Wonderful and more terrible ...

[Alz]

Originally Posted by OoTP - The only one he ever feared

'You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?' called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. 'Above such brutality, are you?'
'We both know there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom.' Dumbledore said calmly. 'Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit – '
'There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!' snarled Voldemort.
'You are quite wrong,' said Dumbledore, still closing in upon Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, undefended, shieldless. He wanted to cry out a warning, but his headless guard kept shunting him backward toward the wall, blocking his every attempt to get out from behind it. 'Indeed your failure to understand that there are things much worse than death has always been your greatest weakness –'

Originally Posted by OoTP - The Lost Prophecy

There is a room in the Department of Mysteries,' interrupted Dumbledore, `that is kept locked at all times. It contains a force that is at once more wonderful and more terrible than death, than human intelligence, than the forces of nature. It is also, perhaps, the most mysterious of the many subjects for study that reside there. It is the power held within that room that you possess in such quantities and which Voldemort has not at all. That power took you to save Sirius tonight. That power also saved you from possession by Voldemort, because he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests. In the end, it mattered not that you could not close your mind. It was your heart that saved you.'

I have discussed this in many ways - I want try and keep this centered on the above and the 2 questions I made below - any debates on the force being love or not etc should take place in a thread that discusses that in more detail ... here

Two parts strike me here ...

1. Dumbledore tells Riddle there are worse things than dying - then a little later on he is telling Harry there is a room there that contains a force more terrible than death ... possible link there?

2. It is generally accepted that love is inside that room - but why would that or something similar be both 'wonderful and terrible' ... that is a thing that makes me go ... ummmmmmm