Sycophant Hex ~ View topic - Any theories on who R.A.B is?

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Nakhash Mekashefah

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:10 am

Joined: 29 Nov 2004 Posts: 20

Quote:

wouldn't that mean that Harry Potter OWNS part of Voldemort's soul

Unless Mundungus stole and sold it. I'm thinking Harry might need to get Dung out of MLE custody.

Nak

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Nakhash Mekashefah

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deus-ex-maria

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:17 am

Joined: 10 Mar 2005 Posts: 12

The first thing I thought, on seeing the initials R.A.B., was Regulus Black. However, this struck me too:

Quote:

Harry had not expected this, but cleared his throat and said loudly, wand aloft, "Accio Horcrux!"
Wth a noise like an explosion, something very large and pale erupted out of the dark water some twenty feet away; before Harry could see what it was, it had vanished again with a crashing splash that made great, deep ripples on the mirrored surface.

Could R.A.B. now be the Inferius that erupted from the lake when Harry tried to Accio the Horcrux, and if so, does he have it still? I still think that the evidence points to Regulus, and the locket in twelve, Grimmauld Place. I have to wonder why it was only that one Inferius that leapt from the lake, though.

JackieJLH

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 4:33 am

Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 130 Location: Florida, USA

Ooh...didn't notice that...interesting theory.

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~Jackie

I once had a real life. Then I discovered Harry Potter. Then I discovered Harry Potter on the internet... *shrug* Real life is overrated anyway.

Owlbait

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 1:18 pm

Joined: 01 Jul 2005 Posts: 92

I read a fascinating theory that suggests Regulus is not dead, but is in hiding under the name Stubby Boardman. This is the guy Luna says Doris Purkiss had dinner with and became convinced was really Sirius Black.

Unfortunately, I think it's blown by the fact that Kreacher was forced to obey Harry. If Regulus were still alive, he would not have had to.

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Osiodhachain

Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2005 2:28 pm

Joined: 19 Jul 2005 Posts: 9

Okay, so I'm not feeling nearly as clever as I was. I was briefly under the illusion that I would be the only fan to quickly discover the possibility that R.A.B. was Regulus Black. I wrote this little analysis in the wee hours last night. I think there's a good case here.

First off, the note:

To the Dark Lord

I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

What we know:

1. The person who wrote this is most probably dead, and has been for some years. They felt that their death was immenent (perhaps they were suffering the effect of drinking the water?).

2. S/he was a powerful witch or wizard, to have foiled the defenses set up by Voldemort at the underground lake.

3. S/he was likely one of his followers, as it has been noted that only Voldemort’s followers consistently refer to him as the Dark Lord.

4. The author of the note was not above gloating a bit by going to the trouble to take the credit for discovering Voldy’s big secret.

5. The writer potentially knew the vague details about the prophecy, having expressed the desire that Voldemort would “meet his match” as a mortal. This also indicates that s/he was well aware of the purpose of a horcrux.

My best guess, working with these clues, is that the author of the note was Regulus Black, Sirius’s brother.

Note this passage from OotP, The Noble and Most Ancient House of Black, pg 111-112 (American version):

-----

Sirius smiled bitterly and ran a hand through his long, unkempt hair. “Because I hated the whole lot of them: my parents, with their pure-blood mania, convinced that to be a Black made you practically loyal...my idiot brother, soft enough to believe them...that’s him.”
Sirius jabbed a finger at the very bottom of the tree, at the name Regulus Black. A date of death (some fifteen years previously) followed the date of birth.
“He was younger than me,” said Sirius, “and a much better son, as I was contantly reminded.”
“But he died,” said Harry.
“Yeah,” said Sirius. “Stupid idiot...he joined the Death Eaters.”
...
“Was he killed by an Auror?” Harry asked tentatively.
“Oh no,” said Sirius. “No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort’s orders, more likely, I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, he got in so far, then panicked about what he was being asked to do and tried to back out. Well, you don’t just hand in your resignation to Voldemort. It’s a lifetime of service or death.”

