Who was Voldemort trying to kill and why?

[Hollydaze]

No: HPFGUIDX 31288

sonjahric Wrote:
<SNIP>
> "Stop Lily an' James Potter's son goin' ter Howarts! Yer mad.  His 
> name's been down ever since he was born."  
> This obviously proves that Harry was born with the powers that he 
> has.  (Just my opinion: I believe that Harry was prophesized to be > a great and powerful wizard that would eventually take down 
> Voldemort and Voldemort went to kill Harry and not his parents.)
The reason his name has been down ever since he was born is becuase of that book and quill that JK keeps mentioning. The one that records the name of every magical child born (in Britian) so McGonagall can send out the invites. It records the name, the moment the child is born (JK said in an interview).

I also believe that LV went to Godric's Hollow not just for Harry but for James too (although NOT Lily). So far we have been told by LV, in books 1 and 4, that he did not want to kill Lily. In book 3 we have the evidence to back this up, through what Harry hears when the Dementors are near him. We can't really count book 2 as this was a memory of Riddle at school and so (to the memory Riddle) nothing has happened with Harry, James and Lily because they are in his future. We know this through the fact that he only found out what happened with the Potter's through Ginny telling him. Now if we have been told in 3 out of the four books that LV did not want to kill Lily, why then hasn't LV (or another source: the Dementor "visions") revealed the same about James if this is the case? This would imply that LV wanted (or needed) to kill James as well as Harry.

The following is a suggestion that I posted on another site that links to the things mentioned above. Although I think it VERY far fetched and needs a lot of work, it is a possibility.

What if LV does want to kill both Harry and James, but not to stop something from happening (his downfall or whatever) but to CAUSE something to happen. I don't know what this might be but likelihood is that it is something to do with immortality. Perhaps the deaths of James and Harry would set in motion a set of events and/or actions that would lead to LV gaining immortality. Remember he is still working towards immortality when he meets Harry as we find out in book 4 that he is quite pleased that one of his spells at least prevented him dying, even if it didn't keep him in his body (which is what true immortality would have done) - which means he hadn't quite got there yet. 
This also strikes me as the sort of thing JK might do. She likes to lead us down the garden path and everyone I know thinks that the reason that LV wants to kill Harry is to stop Harry from doing something (in most cases killing LV) and so LV is preventing something from happening. JK has a habit of twists and unexpected changes in plot, this would be quite an interesting one, it would also mean that we can dismiss Harry dying as that is exactly what we DON'T want to happen (or else LV gets what he wants).

As I said before this I think this hasn't really got any support from Canon, but then strictly speaking The "LV self preservation" idea hasn't got much backing either has we don't actually have any real idea about why LV went to Godric's Hollow or who he wanted to kill (although we can infer the latter from things we have *not* been told). I personally am keeping my options open, I don't believe it is as straight forward as LV wants to stop Harry form killing him in later life, it is too easy and predictable, but I also think this idea is a bit far fetched.

A little extra idea relating to the thing above is that James and Lily obviously knew LV wanted to kill Harry and James (to cause an event) from the spy (or whatever) and went into hiding. LV found them, they died etc. 
This is where we might get a real sense of how brave James is (and probably the downfall of the above argument). 
If this is the case (that BOTH of them have to die) then surely it shows great bravery on James' part. If both of them have to die for whatever prophecy (Trelawny's first prediction?) etc, to come true, then that means that if only of them dies it won't work, but it is James that stays behind to try and defend Lily and Harry, he doesn't save himself and his wife and leave the 15 month old defenceless Harry to the wrath of LV, he tries to hold him off while Lily and Harry try to escape. He KNOWS that he doesn't have to die, that he could still live but he chooses to let the other in this "magical partnership" (so to speak) escape - or rather he attempts to.

HOLLYDAZE!!!


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