Voldemort: Between Life and Death? (Long)

[inkling108]

No: HPFGUIDX 110131

The two key questions JKR spoke of today in Edinburg both concern 
the nature of Voldemort's "life."  Why didn't he die when the curse 
rebounded, and why didn't Dumbledore try to kill him when he had the 
chance? 

These questions also touch on the most enigmatic line in the 
Prophecy: "neither can live while the other survives."  On the face 
of it this makes no sense, unless one of the two is not truly alive. 

Before I go further, let me apologize if I'm repeating some ideas,as 
I'm sure I must be!  I'm fairly new on the block and can scarcely 
keep up with current posts, let alone the archives.   I also should 
state that I  believe that canon clearly indicates that the One in 
the prophecy is Harry and only Harry, so my speculations reflect 
that belief.

Okay, here goes:

It's striking that in GoF and OotP, the returned Voldemort is never 
referred to as alive.  Instead, everyone says "he's returned," "he's 
back," or "he got his body back."  No one says "he lives" (not even 
the Death Eaters) or "he's alive again."  True, he calls the 
ceremony that brings him back a "rebirthing."  Question is, what 
exactly was reborn and in what fashion?

The ritual, he says, is an old bit of magic.  In fact it reads like 
a kind of perverse alchemy, which would mean it was old indeed, from 
the Renaissance or Middle Ages.  Rebirth from the waters is an 
alchemical process, but the goal in alchemy was to produce a body of 
light within the physical body, the "body of living silver."  To 
this end an alchemical retort was always sealed, to keep the spirit 
from escaping during the boiling of the waters.  

In Voldy's case, however, not only is the cauldron (retort) open (no 
spirit left to escape?  Changeling Hypothesis?) but the elements 
thrown into it are taken by intimidation (flesh) assault (blood) and 
murder (bone).  This debased ritual then produces a body that 
resembles nothing so much as a skeleton.  In alchemical terms, this 
represents domination by the lowest element, the hard, dry, stony  
earth, with just enough water (blood) to hold it all together.  And 
even that little bit of blood is stolen from you know who. 

Alchemically speaking, a human body consists not only of flesh, 
blood and bone (water and earth), but air and fire (spiritual 
elements).  As there is no mention of these, alchemically speaking, 
the reconstituted Voldemort may be incomplete, not truly human.

Not only is there no mention of spirit, but there is no indication 
that reconstituted Voldy eats, sleeps, sweats, or eliminates.  In 
fact it's very hard to picture him doing any of these things -- in 
other words, being a full human being.  

If Dumbledore were aware that Voldemort is not properly alive, he 
would know that he could not kill him.  This would explain why he 
did not try at the end of Book 5. What if Voldemort, having passed 
into a state somewhere between life and death, can only be 
vanquished by the person who has the ability to enter the realm 
between life and death and meet and destroy him?  What if the only 
person who can do this is our boy?

Why Harry? Because whatever happened at Godric's Hollow created a 
reaction (possibly alchemical?) that bonded the two together in a 
circle no one else can enter?  How will Harry pass between life and 
death?  Here's an intriguing question.  It may have to do with his 
parents, already beyond the veil, and what happened when Sirius 
passed through the veil.  I think the mirror(s) (Sirius's and 
Erised) will come into play as well.

Voldemort also says during his rebirthing speech that he decided to 
settle, in the short run, for reinhabiting his old body.  We do not 
know for certain that the body born from the cauldron is identical 
to the body Voldemort had before he was blasted by the rebounded 
curse, or even what happened to that original body.  However, based 
on what Voldy says and the fact that the DE's all seem to recognize 
him, and that Harry himself recognizes that face that had haunted 
his dreams, we can be surmise that it is at the very least a close 
copy of the original body.  (Could it possibly be the very same 
body, and where has it been in the interim?)

If it is virtually or literally the same body, that could mean that 
Voldemort had ceased to be fully human even before the curse that 
failed (Remember what Hagrid said in PS/SS about Voldy not being 
human enough to die).  Which could mean that he lost his soul or 
spirit even before encountering Harry, which is problematic for the 
Changeling Hypothesis.

Or maybe he didn't lose his soul, but exchanged it, like Faust, for 
superhuman power?  Whatever he did to prevent himself from dying a 
human death clearly came at a cost, a cost that was revealed (or 
activated?)when he encountered Harry and was blasted by his own 
spell.  And now "neither can live while the other survives."  His 
rebirthing ceremony could only take him so far -- not far enough to 
be truly alive, and not far enough to override whatever happened at 
Godric's Hollow. 

I could go on and on, but this is already pretty long.  If you have 
read this far, thanks for your patience.  Lots of questions, what 
are the answers??!!  Ideas, anyone?

Out of breath,

Inkling