Interview quote re: Lily & Voldemort (Re: "Stand aside, girl"...)

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 145854

> Carol wrote:
> At any rate, I see no need for fancy theories explaining
> Voldemort's motivation, which is explained by the need to kill
> Harry and the lack of need for killing Lily.

> Julie:
> I agree that the most straight-forward explanation for Voldemort 
> offering Lily her life is that he was focused on Harry and 
> contemptuous of her abilities. But I still wonder why JKR made a 
> point of the fact that Voldemort has never offered to spare anyone
> else's life. Cedric, for instance, was no threat whatsoever, but 
> Voldemort killed him  simply because it was expedient. At Godric's
> Hollow it would have been more expedient to kill Lily immediately
> rather than wasting additional seconds telling her to stand aside.
> Which makes me suspect there is still some unknown reason 
> Voldemort spent even that minimal amount of time offering Lily her
> life. 

Jen: And Lily was certainly more of a threat than Cedric. She wasn't 
a threat at the moment, but she was an Order member during the time 
Voldemort had apparently decided Order members were to be killed one 
by one. She had already defied him and was closely allied with 
Dumbledore. Why offer?

I had accepted the scenario Carol presented as practically canon 
prior to HBP, then JKR said this in the TLC/MN interview:

ES: This is one of my burning questions since the third book - why 
did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? Would he actually 
have let her live?

JKR: Mmhm.

ES: Why?

JKR: [silence] Can't tell you. But he did offer, you're absolutely 
right. Don't you want to ask me why James's death didn't protect 
Lily and Harry? There's your answer, you've just answered your own 
question, because she could have lived and chose to die." 

Jen again: So in effect she neatly side-stepped the *real* question 
asked, "why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live?" and 
instead answered, "why didn't James' death protect Lily and Harry?" 
I could be reading too much into her first answer and the side-step 
<g>.

Carol: 
> My evidence? LV has never expressed anything but contempt for Lily
> ("Move aside, silly girl!" "Your Muggle mother," etc.). Granted,
> had she resisted him as James did, he would have had to relinquish 
> this view and duel her, and he no doubt would have found his 
> contempt misplaced, but ultimately he would have killed her as he
>  killed James and then murdered Harry--and so much for the WW and 
> the HP series! 

Jen: I'm not sure his contempt is any indication, he shows contempt 
for everyone including Dumbledore, whom he supposedly fears.

Carol:
> More evidence: LV's treatment of Lily has a precedent in Tom 
> Riddle's treatment of the boy Hagrid in the diary memory in CoS,
> where his real target is Aragog. Obviously he couldn't AK Hagrid 
> and still be a "hero," but he could have used Stupefy or
> Petrificus Totalis. Inside, he orders him to stand aside, exactly
> as he orders Lily to stand aside at GoF: "'Stand aside,' said 
> Riddle, drawing out his wand" (CoS Am. ed., 247).

Jen: This analogy is a good one, using the same wording and 
everything. It also points out possible canon for something more 
going on with Lily: If it serves Voldemort's purposes for whatever 
reason, he won't kill a person right away. In the case of Hagrid he 
needed a scapegoat so he could stay at Hogwarts for the summer. In 
the COS he didn't call the basilisk until he had time to get 
information from Harry. The potion in the cave was designed to kill 
someone but only after Voldemort learned why the person was drinking 
the potion & looking for the horcrux. I think Godric's Hollow could 
follow this type of thinking; I'm growing to like the idea he needed 
information from Lily.

Although I still think it's possible there was a bit of concern or 
fear on his part related to killing Lily. There is canon Voldemort 
is capable of feeling this --how many times has Harry heard that 
Voldemort fears Dumbledore? And we don't know why. It could be 
related to Dumbledore's work on immortality, his power, how he 
defeated Grindelwald or a combination of the above. If Lily was also 
working on something related to immortality, or Voldemort assumed 
she was, perhaps he also had a twinge of fear about her? Just a 
thought.

Jen, not one to give up favorite ideas very easily. :)