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

[naamagatus]

No: HPFGUIDX 95438

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "justcarol67" 
<justcarol67 at y...> wrote:
<snip> 
> 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.
> 
<snip>


He sees her as foolish not because he doesn't understand her plan (I 
think it's clear that he does), but because she *needn't* have died. 
It is foolish to die when you don't need to, including dying in order 
to save your child. This is because "nothing is worse than death". 
That's why he doesn't (rather, can't) see Lily's death as a victory. 
Whether she succeeded in her plan or not, she suffered the ultimate 
defeat.

Now, obviously, if someone stronger than you chooses to kill you, and 
does it, foolishness (on your side) doesn't enter into the matter. So 
it only makes sense for Voldemort to view Lily as foolish in this 
instance, is if it was indeed *her* choice to die, and not his. 
Since Voldemort was the stronger, the fact that she had a choice 
means that he gave her the choice, expressly or implicitly. 
But if, in his mind, he was going to kill her after killing Harry, 
then as far as he is concerned, she *wouldn't* have had a choice. 
Therefore, he did not intend to kill her after killing Harry. 

But - why *wouldn't* he want her dead? Lily was an enemy and one of 
Dumbledore's inner circle people. These were the people he most 
wanted to be rid of. So, there must have been some good reason why he 
didn't want to kill her: Trophy for his trusted henchman Snape (i.e., 
the LOLLIPOPS theory)? A trophy for himself? Imperio her and use her 
as a spy? Or maybe some other reason to be revealed in the future? We 
don't know, obviously, but there was *something.* 


Naama, hoping it's not LOLLIPOPS