CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 17: The Heir of Slytherin

[Mike]

No: HPFGUIDX 189242


> Potioncat's Chapter question:
> 7. Riddle comments on how similar he and Harry are. We can make
> several comparisons: Harry and Tom; Severus and Tom; Severus and
> Harry. What is JKR up to with this Trio?

Mike:

I'll try not to go into too deep of a discussion. ;)

I think there is a lot to compare between Tom and Harry, but mostly contrast between Seve and either of the other two. Tom and Harry: both raised by muggles outside of the WW; both given extrordinary powers, Tom from his heritage, Harry from his heritage and from Tom; both involved in secret societies and targeted by the MoM in their time; both named in the same apocalyptical prophecy; and just for good measure, both had arogant dads; oh yeah, they both carried a piece of the same soul inside of them.

Seve, not in the same league as either of them. He had a witch mother to raise him, he worked to become powerful, he was in a secret society but not really a prime target of the MoM. As to the rest of the things Tom and Harry had in common, Seve was in the ballpark but only barely. He heard the prophecy and played a big part in its fulfillment, but it wasn't about him. He had a jerk for a dad, but he probably wasn't arrogant and he certainly wasn't rich. Soul bit? Nope, not close.

I think Seve was truly a unique character which was what made him so controversial. Seve was a gift from JKR, I can't think of any other character in literature that you could say he was modeled after.



> Megan added her question:
> 
> I believe this came up in earlier discussions in this forum, or
> perhaps I read it elsewhere - but why do you think that Riddle
> wasn't wearing the ring?

Mike:

I don't remember this question coming up here before, so good one Megan!

IMO, this Tom memory was modeled after the Tom that had just framed Hagrid for opening the Chamber. It was here that he realized that opening the Chamber again, after killing Myrtle and framing Hagrid would not only exonerate Hagrid, it would probably close the school. Tom didn't want either of those to happen. So he made this memory to capture his version - his lie - of what happened.

So why wasn't he wearing the ring? Because he hadn't yet stolen it from his uncle and killed his father when he made the memory. And it was after he killed his father that he made his first horcrux and put it inside the diary, which of course gave the diary those extra features that Ginny found so enticing.

This also brings up another point. Dumbledore said that Tom valued the diary because it was proof that he was the heir of Slytherin. I disagree, the diary was Tom's lie about who opened the Chamber. It showed Hagrid as the guy that caught the blame. Therefore, the diary only became proof that Tom was the heir of Slytherin *after* he put the Horcrux in it and it became interactive. 

Tom didn't put the Horcrux in the diary because the diary was proof, the diary became proof after the Horcrux was put in. I think DD reversed his logic. But then, wizards have a hard time with logic.

Oh, except for Snape, which was another reason why he was exceptional for a wizard and different from Harry and Tom.

~Mike