Question: Why did Voldemort choose Harry?

Answer: I don’t know.

What I mean by the above Q & A is that why would Voldemort have picked the Potters of all people to fulfill the prophecy. There’s always the old cop out “Well Harry was a half blood like him, so he marked him as equal”. If you count it up, there are probably tons that are half-blood. Look at Seamus Finnigan and Dean Thomas! Why not pick them? Did he know the Potters well? Were they more prominent? Could this be the job that they had that is important to the plot? And what about the messenger boy Snape, could he have told Voldemort to go the Potters? This also makes me think, which I’ll post in a different topic: Why, Why, Why did Voldemort give Lily Potter the chance to live. Out of all people, why here? I guess what I’m asking is why were the Potters such huge targets?

Im assuming you have read the Order of the Phoenix book

the Potters had thrice defied Voldemort and Harry was born as the seventh month died

him and Neville we're the only two who could fulfill the phrophecy and he chose the one that most resembled himself - the half-blood


the Potters we're also in the Order and Voldemort knew about the Order and alot of the members also Voldemort had Wormtail as his spy so he knew even more

as for why he let Lily live there is many discussions about that the most logical was because Snape asked Voldemort to spare Lily or Voldemort was only there for Harry and the reason James died is because he decided to fight for his family

Your assumption is entirely correct. In fact it is approximately ten and a half times more plausible than a hairy toad biting my foot and myself becoming a terrible merman that throws rocks at unlucky fisherman.

About the Potters thrice defying him. Okay exactly how hard is this guy to defy? Three times by Nevilles parents, three by the potters, and four by Harry. Thats fricken ten times you guys. He can’t be that hard, and besides thats not counting DD either. So I’m sure other witches and wizards have done the same. So thats not a reasonable argument. In fact it is approximately 1/18 amount of the reasonability that I threw five rocks at a boat yesterday only to miss it every single time.

Second of all, even though DD and others knew that he and Neville were the only ones. How would Voldemort have known? I mean come on here. He doesn’t follow the birth rates of the people who have “defied” him, nor does he know their lineage most likely. He does however keep an annoyingly close watch on the birth rates of merpeople, and follows our lineage to the extent of knowing the coat of arms of nearly 144 merpeople families. Did I say our? I meant their.

Besides I’m sure that Pettigrew didn’t know these things either. Even as close as he was to the Potters. Unless he was dumb enough to say “Hey its them!”, and didn’t think about everyone else. The Order seems like a pretty big group. Also I don’t think defying Voldemort can only be done by Order members. It was done by Estervina, during the Merlands ancient history of the 8th Century. Although she wasn’t part of the Koiland Congregate’s, and still she was able to defeat the villainous Hark Verdell.

So still there is no reason for Voldemort attacking them.

Hve you even read the whole prophecy El Verte Veritas? From everything that was written in the prophecy and on countless sites confirming this, it said that Harry and Nevill were the only two. I sure wormtail new that the potters had a son at the end of July. And Voldermort new that the Potters had defied him.....

Given Voldemort's obsession with immortality-and the fact that the prophecy spoke in detail about someone who could destroy him-I'm sure that Voldemort did, in fact, make the discovery of this person his highest priority. I'm sure he had spies sent out on several people, not just the potters.

Also, there's a point in the fiction where we kind of just have to accept that JKR creates circumstances and events to further her plot-gives us a simplistic reason at times-we eventually have to take it as a plot-device. If it's not satisfactory to us, then I guess we'll have to accept it. She's got a lot of information to get out to us and can't take the opportunity to develope every little detail.

No I assure you I did in fact read the prophecy. I'd be a snodoodler if I didn't. But you have to understand my questioning. I mean maybe more of the question now is how simple is it to defy Voldemort, or maybe what does defying mean. There was something in that prophecy that meant the Potters. And besides imagine just how many people could have been born at the end of July, I mean some of us believe seventh month means seven months from the day of the prophecy. Maybe Voldemort thought the same way. To you magical number seven: There is no such thing as complete confirmation, you'd be wise to understand this. No offense, but there are few truth's on the internet, and even the greatest of websites can make mistakes (Lexicon thought RAB was determined for a fact for at least a week.)

