First, did baby!Harry actually in fact survive the killing curse? ie, perhaps the curse successfully detached baby-Harry’s-soul (presuming that something like “souls” exist in MoR… given the presence of Horcruxes, I’ll tentatively assume yes), but the body was immediately made into a Horcrux… so Voldemort-soul-shard effectively inhabited that body. Essentially Rationalist!Harry is actually more like what Voldemort would have been like if raised in a loving and sci-fi and science loving family.
The Hat did say that if there was bits of the Dark Lord’s mind there in addition to Harry, it would have noticed the extra “passenger”… But in this case there really is only one mind/soul/whatever. The catch is that mini-mort is all that’s there.
This brings up the possibility of if this was an accident or deliberate. Perhaps Voldemort actually deliberately planned/faked his apparent “death”?
(Possible related, well, possibility: How do “we”/they actually know Voldemort even used the Killing Curse that night, as opposed to doing some other thing? ie, how is it known that he is the Boy Who Survived the Killing Curse in the first place?)
Further speculation: When Quirrellmort was lecturing in class about how he used to want to be a Dark Lord, but now finds that he really just wants to teach how to fight and such… perhaps that’s a literal statement of fact? ie, does he even desire to “rise again as the Dark Lord Voldemort”, or is this what he actually wants now?
Further further thoughts: Does Dumbledore know that Quirrell is really Voldemort under-the-hood? Not just knowing “there’s something odd here”, but actually really knowing that as fact?
perhaps the curse successfully detached baby-Harry’s-soul [...], but the body was immediately made into a Horcrux… so Voldemort-soul-shard effectively inhabited that body. [...]
Further speculation: When Quirrellmort was lecturing in class about how he used to want to be a Dark Lord, but now finds that he really just wants to teach how to fight and such… perhaps that’s a literal statement of fact?
This is awesome. Probably not where the story’s actually headed, but it would create a cool Vader-Skywalker kind of relationship and explain what Voldemort is trying to accomplish with Harry. If he wants his Harry-shard to finish the job of becoming Dark Lord, then it makes sense to come to Hogwarts to be Harry’s mentor (and to be disgusted by Harry’s ambition to be a scientist).
In canon, before he became Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle demanded that Dumbledore give him the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, and the “jinx” on the position came about when Dumbledore refused. So teaching at Hogwarts is, indeed, something Voldemort has always wanted to do.
How do “we”/they actually know Voldemort even used the Killing Curse that night, as opposed to doing some other thing? ie, how is it known that he is the Boy Who Survived the Killing Curse in the first place?
That’s a good point… though if I recall, he is just known as The-Boy-Who-Lived. In canon, it’s not revealed until book 4 that he is the only one to have ever survived the killing curse, in particular, and it’s Znq-Rlr Zbbql who says this (though, in truth, it was Onegl Pebhpu We.). Onegl Pebhpu is a highly loyal Death Eater who had been in contact with Lord Voldemort, so maybe the dark lord just told him? Though it’s probably more likely that everyone just assumed Voldemort had used his favorite curse.
What bugs me is how they know that Harry is the first and only person to have ever survived that curse. I mean surely, sometime in the entire history of wizards and witches, somebody has sacrificed themself for a loved one who was then Abracadabra’d (i.e. did just what Lily did). /shrug
Oh yeah, forgot that it’s not revealed until then. But given that he has the title of “The Boy Who Lived”, that suggests that it’s known or widely believed in the wizarding world. ie, It’s not “They Boy Who Lived Through a Mild Flu”, right?
Several speculations/thoughts/questions:
First, did baby!Harry actually in fact survive the killing curse? ie, perhaps the curse successfully detached baby-Harry’s-soul (presuming that something like “souls” exist in MoR… given the presence of Horcruxes, I’ll tentatively assume yes), but the body was immediately made into a Horcrux… so Voldemort-soul-shard effectively inhabited that body. Essentially Rationalist!Harry is actually more like what Voldemort would have been like if raised in a loving and sci-fi and science loving family.
The Hat did say that if there was bits of the Dark Lord’s mind there in addition to Harry, it would have noticed the extra “passenger”… But in this case there really is only one mind/soul/whatever. The catch is that mini-mort is all that’s there.
This brings up the possibility of if this was an accident or deliberate. Perhaps Voldemort actually deliberately planned/faked his apparent “death”?
(Possible related, well, possibility: How do “we”/they actually know Voldemort even used the Killing Curse that night, as opposed to doing some other thing? ie, how is it known that he is the Boy Who Survived the Killing Curse in the first place?)
Further speculation: When Quirrellmort was lecturing in class about how he used to want to be a Dark Lord, but now finds that he really just wants to teach how to fight and such… perhaps that’s a literal statement of fact? ie, does he even desire to “rise again as the Dark Lord Voldemort”, or is this what he actually wants now?
Further further thoughts: Does Dumbledore know that Quirrell is really Voldemort under-the-hood? Not just knowing “there’s something odd here”, but actually really knowing that as fact?
This is awesome. Probably not where the story’s actually headed, but it would create a cool Vader-Skywalker kind of relationship and explain what Voldemort is trying to accomplish with Harry. If he wants his Harry-shard to finish the job of becoming Dark Lord, then it makes sense to come to Hogwarts to be Harry’s mentor (and to be disgusted by Harry’s ambition to be a scientist).
In canon, before he became Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle demanded that Dumbledore give him the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, and the “jinx” on the position came about when Dumbledore refused. So teaching at Hogwarts is, indeed, something Voldemort has always wanted to do.
That’s a good point… though if I recall, he is just known as The-Boy-Who-Lived. In canon, it’s not revealed until book 4 that he is the only one to have ever survived the killing curse, in particular, and it’s Znq-Rlr Zbbql who says this (though, in truth, it was Onegl Pebhpu We.). Onegl Pebhpu is a highly loyal Death Eater who had been in contact with Lord Voldemort, so maybe the dark lord just told him? Though it’s probably more likely that everyone just assumed Voldemort had used his favorite curse.
What bugs me is how they know that Harry is the first and only person to have ever survived that curse. I mean surely, sometime in the entire history of wizards and witches, somebody has sacrificed themself for a loved one who was then Abracadabra’d (i.e. did just what Lily did). /shrug
edit: Redacted a name.
Wizards are far less numerous than Muggles—in world like that it’s easy to be the first at something.
Oh yeah, forgot that it’s not revealed until then. But given that he has the title of “The Boy Who Lived”, that suggests that it’s known or widely believed in the wizarding world. ie, It’s not “They Boy Who Lived Through a Mild Flu”, right?