The Evil of Voldemort; Lily's choice

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 146718

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Bart Lidofsky <bartl at s...> wrote:
>
> amiabledorsai wrote:
> >>Which, of 
> >>course, brings up the question again; why did he give Lily the
> >>choice of living? Given Voldemort as one who gains pleasure in
> >>the suffering of others, the obvious theory was that his intent
> >>was to get Lily to give up Harry to save her own life (which, it
> >>appears, Voldy fully expected her to do), and THEN kill her anyway.
> >>Of course, there may be an ulterior motive, to be revealed in Book 7.
> > 
> > After Prisoner of Azkaban, I was convinced that Lily was to be Peter's
> > reward for his treason.  Lately, I've been wondering if she was to be
> > Snape's.
> 
> Bart:
> 	There is the "Snape loves Lily" theory, which has a lot of proponents 
> and opponents (I'm on the proponent side; it makes sense in reverse, in 
> that it would explain a lot of things).
> 
> 	Bart
>
Carol notes:
There is also the simple fact that Voldemort tells people who are in
his way to "Stand aside." Not only does he repeatedly tell Lily to do
so, he uses the exact phrase with the boy Hagrid in the Diary memory
in CoS and with his own Death Eaters, who are interfering with his
goal of killing Harry, in the graveyard scene in GoF.

What matters, IMO, is not Voldemort's motivation in telling the "silly
girl" (whom he elsewhere equates with his Muggle father) to stand
aside; it's the fact that Lily had that option and chose not to take
it. Her determination to protect Harry and her willingness to die to
protect him are what matters. It's *Lily* who begs Voldemort to "kill
me instead." Maybe "instead" is the key word. Unlike James, she's not
fighting LV and doesn't "have" to be killed. In LV's view, she's just
a nuisance and an obstacle. He expects to be obeyed; she'll "step
aside" when ordered, either out of fear or because she values her life
over her son's. When she doesn't, he kills her. But he doesn't realize
that in offering her life for Harry's, she has changed everything,
bringing into play the ancient magic which he knew about but had
forgotten. She *chose* to sacrifice her life for Harry's rather than
"stand aside" and save her own. (And, yes, I've read the interviews,
but JKR is sneaky and it's canon that counts.)

Carol, doubting that LV had any motive at all at GH other than killing
Harry to thwart the Prophecy and believing that it's *Lily's* choice
that matters