Heir of Slytherin ... or NOT???

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 58099

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Becky Walkden
<runningbecky2002 at y...> wrote:
> 
> 
> Steve <bboy_mn at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Becky Walkden
> <runningbecky2002 at y...> wrote:
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Grey Wolf" <greywolf1 at j...>
> wrote:
> > > Steve wrote:
> > > > What are the odds that Tom Riddle/Voldemort is not the true 
> > > > Heir of Slytherin but the self-proclaimed Heir of Slytherin.
> > 
> > ME: No question he is the Heir of Slytherin. Dumbledore himself
> > said he was in CoS.  ...edited...
> >
> > Huggs Becky
> >
> 
> bboy_mn:
> 
> Could you narrow down that CoS reference a bit. I'm not doubting
> you, just drawing a blank on what part of the book it might be in.
> 
> bboy_mn 

> 
> 
> ME:  I don't have the book in front of me, alas but it's at the end
when Dumbledore mentioned to Harry that he could speak Parseltongue
because Lord Voldemort, who IS the last remaining heir of Syltherine
could speak Parseltongue.  .... Huggs Becky
> 


bboy_mn:
Ahhhh yes... I found it. This is the infamous ancestor/decendant line.

After Harry says that the Sorting Hat said he, Harry, should be in
Slytherin, Dumbledore replys, "You can speak Parseltongue, Harry,
because Lord Voldemort -- who /is/ the last remaining ancestor of
Salazar Slytherin -- can speak parseltongue. ...."

In the actual text/cannon the word /is/ is in italics.

We can only assume that 'ancestor' should have been 'decendant'. JKR
acknowledged this, but did it in kind of an off-hand way that made it
unclear whether she was being truthful or evasive. 

How can a family line that has existed for over a 1,000 years die out?

There are no sons of the sons of my father, so my direct family line
could die out, but my father's brothers have lots of sons. So the
direct family line of my father's father continues. (Did that make sense?)

For this to happen to then Voldemort/Riddle/Slytherin's family, each
generation must have had very very few children in order to keep the
family tree from spreading. Either that or several generation had only
female children, so the decendancy continued but the Slytherin family
name die out long ago. 

I think the use of the word 'Heir' is kind of used as a generalization
by us in discussion. However, the chaper in which Harry meets Riddle
in the Chamber is titled "The Heir of Slytherin". Riddle also says-

"I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself,
through my mother's side?" [That's not a typo, this sentence, show
complete, ends in a quesion mark. How odd.]

"Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, Heir of Salazar Slytherin,
 against famous Harry Potter, ...."

I still question Tom Riddle's belief, but it is much harder to
question Dumbledore's. The only thing I can come up with, is that JKR
is drilling this into our minds, only to shoot it down later. As
others have pointed out, given double lifetimes and double fertile
child bearing years of wizards and witches, it would seem reasonable
that all families are somewhat large thereby creating many decendants. 

I will point out, based on previous discussions in this group, that
there are 3,000 documented heirs to the British throne. If 2,999 of
them die, all they have to do is look up the name of number 3,000 on
the list and give him a call. If all 3,000 die, there are still many
many more decendants of the royal families, and it would just take a
little more work to track one of them down. 

For reference, in the last (approx) 1,000 years of English History,
there have been 10 different family names in control of the Monarchy.

Just a few random thoughts that really don't settle anything. 

bboy_mn