Rita: Sorry. I gotta disagree with you there. The scar is everything! It is not just the symbol for why Harry is HP ('The Boy Who Lived') it is also the very real and 'now', connection between Voldemort and Harry (Harry's dreams and visions.. AND 'a "murderer or a victim" prophecy'). The scar is everything about the story and Harry! It represents and IS everything that he is, everything he has been through AND WILL BE!! I don't see that there is anything else important except the scar; anything important except Harry and Voldemort's 'relationship', 'connection' ... scarring ???

Tom Riddle says that he had been sapping Ginny's life from her everytime she wrote to him. As she lay dying, Tom Riddle was becoming REAL. If Ginny had died Tom would have become as real as you or I. Once something's real, it's real. I don't see how Voldemort was going to assume/ consume Tom into him. I really don't see why he'd want to! If magicals could go around absorbing other people to become them and extract info. from them , the Deatheaters would have done it. No, Tom Riddle was Tom Riddle, not Voldemort. There was no communication between them. If Tom had won he would have been a real life human Tom Riddle separate and as real as Voldemort, i think.

So why would Voldemort have been stronger if Tom had won...?? Maybe an additional, diabolical brains. Maybe the additional managerial capacity. Maybe 'stronger' because Tom knew something Voldemort didn't/ couldn't/ hasn't figured out ...???

Hey, here's a thing: Jo says that we'll find out more about the nature of Voldemort's birth in the next books. Wottya reckon about the idea that we find out that something awful happened to Tom's mum and Tom, so that it ... not 'justifies'... but ... we can be a smidgen more 'understanding' of Tom/ Voldemort's actions... ??? We see Voldemort's emotion scar... ??? .....
YUCK!! I don't like this thought 'cause I reckon we need a villian and Voldemort's it, but i thought, I might as well put it out there while I can. What do you think?

Ohhhh!! I like the "both gotta die so EVERYONE can live" thing!! The prophecy didn't say that though. Jo's said that she wrote the prophecy "with great care... and exact wording.." so I think it says what she means it to say. It's just up to us to try to figure it out. I seriously don't think we've got much hope.

I think that this 'clue'(Ha!) is just like the 'Cedric'/ "a Main character will die" thing; we'll be looking at it in 10 years time, long after every book has been published and we've read them 50 times, and we still won't understand what she's talking about. Jo will be staring at us with that exasperated, "ohh, it's SOoo obvious!" stare. Still, fun to try to crack the code don't you reckon!?