The Glade 4.0

Speaking of Harry Potter, whom in the HP universe would you like to see matched up in a magic duel? And whom would you think would be the victor?

Snape vs Voldemort -- Victor: Probably Voldemort, possible draw

Snape vs Harry -- Victor: Probably a draw

Dumbledore vs Voldemort (yes, I know we sorta saw this already in Order, but it was a rather short battle) -- Victor: Draw

Harry vs Ron -- Victor: Harry

Harry vs Hermione -- Victor: Harry

Harry vs Dumbledore -- Victor: Probably Dumbledore, possible draw

Sirius vs Voldemort -- Victor: Probably Voldemort

Ron vs Hermione -- Victor: Probably Hermione

Not even close.

If Dumbledore wasn't trying to keep Harry safe and out of the fight, he would have mopped the floor with Voldemort. Dumbledore was the only wizard V was actually afraid of. And you notice, he had someone else kill D for him, because he didn't want to face him in a duel again. The books even pretty much say that Dumbledore was practically undefeated, and the most powerful wizard the world had ever seen.

Sorry, just had to add my 2cp.

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"I Live, I Love, I Slay, and I Am Content."
- Conan the Barbarian

Wasn'r Dumbledore already being weakened by a Horcrux by that point in time also?

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Not to mention, there's the whole Elder Wand thing going on there.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

Dumbledore was already dying, seriously weakened from the cave. He practically begged Snape to kill him so he wouldn't have to kill or be killed by young Malfoy. He was still trying to save Draco from becoming a killer.

At that point in time, Snape was able to kill Dumbledore, even though he didn't want to kill his only real friend, not because he was the better wizard, but because both Snape and Dumbledore saw it as necessary. Under normal circumstances Dumbledore would have disarmed and silenced Snape in a heartbeat.

I'm very sympathetic to Snape though. In a straight up duel he would have had a shot at Voldemort, and he could have taken Harry easily. Voldemort's power was in his insane ruthlessness.

Harry was a decent duelist, but he was still learning. He was naturally skilled and a fast learner but he wasn't as powerful yet as so many seem to give him too much credit for.

My two cents, your mileage may vary.

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

I still see Voldemort and Dumbledore as pretty even. Their true powers (as Micheal suggested above) came from different sources -- Voldemort's from his sheer ruthlessness, and Dumbledor's from his grasp of the magical arts -- but they were both still able to keep each other at bay.

As for Harry, as mentioned above as well, he was a fast learner, and could probably even ferret out someone's weaknesses over the course of a single duel.

Thought of some others:

Draco vs Harry (a proper duel, not the bathroom chase scene) -- Victor: Possibly Harry, possible draw

Lucius vs Snape -- Victor: Draw

This could be the most boring fight card in history. No one wants to see draws, declare winners man!

Just saying.

I don't think every fight would have a clear winner, tho.

And really I think the most epic part of some of these fights would be what happens during, not necessarily the outcome.

Doing the total-geek thing I'd have to rate each player on a couple of axes.

N) Natural Ability:-- combination of natural ability and wand
E) Experience: -- The other facet of power
C) Creativity -- Inspiriation, the ablity to use the environment
R) Reflexes -- Speed and accuracy and
D) Knowledge -- Counterspelling, what works in any given scenario, defenses


Dumbledore: N:9 E: 10 C:10 R:6 D: 10
Harry: N:8 E:6 C:9 R:10 D:4
Snape: N:7 E:8 C:7 R:7 D:9
Voldemort: N: 10 E:10 C: 10 R:6 D: 10
Ron: N:5 E:5 C:6 R:7 D:3
Hermione: N:8 E:5 C:5 R:4 D:6


Snape vs Voldemort -- Victor: Voldemort.
Snape vs Harry -- Snape. we see this at the end of Half Blood Prince. Snape makes Harry look like... well ... a kid...
Dumbledore vs Voldemort (yes, I know we sorta saw this already in Order, but it was a rather short battle) -- nah. Dumbledore
Harry vs Ron -- Victor: Harry - easy call.
Harry vs Hermione -- Victor: Hermione (so says the word of God, Harry gets by on nerves and reflexes)
Harry vs Dumbledore -- Victor: Dumbledore.
Sirius vs Voldemort -- Victor: Voldemort
Ron vs Hermione -- Victor: Hermione[/quote]

Both Dumbledore and Voldemort take out multiple aurors/teachers simultaniously without significant effort. Sirius is talented, but not in the other's league

Dum vs Vold: Dum
Harry vs Ron: Harry
Harry vs Herm: Harry
Ron vs Herm: Herm
McMon vs Snape: Epic. I say McMon, but close.
Neville vs Belle: Has to be Neville or there is no God.
Fred vs George: Who would know?

Speaking of Harry Potter, whom in the HP universe would you like to see matched up in a magic duel? And whom would you think would be the victor?

