The Locked Room (Re: Great Battles of Book 7)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 162275


Nikkalmati
> I like this idea of Bess' and yours that LV will meet his doom in >the
Room of Love. I wonder if LV will be undone by finding out in >that room
that his mother loved him after all? I am not sure JKR >wants to leave
LV in terrible pain forever, but the realization he >was loved may take
away his power and desire to do harm. I >always felt a great deal of
pity for Meriope for not  having the >strength to live and being blamed
for it on top of everything else.

Jen:  After HBP I started thinking about the graveyard scene and how
Voldemort glosses over his mom's part in his life.  And then again when
we see the flashbacks, he's silently furious about the Slytherin locket
and how Burke cheated Merope and 'stole' the family heirloom.  You
wonder if there's any piece of humanity left inside around his mom since
he bases his whole *life* on the notion, "she couldn't have died, she
was a witch."  It's almost like he's trying to undo what happened to his
mom by proving a magical person can become immortal.

Now, he could also blame his father more because Riddle was a Muggle and
glosses over Merope because she was a witch and had the Slytherin
connection.  And he was furious about the locket because the valuable
'trinket' was stolen from him, i.e., much more like Marvolo and Morfin
than Merope in that case.

As for what might happen in the Room of Love....I don't think someone
like Voldemort, especially now with his ripped soul, is capable of going
back.  I'm pretty sure the power in the room would still be
excrucuatingly painful as it was for him in Harry's body.   The entire
story of Riddle transforming into Voldemort is very psychological,
though, sometimes I do wonder even if LV can't go back does that negate
a moment of humanity before he (presumably) dies?   It's just so hard to
imagine!

> Nikkalmati
> I think she is in the mode of mothers who loved their sons in the
>book and that will be revealed. Narcissa also is one of the mothers
>who loved their sons  and I wonder if she will have to die for Draco
>in the end, or perhaps she is the character JKR decided to spare.

Jen:  This I definitely agree with re: Merope.  Even if the book doesn't
revisit Merope's story again, I believe she felt some kind of love for
the baby she carried and knew for one short  hour.  She didn't use magic
to take care of herself and the baby, but he was OK when he was born and
a healthy weight and size.   In a book about choices it wasn't simply
the biological imperative at work, she chose to eat, rest and find a
safe place to deliver in the end and to ensure her baby would survive.

Jen, testing the text editor and hoping for the best.