Every Tom, Dick and Harry...

[ginnysthe1]

No: HPFGUIDX 117514


Kim here.  Hope it's OK that I included all the posts (I think), with 
a few snips here and there:

Antosha asked:
A very random and possibly pointless thought occurred to me today.  
Could there be any significance in the fact that the two antagonists 
in this series both have what would normally be considered 
nicknames?  ...  We know that Tom Riddle is really a Tom, not a 
Thomas or Tomas, because of his ridiculous little anagram. If he were 
more than just a Tom, he'd have to stick an extra 'h', 'a', and 's' 
into "I am Lord Voldemort." ... Harry, while somewhat more common as 
a given name, is also typically a nickname for Harold or Henry.
Any significance? Am I just lacking sleep?< 

Then SSSusan:
>Interesting! And it's not just that they're common nicknames, but
that they come from that "Tom, Dick and Harry" grouping. Any ideas
on who's going to turn out to be Dick, then? :-) <

Finwitch:
>Dick's the Half Blood Prince, I guess... now we just need to find out
his surname. One with a meaning since we have Riddle (in a way, the
prophecy is a riddle too!) and Potter (common enough, a profession
for making pottery out of clay).  ... So are we going to have Dick 
Blue, Dick Noble, Dick King - or maybe even Dick Prince? (Would make 
him Prince by name! and everyone's calling him by surname...)<

Ginger:
>Now there's a new one. Could the Prince family be an old wizarding
family (perhaps DE's?) who had a wayward son who met a Muggle? Or
could they be an old Muggle family, one of whom chanced to fall in
love with a witch?  ... Now is "Dick" Prince a new student, or a 
student who Harry hasn't noticed yet? (gasp! the good Slytherin) or 
an adult? ... So many questions. I kind of like this. It's a 
different take than trying to infuse royalty into the picture. Too 
bad all the RL royal males are too old for Hogwarts.<

Catkind:
>Love the theory, Finwitch. But I fear Dicks in children's
fiction may have gone the same way as poor Titty in Swallows and 
Amazons.<

Bboyminn:
>Slightly OT, but Prince William was born in 1982 and Prince Harry 
was born in 1984.  Harry on the other hand was born in 1980.  Prince 
William - June 21, 1982 (William Arthur Philip Louis Windsor), Prince 
Harry - September 16, '84 (Prince Henry Charles Albert David 
Windsor).  I've often fantasized about a meeting between the Princes 
of the Real world and the 'princes' (Harry & Ron) of the wizard 
world. In this fantasy, P. Will and P. Harry received Hogwarts 
letters but because of their high profile highly public lives, they 
were unable to attend. ... Also, let's not forget that there are 
other assorted Princes lurking about the UK, like Prince Andrew. In 
addition, the House of Windsor has direct family ties to the Royal 
houses of Denmark, Greece, Russia, and Germany (maybe more; Norway, 
Sweden, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Monaco?). <snip> So, 
theoretically, there could be, somewhere in that vast expanse of UK 
related European royalty, a wizard or two.   Also, keep in mind that 
it is not just the son of a King who is a prince, but the son of a 
prince. Prince Will & Prince Harry are the sons of Prince Charles. 
One would also assume that sons of a princess are also Princes. 
Considering the House of Windsor's many international blood ties, 
that makes for a lot of potential princes to be lurking about. Then 
add to that all the Princes who are not related to the Windsors. Side 
note: The current Windsor family was previously named 'Saxe-Coburg-
Gotha'.  ... So, that would solve the 'Prince' aspect in an 
interesting way, now if I could just think of a way to tie in the 
Half-Blood part. Since the focus is on the /prince/ we would 
logically assume that he is the magical person in the family. So, to 
be half-blood, I suppose he could either be half-royal/half-commoner, 
or half magic/half muggle.  ...  Now all we have to do is decide if 
he is a literal prince or a metaphorical prince. Although, I have 
argued in the past for a metaphorical prince, I think it would be 
interesting if JKR could tie the actual royal family of some European 
country to the wizard world.<

JP:
>A thought just occured to me... correct me if I'm wrong but, isn't 
Dick the nickname for Richard? Which in turn is associated with the 
Lion...(British Royalty) which in turn is a cat... in which Jo has 
given in her website that clue that is associated with lions? (not to 
mention the Gryffindor Mascot) so I think that Dick is the Half-Blood 
Prince!  Thoughts? Reactions? Comments anyone?<

Kim now:
So many good points in all the posts! Dick is definitely a nickname 
for Richard.  And the other connection you (JP) made to the 
Gryffindor Lion is interesting.  The name Prince could be a play on 
words, like Richard Prince is a prince of a Prince (and maybe he's 
also an actual prince?)  With a name like Prince, he's bound to be a 
good guy (though of course there have been evil princes in literature 
too). 

To Finwitch, who wrote "...now we just need to find out [Dick's] 
surname. One with a meaning since we have Riddle (in a way, the
prophecy is a riddle too!) and Potter (common enough, a profession
for making pottery out of clay)."    I (Kim) had been wondering 
lately if there wasn't even more symbolic meaning to Harry's last 
name Potter?  Like "one who creates something (i.e. a pot, maybe a 
useful or beautiful pot?) out of nothing (i.e. clay; clay is not 
exactly nothing, of course, but it is rather formless).  Not knowing 
much anthropology, I would still imagine that potters have held a 
respected position in various tribes over the centuries.  And making 
something out of nothing sort of reminds me in a way of Fawkes the 
Phoenix (or any Phoenix, for that matter) who re-makes *himself* out 
of ashes.  Just a thought that might shed more light on who Harry 
might really be. (And IIRC, I think Finwitch suggested at one point 
that Harry could turn out to be a Phoenix himself?)

Outside of JKR bringing in a connection to real living royals, I 
wonder what kind of royalty of its own the WW might have.  Were the 
four Hogwarts founders from some royal wizarding lineage?  Slytherin 
was definitely a racist and a snob, but was he also royal? (not that 
I'm suggesting the real royals are racists and snobs)   What about 
the other three founders?  So far in the HP books, I don't think 
there's been a reference to any royalty either in the WW past or 
present, but I may be mistaken.  But it makes total sense for there 
to have been royal wizards once upon a time at least. 

Kim, who wonders if reading the books for the third time will 
actually make her remember the details any better