-----

Sirius probably underestimated the significance of his brother’s death. Regulus may very well have been important enough for Voldemort to kill him personally. Given that the fake locket was still in the basin, it would seem that Voldemort was unaware of Regulus’s knowledge of the Horcruxes. But to go to the trouble of killing him or having him killed, Voldemort must have known of the younger Black’s wavering loyalty to the Death Eaters. What did Regulus do to betray his uneasiness? Surely he wasn't so foolish as to say, "Erm, I'm not really that into this killing stuff. Can I go home now?" More likely he was caught sniffing around for more details about Voldemort's bid for immortality.

Regulus was murdered some fifteen years before OotP, right around the time of Harry’s birth. Voldemort had apparently been into his soul-splitting hobby long before then. Given the type of household that Regulus grew up in, it is safe to assume that it must have taken something quite serious and gruesome to scare him straight; perhaps the idea of ripping one’s own soul apart for the purpose of immortality? Is it possible that Regulus witnessed one of these episodes and began to figure out what the Dark Lord was doing? Given that the Black household was ancient and steeped in Pure-blood superiority, if not the Dark Arts themselves, it isn't unlikely that the library at Grimmauld place might have contained rare books that gave some clue about Horcruxes beyond what Hermione could dig up in the restricted section at Hogwarts.

Regulus might have been able to destroy the locket with Voldemort being none the wiser. Or it might be hidden away in the Noble and Most Ancient House of Black: Grimmauld Place, which Harry now conveniently owns. Knowing Kreecher’s pack-rat tendencies regarding anything belonging to the noble Black family, he might have ferreted the precious locket away somewhere. Me thinks that, if the real locket does indeed still exist, it is right under the noses of the members of the Order of the Phoenix. Or to make the treasure hunt more difficult, Mundungus Fletcher might have stolen it from Grimmauld Place, along with some of the goblets and silver that Harry caught him with on the streets of Hogsmeade.

In an earlier paragraph in the same chapter, Sirius mentions that he inherited the money that enabled him to leave home from an “Uncle Alphard.” This relative could, perhaps, be the origin of the middle initial in “R.A.B.,” giving us Regulus Alphard Black.

I'm sure that more evidence could crop up, if we are in fact on the right trail. But this is all I've got for now.

~Sarah

Kherezae

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 8:59 pm

Joined: 16 Jul 2005 Posts: 29 Location: Maryland

I read an interesting theory in the comments to this LJ post:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/garlandgraves/3409.html

I've posted the link before... it's not mine, but it's got its good points.

Anyway, R.A.B. would need a second person to help him or her drink the potion, right? Say it was Regulus. If Dumbledore was right, he'd need to have someone small and without strong magic so they could take the boat across together. (I would have just brought broomsticks or something, but whatever.)

What if Regulus brought Kreacher with him? We've been shown that spells keyed to wizard magic don't react to house elf magic, and Kreacher is small. Regulus could have ordered Kreacher to feed him the potion. Even if he was too senseless to do much of anything once he got the Horcrux (he's no Dumbledore, after all), it's possible that Kreacher could have done his house-elf form of Apparating to get Regulus out of there. Or Regulus mustered that last bit of strength, same as Dumbledore, whatever. Anyway, since house elves don't betray their master's secrets, no one would know, since who would think to ask Kreacher even if they had the power to get the answer from him?

It'd make it even more important that Harry inherited Kreacher.

It sounds like a strong theory to me, but then again, how are any of us to know what's going on in JKR's mind? ._. Oh well.

Verity Brown

Posted: Wed Jul 20, 2005 9:19 pm

Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 150 Location: Midwest USA

Kherezae wrote:

What if Regulus brought Kreacher with him?

That is an utterly brilliant theory! Well done! I had been racking my brains trying to figure out who could have helped Regulus, and not coming up with anything that seemed probable. But this makes perfect sense.

