A few comments....

[Orrianne]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C4386
From: Orrianne
Subject: A few comments....
Date: 7/16/00 12:59 am  (ET)

s
p
o
i
l
e
r

s
p
a
c
e

Names: I think that Rowlings has some fun pulling references with names
from other places. I know that Nagini, for example, is pulled as a
reference from a real life legend from India. I also noticed the name of
Hermione's cat, Crookshanks. There is a T. S. Elliot cat, Skimbleshanks,
who is the cat of the postal express train. He has his own song in the
Andrew Lloyd Webber "Cats" as well. I don't know the whole song, but I
immediately thought of Skimbleshanks when we met Crookshanks.

I know some other people have pointed out to me little references from
some names used in the books, and I think that Rowlings is just using
a sly sense of humor with these references.

Now, as far as Voldemort/Tom Riddle goes...

It seems to me that the rich Riddle family were muggles. There was
Mr. Tom Riddle Sr, Mrs. Riddle, and the son, Tom Riddle. Either the
elder Riddle or his son had an affair with a witch in the village, and
that affair led to the birth of Voldemort. I guess that his Mother gave
him the name Tom after his Father.

Eventually, Tom Riddle/Voldemort returned and killed the Riddle family
as revenge for being abandoned. It's pretty simple, I think, Voldemort
was a bastard child and never got over it. Eventually, he went and got
revenge on the muggle man who had abandoned him and his Mother.

Since Voldemort stayed in an orphanage when not at school, I believe
that his Mother must have died when he was very young. Perhaps Voldemort
blamed the death of his witch Mother on his muggle father - and we just
don't know the full story there as of yet. Barty Crouch was also fond
of his Mother, who died in jail for him, and he saw Voldemort loved him
"Like a son. Like more than a son." The orphan/abandoned theme runs
pretty strong through these books for both Voldemort and Harry, and
other characters like Crouch and Neville as well.

Someone mentioned that recently Rowlings gave away another hint about her
books - that the fact that Harry has Lily's eyes is very important to the
story. I'm curious to know why that'll be so important later, but it's
obvious that something about Lily has not fully been explained, and I bet
it's pretty complicated. Whether it's about Lily's muggle family history,
Snape's feelings for Lily, why Lily's final spell protects Harry in his
skin and blood and how it'll affect Voldemort, or why Lily came out of
the wand last rather than James - I don't know. Maybe all of the above
or none of the above, but I think there's a lot about Lily we don't know
as of yet.

What I found odd was that Harry /knew/ James was going to be coming out
of the wand first. I agree that we hear James's voice telling Lily to
run and protect Harry, and that all clues we have indicate that James
was killed before Lily was... but the order coming out of the wand
/clearly/ shows that the spell cast to kill James was prior to Lily's -
Lily died first, and then James. I don't know if this was a mistake,
or not, but we'll find out I'm sure!

I am also concerned about why Fudge started smiling when confronted
by Dumbledore. I know that many of the Ministry members are obviously
pretty worthless, and some have been Voldemort followers. I hope that
Fudge isn't secretly on Voldemort's side.