Voldemort talks about a power to vanquish him in GoF

[KathyK]

No: HPFGUIDX 76014

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "lily_paige_delaney" 
<lily_paige_delaney at y...> wrote:
> Now that we know about the prophecy does Voldemort's address to the 
> Death Eaters at the end of GoF make sense.
> 
> Specifically (Ch 33 The Deathe Eaters, pg 562)when Voldemort asks 
why 
> they never came to his aid.
> 
> "...And I answer myself, perhaps they belived a still-greater power 
> could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort...perhaps 
> they now pay alligiance to another...perhaps that champion of 
> commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore..."
> 
> This is quite confusing because if Voldemort heard the first part 
of 
> the prophecy he knew that the "one with the power to vanquish the 
> Dark Lord" would be born at the end of July etc etc.
> 

KathyK:
Do all the Death Eaters know of the prophecy?  I thought Voldemort 
was just using Dumbledore as a well known figure that stood against 
what he believed to show his DE's that he knew they'd been 
associating with the likes of Dumbledore while he was gone.  

> Then, at the end of the chapter, Voldemort says (pg 571)
> 
> "You see, I think how foolish it was to suppose that this boy could 
> ever have been stronger than me..."
> 
> So he clearly wants to prove that he is stronger than Harry but is 
> this just because of the attack when he was a baby or because of 
the 
> prophecy?
> 
KathyK:
Probably both.  He needs to prove to himself that he can destroy 
Harry so the prophecy as he knows it cannot be fulfilled.  He wants 
to show his followers that he is stronger than baby Harry and that he 
can kill teenage Harry with ease.

> What this all means I have no idea but I would really like to know -
 
> why is Dumbledore the only one he ever feared?  And what is 
> Dumbledore's relationship to Harry - because there must be one.
> 
> LPD

I didn't understand, either, why Dumbledore is considered the only 
one Voldemort ever feared.  I think, though, that it has to to with 
the amount of knowldege Dumbledore has coupled with the fact that 
Dumbledore is powerful enough in his own right that he has not much 
to fear from Voldemort.  
Dumbledore knows the entire prophecy which gives him power over 
Voldemort, which definitely is cause for Voldemort to fear him.  
Dumbledore has the ability with this knowledge to manipulate events 
so that "the one with the power to vanquish the dark lord" will 
actually be able to do so.
Additionally, Dumbledore knows Voldemort as Tom Riddle as well.  
Perhaps something in what he knows about Riddle makes Voldemort fear 
him as well.  There's that idea that Dumbledore's defeat of 
Grindelwald is somehow connected to Riddle.  Perhaps something 
connected to those events gives LV cause to fear Dumbledore.

KathyK: