very basic confusion

[Karinsa Davis]

No: HPFGUIDX 180709

Steve <bboyminn@> wrote:
> > Snape told Voldemort about the Prophecy, though, according 
to the books, Snape only heard the first part of the Prophecy. 
<snip>

> potterfan220:
> Voldemort did choose to make it a self-fulfilling Prophecy. 
> He chose to believe that a boy was to be born that could 
> defeat him.
<SNIP>

Carol responds:
One small correction. Voldemort chose to act on the Prophecy 
in an attempt to thwart it. He did not (deliberately) choose 
to make it self-fulfilling. 
<SNIP>
Had he chosen to ignore Severus Snape's information, dismissing
prophecies as hokum and trusting in his Horcruxes to protect him, 
the Prophecy would have gone unfulfilled.
<SNIP>
If by "self-fulfilling prophecy" we mean that Voldemort 
himself created "the one with the power" to defeat him, 
then, yes, Voldemort's own actions, his choices, made it 
into the accurate prediction of the future that it turned 
out to be 

potterfan220:

But it could also be said that the Prophecy would in fact come 
true even if Voldemort had not acted on Snapes words. It just 
would have happened a little differently. In the prophecy it 
says that he will mark the boy as his equal before it said 
anything about one having to kill the other. Voldemort would 
not have not acted, he sees a threat even though he did not 
know all of the prophecy, the result probly would have been 
the same if he had waited until Harry was an adult. He had 
to mark him as an equal first according to the prophecy. 
Yes I think he would have gone after Neville if he had killed 
Harry. I do not Harry would have had the same strength or 
sence of revenge tword Voldemort if Voldemort had not klilled 
Lilly. The suffering that Harry went thru made him the man 
that could defeat Voldemort, I do not think it could have 
happened any other way.  The way he felt when people did in 
the final battle is proof of the way Harry was as a person. 
He felt that it was his fault and that those people dided 
because of him, he could not see that they dies defending 
what they thought was right.

potterfan220