The power LV knows not

[tipgardner]

No: HPFGUIDX 94035

Hi David:

David wrote:
> That (textual evidence) is a fair comment - I was being fairly 
> speculative in my approach.  

Tip replied:
Fair enough.

David wrote:
>>My reasoning is essentially based on themes: that it is choices 
that make us what we are (or at least show what we are, which is what 
Dumbledore actually said); thus that some fairly mega choices were 
made by Riddle fairly early in his life; that one thing that crops up 
at key moments is love; thus that likely a major life-defining choice 
of Riddle's involved love in some way.<<

Tip replied:
That seems quite reasonable.  However, as many have pointed out, 
Tom's mother died just after naming him (which is within eight days, 
generally, in the UK) and his father apparently rejected him from the 
start.  One can only assume that a bizarre boy who was too clever by 
half and may well have been just as cruel as a very young child as he 
becasme later (although acknowledge that may not be the case) would 
nopt receive all that much love in a pre-war orphanage. 

David wrote:
>>A secondary line of reasoning is that Harry is a sort of mirror of 
Voldemort - or Riddle at Harry's 'current' age - and that a key 
element of Harry is the love protection he has (interesting to note 
that combining these two lines of thinking implies that, even as a 
baby, Harry's co-operation in his protection may have been required, 
presumably some kind of inner acceptance and trust of his mother), 
and thus that Riddle's own relation to love is a key element for 
him.  But I agree, there is no direct support from Riddle or 
Voldemort's testimony about his early life.<<

Tip replied:
Now here it gets interesting, because the mirror of Harry's 
acceptance of the love and trust his mother offered could be either 
it's equal and opposite, which, to paraphrase Betty Friedan, might be 
seen as indifference rather than hate, it might be the rejection of 
love and trust or it might be the embracing of hate and distrust.  So 
what would that say about the choices Tom made?  Whilst Harry is 
complicit in the charm/love in your point above, it is not a consious 
decision on his one and a half year old mind, it is his heart and 
soul accepting unthinkingly.  Couldn't Tom then have made his choice 
in the same manner and therefor not be totally repsonsible for its 
initial existance?

David wrote:
>>As far as Voldemort's intelligence is concerned, that's an 
interesting issue in its own right.  I wasn't thinking of him 
rejecting abstract 'love' as a useless or unnecessary concept, 
rather of his moral development being formed by his responses to 
specific loving actions.  You are right about Dumbledore - he is 
distant in the one scene we see.<<

Tip replied:
Hmmm...yes, I think I agree with you.  I suppose I would take a more 
holistic view.  LV's an iron will type of bloke and has rejected love 
on a moral, emotional and intellectual level.  But again I come up 
against his ability to feel and understand love in that instance and 
I believe that it would then not be a power he knows not.

David wrote:
>>However, while no doubt Voldemort is very good at exams and, you 
know, maths and stuff, one must question the intelligence of someone 
who so systematically earns the hatred and fear of so many people, 
and sacrifices even the goodwill of his supporters (what do you 
suppose Wormtail, say, or Avery, might do if offered genuine 
security from punishment by their master?).  There is more to 
intelligence than calculation, or even legilimency.<<

Tip replied:
With a wry chuckle, let me respond that neither did I think of maths 
and stuff.  However, I think he is again here, too clever by half.  
He can't run the type of organization he wants to run and he doesn't 
seem capable of satisfying his ego, in any other manner than the 
abject subservience of his DEs, etc.  So perhaps his ego is too 
rampant to be contained by his intelligence, perhaps he has a broadly 
decadent streak that will not permit him to say no to his baser 
desires and perhaps he understands/believes that he has no other 
choice than to treat people the way he does to achieve what he 
wants.  It is also conceivable, perhaps most rationally from a 
textual standpoint, that he does not care about people in the 
slightest except for how they help or hinder him on a micro and nacro 
level.

David wrote:
> journal, not jornal

Tip replied:
Thanks.  That was careless of me but I've changed my sig so feel free 
to give it another go.

Tip
check out my journal:  http://www.livejournal.com/users/tipgardner
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