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

[cheshyre]

How does that make sense with the prophesy?
"Neither can live while the other survives"

What happens when a horcrux is destroyed? Is that bit of soul lost forever, diminishing Lord V? Or is it returned to V, meaning that by the end Harry could be facing a very human Tom once more?

[kate_nepveu]

Page 503: "That seventh piece of soul will be the last that anybody wishing to kill Voldemort must attack--the piece that lives in his body."

Page 507: "'Does V. know when a Horcrux is destroyed, sir? Can he feel it?' Harry asked . . . ."
"A very interesting question, Harry. I believe not. I believe that V. is now so immersed in evil, and these crucial parts of himself have been detached for so long, he does not feel as we do."

Page 507-08: "Without his Horcruxes, V. will be a mortal man with a maimed and diminished soul."

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

I'd think V would notice if he kept getting bits of soul back. I think, at best, you might be able to return it to yourself if you destroy it the right way or recapturing the freed bit of soul or whatever, but I don't think it'll return over a distance of however much automatically.

[clanwilliam.livejournal.com]

It doesn't mean he gets his soul back at all - if the Horcrux is destroyed, it could well be that the soul part is destroyed. Which means that V. won't notice since he's lived without it so long.

I think of it as being essential caches of something that he needs to go on living - but in many ways, V. is essentially soulless in terms of our understanding of what a soul is, but the soul is something that can keep him going.