Re: JKR’s giant mistake?

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 117702


> Pippin :
> I think it's a reader superstition that bad guys can't say 
> "Voldemort", very carefully planted by JKR herself.
> 

Neri:
If JKR carefully planted a false notion in us, then I believe the 
technical term for it is "red herring" and not "reader superstition". 
Of course, almost any clue in the books might be a red herring, 
including suspicions pointing to Lupin ;-).

There isn't in fact any canon that the bad guys CAN'T say the name, 
only that they, like many of the good guys, rather won't.

> Pippin:
> Here's the text:
> <snip>
> Harry stared. Not only was this the last answer he'd expected, 
> but Lupin had said Voldemort's name. The only person Harry 
> had ever heard say the name aloud (apart from himself) was 
> Professor Dumbledore. --PoA ch 8
> 
> The narrator's recollection is inaccurate, since Quirrell used the 
> name, and so did Hagrid (PS/SS ch 4). 
> 

Neri: 
You forgot that Harry also heard Tom Riddle saying the name several 
times in CoS. However, it would have been slightly cumbersome for JKR 
to write a sentence such as: "The only person Harry had ever heard 
say the name aloud (apart from himself, Hagrid once and very 
reluctantly, Quirrell when he was possessed by Voldemort, and Tom 
Riddle who was of course Voldemort himself) was Professor Dumbledore."

Hagrid, Quirrell and Riddle are so clearly special exceptions to the 
rule that they don't even have to be considered. I don't think this 
specific case is a flint. 

> Pippin :
> It isn't the only inaccurate 
> recollection in the chapter,  since  we're told Harry "honestly" 
said 
> he didn't think of Voldemort before he thought of the dementors.  
> To me, as a  puzzle hound, that's a clue, though I suppose they 
> could both be oversights.

Neri:
I don't think they are both oversights. I think they are both 
examples of reasonable writing style. Harry doesn't say "honestly" 
that he didn't think of Voldemort BEFORE he thought of the dementors. 
He says honestly that he didn't think about Voldemort BUT about the 
dementors, and the fact that he did consider Voldemort for a very 
short time isn't relevant and would have only made the text 
needlessly cumbersome had he mentioned it. I'm sure it is possible to 
find several such "oversights" in any chapter, or the characters 
would have to talk in sentences twice as long.

> Pippin :  
> It's kind of odd that all the supposed oversights and flints should 
> point one way. I mean, we never get oversights that point to 
> Lucius as a secret good guy, do we?

Neri:
I'm not sure what you mean by that. Saying the name "Voldemort" 
regularly does point to DD, Harry, Lupin, Sirius and Hermione 
as "really brave guys" (not "really good guys", since many good guys 
don't say the name). The three cases that I suspect to be mistakes 
are all said just once by three different characters (Wormtail, 
Crouch Sr and Crouch Jr) as you would indeed expect from a random 
mistake.

> Pippin : 
>   I think it's significant in itself 
> that we yearn to have some simple means of sorting the sheep 
> from the lambs, even though the characters who lived through 
> the first Voldemort war tell us there was no such method. They 
> couldn't tell who to trust, even among their closest friends.
> 

Neri:
Saying the name "Voldemort" doesn't sort the sheep from the lambs, 
but it does seem to sort the lions from all the rest (and 
disregarding the obvious exceptions of Voldemort himself and whoever 
is possessed by him). It couldn't have been used during VWI to tell 
friend from foe, since most of the good guys don't dare saying the 
name either, and in fact are rather antagonized by those who do. 

Neri