What's your favorite headcanon?

[Themrys]

Errr... What?
Fair attempt to spare her?
When?

Using a stunning spell first would count, but immediately jumping to murder?

I mean okay, the murder-spell is the only bit of magic snake-face* knows, but that's neither in favour of his sanity nor a fair attempt at sparing Snape's crush.

*By the way, what is it with snake-themed baddies and being obsessed with (pre)teens?
Orochimaru, Voldemort, Coil...

He told her to step away. That's a plot point. If he hadn't done that, her sacrifice wouldn't have worked. Yes, it was a pretty poor atempt, but this is Voldemort, after all.

As for why he didn't just stun her, or use any other nonlethal spell ... well, the Doylist reason is that Lily had to die for the plot to work, and it would have looked rather undignified if she had hopped around trying to protect her son after having her legs locked together, or whatever.

There's no Watsonian reason given, but I think my headcanon is that Voldemort only can/wants do the killing spell and nothing else.

I mean, we have met a strictly one-spell man, Lockhart who is only competent at erasing people's memories. We have also met Harry Potter who, more often than not, defaults to disarming opponents.

Perhaps Voldemort just reflexively casts the killing spell whenever he points his wand at someone. Perhaps he even intended to stun Lily, but killed her on accident. "Whoops, force of habit. Oh, well, I'll find another pretty readhead for Snape after I finish this."

[Keltest]

Errr... What?
Fair attempt to spare her?
When?

Using a stunning spell first would count, but immediately jumping to murder?

I mean okay, the murder-spell is the only bit of magic snake-face* knows, but that's neither in favour of his sanity nor a fair attempt at sparing Snape's crush.

*By the way, what is it with snake-themed baddies and being obsessed with (pre)teens?
Orochimaru, Voldemort, Coil...

He offered her the chance to just up and leave. In fact, I believe he specifically told her she could do so. Now, obviously he's not a trustworthy individual, but as far as it goes he did give her an honest break. That's part of why the protective magic worked. She wasn't just caught out coincidentally, she was specifically trying to save Harry even though she had other options.

[Kantaki]

He told her to step away. That's a plot point. If he hadn't done that, her sacrifice wouldn't have worked. Yes, it was a pretty poor atempt, but this is Voldemort, after all.

It being a poor attempt was my entire point.
I mean, the only way he could have done worse is by making the offer after blasting her.

But yeah, the killing curse is very much Voldy's only tool.
Forgot your key? Killing curse.
Want to open a can of soup? Killing curse.
Migraine? Killing curse makes it go away.

[Friv]

It is hinted at that he was less insane before his comeback. He did make a fair attempt to spare Lily.

It's been a while, and, y'know, it's Rowling so consistency is not going to be the top priority, but my memory is that it's not that Voldemort was less rational post-comeback, it's that every time he created another Horcrux and assumed he was fine, he was not fine. Each one made him a little bit more unstable and violent, because each one was splitting his soul a little bit more, and it's possible that the effect was worse with each successive one.

Voldemort created two Horcruxes in 1943, three more in the period between 1946 and 1979, a half-one when he killed Harry, and one more after his resurrection. Depending on when those middle three were made, it's very possible that a lot of people signed up when he was moderately shattered, having three or four Horcruxes, but by the time he reached Lily things were out of control. My read was always that he thought waving her away was giving her a chance, but when she refused he flipped out and murdered her because he had reached the point where any defiance had to be answered with violence.

By the end game, he's even more gone, having dropped two more soul fragments into Harry and Nagini. It's also unclear if destroying Horcruxes also has an effect on you - if it does, he'd be even worse off, having lost most of his soul fragments first to Regulus and then to Harry's Horcrux-destroying rampage.

[Themrys]

It's been a while, and, y'know, it's Rowling so consistency is not going to be the top priority, but my memory is that it's not that Voldemort was less rational post-comeback, it's that every time he created another Horcrux and assumed he was fine, he was not fine. Each one made him a little bit more unstable and violent, because each one was splitting his soul a little bit more, and it's possible that the effect was worse with each successive one.

Yeah, I was simplifying things.

Post-comeback, he had made two more horcruxes (Harry and Nagini), and it probably was only then that he crossed the line to become inacceptable even to people like the Malfoys. Losing his body and having a new one created through dark magic probably didn't help his sanity.

Snape clearly noticed earlier that he couldn't trust Voldemort's word, somewhen between spying for Voldemort and Voldemort figuring out the prophecy applies to the Potters. So yes, perhaps Voldemort went very noticeably insane even before attacking Harry, but he can't have been that way for long. We know Regulus Black didn't betray him because of growing insanity and cruelty to followers but because of cruelty to Kreacher, something which I am pretty sure even school-age-Voldy would not have recognized as bad tactical decision.

[HandofShadows]

Hmm We are on page 50. Suggestions for a new page name?

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Hmm We are on page 50. Suggestions for a new page name?

Aside from the ones on the previous page?

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Page 51 is clearly a metaphor for death

[LibraryOgre]

Aside from the ones on the previous page?

What's your favorite headcanon? 2: Page 51 is clearly a metaphor for death

So mote it be!