(no subject)

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

Hi everyone! I've been reading and rereading the books to get ready for Deathly Hallows: Voldemort is Goin' Down I and II, and I discovered some really nagging questions that I wanted answered about the Heir of Slytherin. So I thought maybe the best place to have them answered is here?

I'm really looking for a chance to have a discussion about it, I guess. XD

I'll put the questions under the cut to save your flists.

1)
a)Hermione said that Voldemort has pushed his soul to the limit- what would happen if he tried to make another horcrux?
b) How ugly/snakelike would he become if he made another?
c) If you made the same number of horcruxes as Voldemort, would you also look like a snake, or is it because he identified with the animal so strongly?

2) Was Voldemort and Bellatrix's relationship anything more than "business"? Did he ever have relations with ANYONE?

3) What initially sparked Tom's fear of death? Could it be his mother's death?

Sorry if this isn't allowed. D:

Comments

[passion-heart.livejournal.com]

ooh! These are good questions, hun! Now I want to know too!

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

Thank you bb! These questions have been killing me for a long time before I figured out I could ask HiH XD

[hiddengrace.livejournal.com]

I've been reading an excellent fic that involves Voldemort using sex/rape of his Death Eaters. In the story, he uses semen to activate and enhance his power of the Dark Mark. It seems probable.

Wasn't Nagini a Horcrux? So maybe that's why he looked so Snake-like.

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

Oh snap. No wonder why some of them left!

Ooh, true true, that's a great point! I can't remember if Nagini was his last or his second to last horcrux made.

[clytemnestra215.livejournal.com]

Nagini was his last, since we know he didn't make a horcrux with Cedric's death. The old muggle was the next out during priori incantatem iirc.

Oh gah you guys, really really really want to reread now.

[trivalent.livejournal.com]

I somehow doubt the rape/sex idea. That's a lot of people to rape, and I really don't see all of them taking it. His power over them did not seem sexual, and he's a powerful enough wizard with magic to simply use that for his dark mark. Especially given it is somewhat of a children's story, I doubt JKR would agree with this idea, and as illogical as she can be at times, it is her world. She's the goddess.

kind of responding to all the comments to this here

[pack1ife.livejournal.com]

it can still be technically rape even if no physical force is involved
which i think might be more his style

well, considering all the semen wordplay in the novels themselves, and voldemort's fancy for particularly garish, disgusting rituals, it seems probably, idk, i kind of prefer the clever euphemisms myself, just more creative

Re: kind of responding to all the comments to this here

[sweetnessarose.livejournal.com]

Semen wordplay? What do you mean?

Re: kind of responding to all the comments to this here

[pack1ife.livejournal.com]

Well it's never explicitly said. Just semi-implied that probably only the dirtiest of minds would pick up on.

May or may not have always been intentional. But I can't really speak for Rowling's intentions.

[d-c-m.livejournal.com]

a)Hermione said that Voldemort has pushed his soul to the limit- what would happen if he tried to make another horcrux?
I think that Voldey would die. I sometimes wonder that if people kept "killing" him physically if eventually his horcruxes would wear out.

Just my thoughts.

[jessilestrange.livejournal.com]

#2. You have piqued my interest. I want to know about this.

[xfortytwo.livejournal.com]

To me it just never seemed like Voldemort had any interest in human contact in any sense. It never seemed like he understood bodily urges and how strong of a weapon that could really be used as. He didn't strike me as one who understood sexuality in relation to himself, so he didn't understand how he could use it against others or for his own gain. At least it never seems to cross his mind.

For that reason, I think Voldemort just didn't have any relations with anyone. I think he would see it as a weakness and as losing control, rather than gaining control. Or he never realised the power it held at all, he was much more focused on bigger things.

[pack1ife.livejournal.com]

idk, I used to think Dumbledore was the most asexual character in the series, but Rowling kind of burst the bubble on that one.

he was certainly well aware of other better methods of persuasion than killing everyone, but eventually 'avada kedavra'ing them if they ever tried to get close or were percieved as any other kind of threat -- it is possible to persuade someone to do all sort of things while maintaining a certain amount of distance

but I am one who doesn't think sex has anything to do with love. maybe it does somewhere. maybe it should. but in the muggle world, and being muggleborn for the first ten years of his life, Tom was no stranger to it--heck, my brother and I learned about sex long before Hogwarts' age, he probably more than me, lol. all the wrong things, obviously, but a basic knowledge...

course, I highly doubt he enjoyed it or sought it much, really, as it sort of forces such a great amount of intimacy.

something more like, idk, willem dafoe in the boondock saints, guy just wants to cuddle and he looks at him disgusted, "cuddle? you fag."

[pack1ife.livejournal.com]

1) a & b: I am betting, simply because after the 7th he was barely corporeal, an eigth his body would actually die. Whether the souls in the other horcruxes would remain, IDK. Rowling didn't explain that part.

