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deathtocapslockWe left Albus wondering why Tom was doing so little to advance his powers.
Sometime around 1970 something changed. Something caused people like Minerva and Hagrid to fear mentioning the name 'Lord Voldemort'. Something caused Molly and some friends of hers to elope. At the same time, mainstream pureblood wizards still thought this Lord Voldemort guy had the right ideas about who should be running things in wizarding society. Though at this point Tom was no longer making public appearances, or if he was they were rather brief - because he had become a fugitive from the law ('a wizard who has eluded capture for almost three decades' said fudge in 1996). We do not know what he was accused of. As the case of Morfin Gaunt shows, the original charge may have been something minor (like giving a Muggle hives), but refusing to show up to a hearing is an arrestable offense.
So what happened in 1970? Well, in GOF Albus tells Harry "the years of Voldemort's ascent to power were marked with disappearances." And in HBP we see where many of those people may have disappeared to - many of them became inferi, guarding the place in which Tom hid the locket. If Albus thought the disappearances were caused by Tom then people who believed him would fear for their lives (especially if the disappeared came from their social circle), while the official charges against Tom remained his refusal to be interrogated for some minor offense.
There must have been more that the DEs were doing in the open at this time, because even Tom's supporters in the general population thought the means he was using to promote his revolution were a tad extreme. The clearest example of this sort of thing in canon years is the march of black-robed wizards during the QWC, a march that included the torture of a Muggle family. (BTW members of the audience joined the marchers as the evening progressed - in 1994 there were non-DEs who agreed.) I imagine that in the 1970s many mainstream wizards thought that random magical violence was not a nice way to express to Muggle-borns that their company wasn't desirable, but that 'those people' were the ones at fault, for not knowing their 'rightful place', being too 'uppity', walking in wizarding spaces as if they were real wizards. Take the QWC riot and repeat with variations.
In HBP Severus remarks that Voldemort used inferi in the past. This must have been during this era, but it isn't clear how they were used before they were left guarding the underground lake. Inferi can certainly be used to terrorize. Perhaps some of them accompanied riots and marches?
And somehow, despite his fugitive status, Tom was getting the word out about his claimed proposals for the future of wizarding society. Perhaps he was making brief appearances at demonstrations. Or perhaps releasing recorded messages. Or running an underground Wizarding Wireless channel.
There was little the Ministry could do about the disappearances. By the time it was obvious someone was gone it was too late to help them. At most evidence could be gathered from places the victim may have disappeared from - home, work place, surroundings of favorite pub etc. Between the delay and the DEs' use of masks and hoods, I imagine the chance of such an investigation leading to identification of a suspect and an arrest was very low. Preventive action was limited by the way wizard homes were dispersed over the country. At most the Ministry could install some Aurors to patrol the few places with high concentration of wizards - Hogsmeade, Diagon/Knockturn Alley, perhaps the perimeter of the Ministry and St Mungo's. In HBP Aurors Tonks, Dawlish, Proudfoot and Savage are stationed by the Ministry in Hogsmeade. Scrimgeour (or Thicknesse) may have resurrected a policy from the first war.
The demonstrations were a more fruitful place for intervention. Call Aurors to keep the peace. Attempt arrests if things got too much out of hand. Again, patrols in likely places may have been placed in anticipation. In addition to the places I mentioned above, that would also be at major public gatherings such as Quidditch games.
The broom-riders that were chasing James and Sirius in the prequel? They may have been rioting DEs that James and Sirius took on, but they may have well been Aurors assigned with keeping the public peace that the two derailed from their duties with their hilarious illegal activity.
Of all of Tom's noticeable activities, I think the one that caught Albus' attention most was the use of inferi. Because that was what Gellert had once spoken of as the use to which he would put the Resurrection Stone. That served to Albus as certain proof that Tom not only had the Stone, but that he was aware of it and was using it. I'm wondering if it was Albus' reaction to the first sighting of inferi, maybe in 1970, that caused his followers to start using the 'You-Know-Who' epithet. And perhaps Albus' mistaken belief that Tom was using the Resurrection Stone lead him eventually to found the Order of the Phoenix. He wouldn't need a private army for replicating the Ministry's efforts, but he did have some unique information about Tom he wasn't sharing. And Tom's ownership of a Hallow was an actionable piece of information. Perhaps the reason some Order members could count three close and personal encounters with Tom himself was that their mission was to try to obtain an object described to them as a source of unique power that Albus believed Tom was keeping on his person. (No, not to add another Hallow to the one Albus had, it was all for the Greater Good of course.)
