Hey, brother!

If we've said it once, we've said it a hundred times, Voldemort is a terrible planner.

And yet he does make one very calculated move that pays massive dividends for himself.

I would even call it his masterstroke.

I mean, make no mistake, it will still absolutely blow up in his face, as all of his

plans eventually do, but this is perhaps the most effective and impactful single thing

he does to further his entire cause.

I speak of course of the curse that he places on the defense against the Dark Arts teaching

position when he returns to Hogwarts on a snowy

night to one, hide the diadem of Ravenclaw, and two, request a teaching post from

Hogwarts new headmaster, Albus Dumbledore.

And while it feels like nothing more than petty revenge for not hiring at the time, this

curse goes on to play more than one very significant role in Voldemort's

Ascent to Power.

So obviously, mainly what this curse does is stop any single person from holding the position

of Defense Against Dark Arts Professor for more than one year, which is of course a huge

annual inconvenience to Dumbledore.

But on a grander, long-term scale, this act beleaguers generations of

students from getting a proper education in defense against the Dark Arts

significantly lowering the odds that any real opposition can form to

Voldemort's own regime. And the results are very obvious. I mean, as we went over in last week's video about the Order of the Phoenix, not one but

two Order of the Phoenix's failed to truly halt his progress almost at all.

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