I feel so clever!!! (was Re: JKR at Edinburg festival)

[naamagatus]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "jeanico2000" <jheiler at s...> wrote:=

> I'd love to be able to debate some of the issues brough up by JK in 
> the Q&A session with other adult HP fans. I was a bit confused when 
> I read the following:
> "If you want to speculate on anything, you should speculate on these 
> two things, which will point you in the right direction. The first 
> question that I have never been asked—it has probably been asked in 
> a chatroom but no one has ever asked me—is, "Why didn't Voldemort 
> die?" Not, "Why did Harry live?" but, "Why didn't Voldemort die?" 
> The killing curse rebounded, so he should have died. Why didn't he? 
> At the end of Goblet of Fire he says that one or more of the steps 
> that he took enabled him to survive. You should be wondering what he 
> did to make sure that he did not die—I will put it that way. I don't 
> think that it is guessable. It may be—someone could guess it—but you 
> should be asking yourself that question, particularly now that you 
> know about the prophesy."
> I just can't wrap my brain around this. Any thoughts?
> Also, I really wish that JK would stop hinting that Harry might not 
> survive the series like it's some kind of big inside joke or 
> something. How she ends the series is ultimately her decision, but I 
> find that she shouldn't tease people about the possibility. IMHO, 
> Harry is by now such a beloved character that I think the 
> psychological impact if she killed him off would be truly devasting. 
> What say you?

It's the strangest thing. I had just opened file containing the beginning o=
f an essay I 
started long ago about Voldemort, thinking to maybe return to it. I start o=
ut by making 
exactly this point - that the real mystery (now) is not why Harry survived,=
 but why 
Voldemort didn't die! As proof, here is the quote:

"Why, IMO, is it Voldemort's survival that is the crucial quesiton? There h=
as been a lot of 
discussion since JKR's recent chat regarding this. For those who don't reme=
mber: JKR was 
asked why did Harry and Voldemort both survive. She answered that this is t=
he central and 
crucial question, and that to answer it would make book six and seven redun=
dant.  In the 
discussions here, most people, AFAIR, focused on Harry's survival and/or th=
e special link 
between Harry and Voldemort. But if you think about it, we've already been =
given a lot of 
information regarding Harry. We know that he survived because his mother di=
ed for him, which 
is "ancient magic." Through the Dementor scenes, we have gained more insigh=
t into what 
actually happened – Lily screaming and begging for Voldemort to kill her in=
stead. In GoF we 
learn that this protection is in Harry's blood, and in OoP that this blood =
protection is the 
basis of Harry's strongest protection via Petunia's acceptance. That's quit=
e a bit of 
information, isn't it? That's not to say that we know everything there is t=
o know, but I 
think that before flying with convoluted theories regarding Harry's surviva=
l, why don't we 
pay some attention to what is suspiciously void of any information? We know=
 absolutely 
*nothing* about Voldemort's survival. "

My second point being, that we should focuse on the steps he took to insure=
 his immortality. 

It's terribly narcissistic, I know, but I'm just so damned pleased with mys=
elf at the moment!


Naama