Tom Riddle's mother /NOW ALSO Salazar and DE's...

[Cindy]

No: HPFGUIDX 68918

Nemi wrote:
> And in Harry's case, well he's not a pureblood, but he did almost
get in.  So 
> either postulation number two was correct, or Sal did make
exceptions to the 
> rule, in which case is he so bad?  And before you throw voldie in my
face, 
> there's no mention of Sal going out and being a Dark Lord and he
never decived 
> himself.
Now me (Cindy):
I'm glad I left this an open question, as it has ensured lots of
responses. I also initially thought that yes, love would be the answer
(as many people have stated in response). And it could very well be
the answer, as jkr has stated in almost all her interviews that love
is the key to everything.
But this comment that I am responding to now makes sense as well, as
it is a less-obvious answer, and in jkr's world, nothing is really
*too* obvious. 
I don't think that Salazar was a dark wizard either, as I don't think
that he would have been best friends with Godric (which he was, ootp
sorting hat said so) - and also, none of the other 3 founders would
have wanted to found anything with a dark wizard.
There is ofcourse the possibility that he slowly and gradually became
dark, otherwise there would be no explanation for him creating the
chamber of secrets and leaving a basilisk in there. You have to
admit,that's dark. Probably in his own logical way he didn't think so
at the time.
Which brings me to another topic for discussion. Death Eaters. Perhaps
a long, long time ago, when almost all wizards were pure bloods, DE's
were seen as the good guys. Kind of a wizard-army (or Knights - as jkr
has stated in an interview that the DE's used to be called the Knights
of Something). But as times changed, DE's didn't, andso they became
known as *dark*, and indeed became dark when they chose a new leader -
namely Voldemort.
I know it doesn't have much to do withwhy Tom's mum married a muggle,
but it doeshave a bit to do with Salazar, and she is a descendant.
What do you all think?
I'd be interested to hear Darrin's theory on this. 
-Cindy