Why not sit down on this nice couch of mine...?
So, I've been in Europe for the past 5 weeks or so, and I flew into L.A. about two days ago and arrived home yesterday afternoon. And so, in yesterday's L.A. Times I learned that apparently someone has leaked Deathly Hollows on the internet.
Seriously, what the fuck? What kind of crap is that? While it seems a bit harsh to wish death on this person (or persons) or even blindness, I'm thinking a proclivity towards strep throat for the rest of their life would be in order. That or they repent and work for a charity organization in, say, Africa. That's cool too.
But anyway. Before tomorrow night and everyone learns everything (and am I the only one depressed that this is The End?), I want to say my theory about Why Voldemort Gave Lily Evans/Potter the Chance to Live.
To wit: Voldie had an Oedipus Complex. Well, kinda, not really. But I've been thinking about since HBP, and it seems to me that Voldemort probably felt abandoned by his mother. Remember how Riddle figured it was his dad who had been a wizard? Remember how his reasoning was if his mom was a witch, she wouldn't have been so weak and died in childbirth?
And then he finds out his mom was a witch. She was magical. She could have saved herself. (Or, at least, that's what he thinks.) How's that gonna feel? It's gonna feel like she abandoned him. She didn't care enough about her own son to live for him. She didn't love him enough. He wasn't worth living for.
That's a lot of angst.
Voldemort has no problem with gratuitous killing, especially the gratuitous killing of Mudbloods. And why should he care for the feelings of his Death Eaters? Can anyone seriously believe that Snape having feelings for Lily would have convinced VD to give her a reprieve? (Which is, as far as I understand, a popular theory.) He tortures his most loyal followers, chops off their hand and such. He's not gonna spare Lily so she and Snape can possibly get it on. So those aren't the reasons he gave her a chance.
Rather in Lily and Harry, he sees a similar situation to what he figures his mom faced. The situations are somewhat inverted, I admit it. Vd's mom (whose name I unfortunately do not remember at this point in time) could either die and be at peace, or live and be forced to raise a son on her own, without her family or the man she loves. So, she died. She took, as Vd sees it, the "easy way out." Lily, on the other hand, being a Mudblood, a powerful witch, and a member of the Order has three mighty compelling reasons to be killed, can either die attempting to save her son (and most likely fail), or abandon him and live, apparently with the good will of Voldemort. Seen from the most objective viewpoint possible, the latter's going to be the more attractive, "easier" option. There was no reason for Lily to believe that Harry could possibly survive.
Both moms had the choice to abandon their son for an easier option. So, here Vd has an experiment. If Lily decides to abandon Harry, to do what's best for her rather than what's best for her child, then he's vindicated. His mom didn't leave him because there was something wrong with him, because he wasn't worth it. She abandoned him because humans are inherently weak, a mother's love isn't reason enough to attempt to save or be with your son.
But, and here's the crux of the matter, I think Vd's mom had no choice but to die. She was destitute. She was homeless. The man she loved had cruelly rejected her. She wasn't in good shape, probably exhausted, and she probably wasn't even that good of a witch. Childbirth is, as far as I understand it, not easy. Without using her magic, both her and her son would die. Using what magic she had left, she could either use it to save her own life, or that of her son's. She chose Tom's life. Both Vd's mom and Lily died to save their son's life. Another way Harry and Voldemort are connected, are similar. And this way, I think, is going to be the most important of them all, and an important plot point in the final book.
I just don't know how.
And, on a side note, I think had Voldemort decided to attack the Longbottoms, there would have been the same result. Alice would sacrifice herself for her son. And I'm not saying that because my version of Alice would do it, but because any decent mother would.