DH reread CH 20 - The Name of a Mobster

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 186768


Pippin:
> My point was that Dumbledore objected to Scrimgeour's methods and didn't think they could produce the results that Scrimgeour was claiming for them. Exposing a wizard who went bad is fine, and Dumbledore tried to do that. But the argument was that Dumbledore should have made an issue of Riddle's ancestry in order to discredit him. That would have proved detrimental to all those honest and hardworking people with Muggle ancestry who hadn't done anything wrong.

Alla:
I just do not see how. People who are supposed to be the target audience for the story of Tom Riddle's origins are **already** not trusting muggles, half-bloods, you name it.

I just do not see that revealing who Tom Riddle is will make them distrust half-bloods more, just as I do not see how not revealing who Tom Riddle really was will make them distrust half bloods any less.

And I especially do not see how it could backfire on Dumbledore, because it is not like I am suggesting he should have spread out the story which says – oh half bloods are lower humans and Tom Riddle is one of them. I am suggesting he should have let the **facts** be known, such as that Lord Voldemort is really a half-blood Tom Riddle, and let everybody else form their own conclusions.

People who think that half bloods are the same people as everybody else, would continue to think that way, I would think, now DE who thought that Lordie is the same higher species of humans that they would fancy themselves to be now would think twice whether they would want to follow him, no?

Of course they do not like half-bloods, they ALREADY do not like them, my point is that I do not get why Dumbledore did not make it work for him.

Magpie:
I think Tom Riddle's blood would only be of secondary importance anyway. The
important reason to call him Riddle, as Dumbledore and Harry both do, is to make
him human and cut him down to size rather than referring to him by his scary
goth name he uses to make him sound unbeatable. Not only would it work, it's imo
something that should definitely be given to everyone. That line of Dumbledore's
is very bizarre to me, that his "proper name" isn't You-Know-Who, but Lord
Voldemort. His proper name is Tom Riddle from Little Hangledon.

Alla:

Hm, I am not sure I follow actually. I mean, I am all for making him less unbeatable, but I would place the reason to call him Riddle to show his bloodline as of utmost importance. Are you saying that  name Voldemort also gives him some additional magical powers? I guess I do not quite understand how the name Voldemort makes him less than human? Could you elaborate? I mean, we know of course that he is less than human, but I guess I am not sure what this has to do with calling him by his proper name. Are you saying that this can revert him to who he was before he did all those magical transformations?

But yes, this line is bizarre to me.

Magpie:
If some people who were already obsessed with bloodline happened to also be
turned off by his Muggle parents all the better, but there's more to Tom Riddle
than his blood status. Besides which, it's the truth that Voldemort doesn't want
known so why not share it? The inner circle all knows it.

Alla:

Yes, agreed.


Steve:
<SNIP>
If they did, it would weaken and even potentially block
Dumbledore's investigation into Tom/Voldemort's history.
There was valuable information in Tom's past, and if everyone
was searching for it, it would make it more likely for
false information to be presented, and make people more likely
to hide very real information. <SNIP>

Alla:

How so? You mean it would be more likely for Voldemort present false information? But he knows that Dumbledore is already interested in his past anyway. Or you mean somebody else will want to mislead Dumbledore? Could you elaborate who would want to do so and why it will be harder for Dumbledore to investigate if more people know that Voldemort is Tom.

I can see this reason, if I can understand how it works.

Steve:
<SNIP>
Still, Dumbledore wasn't actively preventing anyone from
knowing. The information was there for anyone to seek out. But
typical of lazy inept inert governments, as well as people in
general, they don't act unless hit with a fence post, and then
when they do act, they are not subtle about it.

Alla:

I did not suggest that Dumbledore was actively preventing everybody from seeking it out. I really do not get though how people were supposed to know that they are to seek out this information . In short to me not preventing everybody from seeking out the information they do not know they should seek is not enough.

JMO,

Alla