GOF Chapter 32: Flesh, Blood, and Bone
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deathtocapslockThe correct order is bone, flesh, and blood.
The boys find themselves in a graveyard, between a church and the hill on which the Riddle house stands. It was the absence of mountains that proved to Harry that they were no longer in the Hogwarts area. In contrast, in DH, seeing a Voldievision of flying above mountains will serve as proof that Tom is 'abroad'. Magically changing geography?
Is this an undisclosed addend to the task? Fight monsters from behind gravestones? If this were a videogame it would have made sense.
A short robed figure approaches carrying a bundled baby.
'Kill the spare' is Tom's creepiest line in canon. Much better than his more dramatic expositional speeches. Also better than dramatic narrative lines like 'for a second that contained eternity'.
As the short figure binds Harry to Tom Riddle (Sr)'s tombstone Harry recognizes the man as Wormtail. I'd like to comment that while in POA Peter was mostly referred to by his real name, from GOF on he is always Wormtail, regardless of whether he is being addressed, referred to by another character or by the narrative voice, and regardless of whether the mention is in the present day or in a memory or letter from the past - until the moment of his self-strangulation in DH, when he is again Peter Pettigrew. I suppose the message is that by deciding to go back to Voldemort he gave up on his humanity, became totally rat, until his redemption by death. The effect is spoiled by the contrived logic of his death scene - since Voldemort commanded the DEs to keep Harry alive until he could kill Harry himself, how is not strangling Harry to death a sign of disloyalty?
Peter binds Harry with conjured ropes but silences him with a black rag he brought with him. Because silencing spells will only be invented next year. And quickly introduced into the standard curriculum and spread among the adults.
Peter is dragging a huge cauldron. Can't he do a first year levitation spell? Or perhaps using magic on the cauldron would undo the ceremony? But lighting a fire magically was still OK?
Babymort looks exactly like Tom's soul in King's Cross and speaks with Tom's 'high, cold' voice. (Did Tom always have that voice? Since infancy?) What components went into the creation of this being? I never gave it much thought (despite Rowling's claim that this, as well as the procedure to make a Horcrux were so disgusting to her editor that she decided to leave them out), but after reading some of swythyv's speculations I'm wondering if perhaps Babymort was the outcome of Tom possessing a baby in a manner similar to his possession of Quirrell. Any baby? Bertha Jorkins' baby? In the latter case, who was the father? Jodel suggested he may have been her boss, Ludo Bagman? Was that why he wanted her out of the way in Albania before she started showing? For more speculations (some rather unorthodox) see Why, Bertha?. Including the discussion in the comments.
BTW we see Peter performing the following spells: AK on Cedric, Lumos, binding Harry with magical ropes, lighting a fire under the cauldron. (This will be significant 2 chapters from now.)
The ceremony to create Tom's new body is based on three-threes: Three body-elements, from three people, each with a different relationship to Tom, each of which was in a different state of volition.
While none of the spells the kids learn at school resembles this ceremony, I can see how other forms of magic may be at least somewhat related. The Unbreakable Vow has 3 clauses, each reinforced with a different pattern of magical bond, and it involved 3 people. We don't know how a Fidelius Charm is cast, but for it to be able to accommodate all the variations we see in canon the casting should include something more complicated than a couple of standard words - there has to be more to the syntax. In fact, we know the spell involves people in 3 roles (though the same person may hold more than one role): the caster, the Secret Keeper and the person or owner of the property being protected.
Tom's body required father, servant and enemy. He was defeated by an enemy (Albus) a servant (Severus) and Harry, who through this ceremony came to share his blood and thus became a blood relative.
The steam rising from the cauldron blocks Harry's vision, sparing us the description of a naked full-sized Voldemort.
As we will learn in DH, the blood shared by Harry and Tom created a bond between them that enabled Harry's return to life after being AKed. In fact, Harry became almost unkillable as long as Tom lived in his current body. So while before DH we thought Peter here was breaking the life-debt he supposedly owes Harry, in fact he was (inadvertently) doing Harry a great favor. And making his later heroics a bit of a sham.
