The power in Voldemort's name

[Charmian]

No: HPFGUIDX 8871

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, John Walton <john at w...> wrote:
> Charmian wrote:
<snip>
> > 
> > That might be it, but I don't think we've seen anything in the 
books
> > that indicates that it really does anything. (In fact, isn't Tom
> > Marvolo Riddle really Voldemort's name? I wonder how long it took 
JKR
> > to come up with that anagram.) In SS/PS, ("Call him Voldemort, 
Harry.
> > Always use the proper name for things. Fear of a name increases 
fear
> > of the thing itself.") doesn't Dumbledore encourage Harry to say
> > Voldemort instead of He-who-must-not-be-named or You-know-who (the
> > second, now that I think about it, is in fact rather silly 
sounding.
> > What's next, that-really-scary-guy or the wizard-formerly-known-
as-
> > Tom-Marvolo-Riddle? I suspect Voldemort shall soon, to celebrate 
his
> > resurrection, insist that his followers refer to him by an
> > unprounouncable symbol, which won't be a problem, since they all 
call
> > him the Dark Lord anyway). But on the other hand, Dumbledore and
> > Voldy are in the same class, power-wise, and Harry used to be off-
> > limits to Voldemort's magic.
> > 
> > Charmian
> 
> The name-as-power theme runs not only through LeGuin (one of my 
FAVORITE
> writers!) but through Eddings. For instance, in the first two books 
of the
> Belgariad (the first series), Our Heroes avoid saying the name of 
the Grolim
> Apostate (type of sorcerer) Zedar. Apparently, he can hear his name 
being
> said all over the land.
> 
> Perhaps, therefore, this is why nobody says Voldy's name.
> 

This also reminds me of one of my favorite sff writers, Diana Wynne 
Jones; Chrestomanci always comes when you call him, and can sense the 
mentioning of his title. (I wish she'd write some more children's 
books instead of going off on her parodic fantasy genre pieces...) 
But like I said, I don't think this is at work in JKR's series for 
two reasons. 
Firstly, no one gives Harry a concrete reason for not saying Voldy's 
name. It just makes them uncomfortable, or gives them a nasty 
feeling, or brings up unpleasant memories. 
Secondly, that quote of Dumbledore's which I've quoted above. He 
seems to view it mostly as something akin to superstition. Not naming 
Voldemort apparently gives him power...not mystical power, emotional 
power. So (speculation) I think one of the signs his reign of terror 
is over will be when people feel safe enough to say his name. 

Charmian....(remember to spell my name correctly, it increases my 
power!)