Why spare Lily? (was: Why were the sacrifices different? )

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 95422

I (Carol) wrote: 
<<I'm sure that when she was "defying him thrice," he didn't consider
her a silly girl, but at this point, she was just in his way, an
obstacle, not a threat. As for the *something else* going on in his
mind, what could it be except his desire to thwart the prophecy by
killing Harry? In his mind, Lily didn't matter *at that moment*. 
IMO, he wasn't "planning" to spare Lily's life. He was just trying 
to get her out of the way. There's no compassion involved, only 
cold practicality.
 
My point is, at that moment, Lily *didn't matter* to LV. All that
mattered to him was Harry. She had to *make* herself matter, make 
him understand that she was not going to move, make him kill her 
before he got to Harry. And she succeeded. Her death was her 
victory.>>
  
SSSusan responded:
<I do agree with you about Lily's role, knowing she had to die first, 
but on the other matter, I'm still thinking about that "she didn't 
have to die" remark.  Why SAY that?  
 
You see?  You're reading it one way; I'm reading it another way.  
You say that Lily didn't matter, that he had no reason to avoid 
killing her other than his desire to thwart the prophecy, that he 
might have killed her in cold blood after he'd killed Harry.

Carol:
Not that her death didn't matter--it made all the difference to Harry
and the WW. It didn't matter *to LV*--because he didn't and still
doesn't understand what Lily did. In his view, she could have stood
aside so he could kill Harry and in so doing, have saved her own life,
which instead she "foolishly" sacrificed.

SSSusan continued:
<< And I say it is also possible that there is *something else* going
on in Voldy's mind with regard to Lily that JKR hasn't told us yet.  I 
don't know what that is, but the fact that he actually stated that 
she didn't have to die seems *shocking* to me; I wouldn't have 
expected Voldy to have ever considered someone not having to die(!) 
because I think he tends to see everyone as expendable and not 
really think about letting someone live.  WHY LILY, is what I'm 
saying.
 
Anyway, coming up w/ theories or suppositions based upon limited 
information--because we've got two books to go and know there's lots 
of revelation coming!--is a big part of the fun of this group.  I 
don't see why this scene & the information we have *precludes* 
Voldy's having had some REASON for having considered sparing Lily.   
 
Carol:
You're right that we have limited information and there's nothing to
preclude his having some reason for sparing her, but if he did, he
should have acted on it. He sealed his own destiny by killing her,
bringing about the fufillment of the first Prophecy--the very thing he
was trying to prevent. If he had a reason for not killing her (for
example, a suspicion that "ancient magic" might come into play) why
didn't he just stun her or push her aside, accomplishing both
objectives (killing Harry and sparing her)?

To me it makes more sense to think that LV still doesn't "get
it"--still doesn't see his own mistake. He obviously doesn't
understand a mother's love. He also, apparently, doesn't understand
why the spell backfired. He has a partial, inadequate idea that the
"silly girl's" "foolish sacrifice" saved Harry's life, but he doesn't
see--or doesn't want Harry to know--that by doing what Lily
wanted--killing her before attacking Harry--he brought about his own
undoing.

Voldemort is not omniscient and he has blind spots. One of them is his
own capacity to make mistakes--as we see again in the duel scene with
Harry in GoF. He thinks he's wiser and more powerful than he is. In
this instance, he underestimated Lily to his own detriment, not
understanding then or now that her death was her victory.

I understand your position. I just don't see the need to attribute or
any kind of ulterior motive to Voldemort in this circumstance. 

Anyway, I see that we're not going to agree on this, but at least (I
think) we understand each other's views. :-)

Carol