Re: The Prophecy From Voldemort’s POV (long)

[nkafkafi]

FRan wrote:
> 
> What has bothered me a bit was when did LV made himself deathproof. 
> Do we know for sure it was before his rumble with Baby Harry or 
> after. I was thinking after the backfired AV, and that is why it was 
> necessary for LV to have some of Harry's blood and not just for the 
> protection Lilly bestowed on Harry. Since LV does not know how Harry 
> could destroy him, maybe he thinks having Harry's blood puts he and 
> Harry both on even ground. I know in the graveyard scene LV makes 
> reference to Lilly's protection but I think its more than that.
> 
> 

Neri:
OK, what do we know about the steps Voldy took to make himself deathproof?

In the graveyard Voldy says to the DEs (GoF, Ch.33):
"And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not
rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself
against mortal death?"

He also says in the same chapter about why he did not die at GH when
the curse backfired:
"You know my goal - to conquer death. And now, I was tested, and it
appeared that one or more of my experiments had worked
for I had not
been killed, though the curse should have done it."

And JKR said in the Edinburgh Book Festival:
"The first question that I have never been asked—it has probably been
asked in a chatroom but no one has ever asked me—is, "Why didn't
Voldemort die?" Not, "Why did Harry live?" but, "Why didn't Voldemort
die?" The killing curse rebounded, so he should have died. Why didn't
he? At the end of Goblet of Fire he says that one or more of the steps
that he took enabled him to survive. You should be wondering what he
did to make sure that he did not die—I will put it that way. I don't
think that it is guessable. It may be—someone could guess it—but you
should be asking yourself that question, particularly now that you
know about the prophecy. I'd better stop there or I will really
incriminate myself."

All this seems to establish the following details:

1. There were several "steps" or "experiments" (which are apparently
the same).

2. They took place before GH (though difficult to say how much time
before).

3. The DEs knew about these steps (or at least about some of them).

4. It appears that Voldy isn't sure which and how many of these
experiments saved him in GH (of course, he might be mistaken and it
was something else entirely that saved him).

5. Something about the prophecy is an important clue to the nature of
these experiments.

6. It would be very difficult to guess what they were.

(which of course, doesn't keep us from trying) 


Neri, 
who has absolutely no idea how he had managed to generate the exotic
characters in the thread's heading.