I had been wondering how Dumbledore knew as much as he did about the cave. But we already know that Dumbledore has spent some time with Kreacher, and indeed seems to consider him more important than almost anyone else does. This also makes house-elves even more important a factor than they ever were before.

Bravo, Kherezae!

Verity

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I still have implicit faith in Severus Snape. Now more than ever.

Meg Erskine

Posted: Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:17 pm

Joined: 20 Jul 2005 Posts: 3 Location: Waterloo, ON, Canada

Thought this was interesting- a bit taken from the interview JK did with Melissa from Leakey Cauldron and Emerson from Mugglenet:

Quote:

MA: R.A.B.

JKR: Ohhh, good.

[All laugh.]

JKR: No, I'm glad! Yes?

MA: Can we figure out who he is, from what we know so far?

[Note: JKR has adopted slightly evil look here]

JKR: Do you have a theory?

MA: We've come up with Regulus Black.

JKR: Have you now?

MA: Uh-oh.

[Laughter.]

JKR: Well, I think that would be, um, a fine guess.

MA: And perhaps, being Sirius’s brother, he had another mirror –

JKR: [drums fingers on soda can]

MA: Does he have the other mirror, or Sirius’s mirror —

JKR: I have no comment at all on that mirror. That mirror is not on the table. [Laughter from all; Jo's is maniacal.]

To me, it sounds like Regulus is a pretty good option...

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rowenablue

Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 5:58 pm

Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 2

I also thought of Regulus Black, at first because he was the only person I could come up with who had similar initials. But then I really started thinking about it. I have never read anything in any of the HP books that was mentioned without being relevant to the plot. So, when has Regulus and his death become relevant to the story? It hasn't yet, or at least that I can figure out.

Another thing that was mentioned in HBP that seems pretty pointless on the surface, was thet Mundungus was stealing things from Grimmauld Place and selling them. That made me remember that Kreacher had been trying to save as many artifacts from the house as possible when the Order was cleaning it out in book five. He even had a pile of things in his nest under the boiler when Hermione left him his Christmas present.

So, my theory is that, Regulus, becoming disillusioned with Voldemort's cause, found out about the Horcruxes and, realizing that he was going to die, took one and left it at Grimmauld Place. Kreacher was left to protect it, and now that he has been ordered to Hogwarts, nothing was in the way of Mundungus taking it from the house and selling it. Where the locket is now remains to be seen.

JackieJLH

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 5:46 am

Joined: 23 Mar 2005 Posts: 130 Location: Florida, USA

Okay, this is pure speculation, but I was thinking about the Cave scene as a whole, and this is what I've come up with...feel free to laugh. Smile

Assuming that RAB is Regulus Black, and he DID bring Kreacher with him (a purely brilliant theory posted by Kherezae), what if Regulus found more than one Horcrux?

Wait, wait, wait, I have some actual reasoning behind this...

Regulus finds one Horcruxes - obviously one of those that Dumbledore had not yet identified. For some reason, he has it with him. As in, physically located on his person somewhere. Perhaps he thinks that Voldemort can tell that the Horcrux has been found, or destroyed, etc. and he is hurrying to get to the second known Horcrux...not sure about that yet.

Anyway, he goes, finds the locket Horcrux, but is stuck. To get the locket, he will have to die. But as I said, he's probably already pretty sure that's going to happen anyway, so he goes with that. He identifies the potion, goes home, recreates it, gets Kreacher, and heads back.

Kreacher is given a few orders - first of all, he is to force-feed Regulus the potion, no matter what happens. Even if he doesn't want to (which is probable, since Kreacher loved Regulus' mother, and therefore probably loved her 'good' son). Second, he tells Kreacher to take the Horcrux from the basin, place the fake one there, and refill the potion. Then he tells Kreacher to get out of there as quickly as possible, and keep the locket hidden.

