Harry Potter question about C.O.S. Dobby's knowledge of Voldemort?

Question

When finishing up Chamber of Secrets I came across a few lines right after Dobby gets Harry's sock from Mr. Malfoy:

I've just got one question, Dobby," said Harry as Dobby pulled on Harry's sock with shaking hands. "You told me all this had nothing to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember? Well--"
"It was a clue, sir," said Dobby, his eyes widening as though this was obvious. "Was giving you a clue. "The Dark Lord before he changed his name, could be freely named, sir." p339 chapter Dobby's Reward

The first part - "You told me all this had nothing to do with He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, remember? Well--" is what confuses me the most b/c I cannot find where Dobby says anything about Voldy having "nothing to do with it" and also the second part I just do not understand what he means when Dobby says "It was a clue, sir," said Dobby, his eyes widening as though this was obvious. "Was giving you a clue. "The Dark Lord before he changed his name, could be freely named, sir."

Just not quite sure what he means as far as giving Harry a clue. Kind of seems like he was stating the obvious but how would saying Voldy had "nothing to do with it" be a clue when Harry would have know way of knowing Tom Riddle and Voldemort were the same person? Harry seemed to get it in retrospect and the conversation basically stops right there. Anyway I am sure I am just overlooking something - you tell me. If you could give page #'s of passages to an earlier convo with Dobby that I can't seem to find I would appreciate it. Particularly any parts where Dobby brings up Voldemort or Tom Riddle. Thanks in advance!

Answer 1

He says Voldemort has nothing to do with it, IT refering to the DIARY of Tom Marvolo Riddle... so he gave the clue to harry, pointing him to the diary of tom riddle, rather than saying voldemort had something to do with the diary, voldemort didn't while tom was still in school, because he only became Lord Voldemort AFTER he finished hogwarts, in which he penned the diary.



Harry would never have guessed Tom Riddle was Voldemort's past persona, so dobby hinted that there was a connection between the two personas...



He would have thought that tom riddle was just some OTHER crazy guy, NOT voldemort's past self...



And you want to check one of the first chapters, chapter two I believe, since that's when dobby tells harry he's in mortal danger, and tells harry "it's got nothing to do with He who most not be named"... he later finds dobby again later in the book, towards the middle, and then, towards the end of the book when Lucius Malfoy is confronted...



He wanted harry to know there was a connection between the author of the diary and voldemort, but he couldn't divulge all the information since the Malfoy's were death eaters (harry didn't know this yet of course) and dobby was STILL in service to Lucius Malfoy until the END of the book...



Does this help?

Answer 2

Dobby Gets A Sock

Answer 3

"All right!" cried Harry, grabbing the elf's arm to stop him. "You can't tell me. I understand. But why are you warning me?" A sudden, unpleasant thought struck him. "Hang on - this hasn't got anything to do with Vol- - sorry - with You-Know-Who, has it? You could just shake or nod," he added hastily as Dobby's head tilted worryingly close to the wall again.

Slowly, Dobby shook his head.

"Not - not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, sir -"

But Dobby's eyes were wide and he seemed to be trying to give Harry a hint. Harry, however, was completely lost.

HP & The Chamber of Secrets, Dobby's Warning. In my US paperback copy it is on pages 16-17.



Dobby comes to Harry's bedroom to warn him not to go back to Hogwarts. Harry, of course, doesn't take to this idea well and wants to know why, but Dobby can't tell him. Harry asks if it has anything to do You-Know-Who, and Dobby says no, because he is trying to clue Harry in that it doesn't deal with present day Voldemort (where everyone is afraid to speak his name and uses pseudonyms like YKW and HWMNBN), but that it deals with a sixteen year old Tom Riddle in a diary. At that time, no one was afraid to say Voldemort and there were no need for pseudonyms.



It is not a great clue. It's all part of the humor with Dobby. He tries to stop Harry from getting on the train, and instead he flies in a car and is almost smashed by the Whomping Willow and gets in huge trouble. He tries to scare Harry back to the Dursleys with a cursed bludger and instead almost kills him. He tries to give Harry a great clue about who is behind the trouble at Hogwarts - and instead totally misleads him.

Answer 4

Because Harry asked if "Voldemort" had anything to do with it. Voldemort didn't. Tom Riddle did. Which was Voldemort's name before he became who he was then. Tom Riddle's diary was what it had to do with everything, so I suspect that's what Dobby ment.

Answer 5

The first part is in where he first appers to Harry.

The second part is like...well, Voldemort has a whole bunch of names; Lord Voldemort, Tom Riddle, The Dark Lord, My Lord, and, of corse, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. It's like saying 'just because i said something, doesn't mean it isn't something else either'..... U no what i mean kinda?