I'm 216 pages into Goblet of Fire and thus far two things have struck me. Very early, on page 2, as the tale of the Riddles is being recounted, the book says: "Elderly Mr. and Mrs. Riddle had been rich, snobbish and rude, and their grown-up son, Tom, had been, if anything, worse." On page 3, it says that the accused garderner/groundskeeper Frank Bryce tried to convince the cops that a dark-haired, pale teenage boy was seen around the estate that day.
So, and this could well be my memory failing me (I intend to review Chamber when I get home from Arizona) what's up with all this? Voldemort was Tom Riddle, but I thought that he was an orphan with a Muggle father. Perhaps Book 6 will provide answers, but from what I remember of Book 6 the family wasn't of great wealth. Hrm ...
[Addendum added 6.21] OK, on page 314 of Chamber of Secrets Tom Riddle is talking to Harry and says: "You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch?"
--So if that's his dad (the abandoner), then who the hell are the Riddles at the beginning of Goblet of Fire, who were murdered? Maybe this is revealed at the end of Goblet or in Half-Blood Prince, but right now I'm feeling confused.
And on page 216, Harry recalls that Voldemort told Lily (his mom) to move aside so that he could kill Harry. Why would he kill Harry before her, when she might be able to defend him or try to stop him? Was this just a let's-have-the-mom-watch-me-kill-her-son thing? Or is this a foreshadowing of there being more to the Potters/Voldemort backstory?
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