A Dark Mark thought

[Amanda Lewanski]

No: HPFGUIDX 15993

I just had the rather grim thought that there might be a bit more to the
Dark Mark on the Death Eaters than we've heard. Perhaps Snape's task is
simply that he must work directly for Voldemort's Ultimate Destruction,
and the reason he looks pale but ready is that the Dark Mark also will
kill its wearers when Voldemort dies. Snape is being asked to
systematically, directly, purposefully work toward his own death, and if
I know Voldemort, a nasty one. This makes his task a potentially
three-book one, a nasty one, a demanding one, and one that would allow
him to be at the ending feast in GoF looking unpleasantly but
differently at Harry (whether or not he's contacted Voldemort).

It seems very Voldemort-ish that the Mark would be conditional like
that--a Death Eater must tie his destiny to his master so completely,
and it would ensure their loyalty and fanatic protection of him, too.

The problem is, it faded from view, but they didn't die, so if this
theory is correct, they all must have known that he was alive, in some
form, someplace--after all, they weren't dead. Is this why V. was so
angry that only one came to find him? Because he knew they knew he was
out there? And is this why the Longbottoms were tortured? Because their
torturers *knew* V. was out there somewhere?

I'll have to read the V. & the Death Eaters scene again, with this
thought in mind, and see if it checks out. But I wanted to see what you
all thought. I had the sudden thought of C.S. Lewis, in "The Silver
Chair," when the Lady of the Green Kirtle died, the Underworld went up
in flames, floods, and earth-cracking--"She's the sort who wouldn't mind
dying if she knew that the person who killed her would be burned or
drowned a few minutes later" [paraphrase]. Voldemort seems the sort who
would want his Death Eaters to pay if he were defeated.

--Amanda