Why not kill Lily?

[va32h]

No: HPFGUIDX 142993

Sherry:
> 
> Really?  What would you call someone who ordered Wormtail to 
murder the
> innocent Cedric the moment he and Harry arrived in the graveyard 
at the end
> of GOF?  That seemed quite bloodthirsty and psychopathic to me.  
and come
> on, even the fact that he tried to murder baby Harry doesn't show 
him as
> merely a power hungry person.  just my opinion, naturally.


va32h here:

Cedric's killing was merely pragmatic. Voldemort didn't expect 
anyone to arrive with Harry, and certainly didn't need to deal with 
an extra person at that point. So Cedric was simply dispatched. 

That shows how cold and vile Voldemort is - that he would kill 
someone simply for being inconvenient to him - but I don't see 
Voldemort as relishing the murder, or enjoying it, the way a 
bloodthirsty psychopath would.

Attempting to murder baby Harry shows Voldemort to be not so much a 
psychopath, as a coward. Voldemort fears the "one" named in the 
prophecy, and would rather dispatch him as a defenseless tot.

But again, it's a pragmatic killing. Voldemort isn't after Harry 
because he likes killing babies; he is after him because he 
(Voldemort) believes Harry to be a future threat. 

Just my opinion, too. 

va32h