To passerby, perhaps you are correct, we just have to accept

[quote name='El Verte Veritas' date='May 4 2006, 01:10 PM
To you magical number seven: There is no such thing as complete confirmation, you'd be wise to understand this. No offense, but there are few truth's on the internet, and even the greatest of websites can make mistakes (Lexicon thought RAB was determined for a fact for at least a week.)

Yes there is complete confirmation when J.K Rowling confirms it. Yes there probably were many people born at the end of July, but how many who had "thrice defied him". I'm sure that it is harder to defy Voldermort that you make it seem. Maybe the Potters just got lucky. Or maybe they did it when Voldermort was young and inexperinced. Hmmm thats a thought.

Ok, the only person who knows for sure who the prophecy is about, is JKR. And she has said, several times, that Harry is in fact the chosen one. Ok now that that is said, it's pretty irrelevant how LV found out which boys fit the prophecy description... the point is that he did. Snape told LV about the prophecy, LV found out which boys it could be about, he chose Harry, marked him as his equal, badabing, badaboom... there you go. That is why he was after the Potters, because he had to kill the boy who wouldn't allow him to live as long as they survived.

Harry was chosen because Voldemort felt he would be the biggest threat. Both Neville and Harry fit the prophecy, but Voldemort just felt that Harry would pose a bigger problem. Imagine if Neville were in the same predicament, would things have gotten this far? I'm not knocking Neville in any sense, for I love him dearly, but imagine Neville in Harry's position. He'd have definitely cracked under the pressure. It would've been all to easy. Voldemort would want a challenge to prove his greatness, and Harry can definitely give him a run for his money.

Well my thoughts on this a rather extreme when it comes to theories. I, personally, believe strongly that Harry is Gryffindor's decendant, and therefore is already Slytherins heir's enemy. Also, JK said something about Harry's eye color being prominent, and i have an answer to that too. Or rather, and opinion. I think that because Harry has green eyes*SLYTHERIN'S COLOR*, and Lord Thingy has red eyed*GRYFFINDOR'S COLOR*, they were marked enemies already. Then my theory kinda goes into the far fetched thing that isnt exactly resonable, but rather fanfic esque, and btw, all this is going to be included in my fanfic, see link below. TELL ME OPINIONS ON THIS THEORY.



FANFIC LINK: http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3096083/1/





Falling for him.... DANIEL RADCLIFFE IS AMAZING<3333333

i thought that he chose harry because harry was more like him, he was a halfblood, i believe thats what dumbledore said, he thought that harry was more of a threat than neville was.

a couple things.. we dont know for sure why voldemort picked the potters child over the longbottoms child.. it seems like the parents were pretty equal, they both defied him 3 times and thats pretty difficult to do if voldemort is the 2nd most powerful wizard of the age.. why he picked the potters, who knows for sure, hopefully we'll find out tho

remember my last, you have to take into account that if neville was in the same predicament - voldemort killed his parents, was raised by muggles, didnt know he was a wizard, was famous in the entire wizarding world for living through a killing curse - he might be a different person, and may be up to the challenge.. im pretty sure he wouldnt be so shy and nervous and clumsy if that were the case, and besides, he shows that when he puts his mind to something, he can really master a curse, as is evident in his improvements during the DA in OotP

HOw many people defied LV 3 times? These people would just about have to be in the order to defie him since everybody else was scared senseless be LV. ALso JKR has shown several times that pure bloods tend to become unstable and/or weaker because of the (for lack of a better word)inbreeding. It also seems that the potters were close to dumbledore. He might have done this to "hurt" DD. Could be off the mark but it my opinion

haven't you read book five? in anycase- voldy chose harry b/c of the thrice defied thing and seventh month dies stuff. he chose him over neville b/c voldemort thought that harry would be the most threat to him. and he was right! harry will beat him for sure! haha it's gonna be the best thing i've ever read. i'm so excited. i'm sorry a bit off topic. but yes harry is the chosen one- just go with it. lol it's b/c of his parents and stuff. so may the chosen one deafeat the hated one!

