A Gleam in the Darkness

[cindysphynx]

No: HPFGUIDX 31299

David wrote:

> I wonder, have any list members ever considered the meaning of the 
>curious 'look of triumph' that appears in Dumbledore's eyes when he 
>is debriefing Harry after Voldemort's rebirthing?  No?  Well, here 
>is my tentative offering.

Let me say that this is such a frightfully good and complex theory 
that I am afraid even to touch it, as though it is a bomb that might 
go off.  But I can't resist, so . . . 

David wrote:

> So, here's one possibility.  Riddle's mother died when he was a 
>baby, apparently in childbirth.  Could he *already* have a similar 
>protection from her, his great tragedy being that he had nobody to 
>tell him (or was unwilling to listen)?  He then went on a quest for 
>something that, in essence, he already had (or at least could not 
>improve upon), and at the end rejects it in favour of what he can 
>get via Harry.  In this case, the rebirthing represents a decisive 
>weakening, not because of any special qualities of Harry's blood, 
>but because of the unconscious rejection of the last remaining good 
>he has in his own heritage.  (It is an interesting sidelight that in 
>order to rebirth, he must acknowledge his despised father.)  Enough ?
to make the twinkliest eyes gleam.
 
Hmmm.  I need some help with the "double mothers' love" theory.  
Harry is protected by his mother's love because she died protecting 
him.  Fair enough.  Voldemort has the same style protection, because 
his mother died protecting him.  Mmmm, a bit of a stretch, as she 
died in childbirth, so she wasn't "protecting" Voldemort per se.  (As 
anyone who has given birth will tell you, all you really want is to 
get that huge baby out of you.)  But OK, maybe all of that screaming 
in pain she probably did was about protecting little baby Voldemort.

So if they both have the same style of protection, why does only 
Voldemort lose his powers?  Shouldn't the spell just bounce around 
Godric's Hollow, kind of like in interminable game of 1970's Pong?


> 
> An alternative explanation, which I have not tried to elaborate in 
any detail, is that Riddle's mother cursed him as she was dying, and 
both his power and his tragic career derive from this. The gleam 
would then be to do with the idea that every new power Voldemort 
acquires will ultimately further his own downfall - a bit like the 
way Harry's every success in the Triwizard Tournament furthers 
Voldemort's plan.
> 

Hey, this is a fun one.  Maybe Voldemort's mom didn't want him 
because his dad had abandoned them.  So he carries in himself the 
opposite of the mother's love protection.  Now Voldemort has Harry's 
mother's blood protection, but it isn't going to work for him because 
of the dislike Voldemort's own mother had for him.  It needs some 
thought, but David might be really have something here.

Cindy (who still can't figure out why Tom Riddle wanted to kill his 
dad and grandparents and thinks there is more going on there than 
meets the eye)