Prince of Walpurgis - Tales from the Dark Side.

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 103835

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "greatelderone"
<greatelderone at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pandrea100" <pandrea100 at h...> 
> wrote:
> > If it's the latter, then we have Tom being known first as a 
> > prince,  then changing his name to Voldemort, ...  That seems
> > really unlikely.  

> greatelderone:
> 
> How do you know that he bestowed it on himself. Perhaps it was a 
> nick name given to him by his fellow students at Hogwarts that he 
> later cast away after he rejected his heritage as a half-blood and 
> became obessessed with the whole pureblood supremacy thing?


Asian_lovr2:

Riddle me this: When is a Prince not a prince?

Answer: When he's not a prince.

Although I made the point somewhat humorously before, I think that the
 particular Half-Blood in question is not decended from Kings, at
least not in the literal sense.

I think we are dealing more with a conceptual or metaphorical prince
as in 'The Fresh Prince of Bel Aire' (USA TV show). Tom Riddle, was a
brilliant student, intelligent, skilled, knowledgable, and a powerful
wizard, and was also a handsome charismatic leader. Add to that, the
fact (assumed as fact) that he was descended from one of the greatest
wizards of all time, Salizar Slytherin.

I think, or suspect, that on the 'pyramid' of the most famous and
important wizards who ever lived, the four founders of Hogwarts are on
tier right below Merlin (who, by the way, is at the absolute top). The
presence of these wizards, in my opinion, dominates the very essense
of British wizarding society. I can't imagine two British wizards
meeting and 'what house were you in?' not being the first question asked.

My Point-

Given his immense talent, charisma, and lineage, Tom Riddle truly
could have been the darling Prince of the Wizard World. He had the
personal resources to become anything he wanted to be, including ruler
of, at least, the British wizard world. In addition, given his talent,
power, and intelligents, he could have become the elected rule of the
European wizard world (perhaps the entire world) in the form of the
highest office in the International Confederation of Wizards.

Of course, by now, you see the strange twisted irony. By choosing the
Dark Side and becoming Voldemort, Tom Riddle has denied himself
everything he ever hoped to achieve. 

Instead of becoming the greatest and most respected wizard of all
time, Tom will become a footnote in history. Nothing more than the
common villian when Harry Potter adventures are told again and again
around campfires for centuries to come.

Straying slightly, I have this theory that Dark Arts are 'dark'
because they are inherently distructive. No matter how benevolent or
benign the outcome of Dark Magic, something the casting wizard had no
rights to is consumed or destroyed. Examples; Harry's blood, Riddle's
bones, Peter's hand. Those are big examples related to a big spell,
but even the most minor spell still destroys something. The essense of
Dark Magic is that you must destroy in order to create.

Tom Riddle is living proof of that, by chosing the Dark Side, he
destroyed himself, he lost everything he ever wanted or valued, killed
every chance at every dream he ever had, and thereby doomed himself to
utter failure and hopeless villainy. 

Keep that in mind if you must ever choose between that is right and
what is easy. Remember Tom Riddle, the boy who had it all, and threw
it all away in a desperate /dark/ hope of having it all.

Just a thought.

Steve/asian_lovr2