Why the Dark Mark?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 121703


northsouth wrote:
> 
> Hello, all, my first post after a long while lurking!
> 
> I was reading through GoF, when I came to the description of the
Dark Mark, and something that had always bothered me a bit, struck me
 quite strongly - it's rather silly. 
> 
> It's a skull with a serpent sticking out of its mouth, which is a
little bit adolescent in itself, and whatmore, it's made out of
emerald _stars_! This put me in mind not so much of a symbol of>
horror and evil, as of a somewhat tasteless disco light. 
> 
> Have there been any thoughts on what possible meaning the dark mark
could have? It seems like a fairly prominent Voldemort symbol - his 
followers get it tattooed on themselves! - and yet it seems rather 
tacky. I feel like it should have a story, a meaning of some kind, 
but can't find it, beyond a general representation of Voldemort - 
Death, snake, etc.

Carol responds:
While JKR may, as Hans points out, have been influenced by the
Rosicrucian symbol for immortality, I don't think we need to go that
far outside the text to understand the significance of the Dark Mark,
or at least part of it. Even a child will associate a skull with death
(a skull and crossbones would be familiar to them from pirate flags
and perhaps as a symbol for poison). As for the skull being
"adolescent," so was Tom Riddle when he created the symbol, and many
readers of the books are pre-adolescent. But you don't have to be a
child or an adolescent to be horrified by a skull, and for older
readers it may have additional associations, especially in conjunction
with a serpent.

A snake or serpent is of course the symbol for Slytherin, and the
snake coming out of the skull's mouth seems to be tied to the ability
of both Voldemort and his ancestor Salazar Slytherin to speak
Parseltongue. (Remember that the basilisk in CoS enters the chamber
through the mouth of the statue of Slytherin.) Snake symbolism is
quite complex and outside my area of expertise, but the
Judeo-Christian association of the serpent with Satan in the Garden of
Eden and the associated view of snakes as sinister and slippery in the
sense of wily) is only one aspect of the symbolism, though an obvious
and important one--the basilisk "slithers" from the depths of the
statue of *Slytherin* and Lucius Malfoy, arch-Slytherin, is described
by Voldemort himself as "my slippery friend." But snake symbolism
isn't all bad or no one, not even the purebloods, would want to be
associated with Slytherin House. In Greek, Roman, and Egyptian
mythology, the snake was much more benign--IIRC, snakes can symbolize
transformation, wisdom, eternity, etc., depending on the culture. (The
caduceus of Hermes and the staff of Aesclaepius are examples.) I don't
know about the Druids, who may be more important to the discussion.
Someone else can elaborate on this, I'm sure.

You mentioned the emeralds that seem to compose the Dark Mark that
Barty Jr. casts. Remember that emeralds are the stones in the
hourglass for Slytherin house points. Green is the color of Slytherin
House as the snake is its symbol, and green, like snakes, is ambiguous
in terms of symbolism. We tend to think of it as symbolizing life or
growth or springtime. Evergreens at Christmastime suggests survival
through the winter and therefore survival after death, resurrection of
everlasting life. So there may be an element of (earthly) immortality
in the choice of green as the color of Slytherin, just as there is in
the choice of yew and the Phoenix feather for Voldemort's wand. But
green also suggests the uncanny. Note the use of green light in movies
involving ghosts or supernatural forces, notably the Undead. (Think of
the Paths of the Dead scene in LOTR, for example.)

Given all this, I think Tom Riddle on his journey to becoming Lord
Voldemort deliberately chose the symbolism and color of the Dark Mark
to reflect his quest for (earthly) immortality and his descent from
Salazar Slytherin. And I think he knew that snakes, skulls, and an
unearthly green could in themselves be terrify to people who only
understood part of the symbolism, but possibly attractive to initiates
who understood the full meaning. Note, too, that some of the fear
associated with the Dark Mark for the WW in general stems from its use
by the Death Eaters in Voldy War 1 to mark the sites of their murders
and declare their responsibility as individually anonymous members of
a terrorist group loyal to Lord Voldemort. It's his symbol, after all,
and would have been recognized as such by any member of the WW living
at that time.

A recent thread discusses the possible significance of the term Death
Eaters and the incantation for casting the Dark Mark ("Morsmordre" or
"Eat Death!") You should be able to find it using Yahoo!mort (our
pathetically evil and incompetent search engine) as it was a very
recent discussion. Or some person with more patience and a kinder
heart than mine will look it up for you.

Carol, welcoming responses to clarify or correct my interpretation,
especially the symbolic elements and mythological associations