Anachronisms/Quirrell/Lavender/ BRAVE Riddle/Voldemort-Potter connection/ bathro

[Edblanning at aol.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 40314


Judy:
> I think the Latin discussion is to veering off topic.  

Agreed. Apologies.

<snip bit about the workings of spells and the non-requirement of specific 
words, with which I totally agree>

Judy:
>The anachronism of the names, and of a thousand year old castle, don't 
>really bother me.  After all, there is time travel in the Potterverse; 
>the founders of Hogwarts could easily be influence by events that took 
>place centuries after Hogwarts was founded.


Exactly. This all started by my trying to point out that there are reasons 
for not trying to tie up what was happening in the wizard world with *Muggle* 
history.

..................
James, on Quirrell's death:

>I'm not sure we are told when or how he died though, Harry just seems 
>to cause him burning pain (the quote is something like "he could not 
>bear to touch you" from Dumbledore) and I'm not sure that would kill 
>him.

Voldemort says that Quirrell died when he (V) left his body. (GOF, 567, UK HB)

..............................
All sorts of bits and pieces I've picked up over the last couple of days!

Andy:
> (I'm new here. Forgive me if this has all been said before, or if I'm
> crossing some previously drawn and whispered about line of decor. I
> always seem to step on virtual toes whenever I join one of these
> things..  ;) )
> 
> It makes sense. Lavender and Pavarti are both unrepentant "girly
> girls" (to borrow an expression from my friend Carolyn) who think that
> "ohmigod, Mad Eye Moody's eye should, like, not be ALLOWED."  Heck,
> there had to be shallow preppies at Hogwarts, I suppose... ;)
> 
Welcome, Andy.

Well, I don't *think* I'm a shallow preppy, insofar as I understand the 
terminology (she says, glancing nervously around) but to be quite frank *I'd* 
be rather disconcerted if I suddenly realised that the spooky old man who 
taught me DADA could, at that very moment see *my* underwear. And, 
presumably, what was inside it!

No. I don't like JKR's portrayal of females in general, but in this case, I 
think the girl's got a point!

(But you haven't stepped on my toes.)
...................
Judy Serenity:
> A comment on the fact that brave is capitalized when Riddle describes 
> himself as "parentless, but so BRAVE."  Perhaps JKR is saying that 
> Riddle, like Harry, had a choice of Gryffindor or Slytherin houses.   
> A few pages later, Dumbledore talks about that many dangerous 
> transformations Voldemort underwent.  Voldemort may be ever-so-evil, 
> but he's not a wimp.  So, the Sorting Hat might have had trouble 
> 


That's interesting because, you know, I always read that the opposite way: 
that the 'bravery' in question was just part of the act that Riddle was 
putting on.  I'm not denying that he may indeed be brave, but I think that 
particular paragraph is to do with the image that he had been projecting. I 
interpret it as his mocking the gullibility of Dippet and the other teachers 
there. He was *so* brave tracking down the Monster of Slytherin, wasn't he 
(when all the time he was in control of it).

BTW, is it really capitalised? in my UK version, it's italicised. A minor 
difference, but I wonder why anyone should make that change.

.....................................
Richelle:
> Ah, good.  Someone agrees with me. :)  To give you my theory point blank, I
> think that Tom Riddle had a child with a muggle (whether adulterous or not,
> I don't know, given I don't know the ages of Lily and Petunia) and that
> child is Lily.  The ages work out perfectly.  Anybody have a guess at how
> old Lily is?  Petunia?  Would Lily have been in Hogwarts at the time that
> Voldemort "went bad?" (about 20 years before book one, according to Hagrid)
> Could her name have even been changed to protect her?  Or could she have
> never even known who her real father was?  Perhaps she was raised as
> Petunia's full sister and no one (other than her mother and maybe a few
> select others) knew otherwise.
> 
> My only J.K. Rowling support for all of this (other than deductive reasoning
> from the four books and my imagination) is this:
> 
> In a Scholastic author interview last year, J.K. Rowling was asked flat out
> "Is Harry related to Voldemort?"  A simple no would have sufficed, right?
> Her answer?  (probably not an exact quote, but close) "Well, that would make
> it a bit Star Wars wouldn't it?"  There you go.  She clearly (to me anyway)
> evaded the question, changed the subject, and hoped everyone would simply
> say "oh, that can't be it."  But to me it leaves the door open!
> 
> Okay, I've gone on long enough.  


With apologies to those who have heard this before......
Canon, well, Dumbledore, who may or may not be omniscient or nearly 
omniscient  and may or may not be conveying a 'fact' from the author at this 
point, tells us that Voldemort is Slytherin's only remaining descendent. If 
this is correct, Harry *cannot* be Riddle's grandson. If it's incorrect, then 
that's a piece of misdirection that's going to need some major explaining, in 
my book.
Perhaps Dumbledore has a touch of Voldementia:
'Oh, no Harry, you *are* a descendent of Slytherin. I forgot.'

Harry sees his family in the mirror of Erised. He did not see Lord Voldemort 
there. 
(OK, I conceed that perhaps he could have seen Tom, whom he wouldn't 
recognise at that point.)

I agree that JKR's comment could be seen as evasive, but do you think she 
*wants* so be compared to that aspect of Star Wars? That Luke/Darth Vader 
thing is something which so many people dislike that I assume her comment can 
be taken at face value.
.......................................

Rosie:

Oh - was it the same bathroom as Myrtle's? Very interesting point if so. I 
actually 
> don't remember, although it seems strange that Myrtle wasn't annoying HRH as 
> they fought the troll if so. Maybe she had been flushed down to the lake?
> 


You know, I've always found this bathroom thing a bit intriguing. The 
information that Ron and Harry have is just that Hermione is crying 'in the 
girls' toilets'. Now in a castle that size, is there only one set of girls' 
loos? No, we know not, because there are Myrtle's, which are permanently out 
of order. And surely Gryffindor tower must have some. Are the students 
supposed to go wandering the castle at night? We know they're not; it would 
give Harry too good an excuse for nocturnal ramblings:
'What are you doing here, Potter?'
'I got lost trying to find the toilets in the dark, Professor.'

The book implies the one Hermione's in is on the ground floor.
So....how did Harry and Ron know where precisely to look for her? I'm sure if 
I'd been Hermione I would have locked myself in the ones attached to my 
dormitory where I was less likely to be disturbed whilst everyone else was in 
class.

Eloise
Looking forward a time in the distant future when locking oneself in the 
bathroom really does guarantee not being disturbed.



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