Ouroboros

[davehoz at yahoo.com]

Original Yahoo! HPFG Header:
No: HPFGUIDX C1506
From: davehoz
Subject: Ouroboros
Reply To: [Yahoo! #1499] US/UK versions
Date: 5/27/00 11:26 pm  (ET)

>Dumbledore said in the UK version that Voldemore
>was the last remaining *ancestor* of Salazar Slytherin.
>In the US version, the word "ancestor" was
>changed to "descendant". You may want to check
>out the discussions at that time on whether that
>was the correction of a true error, or an
>overzealous "correction," which gave it a
>meaning Rowling never intended.

I think it was probably a typo... After all the issue at hand is the
*heirs* of Salazaar Slytherin. Yet, at the back of my head is the wild
idea that perhaps Voldemort and Slytherin have established an "Ouroboros
loop". Red Dwarf fans will know what I'm referring to, but for everyone
else I'll explain: The idea here is that Voldemort is indeed a descendant
of Salazaar Slytherin; but at some point Voldemort travelled back in
time in order to father *Salazaar Slytherin*! In other words they're
simultaneously each others' ancestor *and* decendant!

Now on the face of it, this seems prohibited by both the laws of
physics and of genetics, but the Dark Arts don't care much what laws
they break. The theory seems more attractive to me when I consider that
the symbol of such infinite loops -- the "Ouroboros" -- is a *serpent*
(with its tail in its mouth)... Not that I think this is really JKR's
intent, I just find the idea intriguing...