Sometime around 1970 something changed. Something caused people like Minerva and Hagrid to fear mentioning the name 'Lord Voldemort'. Something caused Molly and some friends of hers to elope. At the same time, mainstream pureblood wizards still thought this Lord Voldemort guy had the right ideas about who should be running things in wizarding society. Though at this point Tom was no longer making public appearances, or if he was they were rather brief - because he had become a fugitive from the law ('a wizard who has eluded capture for almost three decades' said fudge in 1996). We do not know what he was accused of. As the case of Morfin Gaunt shows, the original charge may have been something minor (like giving a Muggle hives), but refusing to show up to a hearing is an arrestable offense.
So what happened in 1970? Well, in GOF Albus tells Harry "the years of Voldemort's ascent to power were marked with disappearances." And in HBP we see where many of those people may have disappeared to - many of them became inferi, guarding the place in which Tom hid the locket. If Albus thought the disappearances were caused by Tom then people who believed him would fear for their lives (especially if the disappeared came from their social circle), while the official charges against Tom remained his refusal to be interrogated for some minor offense.
There must have been more that the DEs were doing in the open at this time, because even Tom's supporters in the general population thought the means he was using to promote his revolution were a tad extreme. The clearest example of this sort of thing in canon years is the march of black-robed wizards during the QWC, a march that included the torture of a Muggle family. (BTW members of the audience joined the marchers as the evening progressed - in 1994 there were non-DEs who agreed.) I imagine that in the 1970s many mainstream wizards thought that random magical violence was not a nice way to express to Muggle-borns that their company wasn't desirable, but that 'those people' were the ones at fault, for not knowing their 'rightful place', being too 'uppity', walking in wizarding spaces as if they were real wizards. Take the QWC riot and repeat with variations.
In HBP Severus remarks that Voldemort used inferi in the past. This must have been during this era, but it isn't clear how they were used before they were left guarding the underground lake. Inferi can certainly be used to terrorize. Perhaps some of them accompanied riots and marches?
And somehow, despite his fugitive status, Tom was getting the word out about his claimed proposals for the future of wizarding society. Perhaps he was making brief appearances at demonstrations. Or perhaps releasing recorded messages. Or running an underground Wizarding Wireless channel.
There was little the Ministry could do about the disappearances. By the time it was obvious someone was gone it was too late to help them. At most evidence could be gathered from places the victim may have disappeared from - home, work place, surroundings of favorite pub etc. Between the delay and the DEs' use of masks and hoods, I imagine the chance of such an investigation leading to identification of a suspect and an arrest was very low. Preventive action was limited by the way wizard homes were dispersed over the country. At most the Ministry could install some Aurors to patrol the few places with high concentration of wizards - Hogsmeade, Diagon/Knockturn Alley, perhaps the perimeter of the Ministry and St Mungo's. In HBP Aurors Tonks, Dawlish, Proudfoot and Savage are stationed by the Ministry in Hogsmeade. Scrimgeour (or Thicknesse) may have resurrected a policy from the first war.
The demonstrations were a more fruitful place for intervention. Call Aurors to keep the peace. Attempt arrests if things got too much out of hand. Again, patrols in likely places may have been placed in anticipation. In addition to the places I mentioned above, that would also be at major public gatherings such as Quidditch games.
The broom-riders that were chasing James and Sirius in the prequel? They may have been rioting DEs that James and Sirius took on, but they may have well been Aurors assigned with keeping the public peace that the two derailed from their duties with their hilarious illegal activity.
Of all of Tom's noticeable activities, I think the one that caught Albus' attention most was the use of inferi. Because that was what Gellert had once spoken of as the use to which he would put the Resurrection Stone. That served to Albus as certain proof that Tom not only had the Stone, but that he was aware of it and was using it. I'm wondering if it was Albus' reaction to the first sighting of inferi, maybe in 1970, that caused his followers to start using the 'You-Know-Who' epithet. And perhaps Albus' mistaken belief that Tom was using the Resurrection Stone lead him eventually to found the Order of the Phoenix. He wouldn't need a private army for replicating the Ministry's efforts, but he did have some unique information about Tom he wasn't sharing. And Tom's ownership of a Hallow was an actionable piece of information. Perhaps the reason some Order members could count three close and personal encounters with Tom himself was that their mission was to try to obtain an object described to them as a source of unique power that Albus believed Tom was keeping on his person. (No, not to add another Hallow to the one Albus had, it was all for the Greater Good of course.)
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no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 02:00 am (UTC)I also wonder if Tom did put a taboo on "Voldemort" in the 1970s. I know that he didn't have control the Ministry back then, but he did have insiders in the Ministry who might have been able to track the use of his name the way that they could track the usage of spell, especially if they'd been working in the right office. It would only take a few instances of somebody disappearing soon after s/he said "Voldemort" to get people scared of saying the name.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 02:31 am (UTC)I also think that Voldy might have used the stone to make inferi. It would make sense if he knew about all the hallows and just didn't care. Tom was nothing like the "humble brother", who chose the cloak, so he probably didn't even try to trace it. And if he knew Dumbledore had the wand then he must have thought it was only a matter of time before he could take it for himself. But then the books do make clear that Voldemort only learned about the wand in DH.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-28 09:14 pm (UTC)Maybe he only started encouraging them after the First War ended, and it seemed like the threat posed by Voldemort had gone?
