Did Voldemort plan to set Regulus up?

[sunnyskywalker]

Kreacher tells us that Regulus joined the Death Eaters when he was sixteen. Which at first sounds unimportant. After all, Draco too (if we accept Harry’s prejudiced jump to that conclusion-but let’s do so for the sake of argument) took the Dark Mark at that age. And Voldemort seems to recruit most of his followers young, when they’re easier to

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[oryx_leucoryx]

Voldemort did not expect Kreacher to survive, yet in OOTP Kreacher was reporting to Narcissa whatever he could get past the Fidelius Charm, Tom himself was able to make use of that information (with the vision he chose to send Harry) - without connecting those dots. I wonder what Narcissa did to explain the source of her information.

[sunnyskywalker]

That's a very good question. Does he think she's talking about a Kreacher Junior, or that the Blacks got a new house-elf when theirs went missing?

Did he think that okay, the elf survived, but--as one would expect if house-elves are as universally Stockholmed as Voldemort might think (he's never met Dobby)--he obviously had no objection to being poisoned if he's still trying to help My Side? (Because of course it's about Voldemort, not the Black family.) And then Regulus disappearing shortly afterward was, er, coincidence. That would be careless of Voldemort not to follow up on. But he had a lot on his mind, and he barely even thought about the elf he poisoned at the time and that was ages ago, and he spent over a decade barely holding his vapor-self together in the meantime, so maybe that lapse is understandable

[oryx_leucoryx]

Narcissa would be vague because she places family above all, and both she and Lucius already decided way back that the Dark Lord was Bad News for their family. Hence no 'spare' to their heir, and all of Lucius' schemes in books 2 to the early part of 4 were about his own power, not in Tom's service.

[sunnyskywalker]

Hm, so she'd think that even reminding Voldemort that such a person as her late aunt's house-elf even existed posed a threat to Kreacher? Or at least, that he existed and might know something about Dumbledore's plans? That sounds plausible. It might tempt Voldemort to try to get his hands on Kreacher and interrogate him.

And I don't think Dobby ever claimed Narcissa ordered him to punish himself. Lucius and "the family" (which might still have included Abraxas at that point), but not Narcissa. She might unhesitatingly do what she could to protect the family house-elf (as long as her husband wasn't the one he needed protecting from)--as Regulus did the minute he realized Voldemort hurt Kreacher. (He failed, but might not have realized how hard it was to destroy a Horcrux. He might well have thought Kreacher could destroy the thing and get his revenge, and then Voldemort would inevitably die in the war and everyone else would live happily ever after.)

[oryx_leucoryx]

Re: Regulus: I think he was aware that house-elves had special magical abilities (most) wizards had no access to, but he over-estimated them. IIRC Hermione said there were 3 Horcrux books? I guess only one of them came from the Black family collection, and it wasn't the one that explained how Horcruxes could possibly be destroyed.

[sunnyskywalker]

Poor Regulus. He's apparently one of the only people in his world who appreciates that house-elves are truly powerful beings, but having a grasp of observation and reasoning and basic decency does him no good. Just about everyone else underestimates house-elves, but this almost never causes them problems. (Am I still baffled and annoyed that the elves didn't even get to use their powerful magic in the final battle, with no explanation? Oh yes.)

[chantaldormand]

Did Voldemort even remember Kreacher's name?
To most purebloods house-elves seem to be like vending machines- no matter how you treat them, they give you what you want. So if you don't interact on a daily basis with the slave, why would you even bother with remembering their name?

[dorea_ysleen]

No, I don't imagine Voldemort would bother remembering the name. If he ever thought about it at all, it was probably along the lines of "Well, if there's still a Black house elf, they obviously got a new one after their old one died, or maybe they had more than one to begin with." Or maybe Narcissa was vague by referring to "one my aunt's house elves". But I guess that would require her to know at least some of Regulus' story instead of just protecting Kreacher/a family elf on principle.

But even if Voldemort thought it was the same one, why wouldn't he trust him? He apparently never suspected that Regulus turned against him, and he knows that he didn't kill him. It would be reasonable for him to assume the aurors or the order did it, which would just give Kreacher more reason to betray them.