CRET! Sorry I couldn't fit it all in the title!

This has been baffling me for a while now and so I decided to make a thread to see what you guys thought.

What could Voldermort's secret be? Is it to do with the Potter's death? Or the prophecy? Perhaps why he went so evil? I'm really confused. Or MAYBE it's about the other horcruxes. There is a reason why I think this and here it is:

I believe that R.A.B is Amy Benson (from the orphanage). I think that when Tom took her into the CAVE (aaaah) he showed her something so frightening and powerful that she was so scared. But later she found out how to make it INSIDE the cave and how to move on to find his other horcruxes. Maybe that is perhaps his "secret"

It's all so mind blowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Most people interpret the secret mentioned in the letter as the secret of voldemorts horcruxes, however voldemort mentions in the 4th book that at least one of his experiments worked. This may mean he has performed more experiments that are secret to us at the moment

So Regulus Black, what are you saying? What are your thoughts on what Voldermort's "secret" is? Please...share. I am dying to know what you guys htink on htis one.

Well after considering of threads postings and theories of my own i came up eith a few things i think are possible

Voldemort loved lily and wanted to kill harry as he was Jamses son, this means snape never told him about the prophecy

Lily had an affair and Harry is voldemorts son so he needs to be destroyed ( very Unlikely )

Voldemort has used some other magic to make him stronger or more immortal

Voldemort has failed in making all his horcuxes or has replaced those he thinks he has lost

I think that a close examination of one of Harry's and Dumbledore's converstaions in HBP reveals that none of LV's Death Eaters really knew that he had 7 horcruxes. If you will recall (and sorry, I do not have the book in front of me to find the exact location of it) Dumbledore made mention of the graveyard in which LV tells those of his death eaters that show up that he has gone farther along the path of immoratlity than any one. We are made to believe by Dumbledore, that not even LV's most faithful sevents knew about his seven horcruxes. If RAB is Regulus Black, then he was a death eater, right? So I am of the opinion that he turned against LV after he found out his secret, got the Horcrux, and then was killed by death eaters. I remember a mention of something like this, not the horcrux part, but the part about him being a Death Eater from OOTP, I think. Sorry, fuzzy memory. I should re-read it.
Anyway, I strongly believe that this is the secret and nothing more two reasons. The first is what I have mentioned above, and the second is, for goodness sake, she (meaning JKR) cannot make it harder than it already is on herself and on Harry. Think of it. He has got to go after 4 horcruexs and then LV himself. This is only one book. She has promised to wrap up all the loose ends in this one as well. And it is not at all in her nature to "throw things in." Meaning that she would unlikely spring something that big on us at the last moment haphazardly. And I have a really hard time invsioning the final battle, after all the horcruxes have been found and destroyed, with Harry finally thinking that he can kill LV, casting his spell, and it not working, and LV going into a long speech about this protection that he gave himself that NO ONE knew about. It's just not her style.

I think it's that he discovered that Voldy wears lacey panties.

Haha, no. I'm just kidding.

I think it might be where his horcruxes are or something along those lines.

I think that the secret was that Voldy had horcruxes. I think that Amy Benson was somehow (I think you all can guess..) was forced into insanity and she isn't relevant anymore.

Good theory though, but Amy Benson only covers "AB.."

I agree with the previous posters that his secret is most definitely the whole him having horcruxes deal because no one really knew about it. All they knew was that he had done a lot to prevent his own death.
Most people (basically 99% of the population) don't know about horcruxes, so they wouldn't jump to the conclusion necessarily that he had made horcruxes.
So I think that's his secret.

here's what i think..i was just reading the sixth book after a long time, i was kind of wondering the same thing...maybe Lord Voldemort did not get to make seven horcruxes as Dumbledore and Harry have assumed and is in search of...i say, Voldemort could not find anything that attracted him enough to store his soul in (for example, something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's) so just left it at five -- Riddle's Diary, Marvolo's ring, the locket and probably Nagini...however, i would say his secret is indeed the fact that his soul has been split into horcruxes..because i somehow do believe it was Regulus who destroyed the locket and therefore, everything fits...he was a Death Eater and did not know that Voldemort's soul was not whole and intact...but he found out somehow, and said, 'i want you to know that it was i who discovered your secret. i have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as i can. i face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. R.A.B.'

see what it says at the end? 'mortal once more'? so, the guy or girl whoever it is, was referring to the fact that Voldemort is not completely mortal...hope i've made my point...

I don't know about you but for me it seemed very blatant to me that is what Horcruxes. I could be wrong but i am almost sure thats what it is.

ok, do we know for sure that it is regules black?i think i read somewhere that it was a fine guess, but it's not him. not sure though.

but i think the secret was that he made the horcruxes,and i think he did make 7,because voldy implied in the memory(slughorns) that he would make 7,and i think he followed through with that

Well, seven afterall is the most magically powerful number in the wizarding world and the number of perfection in real life as well.

