A couple of random Hallows thoughts

[snorkackcatcher]

Do you think that one unacknowledged reason for Dumbledore wanting Snape to be the one who finished him off was that if the curse on the Gaunt ring was the thing that actually did him in, then the allegiance of the Elder Wand would pass to Voldemort? Certainly Snape didn't seem to know about the Wand before Voldemort started looking for it.

And on the subject of that ring: had none of the previous Gaunt owners ever turned it over three times before? Even just twiddling it on their finger might do it. Perhaps the user/wearer had to know what they were doing to get the Resurrection Stone effect, or at least be thinking along those lines. I can picture a scenario with a drunk Morfin alone in his cottage absently playing with the ring and thinking about Marvolo and Merope, and suddenly their shades appear -- in Marvolo's case, berating him -- but every now and again he drags them back, until one day he loses the ring ... (Hmm. There's probably a fic in there somewhere. I'll add it to the growing pile of plotbunnies that I'll not get around to.)

Comments

[lareinenoire.livejournal.com]

I can picture a scenario with a drunk Morfin alone in his cottage absently playing with the ring and thinking about Marvolo and Merope, and suddenly their shades appear -- in Marvolo's case, berating him -- but every now and again he drags them back, until one day he loses the ring ...

Oh my goodness, someone needs to write that fic. Seriously. It would be very creepy and disturbing, but also possibly the closest thing you can come to humorous Gauntfic.

[snorkackcatcher]

lazy_neutrino came up with an even better humorous version below. :)

[tree_and_leaf]

I think, as with the Unforgivables, intention matters - though your fic premise amuses me!

[snorkackcatcher]

It could be quite creepy too.

[annuscka.livejournal.com]

had none of the previous Gaunt owners ever turned it over three times before?
Good question; considering the amount of fiddling I do with my stuff I would have rescurrected half the underworld in a week! But yeah, there's probably intent involved (at least that's what Jo would say if asked ;). Would fit with the rest of the HP-world-rules; it would seem a bit flimsy if there's a lot of intent required for the Unforgivables and even for the Hogwarts Sorting, but that you could rescurrect people by haphazardly fiddling with a stone.

Drunk!Morfin would make for incredibly amusing and disturbing reading, though...

[snorkackcatcher]

Jo did make a point of saying that the way things are done matters. But perhaps it was something Morfin might discover by accident, like the twins with the Map incantation!

[annuscka.livejournal.com]

That would be quite a freaky thing to discover by accident! Heh.

[pasi.livejournal.com]

Do you think that one unacknowledged reason for Dumbledore wanting Snape to be the one who finished him off was that if the curse on the Gaunt ring was the thing that actually did him in, then the allegiance of the Elder Wand would pass to Voldemort?

Quite possibly. He certainly seemed to want to retain control of the wand, so that its power would expire with his death, if I've got the wandlore right, which I might not. Too bad he didn't let Snape in on the plan. That seems awfully cold and manipulative even of DH Dumbledore, which makes me wonder if JKR thought of that particular ramification?

[snorkackcatcher]

Perhaps Voldemort wasn't supposed to know about it either? It seemed that it was only when Lucius's wand was zapped that he started going after the Elder Wand.

[pasi.livejournal.com]

Good point. I can so see Dumbledore deciding he can keep his little secret from Snape, as long as Voldemort doesn't know it.

There needs to be a whole and entirely adult book written about Dumbledore. I'd buy it in a second.

[lazy-neutrino.livejournal.com]

I can picture a scenario with a drunk Morfin alone in his cottage absently playing with the ring and thinking about Marvolo and Merope, and suddenly their shades appear -- in Marvolo's case, berating him -- but every now and again he drags them back, until one day he loses the ring ...

I can imagine that happening to Morfin quite a lot, but never being connected with the ring. In fact, the Gaunts may have assumed that everyone's important shades popped over every now and then for tea and a curse. After all, it's been happening to them for generations.

[snorkackcatcher]

*snort* Now that's an even better way of doing it -- funny rather than creepy. (Although the Marvolo idea did remind me of Zaphod's seance in HHGTTG ...)

[plaid-slytherin.livejournal.com]

Do you think that one unacknowledged reason for Dumbledore wanting Snape to be the one who finished him off was that if the curse on the Gaunt ring was the thing that actually did him in, then the allegiance of the Elder Wand would pass to Voldemort?

That's very possible. I quite like that idea. :)

[snorkackcatcher]

Turned out to be quite important in the end. :)

[nineveh-uk.livejournal.com]

I like both your ideas a lot.

It occurs to me that if Dumbledore had _really_ wanted simply to nullify the power of the Elder Wand as a priority rather than enjoys its benefits and hope no-one would beat him, he could have arranged to be defeated in a minor duel by a person due to die (e.g. Flamel), and thereby lost the wand's allegiance and secured its safety.

[snorkackcatcher]

I suppose JKR would argue that this would be another of those 'intent matters' things -- i.e. the wand would 'sense' that the duel was fixed and not change allegiance?

It does strike me that having Harry as owner isn't exactly safe if he's going to be an Auror, especially as he told Voldemort that he was the owner in front of hundreds of people ...