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Who is R.A.B. and where is Slytherin's Locket?

by David Haber

In the dramatic climax of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore and Harry recover a locket from Voldemort's secret cave. Only after Dumbledore "dies" does Harry open the locket and find the note from R.A.B. But who is R.A.B., and where is the locket now?

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Reader Comments: (Page 44)

rab
I hadn't even thought about the possibility of a Fidelius Charm being involved. Good catch! I wonder, though, whether Kreatcher could be the Secret Keeper. Can someone who is not a witch or wizard be a Secret Keeper? It would require the use of a wand. Perhaps the argument could be made that Fidelius is something like the Unbreakable Vow, perhaps, as far as casting the charm, the Secret Keeper and the Secret bonded by a 3rd party, but that then brings in the whole messy business of a 3rd party knowing this secret which should be hidden. I believe the Fidelius is only between the Secret and the Keeper alone. Because it requires a wand, and since we know house-elves are forbidden by magical law to carry or use wands, Kreature could not be Secret Keeper. I have no doubt, though, that Regulus could have done it.

Jo has said that the question of what happens to a Secret when the Secret Keeper s be addressed in ly Hallows. The most obvious reason for addressing this issue is Number 12 Gimmauld Place and Albus' , but if the real reason to address this is because of the locket, or any horcrux, it would make Harry's job exceedingly difficult.

Posted by Monkeeshrines from Orlando FL on May 3, 2007 2:42 PM

I think that the trophy is the last Horcrux. You know - Riddle's trophy for services to the school. First of all, it's literally a trophy, which would be an amusing little jest on Jo's part, and second of all, it would be great for Riddle because it would remind him of how he tricked everyone in the school. So here's what I think of the
The diary � previously in Lucius Malfoy�s possession � destroyed by Harry
The ring � previously in Marvolo Gaunt�s possession � destroyed by Dumbledore
The locket � previously in 12 Grimmauld Place � destroyed by RAB
The cup � Room of Requirement
The snake � with Voldemort
The trophy � in the cabinet
The seventh piece � in Voldemort

Posted by Kelly from Canada on May 3, 2007 2:43 PM

The other clue that makes me now think that the locket is the one found in 12 Grimmauld place is the reference to the crystal bottle with an opal stopper filled with what looked like blood to Harry which was in the same cabinet as the locket...For some reason I think this is significant. Would this be blood used to get through the first gateway to the cave, or could it be something like the antidote to the potion? There are two bottles on the front cover of DH, one green and one possibly purple or dark red. Slughorn also has a crystal bottle filled with dark red (dragon's) blood at the start of HBP.

I don't think RAB is the Bloody Baron because Baron is not his name but a title...he would be Baron X so his initials would not be R.A.B. but B something something.

I think when Flitwick says that you could look through the living room window and not see the Potters it means that you would somehow see them but not recognise them for who they were. Hence everyone saw the locket at 12 Grimmauld Place but didn't recognise it for what it was....more importantly Harry didn't remember it as the locket he had seen at 12 Grimmauld place when he later saw it in the pensieve, when he had no trouble identifying the goblets that had been there when he saw Mundungus with them.

Yes it does make Harry's task much more difficult...but then it's unlikely that Aberforth is going to say, by the way I think I have Slytherin's locket...here it is. I do however think Parseltongue is the key to opening it as has been suggested by someone else.

We already have one eater who has turned against Voldemort i.e. Snape. I think something happened that was so repugnant that it caused Regulus to turn against Voldemort....maybe the same thing that caused Snape to change sides....perhaps it was that Voldemort was prepared to a baby to make a horcrux....And Malfoy is almost convinced to change sides by Dumbledore before he s so I don't think that once a eater always a eater.

Posted by Joe from England on May 3, 2007 4:45 PM

Monkeeshrines...in PoA when Flitwick is explaining about the Fidelius Charm, he says it it "an immensely complex spell involving the magical concealment of a secret inside a single, living soul" (p152) so presumably anyone with a living soul can be a secret keeper. Do house elves have souls? Muggles do so I guess a muggle could be a secret keeper...but I think this unlikely somehow. Does the secret then pass over to the other side with the soul when the secret keeper s?

Could Regulus have made himself secret keeper? I guess we don't know enough about how the Fidelius Charm is cast.

When Harry et al came across the locket at Grimmauld Place, they each must have tried to open it...the book says that none of them could open it. This to me implies that they spent a while handling it and passing it round and trying to open it in turn before passing it on to the next person. This makes me all the more sure that it has been magically disguised otherwise I am sure Harry would have recognised it with hindsight when he saw it in the pensieve. To my mind, the Fidelius Charm is the only spell that has been described in detail that could disguise the locket in this way.

