why was voldemort a no show?

[happy_hannah]

this thought occured to me, as im sure it occured to many

why was voldemort not present at the end of HBP? Im guessing as J.k has stated that HBP and DH are 'two halves of the same book,' so the end of HBP is really the middle of an even bigger story.
but even still...
voldemort is always looking for a chance to kill harry,and he could have come along and done it. Or why not instruct death eaters to bring harry to him once their finished with dumbledore?

this leads me to another theory, and it is based on the idea that snape is evil.

1.snape wanted dumbledore out of the way (because after voldemort there is dumbledore in people to defeat)
2. snape is aware, too aware, that dumbledore's biggest weakness is seeing the good in people and forgiving them
3. snape knew that dumbledore would sacrifice himself over snape because dumbledore would do this for anyone, so he made the unbreakable vow with narcissa, and how did he know she would want to do this?

4. he told voldemort to give malfoy the job of killing dumbledore, knowing narcissa loves her son and would want snape's help in keeping him safe, snape then manipulates dumbledore by telling him what he has done, dumbledore agrees he will die instead (perhaps in return snape told him where a horcrux was...this is a bit wishy washy i know but stay with me) and so even mobilises harry because he doesn't want him to interfere.

keep in mind (in my opinion anyway) dumbledore thinks he is merely saving others over himself, i believe snape planned his death from the beginning

 

[Morfin Gaunt]

hi HH

ok first off, i think one of the reasons 'voldemort was a no show' is because...
death eater s are generally to scared to do any thing but follow orders. now voldy secretly fears dumbledore, he is the only wizard he has ever feared. i dnt think ant one knew about the uv with malfoys mother, and no one really thought draco would succeed in killing him.
so say dumbledore lived and got mad and started using his powerfull magic i reaqlly dont think voldy wanted to battle him again.

2. the snape theory, i havent really got anything to say on this because snape theorys canbe looked at from every angle, i personally believe my self that snape is good, thou i posted the other day a thread that supported snape is evil LOL

MG

 

[keeron_man_boy]

there is also the other half... snape is good


dumbledore did say that voldemort most likely expected malfoy to die trying to complete his mission.

voldemort was too scared perhaps? didnt think his plan would actually work? didnt want to be anywhere near dumbledore if thing went wrong?

jkr is good isnt she?

 

[Sirius Potter Fan]

OK, first, I have long ridden the fence on Snape's loyalties . . . I want to believe he is good . . . I guess there is that part of Dumbledore in me . . . but I just don't see any conclusive evidence either way. JKR has been so darned carefull about that. Any incident involving Snape can be seen and explained from either standpoint.

As far as Snape being the one to tell DD where a Horcrux is . . . I just don't see it. First, it could make him look less than honest to DD if Snape has held this secret so long, and second, I don't think Voldemort would authorize revealing the location of any of his Horcruxes for any reason, and if Snape knew of one and told Dumbledore without Voldemort's consent he could be setting himself up for a very long and painful death.

 

[cj633]

Maybe he was there. He could have entered Hogwarts through the vanishing cabinets with the others; left them to the task he had assigned while he stayed in the room of requirement to look for things he had left there when he was a student (one of his horcruxes).
Or he could be looking for other things that he has been wanting to search for since he applied for the dada teaching post. He could then have left through the vanishing cabinet once Dumbledore was killed before the OoTP sealed the cabinet and / or room.
Or he could still be there hiding in the chamber of secrets or somewhere else (Slytherin's common room- surprise Sluggy! - LOL - you thought you were save at Hogwarts!!) In another thread we have speculated why HBP ended with Harry still at Hogwarts and not at the train station. This might be why.

 

[George]

Hello all,

In all likelihood, Voldemort had no desire to go to Hogwarts that night. He generally reserves his appearances for times when he can be in the spotlight, without having to dodge curse and hex and whatnot. The Battle of Hogwarts was a chaotic episode in which several major Death Eaters proved their worth; fighting broke out all over the castle and, in such battles, chances of death are rather elevated; as far as I can remember, one DE died because of the big blond idiot that kept shooting Avada Kedavras everywhere. Would Voldemort want to put himself through that? I think not...

Furthermore, the argument that he is afraid of Dumbledore still stands. I don't think Voldemort would have wanted to face a headmaster who knew his school was under attack. And lastly, there is always the chance that DD himself put spells around Hogwarts to keep Tom Riddle from ever coming near it again. We know DD suspected LV from the word "go". So it is probable he had taken some sort of precaution about it. And LV must have known this. Hence, only Death Eaters went in, on what we can all consider to be an unlikely mission.

At least that's my take on it. Little to do with whether or not Snape is evil; unless LV had some reason to believe Snape would NOT act as instructed, in which case he would have used others to keep an eye on him anyway. Still, Snape is probably just sitting between the two sides, biding his time until a clear winner emerges. And so long as he can keep comfortable and safe doing it, I don't see why he should stop. A lot like Peter Pettigrew, but with more resources to hide his "slippery" nature.

 

[cj633]

Hello all,

In all likelihood, Voldemort had no desire to go to Hogwarts that night. He generally reserves his appearances for times when he can be in the spotlight, without having to dodge curse and hex and whatnot.

He does like the spotlight, but he was at the ministry of magic not showing up until later, letting his underlings handle things before making his appearance. It did not goes as he had hoped. Yet he still made an appearance. He ccould have been waiting for the same thing at Hogwarts and once again things did not go as planned except that Dumbledore was killed. He might have been waiting to confront and kill Harry as he tried a the ministry. His hencemen, however did not win the battle and everyone fled.

 

[Sirius Potter Fan]

I agree cj . . . Voldemort is a general, not a mere soldier. He does the planning and training, then takes all the glory! When things go badly he shows up hoping to fix them if possible, at Hogwarts . . . I think he knew enough that what needed doing at that point had been done, he thinks he is saving Harry for dessert . . . Voldemort wants this thorn in his side taken care of in spectacular fashion, so ALL will know of Voldemorts superiority. (he-he-he!)

 

[Alz]

I'm one of those that believe he was there - he used the DE's and the Order fight to slip in un-noticed.
I believe that he was stood at the other end of the cabinets waiting for confirmation his decoy was working and slipped in the backdoor.
I cant believe Voldemort would give up the chance to get into Hogwarts almost undetected!