Exhuming Tom Riddle the Elder (was: hehehe Fidelius Charm)

[Strix]

No: HPFGUIDX 47755

I (Strix) wrote a little while ago:

 > In defense of the idea that the ritual was flawed (I think it 
> worked, 
> > but I'm playing devil's advocate):  I believe Voldemort made a 
> > reference to how this ritual was supposed to give him his 
"old 
> > body" back.  And the ghastly snakelike man who emerged 
> > looked nothing like V's human form as Tom Riddle.  
Personally, I 
> > think that was a result of the experiments with immortality 
that 
> he 
> > performed during his earlier lifetime--remember how 
> > Dumbledore said he was basically unrecognizable by the 
time 
> > he emerged as Lord Voldemort?   But it's possible to theorize 
> > that his strange appearance is a result of something having 
> > gone wrong in the ritual.  *shrug*

Marina responded:

> I think that if Voldemort's appearance was messed up as the 
result 
> of a flawed ritual, there would've been some reaction from the 
> people involved.  Voldemort himself would've gone, "Hey! 
That's not 
> what I'm supposed to look like!  Wormtail, you idiot, you got it 
> wrong! Crucio!"  The various DEs who arrived at the scene 
would've 
> been startled to find themselves facing a think snaky guy 
instead of 
> the handsome dark-haired man they remembered.  The fact 
that 
> everyone except Harry seems rather blase about Voldemort's 
> appearance suggests that he looks the way he's supposed to 
look.

Me again:  I agree.  I think the snaky-look was probably what he 
looked like at the time he got blasted into near-oblivion trying to 
curse Harry.  I'm just being ornery and playing devil's advocate.  :)  
It's *possible* (though wildly improbable, IMHO) that Voldemort 
looked "wrong".  The flaw in that theory, like you said, is that 
nobody seemed to think he looked weird.

Strix