Voldemort believed that Snape was working with Dumbledore to protect Harry as a way of getting into Dumbledore's confidence, so that when the time came to strike Snape could kill Harry and Dumbledore both, and do maximum damage to Hogwart's.
Dumbledore believed that Snape was working with him to deceive Voldemort into believing that Snape was working with Dumbledore to protect Harry so he could do all that stuff.
Voldemort believed that Snape was working with him to convince Dumbledore that Snape was working with him (Dumbledore) to convince Voldemort that Snape was working with Dumbledore to protect Harry so he could do all that stuff.
I think that's the end of it.
Anyway, Dumbledore thought Snape sometimes did evil things in order to shore up his credibility with Voldemort, and Voldemort thought Snape sometimes did good things in order to shore up his credibility with Dumbledore. We were supposed to be uncertain as to which it was, but I don't know anybody who was actually surprised in the end.
Wow - I had forgotten how huge of a blind spot Voldemort had about love and attachment. You'd think he'd be able to muster at least a distanced understanding of it, even if he didn't feel any of those things himself (because really? what kind of dumbass wouldn't be able to put together that Snape was raw about Voldemort killing Lily and was protecting Harry as a result, knowing as much information as Voldemort did?). Oh well. It works as a fatal flaw, but given how competent Voldemort is everywhere else, it's kind of surprising that he'd allow himself such a massive deficit in understanding the people he intends to manipulate.
I think Voldemort probably had a distanced understanding of love and attachment, he just didn't pay any attention to them because he didn't understand how they could be a source of strength instead of weakness. That one's a pretty hoary trope, but I guess there really are people like that.
Ironically, the way the repentant Snape tried to honor his love for Lily was by committing acts of terrible Death Eater depravity in order to maintain his cover. That one does seem to be a bit harder to understand / detect than most kinds of rebellion.
to the second part of your question, no part of voldemort's soul died when quirrell did, and quirrell was not a horcrux. when quirrell died, the part of voldemort's soul that was inside him went off and lived in albania for two years and was pretty freaked out that he'd never find a body. this is the whole "i was less than the meanest ghost" bit.
Ahh, right, now I remember! He didn't die - he floated away. So that solves part of my confusion.
I get a little confused, though, because in Book 2 it seems like each horcrux contains an "instance" of Voldemort (in the case of the diary, a young Tom Riddle rather than a full-grown Voldemort), whereas in Book 1 and the books after Book 2, it seems like there's one "Voldemort" and he's simply not killable because of the existence of horcruxes. What's up with that?
I never thought that much about it, but I guess it could be both. Maybe they're like the magical paintings and photographs, which contain a sort of apparition that acts and feels the way the person did, but is relatively limited in what kinds of initiative it can take. I'm not very clear on the function or nature of souls in HP, but it does seem like a qualitative, dualist concept in which having a little bit of your soul left is just as good as having the whole thing. I don't know if it was established what would have happened if Voldemort had been killed: Would he have lost a horcrux as he took part of his soul back? Would the part of his soul in the horcruces have acted like a culture, to regrow a bit of a soul in him? Or was he fine as long as his soul was somewhere, like the mythical witches who locked their hearts up in a chest on the other side of the world?
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Dumbledore believed that Snape was working with him to deceive Voldemort into believing that Snape was working with Dumbledore to protect Harry so he could do all that stuff.
Voldemort believed that Snape was working with him to convince Dumbledore that Snape was working with him (Dumbledore) to convince Voldemort that Snape was working with Dumbledore to protect Harry so he could do all that stuff.
I think that's the end of it.
Anyway, Dumbledore thought Snape sometimes did evil things in order to shore up his credibility with Voldemort, and Voldemort thought Snape sometimes did good things in order to shore up his credibility with Dumbledore. We were supposed to be uncertain as to which it was, but I don't know anybody who was actually surprised in the end.
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Ironically, the way the repentant Snape tried to honor his love for Lily was by committing acts of terrible Death Eater depravity in order to maintain his cover. That one does seem to be a bit harder to understand / detect than most kinds of rebellion.
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to the second part of your question, no part of voldemort's soul died when quirrell did, and quirrell was not a horcrux. when quirrell died, the part of voldemort's soul that was inside him went off and lived in albania for two years and was pretty freaked out that he'd never find a body. this is the whole "i was less than the meanest ghost" bit.
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I get a little confused, though, because in Book 2 it seems like each horcrux contains an "instance" of Voldemort (in the case of the diary, a young Tom Riddle rather than a full-grown Voldemort), whereas in Book 1 and the books after Book 2, it seems like there's one "Voldemort" and he's simply not killable because of the existence of horcruxes. What's up with that?
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