How do you solve a problem like Voldemort? (was: various posts)

[Jennifer Boggess Ramon]

No: HPFGUIDX 36541

At 4:45 AM +0000 3/14/02, ecuman24 wrote:
>Why would the phoenix of Dumbledore give two feathers and one 
>choosing the Dark Lord??  This seemingly peaceful bird of the 
>greatest wizard of the time has given one of its feathers to be a 
>wand for Voldemort.  Not only that, the wand chose him!  Why would 
>it choose him??

Ah, but remember that a wand has two elements: the wood and the core. 
(It might have three; there are arguments about how significant the 
length is.)  In SS 5, Ollivander gives the wood of Voldemort's wand 
as yew.

Now, yew is a tree commonly associated in folklore with death and 
with the Otherworld.  I'm told that in colder climes it's planted in 
graveyards; there are yews by the Riddle grave in GoF 33.  At least 
some of my books also claim a connection with immortality.  The 
phoenix, of course, represents life-in-death and immortality. 
Clearly this is the combination meant for a wizard whose goal is to 
conquer death, isn't it?

Now, why Fawkes's feather and not some other phoenix?  Well, surely 
the correct answer is 'dramatic effect', but if this is Voldemort's 
original wand, then perhaps when it was sold to him he was 
11-year-old Tom Riddle, bitter but not yet corrupted.  Since 
Ollivander claims he didn't know when he sold it what the wand would 
be used for, one assumes that the wand didn't know either, and that 
there was still some chance - ah, if only Riddle had made the right 
*choices*! - that it would be used for good.

Harry's wand, by the way, is holly, associated with the rebirth of 
the sun after the darkest time of the year.



At 2:10 PM +0530 3/14/02, Gautam_Ghosh wrote:
>My first point is:
>
>1. Could Harry be the heir of Slytherin himself?

I think he might be, *now*.

Let me explain that:

I assume that Riddle was born the Heir, and that his mother was 
Heiress before him.  I will further assume that the Heir-ship is 
passed down by blood.

Consider the fateful night, Oct. 31, 1981.  James and Lily have 
fallen, and Voldemort flings the Killing Curse at Harry - and it 
bounces off.  What does it do?  It removes him from his body. 
Whether the body fell dead at Harry's feet (unlikely, I think; most 
people would have assumed he was dead) or disintgrated, we don't know.

When Voldemort is reincarnated in GoF, _nothing_ from his mother is 
included.  The new body is composed of water, snake venom, unicorn's 
blood, bone from the elder (Muggle) Riddle, flesh from Peter 
Pettigrew (probably not even a Slytherin), and blood from Harry. 
There may be other elements in the cauldron Wormtail brings to the 
grave, but they're never mentioned, and they're not part of the 
spell, at any rate.  Even if Voldemort's new body is capable of 
having children - and I suspect it isn't, for no particular reason 
other than its inhumanness - clearly it, and any child concieved from 
it, would have no blood link to Slytherin and thus would not be the 
Heir.

Let's go back to Godric's Hollow.  Voldemort is vanquished, and 
suddenly there's no Heir to Slytherin.  Is a lineage that long and 
powerful going to just vanish?  Well, maybe.  But if it didn't - 
Harry's got this terrible cut on his forehead.  Later, through most 
of CoS, he exhibits many of the traits that the Heir is supposed to 
show.  Perhaps a few drops of blood from Voldemort's lost body landed 
on the cut, making them blood brothers?  If so, Harry is the closest 
thing to an Heir that Slytherin still has.  It would also give 
Voldemort another reason for using Harry's blood, rather than that of 
another enemy, in hopes of regaining his Heir status.

All this brings up another question: was Riddle's mother Eviler than 
Evil?  If not, doesn't that prove that Slytherins needn't be?



At 3:28 PM +0000 3/14/02, marinafrants wrote:
>Here are the ones I found Voldy breaking; maybe others can spot more.
>
>4. Shooting is not too good for my enemies.

Given that _none_ of the wizards seem to use firearms (the closest 
thing is Hagrid's crossbow in CoS 14), he tried to do the equivalent 
- twice, and it hasn't worked either time.  (I can just hear the 
conversation . . . Draco: "Oh, so you've survived Avada Kedavra twice 
_and_ you can resist Imperius.  You're just immune to the 
Unforgivable Curses, then?"  Harry, wincing: "No, Cruciatus works all 
too well.")

>34. I will not turn into a snake. It never helps.

Did I miss something?  When did he turn into a snake?  I thought that 
was Salazar.

>104. My undercover agents will not have tattoos identifying them as
>members of my organization, nor will they be required to wear military
>boots or adhere to any other dress codes.

Given that the Dark Mark seems to be invisible most of the time, this 
is only a partial violation, IMHO . . .



At 3:18 PM +0000 3/14/02, talondg wrote:
>This, then, begs two questions:
>
>1) Was Voldy alone when he went after Harry and his parents?

I doubt it.  I'd always imagined he brought Pettigrew with him, at least.

>2) If so, why break with established procedures?

There may have been more than one established procedure.  "Change of 
plans, Lucius!  Go to Operation 31B!"

>and as an (unrelated) bonus question:
>
>3) What happens if Harry uses Avra Kedavra on Voldy??

Given that he's not an Auror, and thus not licensed to kill, I 
imagine he'd go to Azkaban (Snape: "Couldn't resist breaking that one 
last rule, eh, Potter?").


-- 
  - Boggles, aka J. C. B. Ramon			boggles at earthlink.net
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