Nice idea, but how does death mark someone as his (its) equal? Surely not just by killing his friends, else a substantial fraction would be “the equal of death”, which doesn’t seem right.
I don’t have trouble believing that Harry is Death’s equal, but this doesn’t explain how he was marked by Death as his equal. The Killing Curse bouncing off for whatever reason might be the best explanation. The scar is Death’s mark, not Voldemort’s. That seems a bit...forced, but it does explain why Quirrellmort hasn’t done anything besides kill Rita Skeeter and free Bellatrix Black only to never speak of her again. Death has struck many times, and has been the focus of Harry’s rage and obsession, Voldemort has more than once faded into the background and seemed ambiguously an ally. Another reason to believe that the enemy is Death and not Voldemort is that Voldemort was defeated, as far as we know—he’s not the Lord of anything anymore—while Death most certainly still reigns.
But to look at counterarguments—what if the mark we’re talking about is not the scar at all? If the Dark Lord really is Voldemort, it’s a bit silly to think that Voldemort would acknowledge a baby as his equal. Once Harry came to Hogwarts, Quirrell certainly recognized his rationality and intelligence, and marked him, if only psychologically, as his intellectual equal. “We’re not like the rest of them, you and I...”
I’m still leaning toward the interpretation of Death as the Dark Lord, if only because I have no idea what Voldemort can pull in the next seven to ten chapters that would make him definitively the most important enemy presence in the story.
...are you seriously that sure that Quirrellmort isn’t Mr. Hat & Cloak & thus didn’t Obliviate-blast Hermione & didn’t set her up for murder & didn’t have Draco nearly killed (not to mention that debacle with the Armies), and that he didn’t have anything to do with the Troll (despite canon) & Hermione’s body disappearing (though there are serious suspicions that Harry dealt with that himself), and that the deal with the Dementor eating Harry wasn’t intentional, and that perpetuating the conflict with the bullies via the 100 House Points was accidental, and other things that aren’t outright against the protagonists (like revealing Snape to the bullies), and honestly probably more things I’m forgetting—you’re seriously that sure that he wasn’t behind any of those things that you don’t even mention them as possibilities for what he could have done?
Actually, thank you for this post. Forcing myself to think up and list all of the ways that I believe he’s acted, contrasted against what we know he’s done and given that we know via Eliezer that Dhveeryy vf Ibyqrzbeg, has eliminated some of my doubt that he was involved. It makes no sense for him to be so important and yet do so little.
Nice idea, but how does death mark someone as his (its) equal? Surely not just by killing his friends, else a substantial fraction would be “the equal of death”, which doesn’t seem right.
Hmm. How about:
The destroyer of the world would be Death’s equal. Being killer of Death itself wouldn’t be too shabby either.
I don’t have trouble believing that Harry is Death’s equal, but this doesn’t explain how he was marked by Death as his equal. The Killing Curse bouncing off for whatever reason might be the best explanation. The scar is Death’s mark, not Voldemort’s. That seems a bit...forced, but it does explain why Quirrellmort hasn’t done anything besides kill Rita Skeeter and free Bellatrix Black only to never speak of her again. Death has struck many times, and has been the focus of Harry’s rage and obsession, Voldemort has more than once faded into the background and seemed ambiguously an ally. Another reason to believe that the enemy is Death and not Voldemort is that Voldemort was defeated, as far as we know—he’s not the Lord of anything anymore—while Death most certainly still reigns.
But to look at counterarguments—what if the mark we’re talking about is not the scar at all? If the Dark Lord really is Voldemort, it’s a bit silly to think that Voldemort would acknowledge a baby as his equal. Once Harry came to Hogwarts, Quirrell certainly recognized his rationality and intelligence, and marked him, if only psychologically, as his intellectual equal. “We’re not like the rest of them, you and I...”
I’m still leaning toward the interpretation of Death as the Dark Lord, if only because I have no idea what Voldemort can pull in the next seven to ten chapters that would make him definitively the most important enemy presence in the story.
...are you seriously that sure that Quirrellmort isn’t Mr. Hat & Cloak & thus didn’t Obliviate-blast Hermione & didn’t set her up for murder & didn’t have Draco nearly killed (not to mention that debacle with the Armies), and that he didn’t have anything to do with the Troll (despite canon) & Hermione’s body disappearing (though there are serious suspicions that Harry dealt with that himself), and that the deal with the Dementor eating Harry wasn’t intentional, and that perpetuating the conflict with the bullies via the 100 House Points was accidental, and other things that aren’t outright against the protagonists (like revealing Snape to the bullies), and honestly probably more things I’m forgetting—you’re seriously that sure that he wasn’t behind any of those things that you don’t even mention them as possibilities for what he could have done?
Actually, thank you for this post. Forcing myself to think up and list all of the ways that I believe he’s acted, contrasted against what we know he’s done and given that we know via Eliezer that Dhveeryy vf Ibyqrzbeg, has eliminated some of my doubt that he was involved. It makes no sense for him to be so important and yet do so little.
The Patronus?