Voldie Immortal?? -Speculation (was- Dumbledore the General)

[Geoff Bannister]

No: HPFGUIDX 124272


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Steve" <bboyminn at y...> wrote:

bboyminn:
 
> Filled with speculation, as I always am, this is my take on
> Voldemort's current status.
 
> I believe that Voldemort (generally speaking) can't be killed, but 
> he is not immortal.
 
> That my seem like a contradiction, so let me explain.
 
> Voldemort has guarded himself against external death. That is, he
> can't be killed by an external causes like a Death Curse, or most
> accidents.

<snipped>

Geoff: 
I'm not totally sure about this. Can I run some pieces of canon past 
you? 

Well, I'm going to anyway :-)

Voldemort makes an interesting comment when he is telling the Death 
Eaters what had happened and he said:

"But I was willing to embrace mortal life again, before chasing 
immortal. I set my sights lower... I would settle for my old body 
back again and my old strength."

(GOF "The Death Eaters" p.569 UK edition)

Hm. Sounds as if he thinks there might be something in this death 
business...

But then, let's also consider Voldemort's reactions and comments in 
two situations where his power is being contested.....

'"Do nothing!" Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters and Harry saw 
his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him 
fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with 
Harry's......'

(GOF "Priori Incantatem" p.576 UK edition)

'He concentrated every last particle of his mind upon forcing the 
bead backwards towards Voldemort, his ears full of phoenix song, his 
eyes furious, fixated... and slowly, very slowly, the beads quivered 
to a halt and then, just as slowly, they began to move the other 
way... and it was Voldemort's wand that was vibrating extra-hard 
now... Voldemort who looked astonished and almost fearful...'

(ibid. p.577)

'She (Lily) walked close to Harry, looking down at him and she spoke 
in the same distant, echoing voice as the others, but quietly, so 
that Voldemort, his face now livid with fear as his victims prowled 
around him, could not hear...'

(ibid. p.579)

'Dumbledore flicked his own wand: the force of the spell that 
emanated from it was such that Harry, though shielded by his golden 
guard, felt his hair stand on end as it passed and this time 
Voldemort was forced to conjure a shining silver shield out of thin 
air to deflect it. The spell, whatever it was, caused no visible 
damage to the shield though a deep, gong-like note reverberated form 
it - an oddly chilling sound.
"You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?" called Voldemort, his 
scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. "Above such 
brutality are you?"
"We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom," 
Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk towards Voldemort as 
though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened 
to interrupt his stroll up the hall. "Merely taking your life would 
not satisfy me, I admit -"
"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" snarled Voldemort.
"You are quite wrong," said Dumbledore, still closing in upon 
Voldemort and speaking as lightly as though they were discussing the 
matter over drinks. Harry felt scared to see him walking along, 
undefended, shieldless; he wanted to cry out a warning but his 
headless guard kept shunting him backwards towards the wall, blocking 
his every attempt to get out from behind it. "Indeed, your failure to 
understand that there are things much worse than death has always 
been your great weakness -"

(OOTP "The Only One He ever feared" p.718 UK edition)

'Then Harry's scar burst open and he knew he was dead: it was pain 
beyond imagining, pain beyond endurance -
He was gone from the hall, he was locked in the coils of a creature 
with red eyes, so tightly bound that Harry did not know where his 
body ended and the creature's began: they were fused together, bound 
by pain and there was no escape -
And when the creature spoke, it used Harry's mouth so that in his 
agony he felt his jaw move...
"Kill me now Dumbledore..."
Blinded and dying, every part of him screaming for release, Harry 
felt the creature use him again...
"If death is nothing, Dumbledore, kill the boy..."'

(ibid. pp.719-20)

If Voldemort is invincible, why is he definitely not a happy bunny in 
the graveyard? He is frightened; what does he fear? He considers 
himself the greatest sorcerer in the world so what's bugging him?

And again, Dumbledore certainly seems to think that he can be killed 
and Voldemort, from some of his comments seems to think the same. I 
suppose his challenge to Dumbledore when he is possesing Harry is 
bravado; I doubt whether even he thinks that Harry will be killed and 
thus he is also safe, but I thibk there is enough evidence from 
Voldemort's own reactions and fear and his interchange with 
Dumbledore to suggest that he hasn't ruled out the possibility of 
suddenly "shuffling off this mortal coil".