In Harry Potter 5 how is the prophecy a weapon for lord voldemort?

Answer 1

Lord Voldemort does not know what the prophecy is therefore it is a weapon for his enemies that he does not posses. He wishes to lay hands upon it both to use for himself and to deny it to his enemies.

Answer 2

Voldemort only heard part of the prophecy through Snape, which was the part where it said that the one to defeat the Dark Lord will be born in the end of July, whose parents have battled him before. Which leaves Neville or Harry. So he chooses Harry as a the biggest threat and he wants to know what went wrong.

Answer 3

Ever hear the old saying "Knowledge is power?" Voldemort is always looking for ways to solidify his power and there is little worse for him than finding out he either has flawed or incomplete knowledge. And incomplete is exactly the case for Voldemort's knowledge of the prophecy.

As those who have read the book know, the prophecy states "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." Snape overheard Trelawney giving the prophecy, but only in part. Possibly just the the first two lines, possibly all except "but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not" (I think most likely Snape heard the first two lines and thats about it). In either case, Snape told his dark master what he had heard (remember this was supposed to be before he turned spy for Dumbledore and Dumbledore claims Snape was sorry for telling this to Voldemort). Hearing only a portion of the prophecy, Voldemort knew to look for a child (a boy as the prophecy says Voldemort "will mark him") born at the end of July to parents who had defied him three times. From Dumbledore we know there were only two possible choices, Harry (July 31st) and Neville (July 30th). And also from Dumbledore we know Voldemort chose the half-blood Harry versus the pure-blood Neville as his equal. Though Voldemort seems to claim pure-blood witches and wizards are the only kind there should be, he himself is a half-blood.

So what Voldemort wants the prophecy for is to know exactly what it said. From there he may be able to find a way to defeat Harry without having to worry about Harry having power he "knows not."

Plus he can also use the prophecy as a whole to both taunt Harry with. If he believes Harry knows of the prophecy but does not know it all, he can simply tell him that he may have told him that he wasn't really his equal. Rather Neville was. Something to get Harry to doubt himself at the most inopportune moment.

Also if he believes Harry knows of the prophecy but doesn't know what it says then he can use it to lure him to his death. He seems to expect Harry to be as intrested in these things as he is, so in his mind Harry would be as likely to go after it as he would.

Answer 4

if voldemort had known all the prophecy, harry wouldn't be alive now, but since he didn't he knows nothing of what to expect. except what he can guess. so since harry knows the prophecy and voldemort doesn't it is really a weapon for harry not voldemort, but if voldemort had found out what it said, he would have known what to expect and killed harry faster.

Answer 5

It is the part of the prophecy that Voldemort didn't hear that makes it so significant to him.

Voldemort doesn't know that his conflict with Harry must end in one of them killing the other. He doesn't know that Harry might have to sacrifice his innocence in order to defeat him.

Answer 6

It's a weapon because he thinks he can find the answer to how to destroy Harry. He realizes he didn't hear the whole prophecy so he tries to listen to all of it. Dumbledore even explains this. If you look back in the OotP you'll find it either in chpt. 37 (US) or beginning of 38. =]

Answer 7

because when snape heard the prophecy he heard only part of it and the part of which he heard only told of hp or nevil being his enemy or defeator. voldemort his smarrt enough to know that knowlege is power.

Answer 8

i dont know. mabey she didnt mean it that way.