CoS clues to Books 6 & 7 analysis

[boyd_smythe]

No: HPFGUIDX 104071

> Diana:
>  
> Fourth, Harry kills Tom Riddle by 'killing' the diary. Maybe the
> way to kill Voldemort is by not attacking him directly, but by
> attacking his source of power which is separate from him? I can't
> remember anything Voldemort might own that would be considered a
> source of power to him, but it's an idea, anyway.
> snip <
> Seventh, Harry's discovered a lot about Tom Riddle's past and this
> might be very important to how he defeats Voldemort. Harry knows a
> lot about Riddle, from his being a half-blood [which Harry revealed
> to the DEs in the MoM at the end of OotP] to Riddle's overwhelming
> desire to stay at Hogwarts instead of going back to an orphange. I
> wonder if Harry's going to discover some heretofore unknown weakness
> of Voldemort's because of what he knows about his past? <


boyd:
Maybe there's more to LV's powers than just being a powerful wizard, 
and it may be the weakness you mention. These don't come to Tom from 
being a powerful wizard:  being the Heir of Slytherin, speaking 
parseltongue, finding the CoS and controlling the Basilisk, 
transforming first into LV (*after* entering the CoS as shown in Book 
2) and then into unkillable!LV. DD can't do those things, and he's 
sure powerful. So Tom is not LV just because of power.

And it's not just that he's the blood descendent of Slytherin, because 
each ancestor in the lineage between Salazar and Tom could have been 
the Heir of Slytherin, yet none of them were powerful dark lords (that 
we know of, at least).

So what did it take for Tom Riddle to become the powerful dark lord? 
We can only guess, but my thought is that Tom Riddle was filled with 
hatred and self-loathing. Why? He hated mixed-bloods yet was a 
half-blood himself. He hated and killed his father, the only family he 
had. Shunned by other students, he hated them, too. He even hates DD, 
who probably was kind and tried to help him. In short, Tom hated the 
world for cursing him with his wretched life. And he wanted *revenge*.

At his darkest hour, I bet Tom was visited by a vision of Salazar 
Slytherin, who led him to the CoS. Tom Riddle soon changed into Lord 
Voldemort, because he took on the power of Slytherin. Maybe he read an 
enchanted diary. Maybe there were books of dark magic spells and 
objects in the Chamber. Maybe he allowed the spirit of Slytherin to 
enter him. Dunno, but the Chamber Salazar built was the key. Why else 
call it the Chamber of *Secrets*?

So the source of Tom's power? Slytherin. How to defeat LV? Separate 
him from Slytherin maybe? Or convince him to reject Slytherin's (and 
his own) hatred? Hmmm. There's a key in there somewhere.

Of course, that still leaves the question of how Slytherin came by his 
dark powers!