Chapter Discussion: Goblet of Fire Ch 1: The Riddle House

[Geoff]

No: HPFGUIDX 191336

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "poomeg20" <poomeg20 at ...> wrote:
Questions:
> 
> 1. The first time you read the book, did you have a sense of the timeframe of
> the story, and therefore when "fifty years ago" would have been? Did you
> attribute any significance to that era?

Geoff:
As soon as I read the Riddle House and then "fifty years ago", I went "Aha! 
This must be Voldemort's family". 

I was initially totally thrown by the comment "Elderly Mr. and Mrs. Riddle... 
and their grown-up son, Tom". Tom, grown up? Huh? Have I missed 
something?

But then light dawned when I read a bit further on about "a teenage boy, a 
stranger, dark-haired and pale". Ah, I thought, that has got to be Voldemort 
so this grown-up Tom must be his father which explained him  being there 
on his own with his parents.

Hence, this must have been around the time of the Chamber incident.

> 2. What was your initial impression of the Riddle family?

Geoff:
I merely accepted JKR's description that they were unpopular, rich,
snobbish and rude.

Geoff:
> 3. What or who did you think had caused their deaths?

Geoff:
>From the description which came back to the police, it had to be the 
Avada Kedavra curse.
 
> 4. The Hanged Man is a pretty awesome pub name, considering the village is
> called Little Hangleton. What is your favorite pub name that comes up in the series?
 
Geoff:
We haven't got much of a choice have we? I suppose the Three Broomsticks.

> 6. Do you think that Voldemort tried any other spells on his family before
> killing them with the AK?

Geoff:
No. (a) There would probably have been evidence of it and (b) what Tom Riddle
had said about his father in COS made me think that he would be burning for 
revenge.

> 7. Why do you think that Voldemort chose the house as his hideout?

Geoff:
A certain irony in that he had taken the house by force and would perhaps 
be able to gloat about his father's and grandparents' demise.

> 8. Recognizing that he has no say in what Voldemort calls him, do you think that
> Peter Pettigrew likes being called Wormtail instead of his original name?

Geoff:
You've got to be joking. You saw the way in which Remus and Sirius used his 
name in POA and it was a demeaning name - as has been remarked on in the 
past, very reminiscent of Wormtongue in LOTR.