So Regulus drinks the potion. Kreacher gets the locket, and gets ready to load Regulus back into the boat and get the hell out of there. But Regulus knows that he's dying. Perhaps the inferi are attacking, perhaps there's no way Kreacher could lift Regulus into the boat. Maybe the inferi drag Regulus into the water and kill him. Maybe Kreacher realizes that Regulus is doing something that would be against his mother's wishes, and leaves him there, since he wasn't directly ordered to bring him home. However it plays out, Regulus dies in the cave, and Kreacher returns to Grimmauld Place with the locket, and a secret.

Meanwhile, Regulus' body is floating around in the lake with a Horcrux still in his pocket. It's impossible to tell him apart from the inferi, so even if Voldemort came to the lake, he would never notice him there. And then along comes Harry, who in childlike hope draws his wand and yells, 'Accio Horcrux'!. A single body jumps out of the water momentarily. Harry and Dumbledore assume it's an inferius. But I'm wondering if maybe it was Regulus, still there after 16 years...

It would make things interesting - not only does he have to track down a locket that may have been pawned off somewhere by Mundungus, but he would have to get past a lake filled with inferi and find one specific body that contains a horcrux.

Or maybe, as some people suggested, the liquid WAS a horcrux, (the original potion in the bowl) and when Regulus drank it, it became entombed in him...the replacement potion is just that - a potion. Deadly, but exactly as it appears.

Like I said, just a strange theory that came from hours of debate over the 'Accio Horcrux' moment among a very sleepy group of Potterheads.

_________________
~Jackie

I once had a real life. Then I discovered Harry Potter. Then I discovered Harry Potter on the internet... *shrug* Real life is overrated anyway.

Verity Brown

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 9:49 pm

Joined: 14 Mar 2005 Posts: 150 Location: Midwest USA

JackieJLH wrote:

Meanwhile, Regulus' body is floating around in the lake with a Horcrux still in his pocket. It's impossible to tell him apart from the inferi, so even if Voldemort came to the lake, he would never notice him there. And then along comes Harry, who in childlike hope draws his wand and yells, 'Accio Horcrux'!. A single body jumps out of the water momentarily. Harry and Dumbledore assume it's an inferius. But I'm wondering if maybe it was Regulus, still there after 16 years...

I, too, was puzzled by the "Accio Horcrux!" business. I'm not sure if I believe that Voldemort would store more than one Horcrux in the same place, but this is an interesting potential explanation for what happened in the cave. Providing, of course, that Dumbledore's simple explanation of that wasn't accurate. I'm undecided on that one.

Verity

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I still have implicit faith in Severus Snape. Now more than ever.

Diana

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:09 pm

Head Moderator Joined: 04 Jan 2005 Posts: 116

^ That is an interesting theory. I never really thought about it that way (re: Accio Horcrux) until now. I mean, if you think about it, wouldn't Voldemort's enchantments cause ALL of the inferi to come out of the water at once, and not just one?

Hmm...

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cassiopeia77

Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:10 am

Joined: 15 Jul 2005 Posts: 7

Middle name A that relate to constellations

Andromeda
Antlia
Apus
Aquarius
Aquila - Depictied as an eagle, Aquila is named for the bird that belonged to Zeus (Fawkes = Dumbledore). Aquila's most famous task was carrying the mortal Ganymede to the heavens to serve as Zeus' cup bearer. A stretch, maybe Regulus tried to turn good and LV found out, and had him killed

Ara
Aries

Auriga - I'm going with this, for Regulus middle name (if RAB is him)

"Auriga was protrayed as a charioteer who was seen carying two to three children on his arm. He was also known as Erechtheus, son of Hephaestus (Called Vulcan by the Romans). Hephaestus, who was crippled as a child, was believed to have invented the chariot for his who created it so that his son could move him about more easily" This fits with the way in which the Horcrux had to be retrieved. Traveling across the lake in a boat (chariot) and the fire to keep the Inferi away; Hesphaestus was the blacksmith, forger of fire....I'm intrigued by the "Accio Horcrux" with the single body jumping, might have been Regulus.......this is all a big stretch of course and I don't pretend to be a mythology expert.

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