Voldemort's aim really does seem to be immortality, and everything else is merely supportive of that. It's people such as Malfoy and Fudge who try to utilise this to either maintain or permanently establish the status quo. Over at civilitas, my Macnair was using Voldemort as an attempt to overthrow the flawed governmental process of the Ministry and establish a new, proto-fascist government that couild iron out the inefficiency of a half-Muggle Ministry. People like Malfoy are more concerned with blood than the laws, and above them is Voldemort, who has literally shed his humanity to become something more. A God among insects, really, which I think is why he doesn't kill people unless he has to- as if killing them messily is too much a bother, imbuing too much humanity on his victims.
Immortality would also give him further motive for distaste/hatred of Muggles- he was so nearly one of them, and if he had been he would have had no chance of immortality. Or at least physical immortality- narcissam has pointed out that Voldemort is the most Christian-influenced of the characters in the books, because his rebirth was so obviously a reversal of Christian symbolism. He's been born through death once before- his mother died after giving birth- and this probably coloured his outlook on life. In a one-shot I'm working on, Dumbledore is trying to teach him the value of loyalty (partly through really pervy sex, but also through chatting) and Tom comes to see death as the ultimate betrayal- abandoning your responsibilities to the world through death.
In the case of Tom- is it the fact that he's the last heir of Slytherin that drives him? As the last of both his Muggle and wizarding lines, there's definitely a desire to continue at least one- and perhaps his Pureblood acquaintances have shown that merely having children is nothing near as strong a legacy as they believe it to be.
However, I suspect that in the first war, he really was interested in maintaining Pureblood supremacy. Power probably appealed to him, as he had so little in his formative years in the orphanage- combine that with the idea of him having noble, even royal blood, and establishing himself as a dictator would perhaps be a draw.
In the end, though, I think we'll have to wait for JK to explain his motives and modus operandum in the coming books. There's too much ambiguity between his motives, desires and past to be completely certain that Voldemort works the way we think he does for the reasons we say...
I never considered the reverse-christian symbolism of Voldemort's births before. That sounds fascinating - do you know if it's been elaborated on anywhere?
skelkins gives a basic look at the Graveyard as cultural and religious taboos here: here, in the third section.
Violating cultural taboos is what leads to that sense of instinctive revulsion that gets translated to an emotional response of: "Oh, this is just so wrong."
Here are some issues that immediately leap to my mind as good candidates for this treatment: Sexuality. Religion. The Family. Treatment of the dead.
The Graveyard sequence hits every one of them.
The actual Christian symbolism is based around the sacrifice of the father and followers rather than the person themselves. Confession of the Death Eaters and the bestowal of punishment, not forgiveness. The cauldron as the grail. Immersion of his baby-like form as an obscene baptism. It goes on and on...
Voldemort's aim really does seem to be immortality, and everything else is merely supportive of that. It's people such as Malfoy and Fudge who try to utilise this to either maintain or permanently establish the status quo. Over at civilitas, my Macnair was using Voldemort as an attempt to overthrow the flawed governmental process of the Ministry and establish a new, proto-fascist government that couild iron out the inefficiency of a half-Muggle Ministry. People like Malfoy are more concerned with blood than the laws, and above them is Voldemort, who has literally shed his humanity to become something more. A God among insects, really, which I think is why he doesn't kill people unless he has to- as if killing them messily is too much a bother, imbuing too much humanity on his victims.
Immortality would also give him further motive for distaste/hatred of Muggles- he was so nearly one of them, and if he had been he would have had no chance of immortality. Or at least physical immortality- narcissam has pointed out that Voldemort is the most Christian-influenced of the characters in the books, because his rebirth was so obviously a reversal of Christian symbolism. He's been born through death once before- his mother died after giving birth- and this probably coloured his outlook on life. In a one-shot I'm working on, Dumbledore is trying to teach him the value of loyalty (partly through really pervy sex, but also through chatting) and Tom comes to see death as the ultimate betrayal- abandoning your responsibilities to the world through death.
In the case of Tom- is it the fact that he's the last heir of Slytherin that drives him? As the last of both his Muggle and wizarding lines, there's definitely a desire to continue at least one- and perhaps his Pureblood acquaintances have shown that merely having children is nothing near as strong a legacy as they believe it to be.
However, I suspect that in the first war, he really was interested in maintaining Pureblood supremacy. Power probably appealed to him, as he had so little in his formative years in the orphanage- combine that with the idea of him having noble, even royal blood, and establishing himself as a dictator would perhaps be a draw.
In the end, though, I think we'll have to wait for JK to explain his motives and modus operandum in the coming books. There's too much ambiguity between his motives, desires and past to be completely certain that Voldemort works the way we think he does for the reasons we say...
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Violating cultural taboos is what leads to that sense of instinctive revulsion that gets translated to an emotional response of: "Oh, this is just so wrong."
Here are some issues that immediately leap to my mind as good candidates for this treatment: Sexuality. Religion. The Family. Treatment of the dead.
The Graveyard sequence hits every one of them.
The actual Christian symbolism is based around the sacrifice of the father and followers rather than the person themselves. Confession of the Death Eaters and the bestowal of punishment, not forgiveness. The cauldron as the grail. Immersion of his baby-like form as an obscene baptism. It goes on and on...
Reply
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