Riddle the HBP (was Re: HBP MUST have appeared in COS)

[albusthewhite]

No: HPFGUIDX 103462

Wanda:
> I don't take her words quite so literally.  We're still all debating 
> what the meaning of "Prince" and "Half-Blood" are here, and rightly 
> too, because the meaning isn't all that obvious.  

albusthewhite:
Absolutely right.

Wanda:
> If a lot of 
> background explanation is required to understand just who is the HBP 
> and why, then it's quite possible that Rowling felt that such 
> lengthy explanations didn't belong in Book 2.  In that case, 
> introducing the term wouldn't make much sense, and would just raise 
> questions that weren't going to be answered for several years. 
> That's what I think she meant by "bore no relation" - that so much 
> of the background was missing that the term would not have made any 
> sense, not that the character himself was completely omitted.  I 
> happen to think the HBP is Tom Riddle, but others have made a good 
> case for different characters.  However, as CoS stands right now, 
> referring to ANY of them as a Half Blood Prince would have just come 
> across as nonsense.  There are too many pieces missing.  I suspect 
> that Rowling didn't want to go so deeply into Tom Riddle's 
> background that early in the series; as it happens, the next bit of 
> information we get about his youth comes in GoF, two books later. I 
> think the next book will focus on some crucial incident(s) in his 
> formative years, and that will make clear why the title is 
> appropriate.


albusthewhite:
First, let me stress that I was not suggesting that evidence from CoS is inadmissable, just 
that we shouldn't give it more weight simply because it comes from the book that was 
formerly known as HBP.  You've got to take Jo's words literally, because (most of the time) 
she's very (VERY) deliberate about how she crafts what she says!  Now, let's not get 
distracted by the immediate conclusions we might jump to, not by any means, but let's 
include the literal as a possibility.  :)

You make some really good points about the possibility that HBP refers to Riddle, and I 
think you may be right, especially when you suggest that we might be introduced to a 
formative event of Riddle's early life.  Let's examine first why Jo decided *not* to stick with 
HBP as the title for Year 2.  If I understand you correctly, you're saying that HBP would 
refer to Riddle, but readers would not be getting enough background info on him to 
understand that it refers to him.  In CoS, Riddle is questioned by Headmaster Dippet:
"'You are Muggle-born?'
'Half-blood, sir," said Riddle.  "Muggle father, witch mother.'" (244 USHB)
This could absolutely be support for Riddle as HBP.  No question there.  But it seems to 
undermine the theory that Jo changed the name because we wouldn't know who it refers 
to - at least the half-blood part.  The 'prince' is another story.  Is Riddle a prince because 
he turns into the Dark Lord?  Again, totally makes sense - after all, a prince is often a king 
(lord) in waiting, right?  (Or, as you say, it could refer to a specific incident in Riddle's 
youth.)  So with this in mind, I am absolutely convinced that the HBP is Riddle (who is 
distinct from Voldemort).  The problem for me is the rationale that Jo gives for not naming 
Year 2 HBP: "The story bore no relation whatsoever to the title."  Riddle seems almost too 
perfect a candidate to be the HBP - the evidence here as well as the red herring then in Jo's 
statement that the HBP is neither Harry nor LV.  But what sticks in my maw is the "no 
relation" - I just can't get past it.  My hypothesis is, taking Jo at her word at every step, she 
really liked the phraseology "Half Blood Prince", she decided that Year 2 was more about 
the chamber than Riddle and so changed the name, and now she is reusing the *prase* 
HBP but not its original signified.  Does that make sense or are there big gaping holes?  Of 
course Riddle could be the HBP, maybe is the most likely suspect, but let's not stop 
theorizing there!

albusthewhite
who should really be getting back to work now, I mean really...