Book Two Discoveries!

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 112612

Carol wrote:
> "Regardless of whether she was good or evil, she couldn't have
written to Tom or had any influence (other than genetic inheritance)
on him: she died in childbirth, living just long enough to give him
his name." <Snipped and quoted by duffypoo>
> 
DuffyPoo responded:
> She could have written the letter sometime during her nine-month (I
presume witches ....) pregnancy and left the letter with the facility
she was in.  

Carol:
Why would she do that, though? Presumably she didn't know that she, a
witch, would die in childbirth (or, technically, moments afterward).
She probably thought she'd be raising the child herself as a single
mother. And she probably wouldn't have been in a "facility"
(hospital?) during her pregnancy. She must have lived in a house of
some sort on whatever savings she had from before her marriage or
perhaps a stipend from her estranged (or ex-) husband. My impression
is that Tom was born in a Muggle hospital or at home; wizard hospitals
(St. Mungo's and the hospital wing at Hogwarts) seem to deal with
magical injuries (and in the case of Madam Pomfrey's hospital wing,
broken bones and similar injuries).

At any rate, it's much more likely (IMO) that Tom was curious about
(or obsessed with) his wizardly heritage on his mother's side and
researched it, beginning with the name Marvolo. We know he knows that
his mother told whoever was present at the birth that it was his
grandfather's name--clearly *her* father's. Why hypothesize about
letters when that bit of canon will suffice to explain what Tom knew
about his heritage before he came to Hogwarts and could follow up on
once he got there?

Carol