Re: Voldemort's Religious Beliefs


Toon wrote:
On Tue, 28 Mar 2006 00:19:02 GMT, John VanSickle
<evilsnack@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

So, what religious beliefs are held by the wizard formerly known as Tom
Riddle Jr.?

As I see it, the following are plausible:

1. Possibility one is that Voldemort does not accept the existence of
an afterlife. There is no world except for the one that the eyes can
see. Consequently, Voldemort sees death as the cosmic Game Over With No
Continue.

This explains why he is, as Tolkien put it, "besotted by the fear of
death." To become the greatest and most powerful wizard, and then to
pass on and cease, is probably more than his prideful mind can bear.

2. Possibility two is that Voldemort believes in an afterlife, but
fears it because he cannot be sure that his supremacy in this life will
continue in the next. It has been pointed out to us that he fears being
ordinary; the proud often are.

Regards,
John

One seems most plausible. If two, he'd work in the DOM and try and
figure out how to take it all with him, basically.

There's an interesting (albeit overly simplistic) theory that the roles
our parents (or family) play in our lives shape the way we view God and
the afterlife.

The idea is that children with strong parental figures in their lives
are more likely to believe in God, and that children who grow up
without any strong parental figures tend to be more agnostic or
atheist.

Obviously this is a huge overgeneralization, but it's interesting to me
that we see a degree of this concept at work in Harry and Voldemort.
Both were orphans, but Harry grew up as a member of *a* family, no
matter how full of abuse and misery it was. He sill had that 'Godlike'
figure of authority watching over him, teaching him that there are
consequences for your actions. Whereas Tom Riddle had no one. When DD
came to see him in the orphanage and made him give back his trophys, it
was probably the first time in LV's life that he felt fear or reprisal
over the bad things he had done. A major reason, IMO, why LV feared DD
for the rest of his life. At least as much so, if not more, than for
DD's power and magical ability.

.

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