R.A.B plays such an important role in the plot of HBP, and will undeniably play an important role in Book 7. There are many theories as to who this could be, but many of them are unlikely. I will explore the theories that I have heard of, and say why I don’t think they are true.
The Mysterious Letter
This letter was left by R.A.B, and it was supposedly for Voldemort himself. However, when Harry and Dumbledore go to destroy the Horcrux, Harry finds out that the locket isn’t the real Horcrux. Devastated, Harry finds a crumpled note inside the locket, these are its words:
To the Dark Lord
I know I will be dead 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 death in hope that when you meet your match,
You will be mortal once more.
R.A.B. (HBP, 609)
It is very mysterious indeed. Let me explain the clues that this letter gives us. I will point out some things that you might have missed, or play an important role of R.A.B.
To the Dark Lord
Hold on, who do we know that calls Voldemort ‘the Dark Lord’? His Death Eaters, perhaps? Harry knows this, too. And he brings the matter up during his occlumency lessons with Snape. (OotP, 593) This and this alone, is, I believe, substantial evidence to conclude that R.A.B was once/is a Death Eater. I have never heard of any non Death Eater calling Voldemort ‘the Dark Lord’. Even ex Death Eaters such as Snape and Karkaroff refer to Tom as the Dark Lord.
I know I will be dead long before you read this
This line is less conclusive compared to the last. R.A.B. could mean many things by this for starters a possibility is that this letter was written a while back, however, it is more likely that, R.A.B. doesn’t underestimate Voldemort’s power and doesn’t think that Voldemort will need to retrieve the Horcrux until much time has passed. So long of a time that R.A.B. will be dead or… murdered.
Or, perhaps, R.A.B. knows that the potion will kill him sometime soon in his life. We see Dumbledore come to this conclusion, too, in HBP.
But I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.
This interests me, a lot. I thought Dumbledore solely discovered Voldemort was using Horcruxes. This could mean that Dumbledore was TOLD of Tom Riddle’s Horcruxes by R.A.B., who could be a member of the order. But I don’t believe that is the case. If R.A.B. was, in fact, a member of the order, why did he not alert Dumbledore that he had captured the Horcrux? Any other member of the Order would have. It is even possible that this note was written before there even was an Order. Very possible, indeed.
I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.
He (or she) “intends” to destroy it “as soon as” they can. There is a rather large possibility that this Horcrux has not yet been destroyed. Because we don’t know how long ago this letter was written, we don’t know if “as soon as” was 30 years ago, or last month. (More about when it was written below.)
I face death in hope that when you meet your match,
He believes that Voldemort will eventually meet his match. However, he does not mention Harry Potter, and I think that this might has been written before Harry ever even came to Hogwarts. “Your match” doesn’t even necessarily mean Harry, so that may be R.A.B.’s reason for not mentioning Harry’s name. That is possible; however, not what I believe.
Another conclusion I have seen in this line is the fact that R.A.B. doesn’t believe that he himself is Voldemort’s match. Is it possible that he does know about the prophecy, and who Voldemort’s match might be? Very possible.
You will be mortal once more.
R.A.B. believes that he/she solely knows about Voldemort’s Horcruxes, and believes that it is up to him alone to destroy them all. I definitely think that he is going after more. This may not be the last Horcrux letter we get from R.A.B.
R.A.B.
Had R.A.B. and Voldemort not personally known each other, I don’t think the letter would have ever been signed this way. If you were, say, sending a letter the US president, would you sign the letter with your initials? I hope not, unless you were attempting to be anonymous. Either R.A.B. knew Voldemort well, or R.A.B. wanted to remain anonymous in order to capture and destroy the remaining Horcruxes so that Voldemort can be mortal once more.
Another assumption that I think we can make about the letter is that R.A.B. is one person. I say this because of the constant use of ‘I’. (There have been theories that R.A.B. was three separate people.)
This letter is what I find the most conclusive piece of evidence we have against R.A.B. I fear, though, that its contents are, on the whole, overlooked. Through the letter, and the letter only, we can conclude the following on R.A.B.
(1) R.A.B. knows/knew Voldemort personally.
(2) R.A.B. is a powerful and/or ingenious person, even if it has not been directly stated.
