[HPforGrownups] Re: Voldy's mum

[Laura Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 37452

Some thoughts on Voldemort's mum..

Barb said:
>As the last remaining heir to Slytherin, I have no doubt this is the 
>house she was in. Where else?

Well, this sort of flies in the face of the theme of choice and such in the books.  Why *must* someone with Slytherin heritage be in Slytherin house?  It seems as if the Sorting Hat sorts in accordance to a person's personality and such.  It is perfectly plausible that Mum had a Ravenclaw personality -- or even a Hufflepuff personality.  I know that *I* at least, am not the same person as my ancestors were.  The fact that Mum fell in love with Tom Riddle, Sr., a muggle, sort of points toward the conclusion that she did not hold the same views as Slytherin against muggles and mudbloods.

As for the fact that the Weasleys and the Malfoys do seem to be sorted into the same house as their other relatives is simply a reflection of the fact that siblings and their parents *are* likely to have similar views, etc.  However, I don't think this can be extended to Voldy's mum.  There's no reason for her to *have* to take after a distant ancestor.  Furthermore, Pavarti and Patil were Sorted into different houses, weren't they?  My opinion is that the Sorting is a very individual process.

Dicentra:
>And here I have to wonder if it was "just one of those things" or if
>her death might not have been helped along. Isn't it possible that
>someone knew who her son would become? Could Sybll Trelawney have been
>alive then (though young) and made THAT prediction? Perhaps there was
>a bungled attempt to kill Tom and his mother got it instead.

Interesting.  I have never thought of this before, but it's certainly a possibility.

Megs Said:
>Anyways, earlier there was an idea that Voldy's mom could be a ghost in the 
>thread about Voldy's mom. Well, that lead me to think of the book's mystery 
>ghost. The Grey Lady. She is barely mentioned in the books, but JKR has 
>alluded to her significance in Interviews I have read. Her importance was 
>furthered when she kept popping up in movie scenes. She looked rather young, 
>thus she died young. And since JKR had so much input on the movie, that 
>probly was not a mistake.

I LIKE IT!! *high fives* JKR *did* say that unhappy people become ghosts, and I can imagine Mummy Dearest would be one upset woman.  The only problem is that this would mean that Tom would have had his mother around during his years at Hogwarts, which IMO should have helped him be not-so-evil.

*Unless* Mom felt the same way as V. does about Muggles (and by association, Mudbloods)because of what Tom Riddle, Sr. did to her.  Under this theory, it's pretty obvious how Tom would have found out about the circumstances of his birth and his heritage - she could have told him.  Perhaps she even gave Tom a hard time about being the son of that wretched Muggle that wronged her.  Maybe it was *she* (as she could pass through walls and such) who found the Chamber of Secrets for Tom after posthumously deciding to embrace her Slytherin heritage.

The only problem (well, perhaps not the only..I'm sure you good people will be able to come up with others) is that I believe the Grey Lady is the Ravenclaw ghost.  Now, I believe that V's mum very well could have been a Ravenclaw, but if she was aiding and abetting Tom in his Hogwarts terrorism, it doesn't seem likely.  Maybe she just never told Tom she was his mother because she 
was...I don't know...too upset by the sight of him or something?

Or maybe she *did* tell him (the whole abandonment story and whatnot) and also told him she really didn't want anything to do with him (because he was the image of his hateful father or she could tell he was a bad boy from the start because of the way he kicked puppies and terrorized the other first years) -- this would have been particularly angsty for our already mental-unbalance Tommy.

eep..okay, maybe this theory isn't as perfect as I thought..any ideas?

laura


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