fight or Flight' comes from fear and especially for Dark Wizards and Witches, they have become ingrained with the idea of fighting... So if they are afraid of something, then they'll just learn more techniques - dark spells - to help them overcome those obstacles. To help, tame the emotions of fear, if you will."

And that, Dominic had no idea if it even answered the question. Sighing, he propped his hands under his chin, thinking more on the topic of fear.

"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."

"I can safely say Voldemort was driven by power. He wanted to be the most powerful wizard in the world. I wonder if fear could have also been a motivating factor in Voldemort's decisions. He was very proud he was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, but he hid the fact that he was a half blood. Voldemort considered pureblood wizards to be superior to all other wizards, but when he heard Trelawney's prophecy, he decided Harry Potter, the half blood, was a true threat to him. Neville Longbottom was a pureblood. He should have been more of a threat to Voldemort than Harry. The Dark Lord used intemidation to keep his pureblood deatheaters in line. With the exception of Bellatrix Lestrange, he didn't trust any of them. Voldemort trusted Snape above all the other deatheaters. Snape was a halfblood too, but he too hid that fact. Sorry about rambling on that this professor. I just can't put my finger on the point I'm trying to make."

Tino raised his hand tenatively. "I, um, disagree a little bit," he ventured, twiddling with the quill on his desk. "I guess Voldemort liked the whole power thing but I think he was really more afraid than anything. He was mainly afraid to die. That's why he made all those Horcruxes, so he couldn't really die. And kinda like Daphne said, he was afraid to be insignificant, or forgotten, because he bragged about being the greatest wizard and going the farthest."

Tino wasn't used to contributing verbally. Small specks of ink appeared on his chin from pressing the quill too hard.

"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."

Dominic listened as Professor Truebridge answered to his suggestion on fight or flight. Noticing the Professor's expression seem to shift to a more closed one, the seventh year frowned as he watched the History professor, hoping everything was alright. Because if that largeee, annoying man were to be giving Truebridge trouble, then he'd have another thing coming.

Oh... what? Back to talking about dark wizards and the difference as to which were motivated by fear or power. His classmates had already touched on some of the more well-known dark wizards and so Dominic just listened for a bit longer, as Rachel and Chris both spoke on other dark wizards.

Raising his hand, Dominic chewed his lower lip thoughtfully for another moment before speaking. "I think that one could argue that most of the death eaters, if not all, could actually be categorized as being motivated by fear. That is fear of the Dark Lord, of Voldemort himself. All of them, with the exception of Bellatrix, who would also have some power motivational factor. Because Bellatrix wanted to be the best... Voldemort's 'top performer', if you will. The others, just didn't want to die and so they were motivated to perform the dark arts because of fear of their master..." Dominic sighed, falling silent at those words.

I think Regulus Black was motivated to become a dark wizard by love, tradition, and family loyalty. The Black family have followed Salazar Slytherin's opinion on pureblood wizards for generations. Orion Black, Sirius and Regulus's father, hated muggle with a passion too. He fortified his house, Number 12 Grimald Place so no muggle would know it even existed. Tradition said Orion and Walburga's sons would follow the family's way. That meant be students in Slytherin house, believe pureblood wizards are superior to all other wizards, and to hate muggles. Sirius rebelled against his family. To quote Kreacher, "Sirius broke his mother's heart." This left Regulus to do the right thing. Regulus loved his family, so he did what his parent's expected of him. He became a deatheater."

"It's ironic to me that love is also what caused Regulus's downfall. Voldemort needed someone to check out his security measure at the cave he hid his locket horcrux. Regulus loaned him Kreacher. Voldemort didn't love anyone, so he decided to sacrifice Kreacher to make sure his security measures worked. He didn't count on Kreacher being able to aparate from the cave. Kreacher returned to Regulus and told him what Voldemort had done. Regulus betrayed Voldemort, stole his locket horcrux, and gave it to Kreacher for safekeeping. Instead of aparating to safety with his house elf, Regulus remained in the cave and died at the hands of the Inferi. Regulus chose death rather than betray his family and their traditions. Better a dead deatheater than a live traitor."

