Voldemort's "death"

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 119460


iamamommy wrote:
<snip> I think somehow Lord Voldemort will have his soul eaten my a
dementor.  I think that somehow Harry will trick LV into possesing
him, and a dementor will Kiss Harry, but somehow Harry will retain his
soul and survive to tell the tale. <snip>
>
> 
Magda responded:
> I'm not sure about the possessing-Harry bit but otherwise I agree
> that getting Dementor-ed is a likely Voldemort ending.  It would be
> poetic justice if his allies turned on him, also that there is a
> force stronger than Voldemort, <snip>  Also in POA Lupin says being
Dementor-ed is a fate worse than death, and there's that dialogue
about that very subject between Dumbledore and Voldemort at the MoM in
OOTP.  Foreshadowing?
> 
> At any rate, it would give the series an out from Harry's supposed
> fate as either victim or killer.  If he can get Voldemort
> soul-sucked, he won't have to actually kill him. <snip>

Carol adds:
I also would like to see Harry have an "out" so that he destroys
Voldemort without having to "murder" him (his own word) and the
Dementors might provide a way to do that (without, I hope, having
Harry kissed by a Dementor in the process). The main problem I see
with this theory is that Harry is "the one with the power" and his
defeat of Voldemort is supposed to involve his unique ability to
master the mysterious power behind the door (sacrificial love?). I
don't want to see him sacrifice himself to a Dementor to achieve this
goal even if he does live to tell the tale. But it strikes me that my
objection is more a matter of personal revulsion than logic.

I do think we are intended to see the Dementor's soul-sucking as a
fate worse than death. Barty Jr's body may still be walking around in
St. Mungo's, he may even still be eating and drinking, but he no
longer has a self or a soul and when his soulless body dies, that will
be the absolute end of him--no passing beyond the Veil, no reunion
with the mother who loved him and died for him, no chance for
redemption for the truly horrible things he did in life through his
own tragic wrong choices. His soul, separated from his body, is lost
in darkness and nothingness forever. 

While there can be no question that Voldemort deserves that
unthinkably terrible fate even more than Barty, whom he corrupted and
ruined, there's also the question of what death is, what would happen
to Voldemort if he were to die (and if he can die in the normal way).
What is death in JKR's potterverse? Would Voldemort, perhaps the most
evil wizard of all time and certainly one of the worst, have a chance
for redemption? Or would he pay for his sins in the WW equivalent of
hell? We have no indication that the WW has any such concept, unless
you count vestiges of Christianity such as Christmas carols and
Harry's baptism and the occasional use of "damn" and "hell" as mild
curse words (Snape's "I don't give a damn about that wretched
poltergiest!" and Ron's repeated "bloody hell!" if that's not movie
contamination).

My question is, which would be worse for Voldemort (and consequently
more deserved), a soul forever lost in the abyss of darkness inside a
Dementor or eternal hellfire (or whatever equivalent punishment awaits
evil wizards after death)? If death (for wizards) is not something to
be feared, if it's just the "next great journey" and Sir Nicholas and
the Fat Friar were wrong to fear it, then surely death is too good for
Voldemort?

And if, as Hagrid suggests, Voldemort no longer has enough human left
in him to die (even with Harry's blood inside him), what then? Maybe
some different fate awaits him. Maybe earthly immortality, once ended,
destroys the chance for an eternal life beyond the Veil. If so, maybe
Voldemort doesn't need a Dementor to fall into the nothingness that
awaits him.

Carol, wondering if earthly immortality precludes eternal afterlife
for wizards