The Evil of Voldemort; Lily's choice

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 146725

Carol earlier:
> <HUGE SNIP>
> 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
> 
> 
Alla responded: 
> I really don't see how one thing contradicts another. Lily's choice
 matters A LOT, of course it does. But are you saying that when JKR 
said that Voldemort was truly prepared to let Lily live (paraphrase,
but pretty sure that the gist is correct - it is in July 16, 2005 
Interview, for those who want to check), she lied? I do think that 
JKR is not that sneaky as we think, BUT her sneakiness IMO has nothing
to do with that answer, unless one can prove that she lies in the
interviews IMO.
> 
> She answered directly IMO - Voldemort WAS about to let Lily live. 
What is the reason, we don't know, of course, BUT such reason exists
IMO. <snip>

Carol answers:
Of course I'm not saying that JKR lied, but she does like to keep us
speculating. :-) I'm only saying that Voldemort didn't care one way or
another about Lily--he only wanted to kill Harry. If he had succeeded,
no doubt he would have left her to her grief, which would have been
worse than death because it would have been mixed with guilt and
unbearable remorse. IMO, he would have considered his job done, turned
on his heel and walked away. Possibly he thought Wormtail would take
the task of killing Lily on himself; more likely, he didn't care.

So, no, JKR isn't lying. She just (IMO) doesn't want to explain
straight out that LV had no particular motive in letting Lily live.
(Notice that JKR does beat about the bush in the interview; maybe she
wants us to think there's more to it than there is. After all, some
people speculate that Snape loved Lily and she wants to keep that
avenue open. I, for one, don't think Snape's being DDM! depends on
Lily, either.)

As I pointed out upthread, Godric's Hollow is neither the first nor
the last instance of LV telling people who are interfering with his
goals or blocking his intended target to stand aside. He does the same
thing in both CoS and GoF. And if he had really wanted Lily alive for
whatever reason, surely he would have stunned her rather than killed
her. He could have killed Harry, kidnapped the stunned Lily, and
forced her to do his will. But IMO, killing Harry would have solved
all his problems, eliminated the threat (no one else could destroy
him), and "Muggle" Lily would not have mattered. She could not have
hurt him, so he might as well let her live.

Can you give me any *canonical* evidence (outside the interviews) that
LV saw Lily as anything more than a "silly girl" or Harry's "Muggle
mother"? Yes, I know that the Prophecy states that the *parents* had
"thrice defied him" and he knew that Lily was a member of the Order of
the Phoenix, whose members the DE's were picking off one by one. No
doubt his attitude would have been entirely different if she had faced
him, wand out, ready to do battle as James did. He would have been
forced to take her seriously and would not have considered giving her
the choice of life or death, any more than he considered giving that
choice to James. Instead, he treats her dismissively both at GH
("silly girl") and in the graveyard, where he talks about James facing
him "like a man, straight-backed and proud," contrasting that with
"the woman's foolish sacrifice." (Quoting from memory, so I may be
confusing CoS with GoF.)

But my point is that Lily, unlike James, didn't have to die (in LV's
view). She merely sacrificed herself "foolishly" and unnecessarily (in
LV's view). And that "foolish" sacrifice, in *JKR's* view, makes
Lily's sacrifice even more heroic than James's--because Lily didn't
have to die and James did. And it's Lily, stepping unarmed in front of
LV and offering herself in Harry's place, whose death confers the
blood protection that James's death does not. (That, I think, is what
JKR is trying to convey in the interview.) Again, Lily's choice to
die, not LV's motivation in allowing that choice, is what matters.
Once he told her to "stand aside," for whatever reason, he made the
choice possible. And when she refused the chance to live and he killed
her, the ancient magic was invoked. There is, IMO, no need to look for
any motive beyond the desire to get down to the business of killing
Harry in LV's words. To do so would be like saying, "Oh, he wanted
Hagrid to live or he'd have killed him in CoS" or "He wanted the Death
Eaters to live or he'd have killed them in GoF." The DEs and Hagrid
were ordered to "stand aside" because they were in his way, preventing
him from accomplishing his objective. I see no difference in his
treatment of Lily, to whom he uses the exact same phrase.

Again, LV's motive need not be anything more than not caring enough to
kill her. She had the chance to live and chose not to, and in doing
so, unwittingly invoked the ancient magic that led to the deflected AK.

That's how I see it after repeated readings of all the books, and the
interview doesn't change that perspective. Canon evidence might make
me reconsider, but for now I see nothing *in the books* to support the
contention that LV came to Godric's Hollow with the specific intention
of killing James and Harry but letting Lily live.

Carol, using up her last post of the day already!