Heir of Slytherin ... or NOT???

[Grey Wolf]

No: HPFGUIDX 57994

Steve wrote:
> What are the odds that Tom Riddle/Voldemort is not the true Heir of
> Slytherin but the self-proclaimed Heir of Slytherin.

The chances of Tom Riddle being a descendant of Salazar are high. Very 
high, in fact. So are the chances of all others in the WW, not only of 
being descendant of Salazar but of all the founders at the same time. 
Due to expanded lifetimes, lets asume 2 generations per century (as 
oposed to the four muggles get). This gives over 20 generations since 
those times. Unless something radical comes into the picture ("Salazar 
and all his descendants lived in a island somewhere isolated for the 
last 900 years, the first one to leave being Riddle's mother"), anyone 
could be descendant after so many generations.

If every single ancestor is different, each person has 2^20 ancestors 
at the time (not counting their parents and sons, which would be alive 
too). This number is above one million. As far as we know, there aren't 
that many people in WW nowadays, so even less then. Even asuming, say, 
80% muggle ascendency at the time (which is a very large upper limit), 
we still have 200000 wizards to produce a single modern wizard. I doubt 
there were that many wizards at the time, or maybe only just. Many of 
the ancestors, however, are one and the same. different family tress 
cross again and again. After a while, everyone could probably find a 
route to a especific ancestor 20 generations away.

But of course, that isn't what Steve is suggesting. What he suggests is 
that he isn't the *heir*. Now, many people take the heir idea 
literally: i.e. the first male descendant (or first descendant, 
depending on the time) all the way from Salazar. I asume this would 
provide some sort of official aspect to all of it. But I don't buy 
that. For one thing, definition of heir has changed over the years, and 
there is always tricky when the normal line is cut (heir with no sons), 
to see who is the next succesor (which of the legion of cousins). And 
since no-one seems too interested in keeping track of it in the WW (or 
else, the fact that Tom Riddle was heir to Salazar would be better 
known), I discount that as a possibility.

Then we have the self proclamation. Which makes a lot of sense, 
particularly for someone who wants to go far, like Tom. It is always a 
good strategy to throw names around, particularly if their ideas do 
support or at least can be turned to support your own political 
campaign. So Steve's idea certainly makes sense.

My own idea, however, is that here "heir" is being used in a loose 
sense, with basis on legend. And a pinch of circular reasoning. The 
leyend says that the chamber can only be opened by the true heir. Tom 
opened it, ergo he is the true heir. And since he is the true heir, the 
legend was speaking the truth, so he really *is* the true heir. He 
might believe the heir idea I described above or not, but he certainly 
uses it to further his campaign, and it works. He is an evil person; 
lying is not unheard of in such people, so even if he cannot trace his 
line beyond his mother, his followers believe it (and those that doubt 
are summarly executed as examples).

Of course, the legend isn't true: Harry opens the chamber too. I 
discount Harry being somehow descendant of Voldemort (mainly because 
it's too StarWars-ish, which JKR told us it is not and because I have 
the feeling Voldemort cannot reproduce in his snake form anyway), so 
the only way for Harry to be descendant is by the tricky business of 
cousin selection I mentioned above, and I find the whole idea 
unprobable.

Lets, for a moment, however, contemplate what we know of Salazar. We 
know him quite well, better probably than any of the other founders. 
One line has always attracted me to him: he liked students that had his 
own rare gift, and as such it is reflected in the sorting hat's 
choosing method. Dumbledore doesn't tell us if Salazar ever found a 
parselmouth student, but it seems that he at least searched. So it is 
entirely possible that what he considered his greatest talent was 
precisely that ability, and as such wanted to cherish whomever had it - 
maybe he would allow them into his chamber of study (and since it was 
closed for anyone who couldn't speak parseltongue, due to the dangers 
within it in the form of a hatched basilisk, it would've become a 
chamber of secrets). And from there, the legend grew.

I believe, without canon to back me up, that when Salazar left he left 
the country and founded Durmstrang, with policies that suited him 
better. He didn't take the basilisk with him for purely logistic 
problems: taking a 20 metre long snake that must weight over a ton, can 
kill with a stare, is very poisonous and is extrictly regulated since 
ancient times (maybe) across Europe isn't going to be an easy job. So 
he leaves it in the school - he hasn't got the heart to kill his little 
pet, and it is quite capable to take care of itself anyway. He doesn't 
have to be evil - at the time, his ideas maked sense, even if they were 
radical. Maybe leaving the basilisk in the school wasn't the best of 
ideas, but there is no moral reason to kill it, and it is better to 
leave it there than to set it loose.

Hope that helps,

Grey Wolf