One of the great things about weblogs is that they make conversation so easy. In the beginning it was just me posting, and Peninah leaving comments. Now there are whole gaggles of people who leave great comments, building on the ideas here. Sometimes I get emails that blow me away. One such email came from Janice R. Janice gave me permission to reprint her theory here (sorry it took me so long Janice!). Hold on to your seats, folks, this is a good one.

Your last prognostication, Prophecy Boy, put me in mind of something I've been wondering about since, oh, Book 2 or so. I've never seen this mentioned anywhere - although of course I may have just missed it. (If so, I apologize.)

Everyone has deconstructed "Voldemort" to get the French for "flight from/of death". Given what you've just written lately, I wonder, what do you think of deconstructing "Tom Marvolo Riddle" as follows?

Tom: Tom is short for "Thomas." While there are many Thomas's in history, the first one I always think of is "Doubting Thomas", one of the oldest and best-known Thomas's. So 'Tom' suggest the most famous doubter in western culture.

Marvolo: can be taken as a form of "marvelous." "Marvelous" is more interesting here if we think of it in the old sense of the word, as meaning 'worthy of marvel,' causing one to marvel at it, etc.

Riddle: fairly self explanatory.

Put this together and add some articles, and one can get something approximating:"Doubter [of the] Marvelous Riddle[s]."

What is/are the 'marvelous riddle[s]'? Such a phrase to me suggests things like existence itself; life; death; love; time; etc.

So the 'doubter of the marvelous riddle[s]' is the one who doubts the 'mysteries' of existence -- the 'mysteries' (or, if you will, 'riddles') that are, in fact, studied in the Department of Mysteries.

Tom Marvolo Riddle as the doubter of life/death/love/etc. - or whatever you consider to be the ultimate riddle[s] - does in fact sound like our Lord Voldemort, who has 'flown' from the uncertainly of such insoluble riddles by defying death (and time, too, if you think about it, through both the diary self and the refusal to let time affect him through death).

This would seem to tie into a lot of HP themes. But not having seen such an explanation of the name anywhere, I've also wondered if I've just made too much of a stretch and imagined such a meaning.

If this explanation is correct (and I think it is) then we have one more piece of the puzzle of who Lord Voldemort is. Fear of death is indicative of a materialist outlook; this world is all that there is, only that which I can prove is true. Those that have no proof of the greater mysteries in life will doubt that there is anything to those mysteries. They will come to view this world as the end, and so will fear that end, and flee from it by any means. So we see the natural progression of a boy who doubts that there is more to life than this world, and believes that all will end when this world ends. This causes him to refuse to love, since love is letting a part of you die when the object of your love passes on. This, combined with the terror of impending Doom, causes one to flee, at all costs, from Death, even if this means others will have to die. So was born Lord Voldemort.

I believe I have said this before, but it bears repeating. Harry Potter is the story of a boy growing up in the Mordern World, a world that offers him everything in the here and now, and yet seems not to answer the greater questions. The magical world is a substitute, an allegory, for our modern technology and science, all of which aims, ultimately, either to help us get "more" out of this world, or to prevent us from dying. Harry is thrust into this world, and must learn, each year in a different way, to deal with and confront the temptations and travails that this life presents. With his triumphs and failures, we begin to see that magic, while technical in nature, has deeper roots.

I think this points to the real reason why Harry Potter is so popular. Most children's books are materialistic in nature; Encyclopedia Brown, Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew, Lemony Snickett. These characters get by with their intelligence, creativity and strength (Klaus, Violet and Sunny match these attributes exactly, for those of you who enjoy the incredibly coy and delightfully entertaining Series of Unfortunate Events. If you havent read them, check them out. And dont ever let the Virginian Wolfsnake anywhere near the typewriter). Harry gets by on none of these. None said it better than Hermione (the archetype of mind):

�Harry -- you�re a great wizard, you know.�
�I�m not as good as you,� said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.
�Me!� said Hermione. �Books! And cleverness. There are more important things -- friendship and bravery and . . .�

Harry's battle is for his soul, not his life. I think this resonates with us more than we care to admit.

Thanks again to Janice R for the great email! Keep 'em comin!

In other news, I'll be heading to New York tommorrow to watch the taping of the David Letterman show. My brother's band O.A.R. will be playing. The show airs Friday night, so check it out, if you can!