Saying Voldemort's Name (Re: Quirrel)

[meriaugust]

No: HPFGUIDX 117718


> khinterberg said:
> > It has always bothered me that in the last chapter of
> PS/SS Quirrell says Voldemort's name.
> <snip>
> > Why, when Death Eaters won't even say his name, can a
> young professor with Vapormort on the back of his head
> say it without any sign of fear whatsoever?<

 Flop added:  
> I really think you put your finger on it there.
> Vapormort was on the back of his head. He was
> POSSESSED by Vapormort! Although he was able to keep
> some of his own personality so that others wouldn't
> suspect, I really think that this was, in effect,
> Voldemort saying his OWN name.
> 

Meri now: Maybe we are making too big a deal about the name thing. 
(And lets be honest with each other, we've done it before. Remember 
the Mark Evans incident?) We have no canon evidence that there is 
anything more than personal choice and preference behind whether or 
not a witch or wizard calls Voldemort by that term, the Dark Lord, 
He Who Must Not Be Named, or You Know Who. DD even still calls 
him "Tom"! 

We know from CoS that Tom Riddle was already using the name 
Voldemort at school (though where he got the idea to be a Lord I 
don't know). Perhaps it started out as a way for the nascent DEs to 
idenitfy themselves and their leader. And maybe LV does forbid some 
of his followers to speak his name and demands they use the more 
reverential Dark Lord term. But I don't think that we can look at 
the ways people address LV as a flaw in JKR's storytelling. IMHO 
these are just the personal choices of the character. 

For instance, Barty Crouch Jr. and Prof. Quirell, two brash young 
men who have dedicated themselves fanatically to LV's cause, more 
loyal than any other DE, willing to make great sacrifices for their 
master. These two may very well have considered themselves "worthy" 
to call LV by his proper name. DD, who doesn't fear the use of a 
name. Harry, who has faced LV multiple times. Lupin and Sirius, two 
members of the Order who have dedicated their lives to ending LV and 
refuse to live in fear. In fact the only three examples I can think 
of of a wizard using LV's name that is a bit out of character would 
be Hermione (just because she has done all she can to fit into the 
WW since day one, though it took guts for her to use it) and Peter 
Pettigrew (which may either indicate that there is more to him than 
meets the eye, or that he is higher up in the DE order than we know) 
When is comes to Snape who, whatever I may think of his character, 
strikes me as an incredibly brave man, uses the term Dark Lord, all 
I can think of is that he wants to keep his cover. It might just be 
a little too obvious if someone who might be in league with DD was 
caught using LV's proper name. 

If only to reaffirm my point, just look at all the ways people in 
the original Star Wars trilogy refer to Darth Vader: Vader, the Dark 
Lord of the Sith, Lord Vader, Darth, my friend, my servant, etc. And 
these are all differnt characters: Luke, Leia, Obi-Wan, the Emperor, 
random Imperial underlings. It is probably just a personal 
preference. 

Meri - hoping her ramblings make sense!