[HPforGrownups] Re: Speculation on Tom Riddle's origins

[Lissa B]

No: HPFGUIDX 57387

(snipped Lissa's theory about Harry and Ginny being Voldemort's parents
and Rosebeth's responses)

Izaskun wrote:
> Better still, why don't they LV kill Harry???? It would be the perfect way to get rid of LV himself. He kills his father when he's a toddler, he never gets to be born, he simple vanishes. No more LV.

Lissa replied:
Hi Izaskun.  If I understand you correctly, you're wondering why
Voldemort would want to kill Harry since it would, effectively, destroy
him?  In my opinion, Voldemort really believes, mistakenly, that Tom
Riddle Sr. the muggle was his father.  It would, obviously, be suicidal
and ridiculous to try to kill your own father before he has a chance to
create you.  Pure speculation on my part, but I suspect that someone
offered Voldemort a prophecy along these lines: 'the only wizards who
will have authority over you are James Potter and his son'.  This made
him believe he would have to kill James and Harry in order to retain his
power.  I'm probably really wrong here, though.  This is pure
conjecture.

If, however, I misunderstood you--sorry, if I did--and you're actually
wondering why Dumbledore or someone else who knows the truth doesn't
simply kill Harry before he can have kids, well, I can't answer that. 
It's one of those impossible ethical dilemmas.  I can't personally see
Dumbledore making that kind of brutal choice, but I do agree some would
do it.

Izaskun wrote:
> This theory is, with all due respect, not only unlikely but also a sort of crossover between Terminator and Star Wars, instead of "Luke, I'm your father" it would be "Harry I'm your son, I've come from the future to kill you. Was your mother's name Sarah?"

Lissa replied:
Oh, Izaskun, I so agree with you!  (laughs and nods)  This plot theory
is terribly reminiscent of the big twist in Star Wars.  (I hadn't though
of Terminator, but you're right there as well.)  This is actually my own
biggest argument against my little hypothesis.  With the memory of
Vader's surprise-papa announcement to Luke so fresh in our cultural
memory, how could JKR choose a similar plot twist?

Well, I've rationalized it like this: there are a finite number of
possible plots in the world of literature. There's not a story outline
in existence that you couldn't say was derived from a prior work in some
fashion.  It's expected that authors will take inspiration from other
artists' works and add their own fresh spin to those ideas.  And really,
Vader's announcement to Luke was delivered 23 years ago.  By the time
the final HP novel arrives, nearly three decades will have passed. 
Given all this, I think it's probably okay for Rowling to put her own
personal stamp on this plot point.

But I may be entirely insane. :)

Cheers,
Lissa