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[nplyon]

No: HPFGUIDX 42731

> Way back when, I wrote:
> 
<<Then, in the tradition of many power-hungry beings, he found that 
> once he killed his father and grandparents, he hungered for more. 
> The more power he got, the more he craved. (snip) I think that 
> when he was 11, he may have been just as good a kid as Harry was. 
>>

To which catlady de los angeles replied:

> 
> I suspect that what you suggest is what JKR intended, in line with 
> her preaching about making choices. However, Diary!Tom said: "I 
> fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere 
> would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest 
> sorcerer in the world!" "Fear to speak". *Before* he killed his 
> father, it was already his ambition to be feared by all wizarding 
> folk. And he raved insanely about "Salazar Slytherin's noble 
> plan". He said it had taken him five years to learn how to open 
> the Chamber of Secrets, so he had started searching for it already 
> *in his first year* at Hogwarts. So he was already a loony when he 
> was a first-year student ... he wanted to kill "Mudbloods" and 
> terrorize wizards, not just to kill his father.

And now me again:

Sorry, this is horribly belated but I am about 200 posts behind so 
this is the first I'm seeing of this.

These are very good points.  I had my chronology mixed up, mostly 
because I was at work attempting to type furtively when I wrote that 
post.  :)  The basis of my theory, though, is that a lot of the 
impetus for Riddle's transformation into Voldemort, a ravingly 
maniacal evil overlord, is tied to his feelings about his father.  I 
think that this also has to do with why he thinks old Salazar's 
statements are so noble.  I think Riddle hated the fact that he was 
part Muggle because he considered the Muggle part of him as being 
the worst part of him.  He saw his father, a Muggle, as being weak 
and cowardly and so I think that he pretty much associates these 
traits with all Muggles with the end result that he became so 
loathing of Muggles that he sees a lot of sense in the idea that 
they must all be eliminated.  By eliminating them, he is also 
killing off some of his own humanity.  As for the murders he 
commits, I am not disputing that Voldemort enjoys killing and 
torture but I don't think it's so much the killing and the torturing 
that he enjoys, it's the sense of power that these things provide.  
I think he gets his kicks off feeling more powerful than everyone 
else.  I think the key in the quote is that he wants to become "the 
greatest sorcerer in the world."  Yes, I do think he enjoys going 
after other wizards but I think that his murder of his father is a 
special sort of triumph, rewarding him with a special sense of 
power.  Furthermore, not only does he triumph over his father by 
killing him, he triumphs even further by desecrating his father's 
grave.  I think he always felt that his father was more powerful 
than him because the memory of his father had the power to hurt 
him.  I believe he feels that he is usurping this power by murdering 
his father and, later, by desecrating the grave.  Thus, the murder 
of his father is especially significant because, from what I have 
seen, his father is one of the very few people in the world who held 
any sort of power over him.  The only other people I can think of 
who have power over him are Dumbledore and Harry.  This contributes 
to why I think Dumbledore is going to die.  Of course Voldemort is 
trying his best to kill Harry but Harry is, after all, the hero of 
the books so I think he can hardly die before book 7 and Voldemort's 
downfall.  But that's a different topic for another day... :)    

Basically, I think that the strong theme of absent fathers in the 
books serves to point out another of the great differences between 
Harry and Voldemort.  Voldemort reviles his father and hungers to do 
all he can to avenge himself against the man while Harry hungers to 
learn about his father because he feels that his father was brave 
and admirable.  I think that Voldemort and Harry are excellent foils 
for one another.  As foils, they perfectly illustrate JKR's theme 
that it is choice and not heredity that make all the difference in 
the world.  I agree with people who theorize that Harry has some 
special sort of gift and I don't think it contradicts the idea of 
choice over heredity.  In fact, I think it perfectly illustrates it 
as Harry is so talented and so special that he could perhaps achieve 
absolute power but he chooses to use his talents for good.

~Nicole, whose thoughts make perfect sense in her head but do not 
always translate well when she attempts to post them.  :)