(3) R.A.B. is, or once was, a Death Eater.
(4) R.A.B. is one person.
I believe that we can make these assumptions carefully and safely. For most I have provided substantial evidence to back up using the contents of the letter. I hope that we all agree here; for the most part, anyways.
Possible Characters
There aren’t many possible characters that would fit the role of R.A.B., however, there are some, and I believe that it is vital to explore them all.
(1) Regulus Black. This seems to be the most believable theory that others have concocted. There is a lot of proof to this theory, and, at first, this is what I believed. He fits the initials, and it is believed that he is named Regulus Abraxas Black. The ‘Abraxas’ is coming from Draco’s grandfather’s name. Because the Black family and the Malfoy family are so closely related it is possible that Regulus was named after him. Because of the pride instilled in the Black and Malfoy families, it is very likely that Regulus could be named after a relative of his starting with the letter ‘A’. There are 3 he could be named after, that I know of. (The next character being one of them.) In OotP we find that there is a reference to a lock that could be the Horcrux. What I don’t like about this theory is the fact that Regulus was around 17 when he died. This would mean that a 17 year old would have to find out about Voldemort’s Horcruxes. I find that so unlikely. And, Sirius called him a coward. Even though Sirius has to be biased, he isn’t stupid. I believe Regulus is a red herring.
(2) Alphard Black. The same concepts apply here about the lock found at the Black House, because Alphard is in the same family. This character was older than Regulus, and most likely more wise. Age is experience. We find out in OotP that Alphard was blown off the family tree. We know he was on there to begin with, so maybe he joined the Death Eaters. Then he figured out what was really going on, and turned good. This would certainly get him blown off the family tree. Although there is less reference to this character, I believe that is what makes the plot all the better.
It has to be a Black
While surfing a Norwegian Harry Potter site, looking for HP fan art (don’t ask!), came across a link to a tutorial, containing the initials R.A.S. Then on Wikipedia, I read that the Norwegian name for Black is Svaart. I believe that the initials change so that the person stays the same. So the “B” in R.A.B. must mean “Black” while the “S” in the Norwegian version means Black, too, but they call it “Svaart”. Very conclusive piece of evidence, eh?
Journey Alone?
We can come to the conclusion after reading about Harry and Dumbledore’s venture for the Horcrux that the journey could not be made alone. So, how do we explain how R.A.B., supposedly made the journey alone, and captured the Horcrux by himself? We don’t, and I don’t believe that he did. I believe that he had an accomplice. He must have, in order for him to retrieve the Horcrux. In the HBP where Dumbledore is drinking the potion, he is so reluctant, that Harry has to force-feed him. Dumbledore knew how much getting the Horcrux meant, but his thoughts seemed to have been addled by the potion. If Dumbledore can’t drink it alone, no one can.
So, we come to the conclusion that R.A.B. had an accomplice. This will probably play an important role to Book 7, because if he did, in fact, have an accomplice, what if that person was still living? What if that person somehow helped Harry on his journey? It’s something to think about. I believe what happened was that R.A.B. and his accomplice got the Horcrux, and R.A.B. supplied the fake lock. He previously concealed the note, and didn’t mention his “friend” for safety reasons.
This is definitely something to ponder over.
Questions Galore
I have many questions about R.A.B., and I am hoping possibly all of my questions will be answered in Book 7. As for now, it is personal opinion that will decide them.
(1) Is R.A.B. even a person? Can we prove it either way, really? Could those particular letters mean something more to Voldemort?
(2) What was the potion the Dumbledore drunk while trying to capture the Horcrux?
(3) Did R.A.B. put this potion in place of the original in order to kill Voldemort, or is it the same potion as before?
(4) Is Regulus really dead? If not, why is he hiding from the order? If Dumbledore helped him, why didn’t he tell the order?
(5) Where is the true Horcrux?
(6) Did R.A.B ever destroy the Horcrux, or has he not yet found out how?
(7) Is R.A.B. still living?
(8) Did R.A.B get killed by Voldemort because Voldemort found out what he had done? (If he is dead.)
(9) Did R.A.B. have an accomplice, if so, is the accomplice still living?
