DH reread CH 20

[lizzyben04]

No: HPFGUIDX 186724

 > Pippin:
> I think the idea is to show the difference between a superstitious fear and a rational precaution, and also the dangerous power of habits and symbols.  Saying the name had no magical effect whatever until after the Ministry takeover, and Dumbledore encouraged it as a minor act of  defiance against Voldemort. Very few people would actually have the magical strength or the opportunity to battle with Death Eaters, but anyone, even  a child, could say the name. But when Voldemort actually had the power to put a trace on people who said it, the fact that only a few people had ever followed Dumbledore's lead in this made them vulnerable, and they needed to stop saying the name.  
<snip>

lizzyben:

But was it ever an irrational superstition? This is the magical world, after all, where spoken words can have instantaneous results in the real world. So ultimately, saying "You-Know-Who" wasn't a silly superstition at all, but a rational precaution. And if the "taboo" was a known spell, it seems like DD should have been aware of the potential danger, as almost everyone else seemed to be. 

DD: "All this 'You- Know-Who' nonsense... for eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name: Voldemort."

But wasn't "Tom Riddle" his proper name, after all? What I think is strange is that Dumbledore insisted on making everyone else call him "Lord Voldemort". But that was the name Tom Riddle had created for *himself*, the self-glorifying, terrifying name he wanted to be known as. Yet Dumbledore himself called him "Tom" - which was a much more effective way of reducing him down to size & taking away the fake persona Riddle had created. When Harry came back from the dead & lost his fear, he also just called him "Riddle." And that may be an interesting bit of symbolism. It's only when he's lost his fear of death that Harry drops "Voldemort" & uses Tom Riddle's "proper name".

But it sort of begs the question - if DD knew that "Lord Voldemort" was really just plain old Tom Riddle, why wouldn't he make that fact known? Why wouldn't he encourage others to use that name, as DD did, instead of the grandiose name Riddle had created? Is it so that DD doesn't fear Voldemort, but everyone else does? To me, it's sort of like as if Harry said something about that jerk Snape, and DD gently insisted that Harry call Snape by his proper name: "The Half-Blood Prince!" 


lizzyben