The Darkness Within

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119202


Carol earlier:
> > I have a problem here--not with azrionas's argument, which I agree
with, but with the idea that Voldy is now mortal. He himself has said
that he will settle, temporarily, for having his body back and not yet
> > seek immortality, but if he's mortal, why can only Harry destroy him?
> > 
> > We've already discussed why DD didn't try to kill LV at the MoM,
but if LV is mortal, *couldn't* DD have killed him, Prophecy or no
Prophecy?
> > 
> > Either A) the Prophecy is wrong (or being wrongly interpreted by
DD, Harry, and most readers) or B) LV is wrong about his own
mortality: he's immortal with the exception of an Achilles heel named
Harry Potter.
> > 
> > Can anyone think of a third possibility (C)) that will make sense of
> > this apparent contradiction? How can Voldy be mortal and still be
> > killable only by Harry?
 
> Neri responded:
<snip>
>Briefly, I suggest that LV agreed to become mortal again only if he'd
also gain Harry's protection. With the blood trick he indeed managed
to get this protection for himself, but by sharing blood with Harry,
he is now vulnerable to Harry, exactly in the same way that Harry is
vulnerable to him. So LV is now mortal, but protected against
everybody except Harry. This explains DD's gleam of triumph: he
realized that LV again made the prophecy come true by his own actions.
This also explains why DD didn't try to kill LV in the MoM – he
believes that LV is protected against anybody except Harry. <snip>

Carol again:
But LV states specifically that he's mortal. He also seems to think
that Dumbledore could have killed him in the MoM (whether he could
have or not, I don't know, but I don't think he could have).

So I don't think that Voldemort is deliberately making himself
killable only by Harry, whether that's the effect of the "blood trick"
or not. For one thing, he still doesn't know the details of the
Prophecy, either at this time or later. But he does know enough to
suspect that Harry is "the one with the power," and it makes no sense
at all (to me) that he would deliberately make himself vulnerable to
the one person who can kill or destroy him.

Also, as I read the GoF scene, the first step is to get his body back;
the next step is to pursue immortality *again* by taking whatever
steps he took before to become sufficiently immortal to survive an AK.
Maybe nightly mini-doses of Nagini venom or something?

Carol, who thinks she understands how he became "immortal" in the
first place but is confused because he seems to think he has lost that
power (despite having survived the AK) and openly admits as much to
the DEs. And yet it was never his *body* that was immortal in the
first place. It's his *spirit* that survived. If he's mortal, can't a
renegade DE kill him? And why trust his untrustworthy disciples with
that knowledge?

The only thing I can think of is that a DE or Dumbledore (if he'd
lower himself to use an AK) could destroy Voldemort's current body,
just as the first one was destroyed, but only Harry can permanently
vanquish and destroy his spirit? If so, I don't think *Voldemort*
knows this, but Dumbledore might. Which would certainly answer the
question JKR asked her fans about why Dumbledore didn't try to kill
Voldemort at the MoM. (There are other answers, too, including the one
he gave Voldemort, but maybe this is the one JKR herself was looking for.)

Carol, who did go back and review Neri's elaborate theory, but thinks
that a simpler answer is needed here