Voldemort = Lich?

[shihtouji]

No: HPFGUIDX 60294

> And here's one that may come to play in the future!
> "Learning the true name of a lich is rumored to confer
> power over the creature."
> 
> Ideas?
> Pryd.
> x
> ------------
> Very interesting indeed - and to be honest - this is one posting I 
> wish I hadn't read. If it actually comes down to the fact that it's 
> his *real name* (when spoken to his face) that will finally destroy 
> him - I would rather not have known :-(
> 
> Inge

Yes, this sounds interesting--but I'm still not 100% sure.  Doesn't 
Harry address Tom by name at the end of CS? (I'm pretty sure he does 
in the film, which may just be an oversight.)  At any rate, Tom is 
certainly not shy about parading his name in front of Harry in order 
to show the transformation from "Tom Riddle" into "Voldemort."  You 
could probably tweak this a bit and suggest that "Riddle" is not 
really LV's surname, since it was foisted on him by a strange trick 
of law.  "Marvolo" is his grandfather's given name, I assume--I don't 
think we know what his mother's surname was.  Maybe that's what Harry 
has to find out, and that's what's going to cause some Big 
Revelations either in Book V or VI and VII.

At the same time, the idea that learning the true name of a being 
confers power over it is hardly unique to the lich--it's the reason 
Moses isn't let in on the secret of the Divine Name, but is told to 
make do with the substitute moniker "I Am Who I Am" (=Yahweh) as 
the "name" of the Deity who is talking to him.  Yahweh knows full 
well that Moses could invoke his name in magic spells and assumepower 
over him, so he offers this made-up name instead.  

But this is worth looking into further--maybe all will be revealed 
next Saturday???

Red Inkstone