Do you think there is more to Voldie's story?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 97887

Rob wrote:
> 
> I agree that his father's abandonment and not knowing his mother was 
a catalyst that started him on his way, but how did he aquire so much
information on the dark arts.  If you can recall, all of these types
of books are in the restricted section of the Hogwarts Library.  I
agree that while at the orphanage he was growing eveer more resentful
of non-wizard people, but he must have had guidence to push him over
the edge. This is why I feel that at the time Tom had attended  school
he was taught all of the dark arts by a teacher, a teacher with a
hidden agenda.  My theory is that Grindelwald is that mentor.  I know
you may say you have seen this theory before, but that is  probably
because I have brought it up a few times without recieving any
responses.  
> 
If Grindelwald was a teacher then it would explain how Tom had access
to all of the necessary materials to make him evil.  Putting your
teenage self in a diary seems like very complicated magic even for a 
prodigy. This would also explain why Tom is afraid of DD, because DD
defeated his master.  
 
If you have any thoughts to strengthen or weaken this theory please 
post it.

Carol:
I don't think that Grindelwald was a teacher or we would know it. I
think he was out in the world doing evil things--exactly what I have
no idea, though of course I'm aware of the timing of his defeat
coinciding with the end of Muggle War II. 

I've already stated my ideas on his hatred for Muggles/"Mudbloods."
Combine that with an awareness of his own power and intelligence
(which he would have developed at an early age), the ease with which
he mastered all the spells and potions, his ability to charm people,
most of all his sense that his rare ability to speak Parseltongue made
him special, which led to a quest at some early point to become the
heir of Slytherin--Given all that, I don't think it's all that
surprising that he could do complicated magic at sixteen, whether or
not he was the pupil of Grindelwald.

It's somewhat more astounding that he would commit murder, however
strong his hatred of his father and Muggles/Muggle-borns in general.
Possibly Salazar Slytherin's theories of wizard superiority (and
perhaps an awareness of past persecutions of wizards by Muggles)
justified it all for him. I suppose it's possible that he went looking
for a mentor and found Grindelwald, who taught him to cast Avada
Kedavra over the summer holiday, but given his resentment of the
confinements of the Muggle orphanage, I rather doubt it.

In any case, I think that he had the resources *within himself* to
convince a gullible teacher, or even the dim-witted headmaster
(Dibble?), to allow him access to the restricted section of the
library. (Remember how easily Hermione did it by taking advantage of
Lockhart's vanity?) He could easily have researched the Chamber of
Secrets and basilisks and the Dark Magic necessary to create the
diary, all the time acting the role of model student. And his prefect
privileges would have allowed him to wander the halls without being
questioned--unless you count the brief encounter with Dumbledore,
which, alas, was ineffectual.

Once he had determined to set the Basilisk loose on the Muggle-borns,
and particularly after it had actually killed one, he was probably on
a path with no return--one that he deliberately solidified by writing
the diary and preserving his still charming but undeniably evil self
within it. And when he *chose*--despite being only sixteen or
seventeen, to AK his father and grandparents, he had to all intents
and purposes become Lord Voldemort.

Carol, who thinks that a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old knows perfectly
well what murder is and that Tom, like Milton's Satan, knowingly chose
to do--and become--evil: "Evil, be thou my good." 

Carol