another LV - Riddle question

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 99087

> Gina: 
Okay let me clarify - I know it is possible Tom could be related 
heir" of Slytherin, but why would SS RECOGNIZE a mudblood as his heir? 
Does that make more sense? Yes, they could be related, but why would 
Slytherin condone this mudblood messing up the perfectly pure family 
tree?
<snip>

Carol:
I thought sure this had been mentioned before, but apparently it was
overlooked so I'll repeat it. Tom is *not* a mudblood; he's a
halfblood. His father was a Muggle, but his witch mother is descended
from Salazar Slytherin. In fact, as DD points out, he's the "only
living ancestor of Slytherin" ("ancestor" is an obvious error for
"descendant"; IIRC, JKR has acknowledged it as a flint). So, *by
blood,* Tom is the heir of Slytherin. And the fact that he can speak
Parseltongue, a trait inherited from Salazar, enables him to open the
door. That, possibly, is how the very dead Salazar determined that his
heir would be recognized when the time came. He himself can't
recognize anyone, being dead.

I also think that Tom found out somehow about the legend of Salazar
Slytherin and the Chamber of Secrets, and since he shared Slytherin's
ability to speak Parseltongue and his hatred of Muggles and
Muggle-borns because of his own "filthy Muggle father," he suspected
that perhaps *he* was the mysterious heir of Slytherin. All he needed
to do was to ask a sympathetic professor, possibly even Dumbledore but
more likely the then-head of Slytherin House, about his wizard
relatives, find out Grandpa Marvolo's last name and look him up in
"Nature's Nobility: A Wizarding Genealogy," and trace his ancestry
back to Salazar himself. From that point on, he would devote all his
spare time to the search for the Chamber of Secrets, and once he found
it, as the born heir and a Parseltongue speaker, he would have been
able not only to open it (as Harry also did), but to unseal it.

It has nothing to do, IMO, with Salazar Slytherin recognizing him, or
with his having Muggle blood on one side. He was, so to speak, born
with the power, or at least the potential, to open the chamber. And
his father being was actually an asset because Tom's hated Muggle
blood fueled his hatred of Muggles and Muggle-borns. It isn't logical,
but hatred never is.

BTW, I would call Salazar Slytherin SS, but those are Snape's
initials. I guess we could call him Sally or Sallie (JKR will never
know). Or how about Sal?

Carol, who is trying to remember what Kneasy calls Salazar S. but
doesn't want to waste half an hour using the search engine to jog her
memory