[HPforGrownups] Re: Survival of AK

[charme]

No: HPFGUIDX 114086


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "kim reynolds"

> "Harry had been a year old the night that Voldemort--the most powerful
Dark Wizard for a century, a wizard who had been gaining power steadily for
eleven years--arrived at his house and killed his father and mother.
Voldemort had then turned his wand on Harry; he had performed the curse that
had disposed of many full-grown witches and wizards in his steady rise to
power--and, incredibly, it had not worked. Instead of killing the small boy,
the curse had rebounded upon Voldemort.  Harry had survived with nothing but
a lightning-shaped cut on his forehead, and Voldemort had been reduced to
something barely alive.  His powers gone, his life almost extinguished,
Voldemort had fled..."

 snip

> > P.S. Another question for another thread?  Has anyone found any
descriptions of Lord Voldemort's physical appearance/attributes during his
reign of terror 15-25 years previously?  Was he supposed to have looked the
same then as he does after his rebirth in the GoF graveyard scene?  I think
I read somewhere DD saying that Tom Riddle (young, dark-haired, and
handsome) was no longer recognizeable when he returned as LV.  Anyway, the
reborn LV is no 60+ year old version of the young Tom Riddle.  Does his
current snakelike appearance have anything to do with the experiments he
said kept him from dying from the rebounded AK at GH?   --Kim

charme:

Someone give this gal several gold stars smack dab on her forehead! Nice
work digging that up - however, I'm not sure the paragraph is strictly from
the "narrator's" point of view; perhaps it's just a repeat of what everyone
and Harry has been told had happened.  I've always wondered how the story
"got out" if no one else was in attendance to see exactly what transpired.
For example, there's a whole site dedicated to urban legends in our reality:
stories or legends have a way of taking a life of their own.  While some are
completely true and some are undeniably false, others have sometimes the
barest roots in truth can be corrected. (Can you say Rumor Bin?  How
interesting...) Something to think about when weighing the "fact" (HP is
fiction so I feel funny typing that without quotes) from the "fiction."

Lord Voldemort describes having some help from his "dear Nagini" in GoF, I
believe.  Once can wonder if in fact one of the things that kept him from
dying when he was hit with his own rebounded AK is some experimentation with
snake venom or blood.  Clearly from his own description, Nagini's "help" was
critical to his being able to take some sort of physical manifestation prior
to his "rebirth" in the graveyard scene.

Maybe I'm weird, but if someone is no longer recognizable to others who knew
him, I guess the only way we have of knowing TR is LV we see is Tom's diary
in CoS.  DD does say that Tom travelled extensively after leaving Hogwarts -
could he have "switched" with another being?

Ugh.  So many questions, so little time...

charme