[HPforGrownups] Re: Similarities between Harry and Voldemort

[devika261 at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 23417

In a message dated 8/1/01 7:18:18 PM Eastern Daylight Time, 
catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk writes:


> True, there may be a passing resemblence as far as height and dark 
> hair is concerned, but there is a lot more to physical similarities 
> than that.  As far as James and Harry are concerned, if their 
> physical resemblence is so uncanny, there must be more to it thatn 
> mere hair colour and height.  There is the way they both have the 
> same untidy hair, it is probable that they have the same shaped nose, 
> mouth, similar physique.  I can't remember any mention in canon that 
> James, Harry and Voldemort actually look similar apart from the dark 
> hair - Harry, at the moment is short for his age.  I don't recall 
> James' height being mentioned.  Voldemort is described as being 
> tall.  In my mind, this means that superficially he could just as 
> well look similar to Cedric Diggory!
> 
> What I am saying is that there is a similarity between Voldemort and 
> Harry - partly due to upbringing and partly to do with the part of 
> Voldemort which was transferred to Harry on the night the curse 
> rebounded.  However, physically, it is no more than superficial and a 
> coincidence.  IMO, there's a difference.
> 

In GoF, Ch. 34, James's "shadow" is described as being that of "a tall man 
with untidy hair."  At the moment, then, Harry is not taking after his father 
as far as height is concerned.  However, the last we hear of him, he's only 
14, so he still has plenty of time to grow, and I'm sure he will.
I believe that all of the references to the physical similarities between 
Harry and Voldemort, as well as their similarities in upbringing only serve 
to strengthen JKR's (and Dumbledore's) point that it is our choices that 
shape who we are.  Harry and Voldemort provide a perfect example of this.  As 
Tom Riddle pointed out in CoS, their were likenesses in his and Harry's 
pasts.  However, Tom chose one path and Harry quite clearly has chosen 
another for his future.  Harry and Voldemort, so similar at first glance, 
even physically, are two very different people, and this is as a result of 
their choices and not their upbringings.
The fact that Harry's and Voldemort's wands share cores seems to me to imply 
that there was a possibility that the two of them had similar potentials when 
they each began at Hogwarts.  (I'm making the assumption that Voldemort's 
wand was the first one he bought before he went to Hogwarts for the first 
time.)  Tom Riddle had just as great a potential for good as Harry had for 
evil (Gryffindor vs. Slytherin).  They both had very powerful wands and the 
abilities to do great things.  However, Tom's future was set by his decision 
to join the dark side and become Lord Voldemort, just as Harry's future will 
be influenced by his decision to fight against Voldemort.
I agree with you that the similarities between Harry and Voldemort, whether 
coincidence or results of the curse that failed, are superficial.  These, 
IMO, only reinforce the idea that we all have the ability to overcome our 
pasts and control our own futures.

Devika, who hasn't posted in a while--hope this one is worth it!

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"There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, 
and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."
--Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's [Philosopher's] Stone
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