What did Riddle want from Ginny?

[Pat]

No: HPFGUIDX 111380

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, caesian <caesian at y...> wrote:

[snipping] 
> Question: In 'Chamber of Secrets', what would have happened if 
Ginny 
> had died and Tom Riddle had escaped the diary?
> Answer: I can't answer that fully until all seven books are 
finished, 
> but it would have strengthened the present-day Voldemort 
considerably.
> 
> My first thought was, is that really a frequently asked question?  
I 
> mean, who are these genius kids?  And who cares?  He didn't escape 
and 
> the diary is destroyed.  Interesting that it was included.  It was 
> posted before the whole HBP announcement, or any mention of a long-
lost 
> link between CoS and HBP.  (Sneaky.)
> 
> Second, could this be the plot that was entirely removed from 
CoS?  
> I.e., is the explanation of what happened between Ginny and 
Riddle, and 
> what he stood to gain, removed from CoS to be included later?  I 
would 
> assume it pertains to the nature of the present-day Voldemort.  
What 
> was he getting from Ginny?
> 
> According to the text:
> "So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be 
> exactly what I wanted."
> 
> hmmm.  Very changelling hypothesis. 
> (http://www.redhen-publications.com/Changeling.html)
> 
> Also:
> "All the while he spoke, Riddle's eyes never left Harry's face.  
There 
> was an almost hungry look in them."
> 
> yikes, watch your soul.
> 
> Caesian

Pat here:

Bingo!  I think you may be close to hitting the jackpot--you know, 
where JKR said we should be asking what Voldemort did to keep from 
dying when the AK curse rebounded.

Hagrid has said it several times too--LV is not human enough to 
die.  What makes us human?  We, like Ginny, have a soul--that 
something inside us that makes us unique and different than the 
flora in the back yard.  So, somehow, Voldemort has removed his own 
soul, but to live, he will need to regain it or someone else's.  
Creepy thought, really.

What does Harry have that Voldemort has none of--a soul, full of 
love and compassion.  What's in the room that was sealed shut at the 
Dept. of Mysteries?  Same thing.  Having an immortal soul is what 
has protected Harry all along--having a connection with his mother 
and with his friends and his godfather.  Voldemort answers only to 
himself--he's concerned only with himself.  He only cares for the 
DE's because they are a means to his desired end--gaining 
immortality.

Which just led me down a different path altogether.  There's more 
than one kind of immortality.  Voldemort sees only the kind that 
means his physical body will live forever.  But some people achieve 
a kind of immortality through their actions, rather than through an 
exceedingly long life.  (Think of Anne Frank, who died so young, but 
is still remembered all these years later because of her diary that 
has touched so many people's hearts.)

And that comes back to Ginny, who poured out her soul to "Tom" in 
the diary, and that was exactly what he needed to resume a human 
form again.  Taking over someone else's soul may never work for him 
though, since he doesn't seem to have any understanding of what it 
means to truly have a soul.  He's chasing a dream that he can never 
accomplish.  Even when he had partially taken over Ginny, he did not 
understand Harry's connection with Dumbledore or why Fawkes came to 
him.  Nor did he really seem to understand why Harry cared what 
happened to Ginny.  He's not able to put himself in anyone's 
position, because he is so self-absorbed that he can only think of 
himself.  That's not the way human beings live, isolated and devoid 
of emotions.

Pat, who hopes this makes sense in the morning after I've had some 
sleep