Voldemort believed in fate

[jallen]

Originally Posted by CharmGlow132

Well, at that point there wasn't really a risk of dying in his mind. He already had horcruxes in place, he already believed himself immortal. I think it was more like protecting his name, and his power. If some boy had grown up and vanquished him, Voldemort would look pretty stupid for not having the foresight to take a baby out while he had the chance. Especially if there was a prophecy, especially one which he knew about. So it's sort of to save face, but also, like you said, to take out a potential risk. Too bad that didn't work out so well for him..

But this boy did have "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord." By eliminating this boy, he didn't take the risk of being killed by this boy.

[BrianTung]

Originally Posted by jallen

But this boy did have "the power to vanquish the Dark Lord." By eliminating this boy, he didn't take the risk of being killed by this boy.

As I read it, Harry didn't yet have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord; that only happened after Voldemort (oops, I activated the Taboo) actually attempted to kill him.

[Lonnie]

Originally Posted by BrianTung

As I read it, Harry didn't yet have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord; that only happened after Voldemort (oops, I activated the Taboo) actually attempted to kill him.

Yes, but Voldemort didn't hear the part about marking him as his equal, so he didn't know that it was himself that gave Harry that power.

[FurryDice]

As others have said, Voldemort may not have believed in fate - he tried to fight fate, by making the Horcruxes.

Whether he believed in fate or not, he was taking no chances. Voldemort killed without remorse; killing anyone who could possibly be a threat to him was the only course of action he would have taken, whether this information came from a prophecy or solid fact.


Interestingly, though, he did want to hear the rest of the prophecy in OotP, and Dumbledore speculates that he might not have acted on it if he knew the full prophecy and the risks it spoke of.

Originally Posted by CharmGlow132

Well, at that point there wasn't really a risk of dying in his mind. He already had horcruxes in place, he already believed himself immortal. I think it was more like protecting his name, and his power. If some boy had grown up and vanquished him, Voldemort would look pretty stupid for not having the foresight to take a baby out while he had the chance. Especially if there was a prophecy, especially one which he knew about. So it's sort of to save face, but also, like you said, to take out a potential risk. Too bad that didn't work out so well for him..

Yeah, I agree. Any threat to Voldemort would have to go. No matter who they were, or how he learned of the threat.

[GryffSolider]

I don't know about fate, but I think LV ws the king of self-fulfilling prophecy. LOL

[ID824]

If he believed in fate, he wouldn't have tried to fight so hard. Like the Final Destination movies, death will get you if you miss out the first time you should have died.

[PoFoSho]

Thanks for all the feedback guys! Very interesting thoughts. I agree w/ some...and not so much w/ some others... but that's expected, right?
I get what alot of you were saying about how prophecies are extremely magical and how
Voldemort relied very heavily on magic and the powers he believes it to have.

[GrimeldaDursley]

Yeah, he believed he could control fate to his own advantage.

[mollypotter]

Originally Posted by CharmGlow132

In the muggle world, fortune telling talks of things like fate, chance, and fortune. But in the wizarding world, when a Seer has the gift, it's not a fortune, it's a prophecy. And those are a heck of a lot more reliable than fortune telling. There's nothing too emotional about taking a Seer's word for fact. Don't forget it's magic
Also, I'm sure he "believed" in love. He knows it exists. He just severely underestimated it. He thought love was something beneath him. Others may benefit from it, but he didn't need it

Yep, that's it. In the magical world, prophecies are taken much more seriously than fortune telling. And I also think love to him was just a silly human emotion, like unicorns or bunnies. I mean, could you imagine him snuggling up with one of those? Well, besides a unicorn, to drink its blood.

What I don't understand is why he didn't kill neville? I mean, I'm glad he didn't but still.

[JohanT]

I agree with those who have said that Voldemort did not necessarily believe in fate, as he tried so hard to prevent it. It was more paranoia and fear of being defeated that encouraged him to go after the babies spoken of in the prophecy. Get rid of the problem before it becomes a problem, I always say.

As for why he didn't go after Neville, he might have once he killed Harry. The reason he chose Harry was because of their similarities as half-bloods, so this was just Voldemort sizing up each child to see who would present the most likely threat. In the books, it is shown that the most powerful wizards (Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape, etc.) were all half-bloods, which could also be a reason that Voldemort chose Harry. Plus, Harry was born on July 31, which is basically "when the seventh month dies".