2) Was Voldemort and Bellatrix's relationship anything more than "business"? Did he ever have relations with ANYONE? Relations, probably. I always saw him as something of a pimp. Attractive, doesn't believe in love, likes using people...but I don't think he was really capable of love as illustrated here (http://bowlingfordisco.deviantart.com/art/Good-Call-Kid-80920431), and when he was it seemed he was still very reluctant to admit it.

3) What initially sparked Tom's fear of death? Could it be his mother's death?

Fear of death is pretty common. I think it was the lack of any love or proper education that made him fear it really. But, yes, as a boy he seemed to always have this idea that death was "weak", and naturally too proud to admit that weakness is human rather than something to be feared. Sort of like Hemingway and his take on hypermasculenity. Finding out that he was a wizard only furthered his knowledge that he was "different" and his acceptance in the wizarding world gave him a sense of entitlement about it. Allowing him to continue to not accept death as a reality as long as one had the power to overcome it.

It's really a lot easier to just call him stupid.

[jacedesbff.livejournal.com]

Okay, so I'm a drama teacher and idk - I kind of like your icon's suggestion. *snortlaughs* (Our librarian keeps pushing me to do "Hair". Did I mention I teach middle school?)

Seriously, though! I want your icon! :D

[clytemnestra215.livejournal.com]

a) I'd assume he'd be the evilestestestest villain of all time TIMES NINE instead of times eight.

b) He would probably set up countless robot-spam accounts on Twitter, all while humming the Brady Bunch theme. D:

c) I wonder if JKR was making any allusions to the mythic constant of Hero slaying/defeating Dragon/Wyrm/Serpent-Creature. There are dozens of these spread in so many cultures' mythologies and religious texts (Garden of Eden anyone?) and it's actually one of the most basic and powerful stories told everywhere, repeatedly, throughout time. She studied classics so I'd not be surprised if she did it intentionally.

I would not look like a snake. If my soul were splintered into a handful of pieces I like to think I'd have the dignity to take on a warm and friendly appearance. Perhaps a Girl Scout. No one could find fault with a Girl Scout bestowing cookie-laden gifts. That would be the last mistake they ever made. >:

2) Definitely want to know if he satisfied his sexual urges. I'd think yes. Maybe not with Bella though. Too easy and would mess things up. She's already his most devoted disciple. What more could she do that others couldn't, especially because he has no capacity for love? Could fast turn his view of her from respect to pity and disgust, if he doesn't already feel it for her and is just tempering his reactions due to how useful she is.

3) He's a genius supervillain with a domination complex. Natural to want to control everything, especially the one thing ultimately no one can control: death.

[nfgs.livejournal.com]

1a) I have no trouble believing that if he tried to make another horcrux, Voldemort would have succeeded. I don't think that anything much more drastic would have happened; perhaps his appearance would have become more disfigured, but overall, I think that might have been it. His soul would have split, yet again, but that's about all I can picture. I don't think it would have harmed him anymore than it already has (meaning, I don't think it would have killed him -- but oh, could you imagine the irony?).

1b) Maybe his skin would begin to develop scales? Perhaps he might have developed a sense of smell through his tongue? It's a trivial question, but a fun one all the same. While reading, I must say that when Voldemort was described as "snake-like," the image in my head was different than that of what the moviemakers have made him out to be. Scary as Ralph Finnes is with his missing a nose, I can't say it's what I had always pictured. The image I had in my head was more of that of a man with red eyes with the pupils of a snake, and more of a pointed nose with thinner nostrils. Overall, however, the facial features I imagined were still that of a very handsome man, and the "ugly" description was more of the sort of aura I saw around him. Once movie four came out, however, and sexy-ass Ralph Finnes showed up in all his scary glory, my mind has officially adopted that as my image for Lord Voldemort. It is far scarier.

1c) I believe that Voldemort's appearance transformed into that of a snake purely because he identified with that animal. As a child he was drawn to snakes, fascinated by them, and let's not forget that he is a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, who also identified with the reptile. It was never said that splitting a soul had anything to do with snakes; I can't even think of a correlation between the two right now (although someone else probably could--and do share if you do!).

2) No. JKR herself pretty much says that Lord Voldemort was not capable of loving anyone and that he never even understood the emotion. I personally don't even think he loved himself; I think he just liked the idea of surviving. I think the closest he ever came to even understanding the emotion, is that he tolerates the "theory" that very old forms of magic must have made a practice of harnessing the supposed emotion. As for Bellatrix, I think she was so fascinated by Lord Voldemort's power and his drive that she confused her awe for love.

3) It's hard to say, because we have so very little to study about Young Tom Riddle and his beginnings. The best I can understand is that Tom's fear of death probably did come from the death of his mother. As Dumbledore explains his theory, Tom saw his mother as a weak person because she didn't even try to fight death, she pretty much just rolled over and died. As I said before, I think Tom's top priority and focus was surviving, and he sees survivors as those who live on top and who run the show, which is where he becomes obsessed with power. To Tom, people who can give in to death clearly have power over nothing, not even themselves.

[jacedesbff.livejournal.com]

As for Bellatrix, I think she was so fascinated by Lord Voldemort's power and his drive that she confused her awe for love. Good call. That makes a great deal of sense.