Magical Genetics/ Voldemort's plan

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 44232

First, a few comments on the pure-blood/half-blood debate...

Overall, as shown in the current debate, the definition of half-blood 
seems to vary between people.  If one's ancestors have never married 
muggles at all, then one is pureblood.  If one's parents are muggles, 
one is muggle-born.  Anything in between (including Harry) is 
debatable.

I think the reason it's so diffuicult to distinguish between 
pure-blood and half-blood wizards, or to agree on a definition, is the 
fact that magical ability does not seem to be inherited like any other 
human trait.  I have attempted to fit it to several inheritance 
patterns.

Possibility #1: a single magic allele
   Being that squibs are rare, I assume that the magic allele is the 
dominant one, M.  Therefore Muggles would have the genotype mm, and 
wizards either Mm or MM.  The recessive m allele must undergo mutation 
to M at a pretty high frequency to account for the appearance of 
magical ability in children with Muggle parents.  
   However, in this scheme, squibs could appear in many ways (50% of 
half-blood/muggle couples' children, 25% of half-blood/half-blood 
couples' children, etc.).  This doesn't tally with the Wizarding World 
as we know it.

Possibilty #2:  many magical alleles combine to shape magical ability
   This is how characteristics such as skin color and other racial 
determinants are usually inherited.  It seems to make sense in that it 
explains a range of magical ability (rather than the yes or no system 
of a single allele).  However, I would expect a trait inherited in 
this manner to show even more variation than we see, and a more direct 
linkage to parentage.  For example, two pure blood wizards would 
produce children who are homozygous dominant for every magical allele. 
 Two first generation half-blood (child of pure-blood abd muggle) 
wizards would have children who inherit about half of the magical 
traits and half of the muggle traits.  The constant reinforcement of 
pure vs half blood being irrelevant seems to eliminate the possibility 
of magic being so directly related to one's parents.
   Also, how many magical traits would be needed to be considered a 
wizard/witch vs. a muggle?  If it was only a single mutation, we're 
back to #1.  Multiple mutations become less and less likely.  In 
Potterverse, despite the shades of grey within the wizarding 
community, there seems to be a very distinct line between 
wizards/witches and muggles.  So this possibilty doesn't work either.


I think we just need to accept that inheritance or lack thereof of 
magic is in itself magical and inexplicable.  The fact that there does 
not appear to be any connection between one's ancestry and magical 
ability supports the fact that half-bloodedness is solely a social 
classification and therefore has no distinct definition.

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The Basis for Voldemort's Campaign

The whole pure-blood/half-blood debate got me thinking about this.  
Several people mentioned how Voldemort and the DEs consider 
half-bloods and muggle-born wizards and witches to be inferior.  This 
may be true for many DEs, who seem to be predominantly the unarguable 
type of pure-blooded wizards.  

But what about Tom Riddle?  He is a half-blood himself.  From what 
we've seen so far, he has no self-hatred.  He doesn't consider himself 
inferior to any of his pure-blooded followers.  He has mentioned many 
times that he is the greatest wizard of all time.  So why would he 
start a campaign against muggles and half-bloods?

My theory: Riddle has no misconceptions about the purity of blood 
being related to magical ability.  He knows perfectly well that a 
half-blood or, God forbid, a muggle-born wizard, can become more 
powerful than a pure-blooded wizard.  

However, look at Riddle's life.  His father abandons him, his mother 
dies soon afterward, and he is left alone in the world.  In his mind, 
if his mother had married a wizard, she would still be alive and with 
her husband, and Tom would have a happy family.  The cause of his 
problems came not from the muggle blood that runs in his veins, but 
from the original interaction between a witch and muggle.

Solution: Riddle decides to completely separate the wizarding world 
from the muggle world.  No more of this foolish intermarrying.  The 
best way to accomplish this, of course, is to eliminate all muggles.  
Next, eliminate anyone who could prove that muggles can produce 
necessary and beneficial members of the wizarding community: so long 
muggle-born witches and wizards.  So far, I don't think we've heard 
any direct mention of a compaign against half-blooded wizards, even 
those like Harry (correct me if I'm wrong).  But this may be the next 
step simply because they are still proof that muggles can contribute 
to the wizarding society.

I like this mindset for Voldemort for several reasons.  Most 
importantly, it creates less of a "pure evil" villain.  In real life, 
the bad guy rarely thinks of himself as the bad guy, and I think 
Voldemort is no different.  I never liked the "kill them because they 
are not as good as me" madman.  Riddle has always been very 
intelligent, and would seemingly see the futility in this.  But what 
about a "kill them so I can save the world" midset?  Yes, he has had 
to hurt and kill many people, but in the end, Riddle feels that he is 
actually helping the wizarding community.  People may hate him now, 
but he feels he will eventually go down in history as one of the 
greatest wizards of all time (and by great I do mean good).
   
Any thoughts on this?

-Corinth