Tom vs. Voldemort (Was: Fudge)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 116567


Kneasy wrote:
<big snip>
> And it appears that Diary!Tom is a different entity to Voldy (JKR
won't let on what would have happened if D!T had been successful in
> draining the life force from Ginny - something we'll find out later,
> she  says) My own theories regarding Possessed!Tom are compatible
> with this; D!T is Tom pure and simple, Tom before his mind was 
> invaded, but Voldy is Tom plus Sally essence. <big snip>

Carol responds:
Pure and simple? At the point when he creates the diary with the
express intent of carrying on "Salazar's Slytherin's noble work," he
has identified himself as the Heir of Slytherin based on his ability
to speak Parseltongue and his direct descent from Slytherin; has found
and opened the Chamber of Secrets; has controlled the basilisk and
released it, killing a Muggleborn student; has framed another student
for this crime; and has created a new identity for himself, Lord
Voldemort, even recruiting some followers from among his intimate
friends. All of this, in your view, before he is possessed by
Slytherin. He then kills his hated Muggle father and grandparents and
returns to Hogwarts outwardly unchanged, still a handsome, charming,
intelligent boy who is now not only a Prefect but Head Boy. He is also
four times a murderer (Moaning Myrtle and his own family) and has used
the illegal and Unforgiveable Avada Kedavra Curse three times.

That, to me, is more than enough to account for his descent into evil.
He is already evil at sixteen, irredeemably evil (if I read the
Unforgiveable Curses correctly) at seventeen. Only the associating
with the Darkest Dark Wizards (Grindelwald?) and the Faustian pursuit
of immortality through tranformations (and potions and snake venom?)
remains. The transformations permanently alter his appearance,
allowing him to put his identity as the half-blood Tom Riddle behind
him (only he hasn't fully succeeded, as the events in GoF reveal) and
recruit new followers as Lord Voldemort. Only a few people--presumably
Dumbledore on the one hand and his original followers on the
other--know that Voldemort and Tom Riddle are the same entity, changed
in outward appearance and tactics but not in essence.

Why and how is this explanation, which can be supported by canon,
inadequate to explain what happened to Tom Riddle? Why is possession
by Salazar Slytherin necessary, in your view, to account for a
transformation that can be accounted for by the information we have
already been given?

I understand that you *want* Tom Riddle and Voldemort to be separate
entities to fit your theory of Possessed!Harry and to resolve the
problems surrounding Diary!Tom, but where is the canon evidence for
Slytherin possing Tom Riddle? And when would he have done so? TR
closed (and resealed?) the Chamber of Secrets *before* he placed his
own memory in the diary.

Carol