One, a collector of relationships; the other, a collector of “trophies” or things. One, seeks and craves the light; and one who fears, yet harnesses the dark. One who struggles to find his place IN his community, and one who works to set himself APART from his community. One boy spends seven years longing for and building love between a new family and friends; one who spends seven years cultivating no friends, only followers, and destroying any family he had left. One finds comfort and solace in others who are different -who are pushed to the edge of the only world they know; the other distances himself , strikes out at those who are different, and uses those who are on the fringe of the magical world for his own selfish purposes.
Two boys alike and yet, oh, so different. Two lives with start points almost identical, but two very, very different paths and ending places.
We have spent much of Half-Blood Prince learning about the boy Voldemort, a collector of trinkets and magical objects… “magpie like,” Dumbledore says. But he never collects the things that most Hogwarts boys do: friends, hobbies, sporting achievements, the respect of Albus Dumbledore, not even a girlfriend. (But who is this Half-Blood Prince? He's barely mentioned during this part of the book, yet the title is for him! Is he good, bad, brilliant, foolish? You tell me...and then...)
This week at Leigh and Clare's (6:00 pm) we'll delve into the history of Slytherin's Heir, for it has now come time when we need to talk about Tom Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort, the boy who would be evil.
