The Boy Who Lived and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named
By: PsychoHaired
A/N- This is an essay I wrote for my English writing class, I don't know my grade but I think this is one of the best essays I've ever written :)
Disclaimer: The character aren't mine but the essay IS so please do not steal :D
"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches… Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies… and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not… And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives… The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies…" (HP OotP pp.841) This was a prophecy made eighteen years ago. A year later, on All Hallows Eve, the most evil and powerful being to ever grace a children's book was defeated by a one-year-old baby boy. This man is known as Lord Voldemort by his followers, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named by the rest of the cowering world. The baby boy is named Harry Potter, known by the entire wizarding world as The Boy Who Lived. At present, the wizarding world is at war. On the good side is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, on the dark side is Lord Voldemort and his followers, the Death Eaters. At first glance the hero Harry Potter and the evil Lord Voldemort are the exact opposite, but if you look closely enough, you'll find that these two fictional characters could be almost one and the same. Both characters were raised under similar circumstances and shared comparable physical features. Throughout the book series, we discover several unique traits that these two possess.
Voldemort and Harry both share pasts that are almost parallel to each other. Tom Marvolo Riddle, Lord Voldemort's birth name, was born to a witch named Merope Gaunt and a muggle (non-wizard) of his same name. Merope Gaunt died right after giving birth; thus baby Tom had to grow up in a muggle orphanage. In this orphanage Tom Riddle is bullied by everyone around him, he had no family to take care of him and no one who loved him. Although Harry Potter wasn't born in an orphanage; after his parents were murdered, he is handed over to his aunt, Petunia Dursley, because she was the only living relative Harry had left. Like Tom's, Harry's childhood was miserable at the Dursley's; he was treated more like a servant than a child and lived in a cupboard under the stairs. His peers and his cousin often bullied Harry at school. They both showed signs of great magical power while growing up. On their eleventh birthday, Tom and Harry received invitations to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, where they were able to find a loving home.
The similarities don't end there. Both Harry and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named share rare magical powers that no other wizards or witches can use. Most notably, they both speak parseltongue, the language of the snakes often associated with the Dark Arts. It is believed (though still uncertain until the series is finalized) that Voldemort accidentally transferred this rare power to Harry when he tried to kill him. In the firs book, Philosopher's Stone, Harry finds out that he can talk to snakes and accidentally sets a Boa Constrictor loose in the zoo. However, this seemingly trivial power comes into play in the second book, Chamber of Secrets, where Harry uses this power to rid Hogwarts of an evil Basilisk (powerful giant snake).
Though some things may seem trivial, there are a few resemblances that might become important when the final book is released. Harry and Voldemort share eerily similar physical traits. While growing up, they were both pale skinny boys with black hair and thin faces. Many fans speculate that this means Voldemort could be related to Harry; other fans dismiss the idea as something "Star Wars-y". A recent theory that has been bouncing around the fandom is that Voldemort is a future Harry that he travelled to the past. Sounds ridiculous? Well, we'll find out soon enough.
There is one fact that must me expanded upon, and that is the matter with their wands. In the magical world, a wand is an essential tool no wizard or witch must be without. Every wand has different qualities and elements that make them unique. When the time comes, a wizard cannot choose the wand that he or she likes; it is the other way around, the wand chooses the wizard that it likes. Both Voldemort and Harry's wand share a phoenix feather core. Not surprising, many witches have wands that have that core, however, the feather that these wands share comes from the same phoenix (that coincidentally belongs to Hogwarts's Headmaster). This core makes these two wands brothers, so to speak, and when two sibling wands are forced to duel each other, they don't work properly. We find out about this in the fourth book, Goblet of Fire, when at the end of the book, Voldemort and Harry are duelling each other and their wands literally connect through a beam of light. Dumbledore later explains this phenomenon as Priori Incantatum, where one of the wands forces the other to regurgitate spells in a backwards motion.
The magical connection between their wands is not the only connection they share. When Lord Voldemort attempted to murder baby Harry, his killing curse backfired and left the kid with the famous lightning shaped scar on his forehead. Because of this scar, Harry and Voldemort's minds share some sort of telepathic link. In the fourth book, The Goblet of Fire, Harry first discovered that he could access Voldemort's thoughts and emotions. Similarly, Voldemort also discovered their connection in the fifth book, The Order of the Phoenix and used it to lure Harry into a trap.
One would think that because these two characters are so similar, it is logical that they're both the same. This is a common misconception. In the series, Harry Potter is portrayed as a boy with a forgiving nature. Sure, he may hold some grudges, but he never resorted to bullying, stealing or torturing people like his counterpart did. We learned in the sixth book, Half-Blood Prince, that when Tom Riddle was bullied, he bullied back. Tom often terrorized the children around him by stealing their few toys or killing and torturing their pets. While they both were orphans, Harry found parental figures to look up to, like Sirius, his godfather, the Weasley family and Albus Dumbledore, Hogwarts's Headmaster. Voldemort however, always scoffed at any adult figure as we found out in the second book, Chamber of Secrets, that Dumbledore often tried to keep him out of trouble but Voldemort never cared. This leads to their biggest difference, Harry, being capable of love and compassion, is fighting for the good side; Voldemort, incapable of such "useless emotions" is leading the evil side. Whether or not Harry will turn to the evil side or not is a matter that cannot be debated yet, as there is insufficient evidence.
It seems that in many ways, Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter's lives are tied to each other's. As the prophecy says, "…neither can live while the other survives…" . They both share a deplorable childhood lacking happiness, friends and parental figures. They also looked similar while growing up. Voldemort gave Harry his ability to talk to snakes. Their wands are brothers and their minds are connected. Though the similarities between these two are astonishing, one difference remains true; Harry Potter is good, Lord Voldemort is evil. Whether or not this fact will remain true is entirely up to the author, we will just have to keep speculating and waiting until the series is complete.