The Secret most obviously was about Voldemort's hocruxes. Not many people know about them nor have many (I'm sure we can assume is an incredibly small amount) actually split their souls to create one. So, knowing that, and that RAB intended to destroy them and make Voldemort once again mortal, then the only secret that would make sense are the horcruxes.

no i definatly think that his scrects was the hourcuxs becuase no one else knew about it until dd.. so i really dotn think there is anymore secrets to that ...just a thought
seachell

chocobeer:

maybe Lord Voldemort did not get to make seven horcruxes as Dumbledore and Harry have assumed

Well, I agree with you there. DD might have made a mistake, but I think it is unlikely. I think DD is right saying Voldy has Horcruxes, but I think he could be wrong on what they are. I think Voldy has 7.

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chocobeer:

Voldemort could not find anything that attracted him enough to store his soul in (for example, something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's) so just left it at five

I think that as Voldy, being an extreemly powerful wizard, wouldn't live with himself if he was permenently disapointed like that. He got 7.

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ginny_wannabe_7

ok, do we know for sure that it is regules black?i think i read somewhere that it was a fine guess, but it's not him. not sure though.

YES. I honestly think that him being RAB is too easy... but it all fits... so I don't know for sure.

his secret has got to be the hourcruxes, i mean since the note was found in a hourcrux and none but rab DD and harry know about the hourcruxes (ron and herminony too).


Also about RAB when asked if it was REgulas black. JKR said it was a good guess. I read this from her website and veritisurm a while ago

This has come up on the Who is RAB thread, but I'll post it here since it is right on topic:
I believe, and so do some others, that the "Secret" is not the horcruxes themselves but the fact that LV is half-blood.
If you think about it, the half-blood status is a much bigger secret that LV would want to keep, compared to the horcruxes which are part of a known (to DEs) ensemble of experiments. Plus, there is some personal message in the note--RAB wants LV to know "that it was I who discovered your secret". First, that is a very regal way of phrasing it--the voice of someone who wants to sound superior to LV, as the full-blood Regulus would. Second, it explains the motivation for the theft of the horcrux--that Regulus thought LV unworthy of the allegiance he had given him, and of the right to horcrux a Slytherin object. Third, it interprets the last line about hoping LV is mortal when he "meets his match"--another half-blood to do him in.

So for me the question is, since RAB is implying that he has a secret that he is intending to share with others (why else point out to LV that it was him who discovered it, unless he thinks LV will have multiple people to choose from as the culprit?), did he share that secret, and with whom? And when?
We see Harry telling Draco that LV is half-blood at one point, so the text already has underway the proliferation of this idea. The question we dont have answered is what Draco will have done with that information.

Pumpkinjuice: Upon rereading OOTP, I noted that Sirius told Harry Regulus died "about fifteen years ago." That would have put his death roughly when Harry was born/attacked, taking into account the use of "about." This text happens in the summer betwixt Harry's fourth and fifth years at Hogwarts, so Harry is fifteen when he hears about Regulus. Seems a bit coincidental that Regulus died about the time LV was looking for the object of the prophecy.

Sirius also referred to Regulus as getting in so far and not liking what he was being told to do. It is one thing to follow an ideology, yet another to carry it out, if your hands happen to be doing the dirty work. If the "secret" is really that LV is a half-blood, wouldn't Regulus then look at LV as completely unworthy of his service: the Black's considered themselves "practically royalty" with their pureblood-lines. Your post certainly hit right on this point.

Okay, I posted what is above, hit another cup of coffee and jumped in the rain locker. Well, in the rain locker an entire series of events occurred to me: what if the "secret" is more than one piece of information. Let me explain.

Sirius told Harry (us) his YOUNGER brother became a Death Eater. It is likely that Sirius, James, Remus and Peter all attended Hogwarts with overlapping years when Regulus was also attending. If this is true, it is most probable that Regulus was aware of the closeness between James and his older brother.

What if Regulus was in a closer circle to LV than Sirius suspected? What if Regulus found out that LV was looking for the object of the prophecy to destroy it (him) and that one possibility was the son of his older, brother's, best friend? Blood is thicker than water. What if this knowledge was what forced Regulus to back out from LV's service. Regulus could have known ALL of it. The portion of the prophecy Snape heard and conveyed, the horocrux(es), thus inferring he got the locket to destroy it, that LV was a half-blood and LV's plan to kill the object of the prophecy.

"I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more. R.A.B."

I like your thinking, and I pretty much agree. Voldy being half-blood is definitely not something he'd want the whole world to know and it would make perfect sense if this was the secret Regulus was talking about. And with Regulus being pure-blood, I agree that he'd have thought Voldy unworthy of immortality and his allegiance, which would explain why he stole the Horcrux with the intention to destroy it. Still, I think it's a bit more complicated than that; the Horcruxes was somehow part of the secret. Like Sirren says; what if the "secret" is more than one piece of information?

