"Magic always leaves traces..."

[tina_00]

No: HPFGUIDX 135855

I loved this post, so I can't resist commenting on it. ;-)

Jen wrote:
"It also struck me that he (Dumbledore) refers to the cave as 
Riddle's style, not 
Voldemort's. Either Dumbledore is once again refusing to acknowledge 
who Riddle has become, or he literally means Riddle placed the 
locket in the cave as far back as the murder of Hepzibah Smith. 
There are moments in the cave when he says 'Voldemort', but in that 
particular instance he refers to Riddle."

And SSSusan commented:
"A very interesting catch.  Given that DD *does* call him
Voldemort 
other times while they're in the cave, I would think this may be a 
very important point.  Does that also mean that DD could truly sense 
the difference between "Riddle style" and "Voldemort style," I 
wonder?"

Now me (tina):
Funny, I didn't read it that way. Actually, one of the things I 
liked most in HBP (and unfortunately, I didn't like the book all 
that much) is how it shows how and why Tom Riddle becomes Voldemort, 
and it explains the reason why Dumbledore calls him "Tom"
when 
they're fighting at the Ministry in OotP. I used to see it as
simply 
Dumbledore's way to taunt Voldemort, but now it seems there's
more 
to it: Voldemort *is* Tom Riddle, and did not become something 
completely different. Voldemort *tried* to become something 
completely different, but failed to do so.

Voldemort is still driven by Tom's fears – the desperate
attempt to 
avoid death, the obsession over power, because that's what, in
Tom's 
mind, makes someone special. I think this is made clear when 
Dumbledore explains to Harry `There is nothing to be feared from
a 
body, Harry, any more than there is anything to be feared from the 
darkness. Lord Voldemort, who of course secretly fears both, 
disagrees.(
)' HBP, page 529, Bloomsbury edition.

At this point, the fact that you can't separate Tom from
Voldemort 
was already shown through the book, so I didn't see any
importance 
on the way Dumbledore chooses to call Voldemort.

SSSusan again:
"For surely as Riddle matured & deepened his talents, his 
schemes & protections would have increased in complexity?"

Me (tina):
Increased in complexity, certainly, but wouldn't change. Looking 
from this point of view, we can say that Voldemort's schemes and 
actions are boringly predictable (to Dumbledore, at least). If not, 
then Dumbledore's lessons wouldn't be of much use, would
they? 
Dumbledore trusts that Tom's old fears and desires will always 
determine how today's Tom will act.

Jen wrote: 
"The big question is, did Harry learn enough in the cave to 
recognize 
and defeat Voldemort's obstacles surrounding the remaining 
Horcruxes? Sometimes clever, sometime crude, mixed with a fear 
of 'darkness and death'...that seems to be Riddle's preoccupation at 
the time he created the protections in the cave. Although I think 
Dumbledore is saying that like any creative art, a magical style is 
recognizable across time and skill levels. So even Voldemort's 
advanced magic would presumably have undercurrents of Riddle's 
preoccupation with darkness, death, dismemberment, etc."

Me (tina):
I think Harry didn't learn much in the cave – the cave was
more of 
an example of everything Dumbledore had told him in their lessons. 
But I do share your concern on another thing: is Harry skilled 
enough to face Voldemort's obstacles? What Dumbledore was doing 
seemed extremely tricky to me – he was recognizing every bit of 
magic Voldemort had set, and they didn't seem as "fun" – or
as 
relatively harmless - as the tasks in PS. Since I don't believe 
Harry will die trying to find the Horcruxes, maybe the other 
locations are not so heavily protected, or at least the protections 
will not be so impossible for Harry to figure them out. Personally, 
I'm afraid of that possibility, because it would make me feel
like 
Rowling's cheating.

Oh, well, I hope this makes sense. I usually find myself tongue-tied 
every time I try to write in this group (I'm shy *blushes*)

Tina