[HPforGrownups] Re: Immortal vapour? MAGIC DISHWASHER

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 40033

Grey Wolf:

> > Eloise wrote: 
> > That's a good point. I've always believed the Voldemort is immortal 
> > whilst disembodied theory (mostly because Hagrid and Sirius do). So 
> > why was Voldemort in hiding? 
> 
> Since this comes into the MAGIC DISHWASHER theme, I'll give you an 
> answer that fits it. It's altoghether possible that while in vapur 
> form, although he couldn't be destroyed, he was too debilitated to 
> prevent one of his DEs from using some dark magic to reduce him to a 
> mere second-in-command, or even worse. Since V wants to be the boss, he 
> 

How did I know that the magical kitchen appliance was going to be rolled out?
That's very much what I was saying in the part you snipped , except that I 
was suggesting he could be controlled by the Light side.

> 
> > However I think there is an argument against disembodied Voldemort 
> > being immortal. if he is, why does he need the unicorn blood? Firenze 
> > explains its purpose as being to *keep you alive*, suggesting that he 
> > *was* in danger of dying. Otherwise, why accept the cursed, half life 
> > that unicorn blood condemns him to?
> > (and why doesn't that curse continue?)
> 
> The Unicorn blood was to keep him in Quirrlell's head. As in the case 
> of Fugly baby!Voldemort, he needs some constant magical mean of 
> support, or he would return to his normal vapour form. Then again, we 
> know that the Unicorn blood gave him back powers, and Voldemort will do 
> 

I don't think canon actually *says* that is the reason for the unicorn blood. 
And anyway, why did he *need* to be in Quirrell's head? Would becoming vapour 
be so catastrophic at this point? Was Voldemort *always* under Quirrell's 
turban? Was it Quirrell that crawled across the floor of the Forbidden 
Forest? Or was it a cloaked vapour as implied in the CTMNBN?

> 
> About the Unicorn's curse: I suppose it died with Quirrell. Strictly 
> speaking, Vapuor!Voldemort is not alive, so he cannot be affected by a 
> 

But that seems to be precisely the point made by Firenze: only one as 
desperate as Voldemort would take on the consequences of drinking unicorn 
blood.
Oh, I've just realised that Firenze actually implies that the Philosopher's 
Stone would counteract the curse. But of course, he never got hold of it. Was 
he drinking unicorn blood in Albania too? I think he must have been.

> 
> > In fact, I am curious to know why Voldemort so wants to regain a 
> > body. He had already undergone great transformations from the days 
> > when he was Tom Riddle. One *might* expect that the next stage was 
> > some powerful, but non-corporeal form. The implication seems to be 
> > that to be effective, he requires a body, which I find odd, given 
> > that we know that wizards can use wandless magic.
> >
> > Eloise
> > Who's finally caught up. Nearly.
> 
> Ah! That's were the cunning of Dumbledore and MAGIC DISHWASHER comes 
> in: after the PS was destroyed, Voldemort run oput of easy options. It 
> seems that the stone wuld have goven his Vapour form power, but he 
> tells us in GoF he was "ready to assume again mortal life before 
> searching for inmortal life". Dumbledore or, if you don't like 
> dishwasher theory, some other circunstance had convinced him that to 
> gain inmortality he had to go back to square one and start over. 
> 
I don't think that's quite the implication, although it could be. More that 
in the absence of the Philosopher's Stone, there was *no* known path to 
immortality. In the meantime, he was prepared to settle for his old 
strengths. I'm just intrigued that with some lateral thinking, this reputedly 
brilliant mind couldn't have come up with some fiendish plan to regain 
*strength* without the constraints of a body. I think JKR anticipated this 
objection, actually, as she is at pains to point out that he was powerless 
because 'every spell which might have helped [him] required the use of a 
wand' (GOF, UK HB, 567). I guess that's where conspiracy theory comes in and 
those of us who don't buy it just have to settle for uncertainty.

Eloise

> 
> 




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