Voldamort's original body

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 169991

> > "Anna" wrote:
> >
> > <snip>
> > What then, happened to his body? It's not mentioned in any
> > of the accounts of that night, that I've seen. <snip>

> Carol responds:
> 
> I have the same problem. If his body was found, mutilated or
> otherwise, he would be firmly believed to be dead. If his body 
> wasn't found, how does anyone know for sure that he didn't just run 
> away after killing the adult Potters and failing to kill Harry. 

Mike:
My question is more basic: If there was no body, how does the WW know 
it was Voldemort? For that matter, how does the WW even know there 
was an attack on Harry? One cut on a baby's forehead considering the 
state of the house (according to Hagrid), should not necessarily 
bring one to conclude the cut was the result of magical intrusion. 
(Much less that it was a result of a rebounding AK)



> > Anna:
> > His body might have crumpled like usually happens with 
> > the Avada Kedavra curse. Or maybe his body disintegrated 
> > when his soul was ripped from it.

Mike:
If the explanations from Lupin and Snape's DADA posters are any 
indication, at least when a Dementor sucks out the soul, the body 
remains - in fact, remains alive. Now maybe the soul being "ripped" 
out, as you've pointed out, would have a different effect on the 
condition of the body it is being ripped from. Add to that, it was an 
AK that caused the soul to be ripped out ... ? We've seen that an AK 
can have a devestating affect on inanimate objects. Could JKR be 
hinting at the state of being of Voldemort at this point in his 
*life*?



> Carol:
>
> Is it only Dumbledore's (and spy!Snape's) word that Voldemort was 
> after the Potters? Why is everyone celebrating? (I personally think 
> that Snape showed DD his fading or faded Dark Mark, which indicates 
> a dead or powerless Voldemort, and that DD already knew about the 
> Horcruxes, but I don't think that DD is going to share that 
> information with anyone.)  <snip>
>
> And how did they know that Harry had survived and had a cut
> that was not yet a scar? Dumbledore must have told them. <snip>
>
> It had to be Dumbledore sending word to the Ministry and the 
> Ministry informing the Daily Prophet.

Mike:
I agree with you, Carol. I think Dumbledore started the "boy who 
lived" stories and I also agree that Dumbledore knew (or at least 
strongly suspected) that Horcruxes were in play. How he knew that 
Harry had survived an AK, especially with all JKR has said that "this 
has never happened before", is more problematic. 

So, how and why Dumbledore got this whole story out so quickly will 
probably remain another enigmatic move by a man following his own 
secret agenda. At least that's my way of looking at things, or I'd go 
crazy over the inconsistencies.

I also think we have the case of a new, young writer (JKR) on her 
first book, not expecting her readership to parse her story to the 
nth degree. ;-)


> > Anna:
> > To my knowledge, it's not clear if he had DE support that
> > night or if he went alone to Godric's Hollow. If he had DE,
> > they might have taken his body away. It seems to me that his
> > body should have disappeared somehow, so that some people don't
> > know for sure if he's -finished-. 
 

> Carol:
> Which still doesn't answer your question and mine about Voldemort's
> body. My guess is that it vaporized (and Peter Pettigrew, witness to
> the disintegration in rat form, somehow knowing that Voldie would 
> come back, took Voldemort's wand and hid it).

Mike:
JKR has as much as told us that Pettigrew was there, by implication, 
in canon and in her interviews. Lacking some *new* revelation, in DH, 
I'll stick with this line of reasoning.

But, your right Carol, we still haven't answered the question of 
Voldemort's body. So it's speculation time again. ;-) 

Mine is - the AK, "a curse that needs a powerful bit of magic behind 
it", rebounding back on the one that just conjured that powerful 
magic, was like a powerful laser beam reflecting back onto the beam 
generator. The magical energy that Voldemort had summoned is 
explosively released causing his body to magically disintegrate. I 
think of Obi Wan Kenobe when Darth Vader *kills* him with his light 
sabre (Star Wars, Vol IV).

Since I'm a Harry!Crux believer, I add that element into the mix. But 
I shant bore you with that much discussed story. Let's keep it 
civil. :D

Mike, throwing out his two knuts and retracting those other two knuts 
about the Harry-Horcrux, now's not the time.

_____________________________________________________________
In http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/169982

> Simon:

The point I think is-one rip is 1/2 & 1/2
2nd is 1/4, 1/4 and 1/2
3rd 1/8, 1/8 then 1/4 & 1/2
etc etc etc

Mike:
Actually, we were discussing Voldemort's body not his soul, but since 
you brought it up. <eg> When discussing the Horcruxes with Tom, 
Slughorn refers to the soul "portion" and "part". The implication 
being that murder tears off a part of the soul, not that it divides 
it in half then half again with each subsequent murder. Therefore, it 
doesn't necessarily mean that Voldie has only 1/64th of a soul left 
in his regenerated body (assuming he made all 6 Horcruxes).

> Simon:

The body was ripped away at Godric's Hollow, so the body one
does not exsist now. Could he (Tom) have been made to call on
one and so only five Houcruxes be around now?

Mike:
If you are saying, in your first sentence, that Voldemort's remaining 
soul (in his body) was destroyed at GH, what survived? Seeing as how 
his soul was the *only* thing to survive Godric's Hollow, what would 
it advantage Voldemort to go pick up another soul piece? The soul is 
the only piece of the puzzle Voldemort has, it's the other pieces he 
needs now.