Yo-Yo, Thimble, Mouth-organ

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 152770

Magpie:
> > I can't believe I'm going to post about Voldemort because we have
> > something in common, but Dumbledore does call him "magpie-like" 
> > for a reason.  That one moment in canon JKR totally got me to
> > love Tom Riddle.:-)

Jen: Me too! I found that part of Riddle's characterization so 
compelling. I'm the opposite of a collector myself, a thrower-awayer 
type (is there a colloquial name for that?<g>). JKR did a great job 
of presenting the trophies as the one constant throughout Riddle's 
life and, I think, replacements for relationships. They signified 
his relationship to Magic as the most important relationship in his 
life. 

Magpie:
> > It doesn't seem like Tom gets pleasure out of playing with the
> > yo-yo or the mouth organ.  Usually with this sort of thing the
> > item brings pleasure just in itself.  It's to be taken out when 
> > you want to look at it, touch it and "feel" whatever it means,
> > be it a memory or a symbol of something that's connected to 
> >yourself.  (Snip> 

> Tonks:
> Yes, yes. This is what I am getting at. What do they mean to him?
> We need to get inside his mind. We need to know how he thinks, 
> especially when he was a child. I think that DD wants Harry to do 
> this.. to understand the enemy. Know how he thinks so you can plan 
> how to outsmart him. 
> 
> Come on all you detectives.. what was Tom thinking? Why are those 
> objects important? How do they tie into the Horcruxes that he
> uses? Does he have any of them now? Has he collected anything else
> as an adult?  


Jen: Dumbledore thought the objects reminded Tom of particularly 
unpleasant bits of magic he performed. So the objects were likely 
connected to the specific magic used in each case and the very fact 
he was capable of magic at all, which separated him from others and 
elevated him to superior status. Without much to go on, in my 
imagination each object was connected to his anger toward the person 
and what Riddle did magically to get back at them. Like say the 
thimble was Mrs. Cole's and she wouldn't let him do something he 
wanted to do, so he caught her unaware when she was darning socks 
for the kids and got back at her in some way, taking the thimble in 
the process.  At least, that's how the process went when the murders 
took place, taking an object from the scene of the crime. I also 
like to think the yo-yo or mouth organ was at the scene of the cave 
incident, a possession of one of the children he frightened.


I think the horcruxes go a step beyond reminding him of specific 
magic and are more a way to connect himself to the Founders, as 
Magpie wrote. It's odd that Voldemort spent his whole life trying to 
separate himself from others and disconnect, but then he has this 
obsession with the Founders. The only way I can make sense of it is 
that Riddle actually felt connected to the building of Hogwarts and 
what it represented rather than the actual people who founded it. 
It's a magical entity, almost alive in his mind, and infinitely more 
appealing than actual living, breathing, humans who mess up his 
plans.

Jen R.