JKR Said it's Descendant, not Ancestor (WAS: Tom Riddle's Origins)

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 57433

Lissa wrote:

> I don't think this is a contradiction.  Dumbledore doesn't 
> say "only" remaining ancestor of Slytherin, he very carefully uses 
> the word "last".  <snip>  I do think, though, that there might be 
> something up with Dumbledore's use of the word ancestor rather than 
> descendant in that passage.  

Now me:

In an October 2000 Scholastic interview, JKR admitted to making a 
mistake by using "ancestor" instead of "descendant:"

Q (from HPfGU!): "Is Voldemort the last remaining ancestor of 
Slytherin, or the last remaining descendent of Slytherin?"

JKR: "Ah, you spotted the deliberate error. Yes, it should 
read 'descendent.'  That's been changed in subsequent editions. (Keep 
hold of the 'ancestor' one, maybe it'll be valuable one day!)"

and the link:
http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/author/transcript2.htm

British HPfGU listees have clarified that JKR's use of the 
phrase "deliberate error" is intended to signify her admission that 
she unintentionally goofed and is now owning up to her error, rather 
than that she intentionally tried to mislead her readers.

When I posted this quote, I used the term "descendant" because I was 
quoting from a recent UK adult edition CoS paperback.  While the more 
recent UK editions have corrected this error, the more recent US 
versions unfortunately have not, which has continued to perpetuate 
this confusion.

~Phyllis