The only one he ever feared?

[ginnysthe1]

No: HPFGUIDX 117144


Such an interesting thread, so Kim's here too sticking in her 4 cents:

Juli wrote:

>What I'm thinking is WHY would a grown wizard fear a one year
old baby? profecy or not, what could he do? Harry didn't defeat or
whatever LV the first time, it was Lily, she's the one that left that
ancient magic that made the AK backfire. LV doesn't know the whole
profecy, he just heard the first sentence (the one with the power to
defeat the Dark Lord will be born as the 7th month ends).<

Kim now:

What you say has me wondering whether there wasn't something going on 
(in a manner of speaking) between Lord Voldemort and Lily Potter 
before Harry was born.  I can't remember if this question has come up 
before on this list, so anyone please feel free to let me know.   But 
you're right, Harry didn't actually defeat LV the first time, it was 
Lily that defeated LV (via Harry).  I wonder, did LV see something in 
Lily's green eyes during earlier battles -- was he attracted to 
something there?  I know JKR has said that LV doesn't love anyone, 
but maybe she meant consciously, not subconsciously.  And with 
someone like Voldemort, maybe what happened upon coming face to face 
with the brave, passionate green eyes of young Lily was of course not 
real love, but something like the shock of recognition of years lost 
to the pursuit of power and evil when he could have had a normal life 
and love instead.  The shock might happen really quickly and cause 
fear, jealousy, rage, etc., all then covered up with subconscious 
denial, but further aggravated later by the sight of those same green 
eyes in the face Lily's son Harry.  

Then again there's the obvious argument that it was just the prophecy 
that led LV to Lily and James' house in an attempt to find and 
destroy Harry, the one who would grow up to challenge his power, and 
not some previous connection to Lily.  But why did LV tell Lily to 
stand aside then?  Why not kill her outright the way he'd killed 
James?

I know folks think Voldemort is a pretty one-dimensional character 
and for good reason, but Tom Riddle certainly wasn't (IMO).  A kernel 
of Tom Riddle, the bitter, rejected son, is probably still alive 
somewhere inside Voldemort, no matter what changes have occurred to 
him over the years.  If I'm not mistaken, this psychology is somewhat 
akin to what motivated (at least partially) Hitler to commit his evil 
deeds.  Unless it could be argued that people like Tom Riddle/Lord 
Voldemort, Hitler, et al. are just born bad.

Comments are welcome!

Cheers, Kim