Snape vs Voldemort -- Voldemort. Snape is good, but Voldemort is *really* good.

Snape vs Harry -- Snape. Hands down.

Dumbledore vs Voldemort Dumbledore, but just by a whisker.

Harry vs Ron -- Harry

Harry vs Hermione -- Hermione. She's described as perhaps the most talented witch in her generation. She would *destroy* Harry.

Harry vs Dumbledore -- Dumbledore.

Sirius vs Voldemort -- Voldemort.

Ron vs Hermione -- Hermione, easily, but afterwards, sloppy makeouts would ensue.

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Holy shitsnacks!

While I am not a big Harry Potter fan anymore (I honestly haven't seen the 6th movie, and I'm ok with that) I will give my observations on the title character:

He's not a powerful wizard. He has three strong things working for him, but none of them add up to being a "powerful wizard." His strengths are:

1. He is naturally gifted at flying a broom. In fact, this is the one and only thing he has an uncanny skill and talent for.
2. He mastered patronuses quickly, which may be the only "magic" one could argue him for being a "powerful wizard." But a patronus won't win duels to the death.
3. He is a natural leader. Yet another good thing, but not one that puts him on the path of "powerful wizard."
4. Sheer Dumb Luck. This is his greatest and biggest strength. Sheer Dumb Luck. If Harry was playing Fallout, his "Luck" stat would be maxed out. 95% of all his triumphs have been through sheer dumb luck. Deus Ex Machinas and things being pulled out of butts regularly save his hide.

If Harry was going to win any "duel" it would be due to his #4 strength. It would go something like

Voldemort: "I am going to kill you now, Harry!"
Harry: "Yeah, well... whoa....whoooooa!"
Harry trips on a branch, falls over, his spell shoots over Voldemort's head. Which, hits a rope that was holding a large piano the Weasly twins had hung there years before as a gag. Voldemort is now crushed by 2,000 pounds of ivory and wood.

He may have the magic in him to be a powerful wizard, but I don't think he has the aptitude or brains for it. Which, personally, I think is what makes him a far more interesting character than, say, Richard Rahl of the Sword of Truth series.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

After having just recently reread the series, I would say that Harry's greatest strength is his friends. He's an above average wizard, but were it not for his capacity for love (sappy, but eh, that's really the whole point of the series) he woulda got smoked early on.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Yeah, I'd agree with that a bit.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

As for the Hermione vs Harry thing, I seem to recall reading somewhere (think it was Harry's character bio on Wiki) that he eventually surpassed his immediate peers in powers and became a better duelist than even Hermione, who in the early years would have easily defeated him.

Yeah, I dunno how canon that is We know he became an Auror, so its certainly possible.

But by the end of the books (epilogue notwithstanding), Hermione would have demolished him

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Holy shitsnacks!

Hermione's got a problem with nerves, though. She doesn't have the reflexes staring down the barrel of the gun, as it were, to be a proper duelist, though. She'd freeze up.

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"Aaaah! Emotions are weird!" - Amdee
"... Mirrorshades prevent the forces of normalcy from realizing that one is crazed and possibly dangerous. They are the symbol of the sun-staring visionary, the biker, the rocker, the policeman, and similar outlaws." - Bruce Sterling, preface to Mirrorshades

She kept her cool while being tortured by the Cruciatus curse and cut on by Bellatrix Lestrange. She had the foresight to zap Harry when surrounded by Snatchers. She's a Gryffendor. Nothing wrong with her nerves.

Hermione can pull off anything that's already been done and written down. She's book-smart. Her older doppleganger is McGonigal.

Harry is much more naturally gifted, and much more likely to figure out a mystery or solve a problem. Nerves of steel and balls of an elephant.

Snape.... if he treats whomever he duels like it were James he would smoke them.

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Darksiege
Traveller, Calé, Whisperer
Lead me not into temptation; for I know a shortcut

Agreed DS. You may have noticed Dumbledore always treated him with respect, not necessarily out of fear, but respect he had earned in ways not publicly known. Voldemort didn't duel him, he just killed him without warning. Was it because he he thought so little of Snape, or because he thought so much of him, that he avoided taking the wand through a duel?

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The U. S. Constitution doesn't guarantee happiness, only the pursuit of it. You have to catch up with it yourself. B. Franklin

"A mind needs books like a sword needs a whetstone." -- Tyrion Lannister, A Game of Thrones

Let's try something different:

Dumbledore vs Gandalf -- Victor: Probably Draw, possibly Gandalf

Voldemort vs Sauron -- Victor: Probably Voldemort (think about, Sauron's power came from his various minions -- by himself he was a tall guy in armor with a big mace who got defeated by getting his finger cut off), possible draw

I say Gandalf by a bit, Sauron by a mile.