Posted by Joe from England on May 4, 2007 02:48 AM

Monkeeshrines,
Would Kreacher need a wand in order to be a secret keeper? One wand might be necessary, but not two.
I think that a house elf would be a perfect secret keeper if everyone thinks they are forbidden. Wizards already underestimate them ( Up S.P.E.W.). They may have the ability, but were never asked to do it before.
Wormtail could be the reason we know more about the Fidelius charm, when Harry needs to find Godric's Hollow.

Posted by Patty from Quincy,Massachusetts on May 4, 2007 05:16 AM

Yeah, JOE, but who says R.A.B. has to be someones name? It could be a title or nickname. Even in the note, it said " TO THE DARK LORD," which implies that R.A.B. could just as well be something like something something Baron, or anything, for that matter.

It also implies that the person didnt know the Dark Lords real name.

Posted by Dante on May 4, 2007 09:03 AM

Dante,
The fact that RAB addresses the note "To the Dark Lord" does not imply not knowing his name. All of Voldemort's followers called him that way; even Snape calls himm The Dark Lord, if I remember well. I think it was Regulus who wrote the note, and he was a Eater - so obviously he knew his name. I believe he realised Voldemort was going too far and decided to try and stop him. Anyway, we'll see in a couple of months...

Posted by Olga from Barcelona, Spain on May 4, 2007 12:21 PM

I meant that the Horcrux destroyer probably doesnt know his REAL name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, who even Dumbledore says very few people know or connect to the present Dark Lord.

Posted by Dante on May 5, 2007 11:33 AM

Sorry, Dante. I didn't get your point. However, I think RAB stands for a real name, probably someone who's been mentioned some time throughout the series or someone who can be connected to some fact we already know or can guess. Or maybe I'm completely wrong. As I said, we'll see in a couple of months.

Posted by Olga from Barcelona, Spain on May 7, 2007 07:58 AM

But if R.A.B is Regulus Black then how did he get to know about the horcruxes when Dumbledore was only assured of their existence in the 6th book.
And why would anyone sign off with RAB unless it wasn't his/her initials?
Unless of course it was a pet name or the person was trying to hide their identity from voldermort. Because i mean you find out about the horcruxes and you've taken one and intend to destroy it and maybe the others. So you wouldn't exactly leave your name behind and sign your warrant and make Voldermort come after you.

And i agree with Joe that the Bloody Baron is just a nickname and Baron is a title not an initial.
So i don't really think it's the Baron...

Posted by Divi from Dubai, U.A.E on May 8, 2007 05:07 AM

Did Dumbledore really only find out about the horcruxes in the sixth book? I think he suspected that Voldemort had created one before that. He says at one point that he has been searching for them for "a long time"...can't find the quote just now.

Regulus came from a family of dark wizards who might have known about horcruxes...If he could perform the fidelius charm, which Flitwick describes as very complex, then he must have been a bit good as a wizard...his brother was one of the brightest in the school...

Posted by Joe from England on May 8, 2007 11:00 AM

Divi from Dubai,

How would Regulus know about the Horcruxes? Well, Regulus was a Eater and must have found out about the locket Horcrux by chance, I don't think that he knew that there where more than one.

The message in the fake locket said �To the Dark Lord, I know I be 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 in the hope that when you meet your match, you be mortal once more. R.A.B.�

�To the Dark Lord� this implies that one writing was a eater, as only they call him like that.
�I be long before you read this�� this tells me that he knows that he soon , so it might be that Voldemort or his cronies where already looking for him.
��but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret�� He WANTS Voldemort to know it was him, thus the leaving of his INITIALS.
��I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can�� No mention of other Horcruxes, thus he did not know of their existence.
��I face in the hope that when you meet your match, you be mortal once more�� Probably regret of remorse at having been a Eater. We know that Regulus had tried to leave the Eaters when he has supposedly ed.
��R.A.B.� I believe the initials correspond to Regulus Arcturus Black, but could also be Regulus Alphard Black.

Joe from England,

I agree with you. Dumbledore wanted Slughorn�s memory because he already suspected about the Horcruxes, and he thought that the memory held something important about them, which it turned to be true. Through Slughorn's memory he found out how many Horcruxes to look for.

Posted by Emilio from Mexico City, Mexico on May 8, 2007 3:55 PM

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