Voldemort: Between Life and Death? (Long)

[gregory_lynn]

No: HPFGUIDX 110205

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "inkling108" <inkling108 at y...> 
wrote:
> 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. 
> 
> Inkling

I concur.  Every living thing dies, even Nicholas and Perenelle once 
their Stone was destroyed.  If you don't die, then you weren't alive.

You mention that Voldie's body is the body without the spiritual 
elements.  We also know that Harry possesses a power that can destroy 
Voldemort that Voldie "knows not."  I think most of us assume this is 
love or caring or something along those lines.

I want to bring in another bit from that interview if I may.  When 
asked about the first character she invented, Rowling responded in 
part "The whole plot is contained in Harry Potter; his past, present 
and future—that is the story."  What jumped out at me when I read 
this is that we have heard the phrase "past, present, and future" 
before.  In Chamber of Secrets, Riddle says that Voldemort is his 
past, present, and future.  And we are told about all the 
similarities between the two, Harry and Riddle, in that novel.

I think on a metaphorical level, if not on a story level (though I 
wouldn't rule that out), that Harry is Voldemort.  And Dumbledore.  
Voldemort is the past, non caring Harry.  Harry is the current 
Harry.  Dumbledore is the future Harry, who has learned what is 
really important in life.