Voldermort's "death"

[whimsyflower]

No: HPFGUIDX 119364


Like others, I have had JKR's question about why didn't LV die when
his AK curse rebounded onto him in PS/SS rolling around in my head.  The
other day I was listening to PS/SS, and heard, in a new way, Dumbledore's
telling Harry, "not being truly alive, he (LV) cannot be killed."  (p. 298,
PS/SS, US edition).  So Voldy wasn't "truly alive" from the very beginning.  
I've enjoyed and learned from Inkling's and Naama's excellent posts on the
question of LV's being "alive,"  messages 110131 and 110260, respectively.

I'm also remembering a post from 2003 that I've not been able to find
again about the Welsh tradition of sin eaters.  My memory is that sin
eaters somehow atone for a person's sin(s) so the person, him/herself,
doesn't have to atone for them.  In a parrallel fashion, might the DEs 
somehowatone for LV's death to keep him alive?  Or keep him in a state 
between lifeand death?

I've spent some time musing on what it would take to kill LV, but
then I looked at the prophecy again.  It does not actually say that Harry has 
thepower to kill LV.  After Harry heard the prophecy in OOP, Harry assumed it
meant he would have to kill LV, but the prophecy actually says Harry has the
power to "vanquish" LV.  What if vanquishing does not mean killing, but
somehow redeeming?  or emptying of evil?  I wonder if somehow Harry 
forgivesLV or sees some good in him, and because Harry does so, LV is 
vanquished or looses his power or becomes impotent or is rendered no 
longer evil?

Alas, many more questions than answers, but I would love to hear
others' thoughts on these possibilities.

Wildflower