Adrienne raised her hand again as the discussion of the motivations continued, wanting to make another point. Almost involuntarily needing to, actually. "While everyone has a good point in saying that the Death Eaters all were somewhat motivated by fear of Voldemort, I actually think more than just Bellatrix was also motivated by power. The Lestranges, namely Bellatrix's husband and his brother, also seemed to find a bit of power among the structure of the Death Eaters as a group, and that had to motivate them to keep their position. Power is addicting, so why would they only be motivated by their fear of Voldemort turning on them? He actually seemed to have some sort of respect for them, if you think about it. And Dolohov. Wasn't there something about how Voldemort had to make a point to the Death Eaters who were around when he regained power when Harry Potter was fourteen? That he thought the Death Eaters who had ended up in Azkaban were more loyal to him than all the rest? That gave them a kind of power, and there's no way they can't have been motivated by that." She didn't know if it made sense, or if Professor Truebridge even would think it was valid, but she had to say it.

"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.

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Conner

"Referring 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."

Hmmm.

Raiden stared at the list on the board for a moment before he moved his eyes to the parchment in front of him. He drew three columns down it quietly, eyes shifting from the board, to the parchment, then back again as he started to sort them by what he believed.

SPOILER!!: Raiden's List.

Motivated by Fear
Peter Pettigrew
Alecto and Amycus Carrow
Regulus Black
Antonin Dolohov
Salazar Slytherin
The Gaunt Family

Motivated by Power
Fenrir Greyback
Barty Crouch Jr
Durmstrang students and professors

Motivated by Both
Lord Voldemort (Tom Riddle)
Bellatrix Black/Lestrange and her husband
Crabbe/ his son Vincent
Goyle/ his son Gregory
Gellert Grindelwald
Lord Voldemortist (Thomas Duskirk)

Other/Unsure
Yaxley
Bartemius Crouch Sr
Hereward Godelot and his father
Morgan le Fay
Herpo the Foul
Emeric The Evil
Merwyn the Malicious
Loxias

Well.

"Sir... Uhmm. Well." He started mumbling, his voice going down to barely audible. "There's quite a lot of them." He stared at his parchment again. There were quite a few listed in the 'unsure' category, but... well he wasn't sure. "I don't think many were motivated purely by power, at the very least..."

It would be easier if Professor Truebridge just... took the list. Yes. Because he would know where all the people in the 'unsure' category belonged.

"I think more of them were motivated by a mixture of the two than by purely one or the other. Because there's conflicting, er, viewpoints on the things that they did."

Samson listened as he lounged lazily on the bean bag, his arms splayed on either side of him and his legs spread slightly. But even as he was positioned that way, it didn't mean he wasn't paying close attention to the discussion. In fact, he was just fueling up his brain juices to give a good answer. Though, it wasn't often that he could convince himself. Oh well. He could always try.

"I think Bellatrix Lestrange was motivated by both fear and power, that is to say, fear as one of her motivations to gain some kind of power. She feared Voldemort and would do anything to gain his approval, and she knew that if she somehow became Voldemort's 'favorite' - whatever it took, mind you - she'd have more power over the other Death Eaters. On a side note, the Death Eaters were also motivated by fear and power, because they feared Voldemort - not a noble fear, but fear as in being afraid of him - plus, being a Death Eater would immediately instill fear in everyone who knew, therefore giving them a feeling of being dominant and powerful.

"Another example would be Regulus Black who, I think, was fueled more by power? His family after all was a big impact in his life, and being constant and loyal followers of Lord Voldemort in the first place, it would be natural for him to follow in their footsteps. Of course, in the end, he had a change of heart. I always did admire him for being the sort of undercover mysterious kind of person, and how he proved Lord Voldemort could easily be fooled with the right actions."

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.