The boys find themselves in a graveyard, between a church and the hill on which the Riddle house stands. It was the absence of mountains that proved to Harry that they were no longer in the Hogwarts area. In contrast, in DH, seeing a Voldievision of flying above mountains will serve as proof that Tom is 'abroad'. Magically changing geography?
Is this an undisclosed addend to the task? Fight monsters from behind gravestones? If this were a videogame it would have made sense.
A short robed figure approaches carrying a bundled baby.
'Kill the spare' is Tom's creepiest line in canon. Much better than his more dramatic expositional speeches. Also better than dramatic narrative lines like 'for a second that contained eternity'.
As the short figure binds Harry to Tom Riddle (Sr)'s tombstone Harry recognizes the man as Wormtail. I'd like to comment that while in POA Peter was mostly referred to by his real name, from GOF on he is always Wormtail, regardless of whether he is being addressed, referred to by another character or by the narrative voice, and regardless of whether the mention is in the present day or in a memory or letter from the past - until the moment of his self-strangulation in DH, when he is again Peter Pettigrew. I suppose the message is that by deciding to go back to Voldemort he gave up on his humanity, became totally rat, until his redemption by death. The effect is spoiled by the contrived logic of his death scene - since Voldemort commanded the DEs to keep Harry alive until he could kill Harry himself, how is not strangling Harry to death a sign of disloyalty?
Peter binds Harry with conjured ropes but silences him with a black rag he brought with him. Because silencing spells will only be invented next year. And quickly introduced into the standard curriculum and spread among the adults.
Peter is dragging a huge cauldron. Can't he do a first year levitation spell? Or perhaps using magic on the cauldron would undo the ceremony? But lighting a fire magically was still OK?
Babymort looks exactly like Tom's soul in King's Cross and speaks with Tom's 'high, cold' voice. (Did Tom always have that voice? Since infancy?) What components went into the creation of this being? I never gave it much thought (despite Rowling's claim that this, as well as the procedure to make a Horcrux were so disgusting to her editor that she decided to leave them out), but after reading some of swythyv's speculations I'm wondering if perhaps Babymort was the outcome of Tom possessing a baby in a manner similar to his possession of Quirrell. Any baby? Bertha Jorkins' baby? In the latter case, who was the father? Jodel suggested he may have been her boss, Ludo Bagman? Was that why he wanted her out of the way in Albania before she started showing? For more speculations (some rather unorthodox) see Why, Bertha?. Including the discussion in the comments.
BTW we see Peter performing the following spells: AK on Cedric, Lumos, binding Harry with magical ropes, lighting a fire under the cauldron. (This will be significant 2 chapters from now.)
The ceremony to create Tom's new body is based on three-threes: Three body-elements, from three people, each with a different relationship to Tom, each of which was in a different state of volition.
While none of the spells the kids learn at school resembles this ceremony, I can see how other forms of magic may be at least somewhat related. The Unbreakable Vow has 3 clauses, each reinforced with a different pattern of magical bond, and it involved 3 people. We don't know how a Fidelius Charm is cast, but for it to be able to accommodate all the variations we see in canon the casting should include something more complicated than a couple of standard words - there has to be more to the syntax. In fact, we know the spell involves people in 3 roles (though the same person may hold more than one role): the caster, the Secret Keeper and the person or owner of the property being protected.
Tom's body required father, servant and enemy. He was defeated by an enemy (Albus) a servant (Severus) and Harry, who through this ceremony came to share his blood and thus became a blood relative.
The steam rising from the cauldron blocks Harry's vision, sparing us the description of a naked full-sized Voldemort.
As we will learn in DH, the blood shared by Harry and Tom created a bond between them that enabled Harry's return to life after being AKed. In fact, Harry became almost unkillable as long as Tom lived in his current body. So while before DH we thought Peter here was breaking the life-debt he supposedly owes Harry, in fact he was (inadvertently) doing Harry a great favor. And making his later heroics a bit of a sham.
