[HPforGrownups] How old is Voldemort?--Two different ages given!

[Sushi]

No: HPFGUIDX 49305


>Lindsay wrote:


>In Cos, Harry goes back fifty years and
>the last time the Chamber was open was fifty years ago (US edition
>p.233) and Tom was 15 (the movie says 16, but in the book Tom says it
>took him 5 years to find the Chamber, so he would be 15). So that
>would make Voldemort 65 in Harry's second year. But in PoA, Harry's
>third year, it says that Voldemort has been the most feared wizard
>for "a hundred years" (US edition p. 6).


         And I responded:

         I've always taken the "hundred years" quote to mean *in* a hundred 
years.  He's had competition as the Dark Lord of the Twentieth Century, a 
little fellow named Grindelwald.  In my mind, this means that Voldemort 
managed to surpass Grindelwald's reputation of terror.

         The dates given in CoS are very, very clear.  It's set in 1992, as 
we learn from the Deathday Party, and fifty years before would have been 
1942 (while Grindelwald is still alive and wreaking havoc).  It can be 
assumed that this puts 1942-43 as Tom Riddle's fifth year.  Assume he is 
fifteen at the beginning, subtract that from 1942, and you've got 
1927.  (This, however, hinges on the idea that they really *mean* fifty 
years and not something like forty-nine or fifty-one, but I'm pedantic that 
way.)  Tom would have left school about the time Grindelwald was defeated, 
in 1945.

         Sorry if this has already been debated to death. :)  Just now 
checked my email and I'm slogging through one at a time.

Sushi, who thinks Voldemort's doing pretty well for a fellow who's hit 
retirement age ;)


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