Pottermore implications - Mirror of Erised

[oryx_leucoryx]

From the spoilers blog, about History: Mirror of Erised:

Only after Professor Dumbledore makes key modifications to the mirror (which has been languishing in the Room of Requirement for a century or so before he brings it out and puts it to work) does it become a superb hiding place, and the final test for the impure of heart.

So if we believe Rowling, the mirror had been in the ROR for about a century and Albus took it out, apparently in 1991, when he decided to use it to keep Flamel's stone. This has several implications: First, in contrast with what Harry thinks in DH, Albus was well aware of the use of the ROR as a hiding place. So why didn't he search it for one (or more) of Tom's Horcruxes? He knew Tom had access to the school when he came to interview, the school fit the pattern Albus guessed, of using significant locations from his past as hiding places. (Does this mean Albus did not have a Horcrux-revealing charm?)

Also, if Harry was wrong about whether Albus knew about the ROHT then anything Harry 'thinks', 'believes' or 'guesses' that isn't actually supported by facts in the text is fair game. Might be right, might be wrong. Long live fanfic!

Comments

RoHT or ROR?

[annoni-no.livejournal.com]

I know I've flogged this horse elsewhere on these forums, but did Tom really find the RoHT and learn what its functions were, or did he manage to activate the RoR and then never get past his preconceptions enough to learn the room's true nature?

It's my personal head!canon that he found the RoR sometime around his search for Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets. Whether he found it before or after the Chamber I don't think makes a great deal of difference. The relevant points here would be that what he truly *desired* was to unearth secrets of the castle unknown to any other soul living or dead that resided in it. And they couldn't just be any secrets, either; not for Tom Riddle, Destined for Greatness. Whatever he found *had* to be grand enough to satisfy his all-encompassing ego, otherwise what was the point of it?

So, he was able to track down and activate the RoR, and what it showed him wasn't the immensely useful but vulgar storage closet, but some "hidden," "secret" chamber grand enough to satisfy his even his bloated ego. From there, he was never able to let go of his preconceptions and hubris enough to realize that the Room was only showing him what he wished to see. Even if he realized the room normally functioned as a storage closet (which he likely did) what of it? The entrance to Salazar's Chamber was in the girl's washroom, it wasn't like he didn't have precedent. The Room itself would probably provide him with him 'evidence' implying it was a different structure/dimension/what-have-you entirely since that was what he so desperately wanted to believe he'd found.

It was in this particular *manifestation* of the Room that Tom left his diadem. Except, that wasn't the Room's true form and function. It is, and always has been, a glorified storage space that has been modified to display its contents in a more organized and useful-for-the-retriever fashion when called upon to do so. Once Tom left, the Room reverted to its normally state, leaving its new contents- the diadem -still contained inside, even if not exactly how Tom thought he had left it.

Assuming that this was the general sequence of events allows us to place at least part of the cause of Voldie's fall at the feet of one of his flaws besides general stupidity. Heck, it even tallies well with what Rowling claimed she was writing about. Riddle was so obsessed with glory and secrets that he forgot the value of the simple things in life: in this case, a storage closet. It also plays into her supposed themes of acceptance and the difference between what we think we want and what is actually good for us.

I realize that there isn't much evidence either way in the book, but we've at least seen from the twin's example that one can stumble across the Room's Requirement functions and never realize exactly what they had found. Why couldn't the same have happened to Tom Riddle? And why should we assume that Riddle was such a complete f*cking moron that he left a piece of his very soul in what was clearly a pile of junk when we have another, more plausible explanation that still tallies with canon?

(Please pardon the French, Riddle was disappointing enough without ripping the plot holes wider.)

Re: RoHT or ROR?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Even if he realized the room normally functioned as a storage closet (which he likely did) what of it? The entrance to Salazar's Chamber was in the girl's washroom, it wasn't like he didn't have precedent.

IIUC, swythyv thinks the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets was originally to the nearby DADA teacher's office (originally Salazar's own office) and it was Tom who connected it to the plumbing in the girl's bathroom for better access, using what he knew of Muggle plumbing from his orphanage days.

Re: RoHT or ROR?

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, there's certainly ample leeway for it to have happened like that. Because there is no way that we'll ever know what it was that Tom actually found.

It is *easier* to find the Room of Hidden Things, certainly. If only because more people probably already know about it. But it all depends on what you ask for. Only the elves appear to be fully conversant with the fact that it will give you what you ask for (and Neville, by the end of the series).

Now, I've theorized elsewhere that Tom found the Room of Hidden Things at some point, and had been helping himself to anything charmed or potentially valuable, which he took to London during term breaks and sold at B&B for pocket money. We already know that he was a thief long before he was a murderer. I've also theorized that when Dippett removed the information on Horcruxes from the Library, to make Albus shut up about it, he stowed it there rather than keep it himself (*he* certainly didn't want it), where Tom found it, after Sluggy told him that the subject was banned, and not to be found in the Library. It fits what we have to try to sort into place and organize into a rational progression, but its all just theory, and impossible to prove.

Re: RoHT or ROR?

[annoni-no.livejournal.com]

I agree completely that he probably found the Room of Hidden Things at some point during his Hogwarts career. I also find your conceit of stealing from it to fund further (mis)adventures to be clever and enjoyable. But when it comes to the idea of Tom willingly hiding his precious Horcrux amongst a pile of *junk* whose location is well known throughout the castle staff, I just cannot reconcile this AT ALL with what little of Riddle's personality we're given to work.