Volu m e II - Purdue University Calumet

aptism marks the beginning of his bloody and vengeful war instead of a self-sacrificing journey for worldwide
salvation like Christ’s. Rowling clearly inverts biblical allusions to baptism to characterize Voldemort
as satanic in his rebirthing scene.
Further reading of the rebirth shows that Rowling employs the same inverted treatment on biblical
allusions referencing communion. Voldemort greedily takes Wormtail’s flesh, his father’s bone, and
Harry’s blood. Only Wormtail is a willing participant and even he “[breaks] into petrified sobs” when the
time for his sacrifice comes (GoF 641). The forceful taking of Harry’s blood and his father’s bone depicts
how “the act of Voldemort’s rebirth is a reversal of the natural…order” (Gibbons 88). The natural order
would be more in line with the biblical story of first communion. During the last supper, Christ willingly
offered his body and blood, in the form of bread and wine, to his disciples saying: “This is my body which is
given for you…This cup is the new testament in my blood, which is shed for you” (Luke 22.19-20). Unlike
Christ who willingly gives himself for the salvation of all, Lord Voldemort takes the body and blood of
others for his reincarnation. These opposing ideas cause the scene to play as “a parody in which a Satanfigure
inverts Christ’s sacrifice” (Lavoie 84).
Through this inversion the Dark Lord does indeed rise again and, in this way, he attains his goal of
mastering death. However, the use of biblical allusion and popular ideas about Satan show that he is raised
in the form of the Devil, not Christ. This illustrates that his wish to conquer death through immortality is
wrong and, therefore, his resurrection cannot be long lasting. Where Christ fully defeats “the last enemy,”
Voldemort conquers death only momentarily as his satanic attempts at immortality are eventually defeated
by Rowling’s true Master of Death (DH 328). Consequently, the climactic rebirthing scene in Rowling’s
fourth book becomes the turning point of the novels. It cements Voldemort’s association with Satan as his
fear of death leads him to invert Christ’s sacrifice in desperate attempts to gain immortality. Voldemort
returns to full power, putting the Wizarding World in desperate need of a Christ figure. Luckily, Rowling
develops Harry Potter as the series’ Christ figure while characterizing Voldemort as his devilish enemy.
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