Voldemort's Patronus

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 165958

Jaja Redor wrote:
>
> Hi, a newbie here. I'm not sure if this has been brought up, if it
has, please let me know where to look.
> 
>  I'm just wondering if LV has his own Patronus, what could it be?
>  
>  Any help would be appreciated, thanks

Carol responds:
First there's the whole question of whether he can cast a Patronus at
all, never having had what most of us would consider a happy
experience and not really needing a Patronus either to communicate
(only the Order members know how to do that) or to deal with
Dementors. I do think, however, that he would have learned to cast a
Patronus in NEWT DADA, if only to keep up his reputation as a
brilliant student.

So, on the assumption that he can cast a Patronus, it seems logical to
me that it would be some sort of snake. Snakes are the symbol of his
ancestor, Salazar Slytherin and Tom was in Slytherin House, so a snake
Patronus would not have seemed all that odd or sinister to his DADA
instructor, much less to his Slytherin classmates, who would
undoubtedly have been impressed. The affinity with snakes is also
shown through his ability to speak Parseltongue (a family trait). He
can control the Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets and he has what
amounts to a mother/child bond (see my previous post) with his "dear
Nagini." All in all, I can't imagine his Patronus being anything other
than some kind of snake.

Carol, noting that a Patronus seems to be a kind of protective spirit
rather than the essence of the person himself, which is why Harry's
Patronus is his father's Animagus form and Tonks's new Patronus is a
werewolf symbolizing her love for Lupin