In PS, Voldemort, possessing Quirrell, drinks unicorn blood, which we are told gives a person a cursed life.

We are also told that the only way to cure it would be to drink the Elixir of Life.

Voldemort never drank this.

Thus, from PS onwards, Voldemort was living a cursed life.

And what better way to be cursed than by having your own spell backfire on you when you needed it most?

So Voldemort was doomed from the moment he drank unicorn blood in PS.

One objection to this would be that it would be Quirrell that was cursed, not Voldemort. However, in all the other examples of possession we've seen, identity between possessor and possessee has blurred: in OotP, Voldemort spoke with Harry's mouth, and then couldn't stay in Harry because he was feeling the same emotions as him and couldn't stand them. And while the possesser can let the possessee carry on with their normal life if they choose (Ginny Weasley) they're still there.

In addition, Harry's blood protection from Voldemort worked against Quirrell, further backing up the idea that their identities had blurred together due to the possession. So I'd say whatever Quirrell is cursed with, Voldemort was cursed with, since whatever Voldemort was cursed with (i.e. the inability to touch Harry) Quirrell was also cursed with.

 

I always thought that The Power He Knows Not is actually Harry's incredibly good luck in a crisis. Perhaps when V got Harry's blood, it partially cancelled out the bad luck?

It leaves me wondering what would have happened if someone tried to AK Voldemort after the graveyard. Would the ability to resist the AK have been passed on, as well?

 

Very good idea, that does take into account a lot of 'missing' canon information. Because he'd have to be pretty damn incompetent to have everything that happened to him actually happen. There is absolutely no evidence indicating he was that incompetent.

I'd say they split the curse between them and Quirrell was just the first victim.

 

Yes, it is possible, and a very interesting idea as well.....

But I doubt that JKR gave this any thought at all.

'twas probably unintentional. I mean, she went on about how terrible the curse for drinking it was, but never actually explained what it did exactly.

 

Yes, you'd think that had it been the case, it would have been mentioned. I suspect the drinking of unicorn blood, like much of PS, was foreshadowing for a future that JKR changed her mind about.

Still, it gives us an excuse for the unrealistic nature of Harry's victory.

 

That could be a part of it, it's true. I always adhered to the concept that Voldemort Mk. II was a diminished form of the original. The seven split of the soul, the rebirth ritual, the snake appearance, are all signs of his lack of humanity in a sense.

There had to be obvious mental trauma associated with dying and roaming the world like a spectre possessing small snakes and eating rodents, which could have caused his insanity and obsession to kill Harry at all costs (desire for revenge). I think the Horcruxes and rebirth ritual weakened his form, magically as well as physically.

At least that is the explanation I like to tell myself for how useless Voldemort II was.

The reason (in-universe) that I like to think so is that the man was the fright of nearly every one in the magical world in the past. He came close to winning if the mentality of the persons involved is considered. He was great, and diminished in his form now.

From a realistic standpoint, of course the bad guys can't be effective, logical and intelligent. Also they have to lose for a strange reason.

I would love to read a story where evil actually wins for a change. And not the dark side is actually misunderstood blah blah blah, but they are what they are and they win.

 

A story as in fanfic or a novel?

Novel: 1984 - Big Brother is Big.

 

I meant as in Harry Potter fanfiction. I have read 1984, but that sort of evil does not appeal to me. Too much communism for my tastes.

 

You're reading too much into an over-dramatic statement. It was quite clearly explained what this "cursed life" was, but most people didn't see it that way.

What they meant was that, once you start drinking unicorn blood for immortality, you have to keep drinking it or you'd eventually die a horridly painful death (This part is implied.). That, in itself is a curse, but there is also the implied "To kill a unicorn is a blasphemy" thing.

Its an over-dramatic statement that means "you're fucked either way." at its simplest.

 

It was Fascism, not Communism, Methene. Orwell was influenced by the Soviet Union, but it was the Totalitarian aspects of the regime that made it into 1984.

On another note, Orwell was something of a Socialist, and 1984 was Socialism, in his view, gone mad.

I'll stop now.

 

I don't think Voldemort was less than he was in the first war for a few reasons, in fact, I would argue that he is greater post resurrection:

1. Trelawney's prophecy in PoA (which directly contradicts your theory):

THE DARK LORD LIES ALONE AND FRIENDLESS, ABANDONED BY HIS FOLLOWERS. HIS SERVANT HAS BEEN CHAINED THESE TWELVE YEARS. TONIGHT, BEFORE MIDNIGHT ... THE SERVANT WILL BREAK FREE AND SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER. THE DARK LORD WILL RISE AGAIN WITH HIS SERVANT'S AID, GREATER AND MORE TERRIBLE THAT EVER HE WAS. TONIGHT ... BEFORE MIDNIGHT ... THE SERVANT WILL SET OUT TO REJOIN HIS MASTER ...'


2. This seems to be the case as Voldemort quickly dismantled the ministry after his return, when in the first war, the conflict raged for nearly 10 years (IIRC). He doesn't show any signs of insanity or diminished mental capacity, except for his obsession over Harry and the prophecy, and that can be explained by him wanting revenge, and him feeling fear over knowing the first part of the prophecy, in which it states a child will be born with the power to defy him.


3. He can now fly, and perform magic that we didn't know existed (him hiding Nagini in the guise of a human form, him forming the barrier around her at the end of DH). If that isn't indicative of his increasing powers, I don't know what is.

 

Harry doesn't have the ability to resist the AK, just to make that clear.