LV never loved anyone

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 110463


Pam wrote :
"Back to canon: Voldemort had a choice, somewhere along the line, to
progress in his evil ways rather than do battle with his lower
nature. We all do."

Del asks :
How is that canon ? We do NOT know that Tom had such a choice. As you
say later :

"We shape our choices, and our choices shape us."

Tom grew up in an orphanage, he learned there that power, not
morality, is what matters in order to live in relative peace. He also
grew up without a sense of identity. Those were *not* choices on his
part, they were imposed on him.
Then he went to Hogwarts. The WW values power at least as much as the
Muggle world : be the best at jinxes and charms and people will
instantly admire and respect you. So Tom sure didn't unlearn the
importance of power there. Nor did he learn much about the importance
of morality, especially in Slytherin House.
And most important of all, Tom discovered his identity there : he was
the Heir of Slytherin, no less ! He was no more than 12 or 13 then,
and here he was, discovering that he was the Heir of one of the
greatest wizards of all time : how could he *not* fully embrace that
new-found identity ?
So embrace it he did. Slytherin valued power and cunning ? Happy
coincidence, Tom already valued those traits anyway. Slytherin hated
the Muggle-borns ? Well he had it right, after all : if Tom's
pureblood mother had not meddled with Muggles, she would not have been
deserted, she would probably still be alive, and Tom would not have
had a nightmarish childhood. It was all the fault of that horrible
Muggle man. He deserved to die, just like Tom's mother had. They *all*
deserved to die, all those treacherous, horrible, worthless Muggles,
and their freakish kids. Just look at them, strutting around the
school as though they belonged here, as though they were a part of the
WW, when in fact it was just an accident of nature if they had any
magic in them at all. And to think they were given the same education,
the same privileges as the *real* wizard kids. They should all be
expelled, someone should rid the school of them. Slytherin was right.

So much hate, so much resentment, and all of it *reinforced* by the
discovery that Tom was the Heir of Slytherin. How could Tom *not* have
fallen ? Did anything happen to make him change his mind, did anyone
see what was happening and try to stop it ? We don't know. But if
nothing of the sort happened, then I don't see *why* Tom should have
acted any differently than he did : he had not been taught morality,
and he was being *encouraged* on his war path by the teachings of
Slytherin, the only *family* he ever had.

And finally, I'd like to point out that what Tom went looking for
after school, the reason he delved deeply into the Dark Arts, was not
that he wanted to dominate the world. What he wanted was *immortality*
: he was afraid to *die*. But as you said, the choices he made on the
way to immortality took their toll on his personality : they finished
to corrupt the little of humanity he had grown up with.

Pam wrote :
"This relates less to "The Bad Seed" (which I have seen) than to 
Oscar Wilde's story about the evil man who loved a beautiful woman, 
and had a mask made to hide his evil being, then did good deeds until
his true face was just as honest/good as the mask as he made."

Del replies :
I don't know the story, but I notice something in your summary : the
man *loved* the woman. Love is a powerful purifier. But Tom *never*
loved anyone, he never had access to that purifying power.

Can we really expect someone who lived in total darkness all their
life to *want* light, to look for it, to willingly *decide* to leave
the familiar pitch-black cave they've lived in forever in order to go
looking for something they can't even imagine, something whose value
they can't understand, something they don't believe they need ?

I really hope JKR will manage to convey to me why LV is so despicable,
because right now I can't see him that way. Horrible and dangerous,
yes. But despicable, no. I see him as a typical victim-turned-bully.
He's not Tom anymore, but if Tom had had a better life, LV would never
have been created : the two can't be separated. And I *do* pity the
Tom we know for now.

I wish that was the way Harry finally vanquishes LV : by having
compassion on Tom. It would destroy LV as surely as light destroys the
darkness.

Del