Blog 2: Harry andVoldemort

                    I know no one wants to hear or admit to it, but we can no longer deny the similarities of Harry and Voldemort. Until the sixth book J.K. Rowling has done a good job at keeping their similarities hidden, except for in the chamber of secrets when we find that Harry is a parcel mouth like Voldemort. Now though as we go with Dumbledore into the pensive to look at memories of Tom Riddle we now have to see how they are a like.

            Dumbledore shows Harry his memory of when he told Tom that he was a wizard and that they would like him to attend Hogwarts. We see that Tom has already developed his powers to where he can control them, and has discovered that he can talk to snakes. We also find that his mother had died giving birth to him, and did not even try to use magic to save herself. Tom assumes that this is because she was not a witch.

            Now we know that Harry and Tom were both orphans who grew up in similar conditions. They both can also talk to snakes, and are half bloods. And we see Harry feel almost sorry for Voldemort when he learns of what happened to his mother.        

            Even though Harry and Voldemort came from very similar backgrounds, where they both lost their parents, and were forced to grow up in awful conditions, they have chosen very different paths to take. Harry has chosen a path of nobility over the path of power that he could have taken with Voldemort. We also cannot forget that Voldemort was the one who made Harry so similar to him. Rowling does a great job of distracting us from this fact until the fifth book when she reveals the prophecy that caused him to go after Harry. If he had just waited until Harry was older he may not have created the one who would destroy him, or he may have been able to find something that could remove love from the equation, which proves to be his down fall in the end.