Creating Identity (Re: Why Voldemort is a fascist... )

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 108809

First, Nora, excellent thoughts here. I'm just going to comment on a 
couple of your ideas, so there's snipping ):

Nora:
> 2)  Voldemort has created an origin mythology for himself as the 
> Heir of Slytherin.  For evidence that this has spread, witness 
> Bellatrix' freakout upon being told the truth about him by Harry: 
> she screams that it's lies from Harry's halfblood mouth.  This
> is the reaction of someone with a serious, actual, investment in 
> what she's been told.  There is very little evidence for what the 
> DEs know about Voldemort's actual background, so this situation is 
> particularly important--one of his most loyal servants doesn't
> know, so there's no reason to assume that this knowledge is wide-
> spread.

Jen: It never occurred to me Riddle may have created his identity, 
but you make it sound so obvious! I believed he pieced together his 
origin with half-truths & inaccuracies, yes, but some bits of truth 
as well. Growing up in a Muggle orphanage would make it extremely 
difficult to find out his true origins though, specifically his 
magical ancestry. And you make a good case for most of it being a 
fabrication. Wonder if he's even related to Slytherin on his mom's 
side? It seems fantastic that he could trace that. As Kneasy and 
Pippin have both commented, I think he became Heir of Slytherin 
through opening the chamber and not before, but it seemed plausible 
to me that he may have been descended from Slytherin as well. Now I 
wonder. Maybe when Riddle opened the chamber he *assumed* the idea 
that he was related to Slytherin by virtue of finding and opening 
the chamber. Circular justification.

Nora:
  There is no question that Malfoy feels 
> challenged by someone like Hermione, Muggleborn and distressingly 
> competent.  She disrupts the way things ought to be, in his ideal 
> system.

Jen: Here's another reason I'd love to find out Dumbledore is half-
blood and better yet the HBP--imagine the cognitive dissonance with 
*that* information--the most powerful wizard by many counts, "the 
only one he ever feared." How would Lucius, et al, come to terms 
with the most powerful wizard being a half-blood?!? Come to think of 
it, Riddle creating his identity would help me understand why he 
fears DD so much--DD *knows who he really is*. Perhaps DD tried and 
failed to spread the word about Riddle's origins in the First War, 
in hopes of making some people think twice before getting in line 
behind him--"he's not who he says he is, and if he's not, he may be 
telling you other lies as well." But people like Bella didn't buy it.