OOP: Voldemort as Herod (Was: prophecy nagging flint?)

[errolowl]

No: HPFGUIDX 63439



Tanya, wondering why precisely Voldemort went after Harry:

>>Dumbledore states that Voldemort's information about the prophecy 
was incomplete. He only heard the first part. The problem is that the 
first part of the prophecy does not contain the word "boy" or any 
gender specific word. The gender doesn't come into play at all until:

"AND THE DARK LORD WILL MARK *HIM* AS HIS EQUAL, BUT *HE* WILL HAVE 
POWER THE DARK LORD KNOWS NOT"
So how does Voldie know it is a *him* at all? Maybe there were no 
girls born at the end of July or at least not to those who defied him 
three times (does narrow it down a bit I'm sure). But it annoys me 
that DD says boy and not *the one*. Also, assuming Voldie didn't know 
he was suppose to choose and mark his opponent, so to speak, I'm 
surprised to see no evidence that he didn't actively pursue both 
boys. Instead, it appears he concentrated all his efforts on one boy, 
Harry. <<


me (Errol):

Ah, you see, I think Voldemort intended to go after every child born 
within that time range, making him the wizarding equivalent to Herod. 
Only perhaps he wanted to do it personally – afterall, it's a
narrow field after the `thrice defied' parameter for the
parents.Maybe he already killed a girl (the entire Bones family was 
killed right? Susan Bones cousins included? One of those cousins 
could have been a wee baby.) In fact, I find it strange that he got 
to Harry more than a year after the prophecy – I'll lay my
money on
him having tracked down and killed quite a few families with babies 
by then. And all those babies died. None of them were `the
one'. 
(Assuming the large number of babies of course <grin>). And then he 
comes to the Potters. Might have taken him extra time to track them, 
giving him a fixation on Harry. He decides to finish off the Potters, 
and head over next to the Longbottoms. (I'm sure that at this
point 
the Longbottoms were hidden too).  But here his plan goes awary. He 
gets rid of the parents, but the boy doesn't die. The curse
rebounds, 
sealing the prophecy.

I see some sort of evidence that he had targeted Neville next. Where 
do the Death Eaters go to find Voldemort? The Longbottoms. They 
refuse to believe that once the senior Potters were dead, baby Harry 
could have caused serious harm to Voldemort. Obviously Voldemort had 
finished his business at the Potters, and thus must have gone on to 
the next stop. If Voldemort was now missing, it was the
Longbottom's fault. I greatly fear that part of the torture
involved finding Neville too. 

Errol.