Heir versus Descendant of Slytherin

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 99340

Julie Wrote:
Tom Riddle is the /Heir/ of Slytherin.  Being an heir is more than
being a descendant.  An heir, by definition, is "one who inherits 
or is entitled to inherit another's property, title, etc." whereas a
descendant is "an offspring of a certain anscestor, family, group"
<snip>
This is especially true in Tom's case.  Otherwise, any descendant 
of Slytherin would have been able to open the Chamber, control the
Basilisk, etc.  What is it about Tom Marvolo Riddle that made him
the HEIR, not just the descendant? <snip>
 
 
Lady Macbeth replied:
If his mother's maiden name was Slytherin, and she had no 
brothers, uncles or older sisters to inherit the estate, she would
have been the rightful "heir".  All of her stuff would have passed
onto her husband upon her death; <snip>

Then Julie responded: 
> But we're not talking about houses, etc.  When Tom refers to himself 
> as the HEIR of Slytherin, he talks of carrying on Salazar Sytherin's 
> noble work.  If that was something that was passed down generation 
> upon generation, then why didn't one of his ancestors open the 
> chamber?  No, it had to be Tom, the heir. <snip>
> 
> Could all descendants of Slytherin speak parseltongue?  If not, why 
> not?  How was it that Tom could?  How did Tom find out how to open 
> the chamber while in school?  My theory is that something (and I 
> don't know what) had to happen for Tom to be bequeathed of the 
> powers of Slytherin.  Could this be where Grindelwalde comes in?
><snip>
> I think we will find out more about how Tom was chosen, just as we 
> will find out how Harry was chosen.

Carol:
I agree that "heir of Slytherin" has nothing to do with property: Tom
is Slytherin's *spiritual* heir--he shares not only his blood but his
values. But he wasn't *chosen* except in the sense that only a person
who could speak Parseltongue could unseal the Chamber, and since
Parseltongue is such a rare gift, that person was almost certain to be
a blood descendant of Slytherin. In other words, it was a genetic
trait like Tonks's ability to, um, metamorph.

As I've said in another post, I think that Tom (unlike Harry) asked
questions about Grandpa Marvolo and his other ancestors and discovered
that he was descended from Salazar Slytherin. Putting that together
with the information that Salazar shared his own rare gift of being
able to speak Parseltongue and whatever he may have overheard in the
Slytherin common room about the Chamber of Secrets, he started doing
research which evolved into a quest to find the chamber and carry on
his famous ancestor's "great work."

And to think that I originally envisioned the following very short
post: "What makes Tom the heir of Slytherin is his ability to speak
Parseltongue. That ability enables him to open the chamber and 'marks'
him as the Heir of Slytherin."

There. I did it.

Carol