[HPforGrownups] Re: Who or what is Nagini? (Was: Harry Horcrux redux)

[Peggy Wilkins]

No: HPFGUIDX 155108

On 7/8/06, justcarol67 <justcarol67 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Carol earlier:
> > > Okay, I still think that Nagini is an entirely different snake
> from the boa constrictor, which is IMO just a plot device to show that
> Harry can talk to snakes, and that Nagini is a Horcrux (and has been
> one for a long time, as indicated by the effects of her venom on LV)
> >
> > Peggy W:
> > I think it's a pretty big leap of an assumption that Nagini must be
> > one of Voldemort's Horcruxes *because* of how Voldemort used her
> > venom.
>
> Carol responds:
> Please note "I still think" in the quoted partial sentence, which
> you've taken out of context. I was repeating a hypothesis that I've
> attempted to support with canon in various posts (the only assumption
> being that fellow list members had read the venom argument and that I
> didn't need to repeat it in this post). Far from taking my hypothesis
> for granted, I was raising possible objections to my own idea,
> problems that I haven't resolved in my own mind. I'm saying that *if*
> Nagini was a Horcrux before Godric's Hollow, or even if Voldemort and
> Nagini were, erm, acquaintances before Godric's Hollow, I'm confused
> about how they got back together. In fact, it's unclear when and how
> they got together at all, or what a "dirty great snake" that would be
> more at home in India or Africa was doing in Albania when Wormtail
> found Voldemort there. Speculations from anyone would be welcome.

<snipping the rest as I see my mistake>

Peggy W:
OK, open mouth, insert foot; I have really made an error here.  I
apologize.  I don't read all the posts here just because there are so
many of them that it isn't practical for me to do so.  I pick and
choose topics that interest me.  However, apparently I completely
missed the larger context as you point out here and subsequently.  So
in the interest of clarity, I hope you won't mind if I step back and
clarify what I thought I was saying.

The reason I posted at all was to be picky about this point: that
Voldemort's snakelike appearance was direct, strong evidence that
Nagini is one of his Horcruxes, and that she must have been made one
before Godric's Hollow because of that.  I have no problem going along
with Dumbledore's suggestion of Nagini as a Horcrux, but I brought up
the word "leap" (in my other reply as well as the one you respond to
above) because Dumbledore never made any allusion to a relationship
between Voldemort's appearance and Nagini being a Horcrux.  I then
extended that leap to include any idea that Nagini and Voldemort were
acquainted before GOF because there are no references to Nagini prior
to the opening of GOF (although this lack of reference doesn't
necessarily mean that they weren't acquainted).  This is a picky point
on my part, but now that I read your explanation of how that
conversation was occurring as part of a larger context, I see that my
objection was out of place.  I can only say that what I wrote should
generally be ignored, because I wasn't responding to the larger
context.

Your citation of canon for Voldemort using Nagini's venom is right on
target; I should have checked that before making any statement about
what was going on with that.

I can only hope that you all will not take this mistake on my part
(not my first) as a reflection on everything else I say.  I like to
suffer under the illusion that I occasionally have some interesting or
useful insights.  I should take this as a lesson (if that's possible,
we humans being so averse to learning lessons!) to not jump in with
undue consideration and insufficient research, just because it is easy
to do so.

Funny thing is, this just shows me once again why I admire Dumbledore
so much: he has learned his lessons well.

-- 
Peggy Wilkins
enlil65 at gmail.com