There’s a lot of things said about Voldemort that don’t really make sense. How did get killed by a child? Quirrel himself makes fun of the Dark Mark, and why would someone who wants to be an effective leader torture his own servants for fun? He destroys the martial arts school without learning anything. I’m starting to think that Voldemort makes far more sense as a propagandized creation of Dumbledore’s side than as a real entity. It’s pretty obvious that the known story of what happened at Godric’s Hollow isn’t what REALLY happened. Dumbledore was the winner in the historic conflict, and who knows how well a wizard, the supreme mugwump, gets to rewrite history in his favor. He instantly acts to suppress knowledge of a prophecy, and why would he do that if he didn’t have huge secrets to keep? Which is the side that uses dementors?
If Quirrel is Voldemort, I think it’s possible he isn’t and never was the Voldemort known from canon. Is it more plausible that crazy violent dumb Voldemort would become Quirrel, or that he never really existed at all?
“Division is weakness,” said the Defense Professor. His hand closed into a tight fist. “Unity is strength. The Dark Lord understood that well, whatever his other follies; and he used that understanding to create the one simple invention that made him the most terrible Dark Lord in history. Your parents faced one Dark Lord. And fifty Death Eaters who were perfectly unified, knowing that any breach of their loyalty would be punished by death, that any slack or incompetence would be punished by pain. None could escape the Dark Lord’s grasp once they took his Mark. And the Death Eaters agreed to take that terrible Mark because they knew that once they took it, they would be united, facing a divided land. One Dark Lord and fifty Death Eaters would have defeated an entire country, by the power of the Dark Mark.”
Shit, you’re right. Who was it that made fun of the concept of having a sign that could easily reveal you to your enemies if they just asked you to roll up your sleeve?
On the other hand, it surely wouldn’t be beyond the Dark Lord to come up with a system that accomplished all that without leaving such an obvious identifier on his minions.
Wild guessing:
There’s a lot of things said about Voldemort that don’t really make sense. How did get killed by a child? Quirrel himself makes fun of the Dark Mark, and why would someone who wants to be an effective leader torture his own servants for fun? He destroys the martial arts school without learning anything. I’m starting to think that Voldemort makes far more sense as a propagandized creation of Dumbledore’s side than as a real entity. It’s pretty obvious that the known story of what happened at Godric’s Hollow isn’t what REALLY happened. Dumbledore was the winner in the historic conflict, and who knows how well a wizard, the supreme mugwump, gets to rewrite history in his favor. He instantly acts to suppress knowledge of a prophecy, and why would he do that if he didn’t have huge secrets to keep? Which is the side that uses dementors?
If Quirrel is Voldemort, I think it’s possible he isn’t and never was the Voldemort known from canon. Is it more plausible that crazy violent dumb Voldemort would become Quirrel, or that he never really existed at all?
Tom Riddle needed a Voldemort for his plot so he became Voldemort for a time. Just as he needed a Quirrel and a Mister Jaffe.
Ah… no? Actually, the opposite of that.
Shit, you’re right. Who was it that made fun of the concept of having a sign that could easily reveal you to your enemies if they just asked you to roll up your sleeve?
Harry in chapter 21.
On the other hand, it surely wouldn’t be beyond the Dark Lord to come up with a system that accomplished all that without leaving such an obvious identifier on his minions.