DH reread CH 20 - The Name of a Mobster

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 186769

> 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? 

Magpie:
It doesn't give him additional magical powers, but it gives him the illusion of them. Most wizards only know him as a name and a legend. "Lord Voldemort" is by design a spooky dark lord name. Nobody knows where he came from or how he became so powerful. He might be the devil himself for all they know (if they have that type of concept). Tom Riddle is a human guy just like everybody else is. He has an ordinary background that's not really scary at all.

That's why Dumbledore and Harry both call him a version of his real name when they face him as equals imo. They're not going to call him what he wants to be called, they're going to call him by who he really is. It bugs him and it cuts him down to size. Any mundane details of the guy's life chips away at the mystery he's intentionally created around himself.

Sometimes it makes me think of something else that isn't quite the same thing, but I believe Churchill always referred to Hitler as "Corporal Hitler," just to stress that he wasn't some military high commander but a guy who'd never been promoted above corporal. He wasn't going to play into the fantasy.

Basically, it's the same reason the Twins' "You-Know-Poo" is a good idea. It's good to in your own mind mock him or refer to the ordinary wizard he's taken such pains to not be anymore.

I don't think, btw, that Dumbledore's investigations would be so hindered by other people knowing about the guy, though. Dumbledore's the guy who found Tom to begin with and knows how to go straight to the source. Voldemort's already got people working overtime to spread false information about him and that doesn't get in Dumbledore's way.
 
-m