Why Did Voldemort Live?

[catimini15]

No: HPFGUIDX 129940

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Tamara" <buffyeton at y...> wrote:
> --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "mightymaus75" <mpjdekker at h...> 
> wrote:
> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "sophierom" <sophierom at y...> 
> > wrote:
> > > Actually, Rowling didn't say that we should be asking "Why did
> > > Voldemort live?" Instead, she said that no one's ever asked her 
> this
> > > question: "Why didn't Voldemort die?" (Edinburgh Book Festival
> > > transcript).
(snip)
> > I think you have made an important point there. In my opinion the 
> > reason Voldemort did not die is that he is not truly alive. 
> Voldemort 
> > cannot feel love, Voldemort cannot feel the pain that goes with 
> love, 
> > Voldemort has lost everything that made him alive as a result of 
> the 
> > steps he took long ago to guard himself against death. This then is 
> > why Dumbledore tells Harry at the end of PS/SS: "not being truly 
> > alive, he cannot be killed."
(Snip, snip, snip)

Bonjour,

I apologize for going so far up-thread but I wanted to find the last
post on the "Why didn't Voldemort die" because I noticed something
while rereading PS/SS in preparation for HPB. Tamara might be right
when she says that You-Know-Who cannot die because he is already dead.
But this is not why I am posting. The point I want to make is that
some characters, in the first book at least, seem to think that it is
pretty obvious that Voldemort can't die. Let me explain...

I just realized, right from chapter one (The Boy Who Lived), that
McGonagall, who's seeking information by questioning DD in Privet
Drive, has all the reason in the world to believe that You-Know-Who is
dead because, after all, no one has ever survived an AK. But
strangely, even before DD confirms everything she has heard, she never
says You-Know-Who - oh, all right, Voldemort - is d-e-a-d, dead.
Talking about Voldy to DD in Privet Drive, she says (at 4 different
moments):
-"A fine thing it would be if, on the very day You-Know-Who seems to
have disappeared..."
-"I suppose he really has gone, Dumbledore?"
-"As I say, even if You-Know-Who has gone..."
-"No one knows why, or how, but they're saying that when he couldn't
kill Harry Potter, Voldemort's power somehow broke - and that's why
he's gone."

Incidently, she does not have any problem to say that James and Lily
are dead because she knows they have sadly been the target of a well
cast avada kedavra. But the AK curse Voldy intended to kill Harry with
bounced, and apparently hit Voldy back. Why does McGonagall seem so
sure that Voldemort is just gone and did not die? Because she knows
already that he can't die. Just like Hagrid when he says later on:
"Some say he died. Codswallop, in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough
human in him to die".

What's with Voldy? Why does it seem normal for some characters to
assume that he can't die? Who or what is he? Oh! Oh! I see a Sally
Slytherin's possession theory coming this way...

Fire on! But bear in mind that I have not posted since December 2004
(too busy, new job and all), and my written English is rusty. So is my
HP knowledge. I have been lurking from time to time all winter and
spring though, and I miss Kneasy, SSSusan, Snow and JustCarol67. I
don't see your posts that often anymore... Hope your're well.

Nadine (catimini15)