I was working on something for a fan fic I'm writing and came across a problem. Is it ever mentioned if Ginny received the ability to speak parseltongue from the diary? You would think she would because she pretty much shared Tom's life force for a while there, well, what was left of him, and when the diary was destroyed it all went to her. Anyone got any thoughts on that?

I think it's a definite possibility. But I do not think that there was a transfer of powers to Ginny like with Harry. However, we have not seen in canon Ginny confront a snake, so we really don't know. This could mean one of two things

Either we're reading it to this too much and Ginny does not and never will have the gift of parseltongue OR

It's going to be absolutly crucial and JK Rowling is keeping us in the dark until such time as we should be told.

Frankly, having had three books in which JK could have giveen us clues, and didn't, I'm more inclined to believe the second theory. Evidence of this is that the diary possession of Ginny was a lot different from the power transfer on Harry. After all, Harry's case is entirly unique. No one ever, in the history of wizardkind, has survived that curse. I'm sure that more than one person has been possessed in the way that Ginny was. After all, with the bragging that Riddle did in the Chamber, if the possession of Ginny had been a spell of his own invention(and therefore unique) you can bet your Firebolt he would have said something. So after having talked myself through the issue, I will have to say a tentative no, Ginny is not a parseltongue.

I kinda thought the same thing, but then when I really thought about it (like you said, could be reading too much into it) when the diary was destroyed where did the life essence that was left of Tom go? Since Ginny was reabsorbing her own I would assume she would get it all, and since part of that life essence had the ability to speak parseltongue would that mean that she could?

Of course she could've just gotten her own essence back and Tom's could disappeared. Dunno why, but this is just bugging the heck out of me.

Rhyllen

I thought about what you said for quite a while. And I think I've found a solution. I'm assuming that by life essence you're talking about the theory that the life essence is what gives you the ability to live, right? Seperate from the soul, which we know you can live without, and seperate from the memories, which can be extracted, (pensieve) stored(diary, pensieve).

Tom Riddle still had his own memories. He still thought like Tom Riddle, as opposed to Ginny. Because his memories were bound in the diary without a "life essence" there had to be a transfer, which is where Ginny stepped in. So when the diary was destroyed and the memories with it, it was like a reverse transfer. Ginny's life essence went back into Ginny. If the transfer had been completed, then Tom Riddle would have been free of the diary and therefore the destruction of the diary would not have been able to kill him. He would have had a "life essence" of his own. Without a memory for the "life essence" to be transferred to, the essence simply returned to the place that it had come from.

This brings up questions about the uniqueness of a persons life essence. According to the theory above, it would have to be an ambiguous part of a human being, or more appropriately a sentient being. No more different than the difference between someones kidney, or finger.

It also concludes (in my mind at least) that Ginny is NOT a parseltongue. The memories of Tom Riddle were destroyed. With that went the ability to converse with and control(?) snakes.

I only wish JK had explained this a bit more clearly than she did. But who knows, maybe she didn't because it will come into play in future books. Like maybe why Voldemort's essence survived without a host, maybe?

I think I'm going to have to agree that she didn't acquire the parseltongue ability after the diary was destroyed, but did regain her own life essence.

The way I see it, Tom left a little of himself in the diary besides his memories, otherwise the book would be no better than a type of pensieve. When Tom left the diary his life essence and memories were merging with hers but weren't able to do so completely because the diary was destroyed and he also didn't get a sufficient amount. Once that happened it dissipated without a host. Unlike later in life when he had a link to Harry, Tom wasn't able to keep himself around.

As we know Ginny didn't acquire Tom's memories then it's a pretty good assumption that she didn't get the parseltongue ability. Thanks for pointing those things out.

Rhyllen

I thought for a short while myself on this one and I think this could be highly plausable and I think very few witches or wizards have been possessed through the means of a Diary. However, I think that Rowling will only ever give Harry the power of parseltongue as he is meant to be the only one to vanquish the dark lord and I really don't think Rowling would give Ginny too much power. Otherwise it undermines Harry as the hero. Although it is very hard to predict what Rowling will do next so I think were just gonna have to wait for the next two books on this one!

Ok,. so I was "watching" Chamber Of S last night, and I re-noticed that Ginny opened the Chamber of secrets...

Do you think if this makes her a Parsle mouth? Or she could only open it cos she was entranced by Voldermort/Tom Riddle/The Diary Horcrux?

We all know she'll probably play a large part in book 7, maybe even getting kidnapped by Voldy, but jsut wondered what other things may syphon through from the earlier books. JK has done a lot of that so far...

While Ginny was possessed by the diary-Riddle, Tom Riddle could speak Parseltongue with her mouth.
I don't think that she'd still have this ability after she was freed from her possessor. In all likelihood, she wouldn't even remember. It says clearly in CoS that she had great gaps in her memory, and did not know anything about what she had been doing while she was possessed. It seems that Tom Riddle possessed her completely, leaving no part of her mind aware and able to interfere.

She was clever enough to deduce that the diary was doing something funny and scary to her, and this is why she threw it away. At first there had been a dialogue between her and Tom Riddle, when she wrote down her private thoughts and he responded, but when he spoke Parseltongue he had taken over her body completely.

you know this is very interesting topic... i mean we know that to open the Chamber of Secrets you have to speak Parseltounge.... We know that Ginny sometimes did things and she couldnt remember anything she did.. but did Voldemort did possed her? How do we know she wasnt Impiriused? then maybe she could speak Parseltounge and we didnt know??
but i dont think so, I mean Parseltounge is the mark of a Dark Wizard or decendency from blood or like Harry through a curse, I dont think of a whole family of wizards, a lot of them extremely bright, just one has that ability.

Yes, I completely agree with Bumblebee...
Ginny was completely possessed by Tom Riddle's memory, leaving her with no control over her body. He took advantage of her and used her body to speak Parseltongue, and furthermore to open up the chamber of secrets...

It is highly unlikely taht she retained this ability, although it would be sort of nice...Harry and Ginny speaking Parseltongue together..hehe just thinking about it!


_daviD

She was only doing it via possession. I mean, Voldemort wasn't a snake or anything but he could attack Mr Weasley. And look at the amount of things people can do under the imperius curse.

I think that it is highly unlikely for Ginny to be a parsel mouth because she has no family members who weren't in slytherin and none of her ancestors are evil, I think. To back up what I said, Voldy possessed her to open the chamber which means he worked in her. It was like when they were in the ministry in the 5th book and voldy possesses harry.

I agree with the general opinions here. She was possessed. But you've got to wonder. Harry became attached to Voldemort and that was how he became a parsel tongue. Ginny was attacked to Voldemort and maybe he gave her something. I highly highly highly doubt it, but nonetheless... intriguing

no ways..............

tom would have realised............

and she would have too

she's not that big a fool

It's really quite simple. When Tom/Voldy possessed her, he was able to speak parselmouth through her.