Or perhaps it's just a form of social darwinism: get everybody saying the name, then, if Voldemort keeps sending DEs to try and get them, pretty soon all the bad fighters will have been weeded out of the gene pool.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-29 05:50 am (UTC)It is canon that Albus encouraged (unsuccessfully) his supporters to say the name 'Voldemort' (which actually isn't anyone's real name) during the years 1970-1981: "... For eleven years I have been trying to persuade people to call him by his proper name, Voldemort." From PS chapter 1, which takes place in 1981.
Either Albus believed there was no danger in using the name, or he didn't care.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-29 03:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-30 01:54 am (UTC)Either Albus believed there was no danger in using the name, or he didn't care.
I think Albus is making himself look good. He knows Voldemort isn't his "proper name." He makes a half-hearted effort, not caring that he is not really getting anyone to go along. He doesn't tell anyone that Voldemort is really a half-blood named Tom Riddle, which would actually hurt Voldemort's cause. But by "bravely" using Voldemort and saying there is nothing to be afraid of he impresses people with his "courage."
no subject
Date: 2012-09-02 11:03 pm (UTC)The Stone summons the Shades of the departed with their speech, memories, and beliefs intact. Inferi are animated corpses. No apparent memories of their past lives at all. Two different forms of walking dead entirely.
I suspect that Gellert probably extrapolated using the stone to make Inferi because he may have been experimenting with Inferi back at Durmstrang. We don't know what the "experiments" were there that got him tossed out on his ear. He was 16 and drawing a straight line between what looked like two related points.
Albus was closer to the mark in wanting it to summon his mother back to take charge of Ariana while he and his new BFF went off to conquer the world. Or at least to see it.
There is no adequate explanation in canon for why no one would speak of "Lord Voldemort" before Rowling pasted an unconvincing reason onto the end of the story in order to have a way of getting the trio captured when she needed them to be. Indeed, *nothing whatever* that she has ever told us about the rise of Lord Voldemort has ever made sense according to what she has told us of the size of the wizarding world. She flunks worldbuilding 101 rather comprehensively.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-03 05:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 07:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 02:12 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 04:28 am (UTC)If it hadn't conveniently worked out for Harry (as if it would have dared to do anything else) exactly as described in Beedle, I'd have been willing to bet that Beedle had merely made that part of his description up.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 05:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 05:02 pm (UTC)Because incising it with a symbol (which it did not have originally) and putting it in a ring was actually rather clever. The owner could keep it with him, and not have it go astray, and yet he would not be activating it by accident. Because you can't turn it in your hand (by which I suspect it means palm) when you are wearing it.
On the other hand, you do not have to *explain* why you are holding onto an ugly ring. Whereas you *would* have to explain why you're hanging onto ordinary-looking river pebble. Sure, for some generations they did explain the secret of the ring, but eventually someone dies without passing on the message, and from that point it wandered at random.
Once the Hallows questers were a factor, a holder probably would have held onto the ring for the sake of the symbol, even if they never tried to use it, because who would? After all, Beedle wrote of a *stone* not a *ring*.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-08 02:42 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-08 03:55 pm (UTC)Of course the 2nd brother wouldn't have known about the 3rd passing on the cloak and meeting Death unafraid, but that's the kind of thing that may have been added by whoever told the story later. It's a fairly classic fairytale ending after all.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-22 01:43 pm (UTC)Not quite. We know 16 year-old Gellert believed it would be possible to do so. The inferi in the cave were solid entities that could interact with matter - Harry felt them, they dragged Regulus underwater. It isn't clear if the shades that accompanied Harry were as realized.
OTOH, it is implied that being drowned in that lake turns one into an inferus.
no subject
Date: 2012-08-28 05:45 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-30 11:36 am (UTC)If he actually changed his name, I'm thinking. If not, if Tom Riddle continued to be his real name, then spells done against him should be more powerful if they used 'Tom Riddle' instead of, or above, the title, 'Voldemort.' The supposed power over other people involves their true names, hence some societies using nicknames for children instead of real names, which are protected and not given out to just anybody.
no subject
Date: 2012-09-04 07:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-05 02:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-08-30 11:33 am (UTC)Inferi would be a horrific tool for Voldie to use. Imagine a missing (and obviously deceased) loved one coming at you in the midst of violence (protest or battle.)