Possession of the Cloak

[terri_testing]

“His passion … was the work he had taken over from Illyan….

No. The work Haroche had taken away from Illyan.

Oh.

… I’m blind, blind, blind! Motive! What’s an elephant got to do around here, to advance and be recognized?” Miles Vorkosigan in Memory, by Lois McMaster Bujold

Comments

2 Hallows in the hands of James?

[terri_testing]

Well, now, you notice that didn't happen. James didn't have his Cloak when Tom came calling. So there was never a chance that James would stand over the enemy his son had vanquished, claim the ring (It is fair to me, though I buy it with great pain), and unite it with the Cloak.

However, it's remotely possible, don't you think, that that might have been Albus's original idea for Harry? The Cloak, after all, is the only one of the Hallows only known to have been transmitted by legitimate inheritance/gift.

i never have been clear what Dumbledore's original scheme was, pre-discovering that Tom had left Harry not a baby Hero, but a baby Horcrux. I always thought, though, that Merlin/Arthur sounded like the flavor Can't you just see Dumbledore thinking of himself as The Second Merlin? Wisest and greatest of wizards, but who acts mostly through guiding his loyal and grateful king?

In which case, the whole dumping Harry on the Dursleys might have been just a slight modification of the original plan.

Which was to mold the boy-hero's upbringing. Have him raised by Wizarding foster parents who teach him what a proper Wizard should know, but leave him ignorant of his destiny. At the proper time, take the boy in hand personally. Allow the Heir of Ignotus to claim the Elder Wand, and then go forth on a quest to steal the Stone from Tom. And then the Master of Death can easily vanquish the Dark Lord, having the "power he knows not."

Might something like that work?

Of course, that plan still depended on Harry being available to be fostered. I wouldn't trust James Potter not to raise another "pampered prince" who wouldn't loyally (blindly) follow his mentor's every order, would you?

Re: 2 Hallows in the hands of James?

[oryx_leucoryx]

We don't know how closely the wizarding version of Merlin's biography follows our Arthurian legend, but Merlin's first act was to arrange for Arthur's conception. Which ties with Hwyla's speculation that the Prophecy was actually made before Harry and Neville were conceived.

Albus with Merlinesque aspirations? He must have seen himself as one step better than the original - being gay and celibate he was safe of the chance of being trapped in a tree by Nimue.

What was the reason given for Arthur's fostering? Because Uther was still alive.

Re: 2 Hallows in the hands of James?

[condwiramurs]

Haven't read Aurthurian legend for a while, so this might be off-base, but I believe at the time it was a normal practice to foster one's sons out to neighboring lords, and take theirs as foster children into your house, to be educated there, as a sort of exchange of hostages to prevent bloodshed.

Re: 2 Hallows in the hands of James?

[oryx_leucoryx]

Of course with Harry fortunately being a first-born, Albus was yet another step ahead of Merlin - no Morgan le Fay, no danger of producing Mordred. Now I'm wondering if Albus had anything to do with the sudden appearance of Harry's 'chest monster' in HBP because of the role of women in the downfall of Arthur (and Merlin). I'm not sure how this makes sense, but anything is better than Rolwing's horrible writing of the 'development' of this relationship.

Anyway Terri, these last two threads are such gifts! For years I was thinking of what Albus knew or thought he knew about Tom from a Horcruxes perspective. Rethinking it all from a Hallows perspective is like seeing a Necker Cube shifting.