The first part of the description—date of birth / graduation, Slytherin, disappeared in Albania—was meant to make us think Bones figured out that Quirrell = Riddle. Shock! Then nothing after that tracks, and apparently she’s talking about a good guy? Huh?
So, apparently what happened is that Voldemort waylaid one of his (usefully Noble) classmates in Albania early on, then decided to assume his identity part-time twenty five years later, with the goal of rising to power as the hero who vanquished the Dark Lord (who he also was). Bones thinks that Quirrell’s Yule speech about a ‘Mark of Britain’ sounded familiar; so apparently he wasn’t able to give up on the tyranny bit. I think we can take Quirrell’s explanation to Hermione as roughly similar to fact; he saw that the hero wasn’t getting respect, and people were falling all over themselves to grovel before the Dark Lord, and decided to stick with the persona he found more pleasant to assume.
Not to be, er, pedantic, but there does seem to be a difference between Noble and Ancient houses. By Draco’s reckoning, the House of Potter is Noble but not Most Ancient.
Thank you, that’s interesting. Come to think of it, all the other references for House Potter I saw just said “Noble House” too, I just thought it was a shortening. So there’s only scions of three out of seven Ancient Houses in Harry’s year.
“Oh, no, it’s the Charm of the Most Ancient Blade, it’s only legal for Noble and Most Ancient Houses to use—”
Hermione stopped talking and looked at Harry, or Harry’s grey hood rather.
“Well,” said Harry’s voice, “I guess I could take down the rest of the Sunshine Regiment by myself, then.” She couldn’t see his face, but his voice sounded like he was smiling.
If Voldemort is capable of that, then this fic will entirely cease to be interesting. Mind control at a glance in the hands of an intelligent character is god-level powers.
Heck, I don’t see why imperius in the hands of an intelligent character isn’t a god-level power, especially when combined with memory charm and legilimency.
No, he’s not. Gaunt isn’t a Noble and Most Ancient House in canon. Neither is Malfoy, Greengrass, Potter or Longbottom. The only canonical Noble and Most Ancient House is Black.
And anyway, in Harry’s current year there’s Harry himself, Neville, Daphne and Draco. It’s not that strange.
What in the world are you talking about? You brought up canon first, I was just correcting you.
So Riddle—who is indeed a Noble House descendent in canon -
No, he’s not. [snip canon facts]
My point about MoR-canon was that scions of four out of seven Noble Houses are in the same year, so Voldemort being classmates with one (from a cadet branch, even) shouldn’t be considered odd.
So perhaps I am ignorant of terminology here, but how can Riddle be born of the last daughter of the House of Gaunt directly descended from Salazar Slytherin and related to House Potter through the Peverells, and not be noble? Are there non-noble ‘Houses’? Is that a name given to just any random old surname?
“House of Gaunt” is just what they called themselves as far as we know; the word “noble” was never used in relation to it. There is no “House Potter”; canonically Potter is just a last name. The Gaunts are descended from the Peverell brothers and Salazar, yes, but you may notice that none of them held noble titles.
The first part of the description—date of birth / graduation, Slytherin, disappeared in Albania—was meant to make us think Bones figured out that Quirrell = Riddle. Shock! Then nothing after that tracks, and apparently she’s talking about a good guy? Huh?
So, apparently what happened is that Voldemort waylaid one of his (usefully Noble) classmates in Albania early on, then decided to assume his identity part-time twenty five years later, with the goal of rising to power as the hero who vanquished the Dark Lord (who he also was). Bones thinks that Quirrell’s Yule speech about a ‘Mark of Britain’ sounded familiar; so apparently he wasn’t able to give up on the tyranny bit. I think we can take Quirrell’s explanation to Hermione as roughly similar to fact; he saw that the hero wasn’t getting respect, and people were falling all over themselves to grovel before the Dark Lord, and decided to stick with the persona he found more pleasant to assume.
Not to be, er, pedantic, but there does seem to be a difference between Noble and Ancient houses. By Draco’s reckoning, the House of Potter is Noble but not Most Ancient.
Good catch.
Thank you, that’s interesting. Come to think of it, all the other references for House Potter I saw just said “Noble House” too, I just thought it was a shortening. So there’s only scions of three out of seven Ancient Houses in Harry’s year.
I’m not sure there is a difference:
“You know that spell?”
“Oh, no, it’s the Charm of the Most Ancient Blade, it’s only legal for Noble and Most Ancient Houses to use—”
Hermione stopped talking and looked at Harry, or Harry’s grey hood rather.
“Well,” said Harry’s voice, “I guess I could take down the rest of the Sunshine Regiment by myself, then.” She couldn’t see his face, but his voice sounded like he was smiling.
Pretty sure that’s “[Noble and Most Ancient] Houses”, not “[Noble] and (Most Ancient) Houses”.
Or Q. messed with Bones’s head part-way through her little speech using some kind of wandless mind-magic. But that seems even less likely.
If Voldemort is capable of that, then this fic will entirely cease to be interesting. Mind control at a glance in the hands of an intelligent character is god-level powers.
Heck, I don’t see why imperius in the hands of an intelligent character isn’t a god-level power, especially when combined with memory charm and legilimency.
So Riddle—who is indeed a Noble House descendent in canon—waylays and murders another Noble House descendant born in the same year? I see...
No, he’s not. Gaunt isn’t a Noble and Most Ancient House in canon. Neither is Malfoy, Greengrass, Potter or Longbottom. The only canonical Noble and Most Ancient House is Black.
And anyway, in Harry’s current year there’s Harry himself, Neville, Daphne and Draco. It’s not that strange.
Your point is wrong or irrelevant to MoR; from the chapter (emphasis added):
Both 8 and 7 are greater than 1; hence either you are wrong about canon, or you are wrong about MoR, or both.
What in the world are you talking about? You brought up canon first, I was just correcting you.
My point about MoR-canon was that scions of four out of seven Noble Houses are in the same year, so Voldemort being classmates with one (from a cadet branch, even) shouldn’t be considered odd.
So perhaps I am ignorant of terminology here, but how can Riddle be born of the last daughter of the House of Gaunt directly descended from Salazar Slytherin and related to House Potter through the Peverells, and not be noble? Are there non-noble ‘Houses’? Is that a name given to just any random old surname?
“House of Gaunt” is just what they called themselves as far as we know; the word “noble” was never used in relation to it. There is no “House Potter”; canonically Potter is just a last name. The Gaunts are descended from the Peverell brothers and Salazar, yes, but you may notice that none of them held noble titles.