JKR says no, and she's no Dobby (was: Prince of Walpurgis ...)

[Steve]

No: HPFGUIDX 103941

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Phil Boswell" <phil_hp7 at y...>
wrote:
> "Steve" <asian_lovr2 at y...> wrote:
> [snip]
> > JKR said '...not Harry or Voldemort...', but in CoS, Dobby also
> > said,(paraphrased) '...not Voldemort...' when he meant Tom Riddle.
> > That sets a precedence in the book for regarding them as separate
> > entities. That doesn't guarantee that 'separate entities' is
> > correct, but it does set a precedent. JKR could be doing the same
> > thing again.


> Phils responds:
> 
> Not a good precedent for us to follow. IMNSHO this was deliberately
> shown to have been a *mistake* on Dobby's part because it obscured 
> the truth from Harry.
> 

Asian_lovr2:

I would never go so far as to say I am right, unless the next book
comes out and I AM right - Whoo Hoo! And equally so you are welcome to
your opinion, and you are welcome to refute my opinion with your own.
I've always said the conversations amoung people who all agree are
dead boring.

That said, I must take exception to the idea of a " ...'mistake' on
Dobby's part...". How is it a mistake? Later in the book when
everything is wrapping up, Harry asks Dobby about his earlier
statement, and Dobby said it was a clue, while Voldemort could not be
named, Tom Riddle could. Clearly Dobby is making a distinction between
'he who can not be named' and 'he who can be named', a distinction
between Voldemort and Tom Riddle. Indeed Chamber of Secret was not
about Voldemort, it was very clearly about Tom Riddle. 

So again, I say a clear precedent was set. I will, however,
acknowledge that we can't completely separate the two; they are
intimately tied together. Just as a catterpillar is not a butterfly
and a egg is not a chicken, we can't erase the fact that they are
connected.

Back to your point, Dobby made no mistake, by saying 'not Voldemort
(he who must not be named)', he was trying to drop a clue about Tom
Riddle without in the process betraying the Malfoy's confidence.

The only error was the Harry simply didn't pick up on the clue.

Side Note: I believe in my original post I used the word 'precedence'
which means priority, when I obviously meant 'precedent'.


> Phil Continues:
> 
> I think certain people will just have to give in gracefully and
> abandon their pet theory that--despite JKR's clearest indication to
> the contrary--Voldemort/Riddle is the HBP. JKR has said NO and that
> should mean no.
> HTH HAND
> -- 
> Phil

Asain_lovr2:

Give up! NEVER! ...or a least not until the next wild idea strikes me.

Point of order, no one is saying that Voldemort/Riddle is the Half
Blood Prince, we are saying Tom Riddle is. The point is, given the
fact that we are running out of books, it's time to start wrapping
things up. It's time to resolve Tom Riddle's backstory, it's time to
resolve the night of Godric's Hollow, it's time to expand the story
for the purpose of wrapping things up, not wasting countless pages on
new Lockhart/Umbridge-type characters, or wasting it on secondary
character who have no potential to resolve the overal story.

As I have said countless times (er... uncounted times?) before, we
have lost the luxury of time. We have TWO Books left and huge amounts
of existing story that needs telling, with Snape as DADA teacher and
Tom Riddle as the Half Blood Prince, we open the door for a great deal
of important story to be told. Without that, or with new characters,
we are bogged down with 'cannon fodder' characters and wasted pages.

Recite this mantra,...
"We are running out of time." 
"We are running out of time."
"We are running out of time."

Just one man's opinon.

Steve/asian_lovr