I killed Miss Granger to improve your position relative to that of Lucius Malfoy, since my plans did not call for him to have so much leverage over you.
Killing her allowed Harry to put the dilemma to Lucius Malfoy, that either Lucius had killed her, or some other enemy was behind both her death and the attack on Draco. And that led to Lucius returning Harry’s money and renouncing the accusation that Hermione, sworn to the House of Potter, had attacked Draco.
It seems to be a character trait that he tries to allow opponents a way out if they’re smart enough: a chance to lose, if you will. He offered Harry’s mother a deal rather than simply killing her, he offered Skeeter a chance to make amends before killing her, he offers the Auror a stun or an AK, he offered the master a chance to teach him rather than die—and he offered Hermione a chance to stop being the heroine opposed to the dark lord.
He offered Harry’s mother a deal rather than simply killing her
That one was a trick though. He never intended to kill Harry, just to cast a Horcrux 1.0 on him, which needs a murder to activate. That’s why he was amused when he offered ‘yourself to die, and the child to live’ - because it was his plan to kill her and leave Harry alive anyway.
I’m not sure it was such a trick. She could have killed herself, or she could have surprised him such that he was not prepared to use her death to turn Harry into a Horcrux, in which case, frustrated of his primary goal, he would have settled for AKing the baby to try to block the prophecy more normally. Both parties prefer a binding deal in which the mother dies and the infant survives.
There was no possible reason for her to kill herself. And if he couldn’t use her death, he would have taken Harry and gone on to murder the first convenient person he encountered to make the horcrux, delaying him by a few hours at most.
Since Snape had begged Voldemort not to kill Lily, he was going to let her live (“move aside, foolish woman!”), and taken the trouble to hunt down someone else to kill for the horcrux. But since she offered herself to die, he agreed, and was amused.
There was no possible reason for her to kill herself.
‘No possible reason’? Here’s 4 off the top of my head. She could kill herself to avoid being tortured to insanity & then death. That’s always a good reason. She could kill herself to frustrate Voldemort and deprive him of the satisfaction of killing her himself (also a classic, dating back at least to Masada). She could kill herself after he offers the deal, reasoning that even if you don’t understand why, it’s a good policy to try to prevent whatever your enemy wants. She could kill herself as part of a nasty ritual or black magic.
And if he couldn’t use her death, he would have taken Harry and gone on to murder the first convenient person he encountered to make the horcrux, delaying him by a few hours at most.
When does Voldemort ever linger at the scene of a crime for multiple hours? I’m fairly sure that would violate some Rule or other. No, simpler if the plan fails to fallback to killing Harry directly and making a timely retreat as a dark lord should.
What I meant was that there was no reason for her to kill herself in order to help Harry. When I read your previous comment:
I’m not sure it was such a trick. She could have killed herself
I didn’t parse to mean “Voldemort bargained with her to make sure she didn’t kill herself, so he could kill her instead”. But yes, that’s a plausible interpretation, if victims of Voldemort sometimes killed themselves for any of the reasons you give.
When does Voldemort ever linger at the scene of a crime for multiple hours? I’m fairly sure that would violate some Rule or other. No, simpler if the plan fails to fallback to killing Harry directly and making a timely retreat as a dark lord should.
He needn’t linger there; he could just take Harry and leave with him. Before he created the Horcrux, Harry had no particular protection from Voldemort.
That’s a good question. Quirrel said:
Killing her allowed Harry to put the dilemma to Lucius Malfoy, that either Lucius had killed her, or some other enemy was behind both her death and the attack on Draco. And that led to Lucius returning Harry’s money and renouncing the accusation that Hermione, sworn to the House of Potter, had attacked Draco.
If she left, none of that would have happened.
It seems to be a character trait that he tries to allow opponents a way out if they’re smart enough: a chance to lose, if you will. He offered Harry’s mother a deal rather than simply killing her, he offered Skeeter a chance to make amends before killing her, he offers the Auror a stun or an AK, he offered the master a chance to teach him rather than die—and he offered Hermione a chance to stop being the heroine opposed to the dark lord.
In each instance, the character chose… poorly.
I agree.
That one was a trick though. He never intended to kill Harry, just to cast a Horcrux 1.0 on him, which needs a murder to activate. That’s why he was amused when he offered ‘yourself to die, and the child to live’ - because it was his plan to kill her and leave Harry alive anyway.
I’m not sure it was such a trick. She could have killed herself, or she could have surprised him such that he was not prepared to use her death to turn Harry into a Horcrux, in which case, frustrated of his primary goal, he would have settled for AKing the baby to try to block the prophecy more normally. Both parties prefer a binding deal in which the mother dies and the infant survives.
There was no possible reason for her to kill herself. And if he couldn’t use her death, he would have taken Harry and gone on to murder the first convenient person he encountered to make the horcrux, delaying him by a few hours at most.
Since Snape had begged Voldemort not to kill Lily, he was going to let her live (“move aside, foolish woman!”), and taken the trouble to hunt down someone else to kill for the horcrux. But since she offered herself to die, he agreed, and was amused.
‘No possible reason’? Here’s 4 off the top of my head. She could kill herself to avoid being tortured to insanity & then death. That’s always a good reason. She could kill herself to frustrate Voldemort and deprive him of the satisfaction of killing her himself (also a classic, dating back at least to Masada). She could kill herself after he offers the deal, reasoning that even if you don’t understand why, it’s a good policy to try to prevent whatever your enemy wants. She could kill herself as part of a nasty ritual or black magic.
When does Voldemort ever linger at the scene of a crime for multiple hours? I’m fairly sure that would violate some Rule or other. No, simpler if the plan fails to fallback to killing Harry directly and making a timely retreat as a dark lord should.
Had he decided to be Voldemort permanently at that point? If not, the rules would not have applied—in fact, the opposite rules would have applied.
What I meant was that there was no reason for her to kill herself in order to help Harry. When I read your previous comment:
I didn’t parse to mean “Voldemort bargained with her to make sure she didn’t kill herself, so he could kill her instead”. But yes, that’s a plausible interpretation, if victims of Voldemort sometimes killed themselves for any of the reasons you give.
He needn’t linger there; he could just take Harry and leave with him. Before he created the Horcrux, Harry had no particular protection from Voldemort.