[mollypotter]

Originally Posted by JohanT

I agree with those who have said that Voldemort did not necessarily believe in fate, as he tried so hard to prevent it. It was more paranoia and fear of being defeated that encouraged him to go after the babies spoken of in the prophecy. Get rid of the problem before it becomes a problem, I always say.

As for why he didn't go after Neville, he might have once he killed Harry. The reason he chose Harry was because of their similarities as half-bloods, so this was just Voldemort sizing up each child to see who would present the most likely threat. In the books, it is shown that the most powerful wizards (Dumbledore, Voldemort, Snape, etc.) were all half-bloods, which could also be a reason that Voldemort chose Harry. Plus, Harry was born on July 31, which is basically "when the seventh month dies".

Well yeah, but Neville was born on the thirtieth, so it really could've been either. I get what you're saying about picking the greater threat, but why would he kill both, just to be safe? A powerful and evil wizard like himself? Just doesn't make sense to me. But I guess I should stop complaining that one of my favorite charaters didn't die.

[JohanT]

I understand what you are saying, but we have no idea what Voldemort would have done if he had succeeded in killing Harry. He could have very well killed Neville, just to be safe.

[mollypotter]

Originally Posted by JohanT

I understand what you are saying, but we have no idea what Voldemort would have done if he had succeeded in killing Harry. He could have very well killed Neville, just to be safe.

Oh...I caught on now. I'm a little daft sometimes I think it would be cool to view the book as Neville instead of Harry...but I'm getting ahead of myself.

[merrymarge]

So, does this believing in fate make Voldemort brilliant or a bit batty?

[JohanT]

Originally Posted by merrymarge

So, does this believing in fate make Voldemort brilliant or a bit batty?

Well, that depends on whether you think he believed in fate or not....

[horcrux4]

Voldemort may have believed in fate, but he certainly didn't accept it. We could say that all human beings are fated to die, but Voldemort wasn't having any of that! It seems to me that the prophecy spoke of a potential fate for him and he acted to ensure that it wouldn't happen. And yes, it's ironic that in attempting to avoid the fate the prophecy predicted, he actually brought it about. Had he ignored it, it would probably not have been his fate to die through Harry as Harry wouldn't have had the advantages that being marked by Voldemort gave him.

As for love, I think his attitude was different. He seemed to be incapable of feeling it and thus didn't have to do anything to resist it. Fate he took issue with, love he ignored.

[crmdy1023]

I don't think Voldemort believe in fate. He was unfeeling and arrogant. It takes someone of deep feeling and thoughtfulness to understand and accept fate. He DID believe in magic... from the very begining before he even knew he was a wizard. His narcissism allowed him to believe this easily which added to his delusions of immortality and self-preservation.

I don't think he saw a deeper meaning in anything. This and his inability to love or care for anyone but himself were his biggest faults. I think thats one of the biggest messages of this story... we all have one fate don't we? Death. He could not accept it and saw it as a weakness instead of a driving force to achieve love and success.

[LyraLovegood]

I think that if Voldemort believed in fate, he would have seen that the very existance of the Prophecy made it inevitable that the child born as the 7th month dies would one day defeat him. His determination to stamp out the chance of that child stopping indicates to me that he did not accept his prophesied fate. I think that he decided to kill the child and his family, not because he truly believed, but to eliminate even the remotest chance that the Prophecy would come true. So I think that he did not believe in fate.

[JohanT]

The prophecy is worded a bit strangely. It does not specifically state that the child born will vanquish Voldemort, nor does the part that Voldemort received from Snape indicate that Voldemort was destined to mark this child as his equal. It merely states, and I quote, that "the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches … Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies …". So, in reality, we cannot make a conjecture about Voldemort's belief in fate based on the actions taken with regards to the prophecy . Fate, other than the chance that Voldemort may have felt that he was destined to hear it all along, had little to do with it.

[asdfasdf17]

Personally, I think Voldemort sort of believed in fate because if he hadn't he might not have taken the prophecy so seriously. The prophecy is set in fate and Voldemort feared it was true so he tried to prevent it by attempting to kill Harry. I think the fact that he wasn't able to kill Harry, and the prophecy did speak of a boy that'd vanquish the Dark Lord, might have sealed his belief in it and he wanted to change it. But that might suggest he didn't believe in fate because he thought he could change it which is why I think he sort of believed in fate.