Voldemort's new body (WAS: Re: What year was Voldemort born?)

[Rehan Shamim <rshamim@princeton.edu>]

No: HPFGUIDX 50755

Marcus in Shreveport wondered:
>When Wormtail Pettigrew brought him back to life in a new body, 
>would that body resemble his original body?

I think it is a pretty safe assumption that Voldemort's "new" body  
did indeed resemble his original body.  When all the DEs arrive in 
the graveyard, they do not seem to have any trouble recognizing 
him.  If there is any canon that states that Voldemort had a 
different appearance, then I suppose that could be used as further 
evidence supporting MAGIC DISHWASHER.  In this case, the only way 
that that the DEs would be able to tell it was Voldemort is if they 
knew *in advance* that Voldemort would rise again that night, and 
were instructed to act surprised. (See the MAGIC DISHWASHER posts 
for explanations of why the DEs have needed to act surprised.)

He then continued:
>would that body be the same age as he ought to be, as if he had 
>continued aging without being "interrupted" by being killed? Would 
>that body therefore have any of the effects of age, like rheumatism 
>or arthritis or incontinence?

I'm not really sure if you actually wanted to know the answer or 
were just joking (or possibly a combination of both?).  In any case, 
the image of Voldemort with incontinence was quite amusing.  If you 
were seriously wondering the answer to this question, then I believe 
that it wouldn't really matter either way.  It is true that 
Voldemort has been separated from his body for 13 or 14 years, which 
is certainly a considerable portion of the standard muggle life 
cycle.  However, I would venture that this time period is actually 
only six or seven "wizard" years.  Dumbledore is 150, and McGonagall 
is (in JKR's words) a "spritely 70." Clearly Voldemort, who was 
about 55 when he lost his powers, and 68 at the end of GoF, is 
nowhere near approaching the end of his life cycle.  So in essence, 
I would say that even if Voldemort's body is now "aged," he is still 
in the prime of his life (Around 40 muggle years?) and is in no 
danger of being affected by old age.

Of course, I'd love to hear others' opinions on this.

Rehan