Voldemort and....Gandalf??? and Voldy's strategy

[Brooks R]

No: HPFGUIDX 233

Has anybody noticed a kind of parallel with Voldy and Gandalf?

Both fight a dangerous enemy, in essence die, and are reborn, to 
greater power than ever before.  Both talked about wandering for a
long  time, I think Gandalf may have even said something about
feeling formless....  in contrast though, Gandalf gets more nearly 
imortal, whereas probably much of Voldy's anti-dying measures are now 
no longer working on him.

It would be a really interesting idea for Voldy to lie low through
the next book, trying to restore as many of those anit-dying measures 
as possible, before coming out and attacking openly again.  Think of 
the advantages to him - if he gets word that Fudge is refusing to
take 
measures, refusing to believe, then not only does he have time to do 
so, but lying low helps lull the wizardly community at large into 
complacency; and it raises doubts about Harry's veracity  -  "But I
SAW Voldemort!"  "If he's back in physical form, why hasn't he shown 
himself? Why hasn't he attacked?"  -  it would also offer a symmetry 
around GoF as the central book:

Book I : Voldy present in form of a 'possessing spirit'
Book II: Memory of Voldy as a teenager animating an object
Book III: Voldy not present at all, but his supposed and real minions 
are
Book IV: Voldy re-manifests physically

If Book V has Voldy lying low, with most of the conflict between
Death Eaters and Forces of Light, and the DE's trying to hide it as 
much as possible from the General Wizarding Populace, that would be 
again symmetric around the Central Book - (GoF).  Of course, symmetry 
then becomes harder....
Symmetry would then maybe make Book VI with Voldy being real but 
attacking Harry et al from a distance, and finally Book VII might
have all the forms present at once  - Voldy possessing and operating 
multiple wizards at the same time trying to overwhelm Harry via the 
control spell  - most of the other students in the class couldn't
throw it off.  What happens if Voldy and DE's manage to place most of 
the students under his control and has them attack Harry?  How many
wizards can he fight off at once?  How constrained is he for fear of 
hurting them?

All in all, it might be a real interesting, and unsettling
development, for Voldy to spend the next book biding his time and 
making preparations, rather than doing out and out attacks.  If he is 
going to be something other than an evil overlord and make all those 
classic mistakes, that is perhaps what he should do - do everything
in 
his power to ruin the reputation of Harry, Dumbledore, etc., while 
biding his time and gaining strength.  Voldemort is probably smarter 
than the Kzinti, who always attacked just before they were actually 
ready to do so....

...and from an author's prespective, it gives opportunity for much
more character development of Harry, who has to keep doing the right 
thing even when not supported, in ways that he has already been doing 
in the previous books; and it also builds even more sympathy in the 
reader for  Harry, who becomes more an more isolated and an
underdog...

So of course JKR will probably come up with a plot that is even 
cleverer than that! :-)

-Brooks