It's possible there ISN'T an Heir of Gryffindor and other matters

[corinthum]

No: HPFGUIDX 58314

Darrin wrote:

> It is conceivable that the whole Heir business is limited to Salazar 
> Slytherin, who ... obviously has 
> an agenda that he needs someone to follow.
> 
> To whit, he needs someone to open the damn Chamber.
> 
> Now, we've gone under the assumption that Godric would also have his 
> Heir working against Salazar, but it's possible that there isn't one, 
> and Harry is just an honorable, good person who happens to be in 
> Gryffindor.

And Becky replied:

> ME:  Two words about that though.  Godric's Hollow.  THAT is where
>James and Lily (and Harry lived!) ... I must assume it means
>something.  I think Harry is without a doubt the Gryffindor Heir.  I
>think that's why Lord Voldemort came after him in the first place.  I
>believe Harry was a more important target to Voldemort then even
James >was.

Godric Gryffindor is a very well-known historical figure in the
wizarding world.  It makes sense, then, that a village be named after
him (possibly the village where he himself was raised).  I agree that
the this particular name will probably hold some significance in later
books.  However, I don't think the Potters' residence there is proof
in the least of their relation to Gryffindor.  After all, I'm sure
there were other wizards living there; are we to assume they too must
have some relation to Gryffindor?  If your own town is named after a
person who lived a few hundred years ago, are you related to him or
her?  Probably not.

I have always hated the Heir of Gryffindor theory, for reasons that
I've gone over before (namely, that it contradicts the character over
blood message JKR emphasizes throughout the books).  However, Darrin
has hit upon another point that bothered me: why?  Why would Harry
being the Heir of Gryffindor be important?  If Gryffindor had an
anti-Slytherin-heir agenda, I think people would know of it, much like
they knew about the Heir of Slytherin and the CoS, if only in rumours.
 We know Slytherin had a special inheritable talent (Parseltongue),
but we haven't been told of any similar advantage Gryffindor's heirs
might gain.

Also, why would Voldemort want to kill the Heir of Gryffindor?  His
main purpose has always been to destroy all Muggles and Muggle-born
wizards.  There's the "Gryffindor's heir will be your downfall"
prophecy theory, but that seems far too cliched.  Voldemort has never
once shown anti-Gryffindor sentiments: never insulted Harry for
belonging to Gryffindor House, never gone on a rampage against
non-Slytherin wizards in particular, and had no problem employing a
Gryffindor as his spy.  Also, why wait so long to go after the James
Potter?  Why wait until he had a child?  Assuming the Heir of
Gryffindor theory to be true, James would have been the big threat
before Harry was born.  It seems the most logical course of action for
Voldemort would have been to kill James first, launch reign of terror
and take over wizarding world second.           

-Corinth, who can't wait until OoP is here so she can stop dodging
spoilers. :)