Alchemy & Voldemort's Madness

[heathernmoore]

No: HPFGUIDX 31712

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Katze <jdumas at k...> wrote:
> Hi Heathernmoore,
> 
> > 1) Calcination
> > 2) Dissolution
> > 3) Separation
> > 4) Conjunction
> > 5) Fermentation
> > 6) Distillation
> > 7) Coagulation, and the rise of the Phoenix / creation of the 
Stone
> 
> It will be interesting to see how this pans out in the books. Any
> speculation?
> 

  Heather again:  I think it would only pan out allegorically in the 
books -- fermentation or "strengthening" would be a common theme in 
book 5, distillation would show up in book 6 as a common theme of 
purifying or winnowing, discovering who the truest allies are (if 
there is to be a betrayal, it would appropriately show up here in 
this scheme), and coagulation will of necessity show up as a summing 
up in the last book.

> > Although Peter was a lion in school, his behavior is far more 
that of
> > Slytherin / Serpent.  In taking in the blood of both Peter and 
Harry
> > within himself, Voldemort has taken on the nature of the Chimera. 
(As
> > we have speculated, he doesn't realize that both of the bloods are
> > tainted for his purposes.)
> 
> How are both bloods tainted?

 The idea of taint shows up in a lot of possibilities:  in the first 
place, of course, Voldemort has been shown and is commonly assumed to 
be something of a lunatic by now. The whole notion of him literally 
interpreting the alchemical symbolism to apply to Harry and Harry's 
associates doesn't presuppose that Voldemort is *correct* in doing 
so. "Green-eyed Gryffindor child of a Gryffindor descendant and a 
muggle (possible squib descendant line)" equating to "I must kill 
Harry Potter, the Green Lion, the Child of the Philosophers, the 
Living Stone and utilize his blood to transmute myself into the 
immortal and perfected Phoenix" is a bit... uhm... "inspired." So 
Harry's blood may be "tainted" in the sense that it just doesn't have 
the properties that Voldemort may believe it has.

And then from another angle, Harry's blood may be tainted due to the 
magical protection he received from his mother's sacrifice, however 
you may choose to interpret that.

And Peter's blood would appear to be tainted if it is a carrier of 
Peter's karmic debt to Peter.

> > "By virtue of this {living} Stone, the Phoenix is burned to ashes 
in
> > which he is reborn."
> 
> Is this saying that the Phoenix is the result of the combination of 
the
> lion, serpent, and eagle?

 Maybe? I think the literal idea is that just as the Stone transforms 
base metals into gold, the Living Stone perfects the human soul, 
first destroying it but then resurrecting it. But alchemy is pretty 
esoteric; I may be completely misreading it.  The idea would fall 
along with Voldemort's have been first "destroyed" in trying to AK 
Harry, and later being "reconstituted" in the ritual using Harry's 
and Peter's blood.  I'm wondering if Voldemort now believes that 
himself *is* the perfected Phoenix now. If that's the case, maybe 
the "Order of the Phoenix" can be reinterpreted as an organization 
supporting Voldemort - I recall some speculation that the predicates 
in the titles so far have always described people or things which 
proved problematic or dangerous for Harry.

> 
> 
> > "The alchemist seeks to render the carbon cycle complete in one 
being
> > (presumably to cheat death?) If he thus instead of exhaling carbon
> > fixed it, we would ourselves physically be the Philosopher's 
Stone."
> 
> Not sure I understand this part. What does it mean to "fixed it"?

  Beats me! I think it's a reference to stalling the life process: 
not having to exhale carbon as a waste product in CO2.

> 
> > There's a theory in here somewhere. Either Voldemort believes that
> > Harry is the Living Stone which he needs to transmute himself into
> > the immortal Phoenix, or he is trying in some manner to create a
> > Living Stone.
> 
> So...let me get this straight. If Harry is the green lion, then V 
would
> have to create a stone (by using harry) to become immortal? If 
Harry was
> the actual stone, then V would only need him to become immortal?
> 
> Why would V want to kill Harry at the end of book 4, if he needed 
Harry
> for the creation of the stone?
> 




 I don't necessarily think that in any objective sense, we the 
skeptical readers should accept mapping the symbols onto the 
characters. But the overwhelming amount of specific alchemical 
symbols in the stories suggests to me that paranoid, insane Voldemort 
is basing his quest for immortality in alchemy -- trying to reproduce 
the effects of Philosopher's Stone in the flesh, since the Stone 
itself had been beyond his reach all his life. Alchemy is immensely 
complex and often contradictory, so it makes sense if Voldemort 
himself doesn't have a clear picture of how to proceed. Whether he 
identifies Harry as the Green Lion and/or the Living Stone itself, it 
stands to reason that Voldemort could convince himself he needs to 
release Harry's "power" for his own use by killing the boy -- or 
barring that, and possibly even better, by winning the kid to his 
side to use as a tool.  



> > There is apparently a piece of alchemical allegory in which the 
Lion
> > of the Sun (I think this is the Green Lion) precedes (heralds?
> > causes?) the desctruction of the Serpent...
> 
> Perhaps this has to do with Trelawney's first predction?




  Trelawney's first prediction is a delicious mystery! It must be 
completed, though, else I'm not sure Dumbledore would count it 
as "correct."



 
> >  I'm beginning to wonder if Snape was not originally drawn to the
> > Death Eaters by his fascination with alchemy, only to discover 
what
> > murderous bastards the whole lot of them were and what a barking
> > psycho LV is. It would make sense that the "Death Eaters" are
> > lieutenants in a dark, dark, dark attempt to, literally, sup with
> > death.
> 
> Snapes is also very much into following rules and regulations. 
Perhaps
> Dubmledore's world is more orderly than Voldemort's.
> 



  And for all his difficult personality, Snape doesn't actively 
appear to want anyone dead (except Barty Crouch and possibly Sirius 
Black).




> > And I've convinced myself that the Order of the Phoenix is somehow
> > connected with this not-quite-so-esoteric struggle to create the
> > Living Stone.
> 
> Take care
> -Katze