Sirren, I totally agree on all your thinking here, and it really does help the imagination of what was going on back then, how he came to find out, what he did, etc. I'ts also possible, as some have speculated elsewhere, that Regulus was a spy for DD from early on (everything you say would still hold, except maybe how firmly Regulus held to the full-blood stuff). Anyhow, I agree with what you are saying here, but don't know technically that the note has to refer to all of these bits collectively--wouldnt he have said, quite simply 'secrets' in the plural instead of singular? But not much hinges on this small point, as what you've laid out may all be true.

I'm looking, in context, at that last line you quote from the note, and wondering suddenly if it gives us insight into what a DE IS. I've always wondered why LV's followers are called Death Eaters, when he wants mostly to defeat death. Suddenly tho it seems perhaps that they are called that because they risk death for him, they eat death so that he need not (in the language of the chess theory, they are his willing pawns). And Regulus in this note is saying that HE is facing death not for LV, but so that LV can be killed. Beautiful turn-about, if that's the case.

Personally I would like Regulus to have been a spy for DD. I dont think Sirius would have known because DD probably didnt trust Sirius until recently, and especially not when he was a reckless young man both at Hogwarts and afterwards before Azkaban. And it is said that DD had multiple sources/spies. So I think Regulus may have paved the way for Severus to take on that role.

I just read an older post by Vulturemort indicating a belief that what actually propelled Regulus from loyalty with LV was that he was supposed to kill Sirius.

That fits into what I posted far more resolutely than being bothered by LV killing James and Lily. Much better reason to back out from the dark side.

After recognizing how evil LV was, he turned on him completely and tried to set up the possibility LV could be killed - when he met his match.

I personally think it is quite clear that Voldemort's secret refers to his horcruxes,
though pumpkinjuice's comment is very likely also (though I do not personally agree)

It was very interesting to bring up the part in GOF in which Voldemort talks about how some of his experiments worked - maybe it has something to with how Voldemort was ripped from his body though his soul-piece still remained intact

I see the secret is that LV is a half blood and stated that in other threads. The note mentions horocrux, and whoever RAB is thought it to be LV only one, which would eliminate the secret being multiple horocruxes.

In LV's warped mind, he sees himself, being that he is the heir of Slytherine, to be a pureblood. He is following in ancsetors footsteps. The part of his life he left behind a long time ago is Tom Riddle. Tom Riddle was the half blood and not Lord Voldemert.

I have to say ive always had a feeling that LV wasnt as 'pure' as he makes out. That he does have some 'dirty' little secret. So I do like the idea that he could be half blood. Its like he doth protest too much! He is over compensating (to say the least) for what he deems his short comings. So I guess that Regulus finding out is possible and thats the secret.
However, given the context, ie. that he is expecting LV to read the note when opening what he thinks is his horcrux, that the secret is that he knows about the horcruxes.
and i also like the idea of Regulus being a spy for DD. But wouldnt DD have told people after Regulus died? Not like he had to cover for him anymore.

OMG, WATS HAPPENED TO U ALL? AMY BENSON IS A MUGGLE!! AND IT CAN BE REGULUS BLACK BECUZ IT SAID THAT HE HAD FOUND OUT THE SECRET.

I think R.A.B might be dumbledore becuz black was a death eater and he shouldnt know. dumbledore wants to hunt voldy's horcruxes.

yea but then, why did he hav to go to the cave? the person there already had the horcrux and had put a new one...HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM

ok, i know that Amy Benson only covers AB, But in the way LV passed some of himself into harry , he could have somehow done the same to amy benson.

She probably didnt go to hogwarts seeing as she was still a muggle, but with some of LV in her there could even be some mind reading connection, so she knows any spells LV knows, where his horcruxes are, and all about him.

its unlikely, but its possible

Another thing that i just thought of is what if that note from RAB is his horcrux, and its there to throw people off?

its unlikely, but its possible

I don't have the fourth book with me, but Voldemort was resurrected using the bone of his father, unwillingly given. When he summoned the Death Eaters, he summoned them to the site of his father's grave, and I believe he pointed out that he had used the blood of his Muggle father. This would seemingly imply that his followers were aware that Voldemort was half-blooded, although they may not have cared given that he was the heir of Slytherin, as well as ridiculously powerful.

Again, don't have my book with me, so if I am wrong, I'm sorry. But I could swear I remember a passage like that.

As for Voldemort's secret, I think it's either the Horcruxes, or something JK Rowling plans to spring on us in the 7th book. Wow, I am excited for 21 July!

i think the secret is simply the horcruxes, because having 7 horcruxes is a very big deal and voldemort would surely want nobody to know about them since he is after immortality.
but maybe j k rowling is keeping some other juicy secret for us we can never be sure
anyways i don't think it's about any half-blood buisness because i think the death-eaters already know that.