Harry's moral core vs. Voldie's

[ginnysthe1]

No: HPFGUIDX 117926


Quick note from Kim:

Snow wrote:
>Ditto on the mothering attributes...if this is what actually 
happened?  But... Young Tom Riddle was fed information about his 
early family, as was Harry. We know that Harry's information about 
his parents demise was falsified, why not Tom's? What do we actually 
know about Tom's parents? His father was rich and as snobbish as they 
come and his maternal grandfather's name was Marvolo who was a 
descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Everything else is conjecture! 
DiaryTom claims may not be substantiated. Yes, someone, presumably 
the orphanage, told Tom that his mother told them what his name was 
to be etc., but Harry was also told that 'his' parents died in a car 
crash. Harry believed his parents fate until he was told and proven 
otherwise. Likewise, I believe that Tom under similar (in a way best 
representative of the current circumstance) was told something to 
appease his questioning. Tom believed what he was told, as did Harry, 
and both were lied to for rationalizing purposes. I personally 
believe that Tom's mother lived, and may still be living, but was 
forced to choose between her son and his rejecting father or her 
wizarding world connection with the last of the pure royalty line of 
Slytherin.<

>I am curious why everyone appears to take young Tom Riddle's facts, 
as were given to Tom at a young age, so seriously?  This is muggle 
world (orphanage) vs. wizarding world, the Harry/Dursley world vs. 
the Dumbledore/wizarding world. The out and out lies of a muggle 
world that does not want to accept the wizarding world compared to 
the truth, and all it entails, that has been denied to both Harry and 
Tom; the wizarding world. ... Harry and Tom are more alike than maybe 
we realize or would like to admit. What is the difference between 
them and especially their mothers? ... It is the lack of information 
about Tom's mother and her past that allows me to question young 
Tom's beliefs that had been told to him. We, the readers, have at 
least been aloud a glimpse into what Harry's mother Lily was like 
through the eyes of her friends and teachers but the absence of Tom's 
mother's former information leaves me in denial of a truthful 
explanation from Tom's caretakers let alone to believe young Tom's 
second hand knowledge of the so called events.<

Kim here:  Ditto to Snow's ideas!  I read her post after posting 
117924 to Geoff on the same topic.  I agree though that it's nice to 
think of Tom's mother loving her husband and son so much, but there's 
nothing in canon to say yay or nay to that idea.  Somehow though, I 
think that if Tom Riddle's dying mother (if in fact she did die; as 
Snow suggests, she might still be alive) had so loved her son, and 
perhaps still loved the father of her son too, even though she died 
right after giving birth to baby Tom, that some of that love might 
have remained with Tom as he grew up. It's only a maybe, of course.  
But we certainly haven't seen even the smallest inkling of the 
experience of that love in the behavior of grown-up Tom, Lord 
Voldemort.  Was it too little love, too long ago?  Anyhow, I sure 
hope we find out some of the answers in HBP -- inquiring minds really 
want to know.  ;-)

Kim (who isn't a mother, but who does appreciate the feelings of 
those who are)