Why was Voldemort after Harry?/info on this club (was Hi... =))

[Flying Ford Anglia]

No: HPFGUIDX 8785

Karla wrote:

<<<<Well, I figure I should at least introduce myself, as I just 
joined the newsgroup tonight. My name is Karla and I just read all 
four of the Harry Potter books within the past week. They are 
ADDICTING and now I just really am looking forward to the discussions 
on here.>>>>

Hi Karla, 

Welcome to the club!

I know how you feel.  I devoured the first three books in a week or 
so (GoF wasn't out at the time).  I'm dead impressed that you managed 
to polish off the first three AND Goblet of Fire in the space of a 
week.  Hmmmm: I think you'll be right at home here <g>.

 
<<<<One question that I had while reading the books was why did 
Voldemort go to kill Harry and not Harry's parents? Throughout the 
Prisoner of Azkaban book, Harry hears what happened when his parents 
died. They died to protect him from Voldemort, not because Voldemort 
was after THEM. Maybe I'm reading this wrong, but I would love to 
hear other people's take on this. Thanks!>>>>

I guess that question is the crux of the whole series.  It may be 
that Voldemort somehow knew that a wizard of great power had been 
born into the world, one who would be a threat to his plans in future 
years (someone recently posted a sort of `King Herod analogy' theory 
to account for the low numbers of Gryffindor students in Harry's 
year).  Alternatively, Harry may represent the last of the Gryffindor 
line, in which case Voldemort would have wanted both James and Harry 
dead (or Lily and Harry, depending on which of the parents could be a 
descendent of Godric Gryffindor).  Another thought is that V is just 
completely unhinged and killed irrationally or out of bottled-up 
jealousy, because he had loved Lily.

You'll find that this topic has been discussed here before.  Online, 
eGroups has a very useful search feature and you may find quite a bit 
on this under the heading "Priori Incantatem" as part of a discussion 
on why and when James and Lily were killed.

Some of us have been working on a set of substantive `FAQs' covering 
the various HP-related topics and characters that have been discussed 
here.  These will serve as a guide to theories that have already been 
proposed on those burning questions.  Most of these FAQs (for want of 
a better description) will be available very soon; they have taken 
rather longer than we anticipated due to the high posting rate here!

We are currently in the process of revamping the administrative areas 
of the club.  If you go online, be sure to check out the Files area: 
that will give you a good idea of some of the activities here and 
information on some club annexes and archives.

Neil