The name T.M. Riddle in CoS

mightymaus75 mpjdekker at hotmail.com
Sun Oct 26 01:00:48 UTC 2003


First, I have to confess that I haven't watched either of the movies. 
Not that I generally don't like movies, or even movie versions of my 
favourite books. More something to do with Chris Columbus and my lack 
of faith in his ability to capture the subtle humor. I hope you will 
find it in your hearts to forgive me.

As you are undoubtedly aware JKR once mentioned in an interview that 
there was a specific thing in the CoS movie which she had insisted 
the script writers keep in. Something which would turn out to be 
important in the coming books. This comment subsequently led to wild 
speculations among fans about what this thing might be and why it 
would be important. Speculation has included everything from chickens 
to crossbows to every other thing that is even briefly shown in the 
movie. Now I was wondering, is the fact that the name Riddle seems 
familiar to Harry included in the movie?

In the book the name somehow means something to him, as though Riddle 
was a friend he'd had when he was very small. Harry then dismisses 
the idea because Dudley always prevented Harry from having friends. 
The reason I ask, I have a theory that Harry at one time did actually 
have a friend named Tom Riddle. That this in fact was an imaginary 
friend only Harry could hear. In CoS Dumbledore tells Harry that 
Voldemort inadvertently transferred some of his powers the night his 
AK curse backfired. What if Voldemort transferred more than just some 
of his powers, what if he transferred a part of his mind to Harry? 
This separated part of Voldemort's mind could have been talking to 
Harry when he was little. A part of Voldemort's mind trapped inside 
Harry would also explain the strange link between Harry and 
Voldemort. (See the main book list, messages #78982, #79691, #83445, 
if you're interested in the complete theory)

So is Harry's familiarity with the name Riddle mentioned in the 
movie? If it is in the movie, how was this handled? I doubt they 
would have put Harry's thoughts word for word into dialogue. Any help 
would be greatly appreciated.

-Maus    






More information about the HPFGU-Movie archive