[HPforGrownups] Names

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 37292

At 11:14 PM +0100 3/28/02, m.bockermann at t-online.de wrote:
>
>Now, here is the question: if Dumbledore is so eager to dispell the fear
>people have about calling the dark Lord by his name - why is he still using
>"Voldemort" at all?

Hmm.  Here's the relevant quote from Dumbledore, from CoS 18 (US edition):

"Very few people know that Lord Voldemort was once called Tom Riddle. 
I taught him myself, fifty years ago, at Hogwarts.  He disappeared 
after leaving the school . . . travelled far and wide . . . sank so 
deeply into the Dark Arts, consorted with the very worst of our kind, 
underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations, that when he 
resurfaced as Lord Voldemort, he was barely recognizable.  Hardly 
anyone connected Lord Voldemort with the clever, handsome boy who was 
once Head Boy here."

I tend to read that as saying that the Dark Lord left Hogwarts as Tom 
Riddle and returned as Lord Voldemort.  One of those "dangerous, 
magical transformations" might well have been magically changing his 
name (in some magic systems, I'd say his True Name) from "Tom Marvolo 
Riddle" to "Lord Voldemort".  Riddle's rant in chapter 17 seems to 
support this; he speaks of "fashion[ing] myself a new name" to 
replace the name of his Muggle father.  Tom Riddle is no more, only 
Lord Voldemort.  That also explains why even the wizards on "our" 
side occasionally call him "Lord Voldemort;" the "Lord" is now part 
of his name.  You couldn't, for example, Accio him by saying "Accio 
Tom Riddle;" you'd have to say "Accio Lord Voldemort" if you're still 
at the stage where you have to give the name of whatever you're 
Accioing.  (For you Star Wars fans, think Anakin Skywalker/Darth 
Vader here . . .)

We could check this by seeing what the Marauder's Map calls him, if 
only we ever saw the Map while he was on it . . .


At 9:09 PM +0000 4/1/02, finwitch wrote:
>Percy is short for Percival (by *Arthurian* legend! Maybe *Arthur*
>Weasley had just read the Muggle book and liked it - so he named his
>son after a character in it?)

He wouldn't need to "read the Muggle book".  Remember, Wizarding 
Britain's highest honor is called the Order of *Merlin*.  At least 
his portion of the Arthurian saga is well-known to the wizarding 
world.

Hmm . . . Arthur, William, Charles, Frederick, George . . . no wonder 
poor Ron feels like he's got too much to live up to; his father and 
all his brothers except Percy are named after kings!

-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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