LV was given the choice between pureblood and halfblood. He chose the one that was more like himself. I thought that was all there was to it. JK could have other reasons, but I do not remember them anywhere.

ok so i agree with every1 else because of the propheciy etc.. u have all read OOTP, so i am wondering about El Verte Veritas first point.

how did lily and james defy voldemort??

i think that they were doing some kind of order work, perhaps they were aurors, but mcgonagall/DD/the weasleys would have told harry about that because that is what he wants to be

they could have done something to his death eaters or stopped his plans etc.

all i know is that JKR said she will tell us in bk 7

wat do u guyz think??

i think that defying voldy is not a mean task. karkaroff did and he ended in a shack didn't he, amelia bones must have been a thorn so she taken care of. defying voldemort was easy for the potters and longbottoms because they were extraordinary wizards and witches. we know that the potters were because of the comments of some characters and memories. the longbottoms had to be extraordinary because they were aurors. also being part of the order of the phoniex will help one in defying our good friend tom.

Yeah i really dont evin need to post this because some of you others have basicly said it all. Yeah if you have not read the prophecy here it is



So it limits down to two familtys the potters and the longbottoms. Im not sure why he picked the potters but he thought they were more of a threat.

Voldemort picked Harry because he saw himself in him. He picked not the Pure-blood wizard, but the Half-blood as his equal, for he himself was half-blood. I suppose when given two options of who was to have to power to destroy him, he would pick the one most like himself, for he thinks he is all powerful... so that is why he picked Harry.

~Albus

This is just a theory but i think that the potters knew something about voldemort that could cause voldermort to fall. Either that or he felt that the potters seemed more of a threat than the longbottoms so he decided to choose them

I suppose your theory could work. The Potters were really close to Dumbledore so it is possible that Voldemort would see them as more of a threat but we don't know if the Longbottoms were close to them too. It could have gone either way. I like to think that Voldemort narrowed it down and then flipped a coin. That what I do when I have to pick between two things.

... er... I don't really know why did Voldy picked up Harry, but Neville would have died in the first year... As Neville said he is amost a not magical person... he is not equal with Voldemort, but harry is. I know it sounds strange, but that is the truth: Voldy made a huge mistake by picking Harry. If he would pick Neville he would have won yet.

Just as a reminder to everyone who has said that LV choose Harry because Harry is more like him, or half-blood, Harry is not a half-blood, he is considered a full-blood wizard...both his parents were wizards. I suppose that you can try to make the argument that LV knew that Neville's family line went back much further, and that Harry's Mother was born in a non-magical family, but I really don't think that would make any sort of difference.
And, there is no way that LV could have known that Harry would turn out to have more of an aptitude than Neville at one year of age. So saying that he attempted to kill the baby with the most magical ability is unfounded also. We cannot even make that assumption based on their parents, seeing as how if Neville was exactly like his parents, he too would pose a serious threat when older.
As for the wizards that had thrice defied LV, think about it, both of the parents have had to defy LV three times (and still have their lives). I don't think it is all that common, and even if it were, how many of them would have babies at the end of July in the same year. And I agree that as soon as LV found out about the prophesy, he made it his top priority to find who the possible babies could be. When it came down to Harry and Neville, he simply guessed. I think Dumbledore had even told Harry that after he was told of the prophecy in OOTP.
However, what we have to remember is nothing that i have just said is important. The important thing is he choose one of them and by attempting to kill him, he marked that baby as his equal. He could not have chosen wrong. It was Harry Potter because the books are the Harry Potter Books.

In an effort to clean up the forums before the release of the final Harry Potter book, this thread is going to be locked and archived. Please do not open another thread on this topic; you will have plenty of places to discuss all aspects of the books after the forums reopen.

If there are any questions, please let me know via PM! Thanks!

passerby
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