The Iron Fist of Will - body/body or body/spirit

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 142544

> Ceridwen wrote:
> "LV had no body then. LV was nothing but the remnants of his soul
> (&spirit?) left to him after GH.  The first body we see is the
> ugly fetus in GoF. His essence (one of the definitions of 'being')
> was occupying Quirrel's body like a cheap motel.  And, he trashed
> the place before he left.

> CH3ed now:
<snip>
> I don't know what that snakish fetus that LV was occupying in GoF
> was, and I wonder if the 'reborn body' from the graveyard scene is
> like other human bodies since LV was able to possess Harry's body
> at MoM. Maybe he is now something like the Nazguls from LotR?
> Neither living nor dead? <snip> That might explain how LV's
> body 'disappears' when he possesses others <snip> So far it seems
> to me LV is about the only one that has the ability to possess
> other people and animals (Quirell, that snakish fetus, Nagini,
> Harry), while Harry could only 'get inside' LV's head. 

Jen: This is such an interesting thought. My guess to JKR's pre-HBP 
question of "why didn't Voldemort die at GH?" was that Voldemort was 
souless. Well, we found out that's not the correct, but I do think 
there's something different about his new body. Here's a mysterious 
thought from JKR right after HBP (TLC/MN interviews):

JKR: "I feel that I could justify every single piece of morbid 
imagery in those books. The one that I wondered whether I was going 
to be able to get past the editors was the physical condition of 
Voldemort before he went into the cauldron, do you remember? He was 
kind of fetal. I felt an almost visceral distaste for what I had 
conjured up, but there's a reason it was in there and you will see 
that."

Hmmm. So there was a *reason* for the fetal Voldemort, something 
important to the story. Several things come immediately to mind. 
Since the fetal LV was brought to life using unicorn blood, the base 
body used for his rebirth is 'cursed'. Another thought, remembering 
the bell jar in the DOM--will Voldemort be returning to his infancy? 
Will the way Harry 'vanquishes' him return him to an infant state to 
take another shot at making better choices? ;) OK, that's a bit 
toungue-in-cheek, but the mechanism is in place for that, and the 
canon, as we saw with baby-head DE. Anyone else want to take a stab 
at what JKR meant? I'm extremely curious now.

CH3ed:
> I don't know if LV was able to do that before his body died at GH.
> But now it seems that LV, even in his new 'body', can possess
> others who don't have 'connection' with him. Harry; on the other 
> hand, can only get inside LV's head because of the scar
> connection. Maybe it is the multiple horcruxes effect or maybe
> that new body obtained in the graveyard scene was not totally
> equivalent of normal? 

Jen:
I believe Voldemort could possess people prior to his bodily death 
because of this statement: "Only one power remained to me. I could 
possess the bodies of others." (chap. 33, p. 653, GOF, Scholastic) 
He could have meant "only one power of all the known magical powers 
remained" but still, he's verifying that a wizard or witch can have 
the magical power to possess someone. 

I'm not sure what you meant about LV possessing others besides Harry 
since the return to body form--we haven't seen him possess anyone 
else, have we? All other possessions were in his spirit form.