A random HP thought

[kate_nepveu]

This is appallingly spoilery; be warned.

The Harry-is-a-Horcrux theory seems to have run around fandom like wildfire. I admit it explains the Parseltongue and the mental link, but I note that it requires:

1. Horcruxes can be made accidentially (which, I suppose, if the spell is to be cast at the instant of a murder, might work);
2. Horcruxes can be made without the caster's knowledge (which, I suppose, if you're promptly disembodied, might be understandable); and
3. Horcruxes can not be recognized when the caster comes face-to-face with one (which, I suppose, might be implied by the fact that Voldemort doesn't feel the destruction of other Horcruxes).

This is pretty tough to pull off. But, if you can get past all that, note:

This means that Harry's not the sixth Horcrux, the unknown thing that's likely Gryffindor's or Ravenclaw's (with the seventh part residing in Voldemort's body). He's a seventh, one unknown to either side; and if he is, then he's in for a nasty surprise when he's destroyed the locket, the cup, the snake, the thing of Gryffindor or Ravenclaw's, and then faces Voldemort thinking that Voldemort is mortal.

Comments

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Hora, hour/time? Horae, the goddesses of the seasons? Horrendus/horribilis/other variations?

Ah, this one sounds promising: Horreum, warehouse/storage place.

I don't have a greek dictionary, but I think that one nails it. Although it's kind of weird to use 'crux' as bit-of-a-soul.

[richboye.livejournal.com]

'Horreum' seems to defintively be the source. 'Crux,' I think, is being used not because of any religious tones pertaining to the soul, more along the original origin as a 'necessary support' or 'essential' - crucial, for example.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Ah, that's a good one. 'Crucial' or anything along those roots doesn't exist in my classical latin dictionary, though (as far as I can find), so I suspect it's a medieval formation. Another possibility, or rather shade of meaning (she seems to like dual-purpose words), is the Crucio root -- in various permutations meaning torture. Since creating a horcrux is done by rending a bit off the soul by killing, you could count that as torture.

[richboye.livejournal.com]

Well, really, crux just means 'beam' (or post/support - it's a building term).

It's just that being crucified (put on the beam) can be excruciating. So the crux of the matter is, does she mean tortue with the 'Crucio' curse? I think she does; I thought she was making an allusion to extreme pain, i.e. excruciating pain, the pain of being crucified, that of, being placed on the crux.

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

The verb "Cruciare", first person singular form "Crucio", means 'to torture', and 'to crucify' only in Lactantius, according to my dictionary. I still suspect medieval/Dark Ages latin and classical latin changes. After all, given the crucifixion, it's not at all strange that the word became wildly popular once Christians were involved with the language.