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Reader Comments: (Page 24)

herve,
Yes that sounds like good reasoning. I was sure I had read somewhere that JK had said Harry was not a Horcrux but I suppose his scar could be the Horcrux.
I always thought it was odd in CoS when Harry says 'Voldemort put a bit of himself in me? (CoS uk, pg245) and I also thought that perhaps the reason Harry saw through the snakes eyes when nagini attacked Arthur Weasley was because he was a Horcrux! Thank you for pulling me back to my original thought.

If the last word of the book really is 'scar' perhaps when Harry defeats Voldemort his scar heals and vanishes, so he can look at his reflection with messy black hair, glasses, but no scar.

Posted by Orlando from England on February 12, 2007 12:57 PM

Also if Harry's scar IS a Horcrux, it can be related back to the possibility of the Hallows being the Horcruxes left to find, and the Hallows being related to those of Arthurian/Celt legend.
The spear of destiny - could be suddenly extremely appropriate if you consider Zeus/Jupiter used spears of lightning bolts.
The sword Hallow is left open to be a wand (Ravenclaw?)
The cup belonging to Hufflepuff
The stone in the Slytherin locket.

Harry at least, horcrux or not is destined to fight Voldermort.

Posted by Orlando from England on February 12, 2007 1:18 PM

I do think Harry is a horcrux, and no, Voldemort did not intend to make him one. That night at Godric's Hollow, Voldemort went there specifically to Harry. James and Lily were incidental - they were in his way and tried to stop him. Lily was offered the choice to live because she wasn't his target. She made her choice and in the process invoked some 'ancient magic' which manifested itself in the form of a protection spell for Harry. The connection between Harry and 'Lily's eyes' - we don't know what that is yet.

Voldemort wanted to use Harry's to make a horcrux, so he obviously would have brought some object with him to use as a receptacle - perhaps the elusive 'Ravenclaw' object that people are speculating about. In the aftermath of what happened, it was likely lost in the wreckage and its significance was not known at the time. Perhaps it's still there at Godric's Hollow and whoever 'cleaned up' thought it belonged to the Potters.

Anyway, when Voldemort used the AK curse on Harry, Lily's sacrifice protected him and the spell rebounded. We don't know HOW to make a horcrux, only that it requires , so the details are sketchy. The AK spell rebounded, and the horcrux spell went awry. Instead of the piece of soul ending up in the object Voldemort brought, it ended up in Harry - his scar. The AK rebounded and ed Voldemort's mortal body, but his other horcruxes anchored his soul, which fled, and he still 'existed' - his body was but he was still alive. This was why he needed a new body and it took him years to figure out how to 'possess' animals in the forest, (and later Quirrell) and finally gain a temporary body in which Wormtail was later able to transport him so he could obtain the...ingrents to make a new body for him.

So. Voldemort was not aware that he had made Harry a horcrux - obviously, as he spends 5 books trying to Harry. Only at the end of OotP when he tries to possess Harry does he realize what he had done all those years ago. He flees from Harry, flees from the Ministry building, uses occlumency to immediately block Harry from 'seeing' his thoughts. Harry is no longer plagued by 'dreams' after that encounter.

All through HBP, Harry is no longer the target. Dumbledore is. Even Draco had plenty of opportunities to Harry if Voldemort had wanted, but for the first time in over 5 years, Harry is no longer 'marked for '. Even Snape confirms this when he tells the other DE's at the end of HBP to leave Harry unharmed.

As to how Harry can rid himself of this soul fragment without himself... Why is everyone so sure it can't be done? Dementors can suck souls from a body, so it IS possible. Just because Jo hasn't shown us a 'play by play' on how to do it, and because we can't imagine it ourselves doesn't mean it's impossible. Give Jo some credit. She'll have found a way. :-P

Also, another "clue" with regard to the horcruxes is in OotP - page 470 of the US paperback (St. Mungo's chapter). When Dumbledore uses his silver instruments in his office after Arthur is attacked: "Naturally, naturally," murmured Dumbledore [snip] "But in essence divided?"

Posted by Alia from New York, NY on February 12, 2007 1:19 PM

Alia, love your last sentence. I've been trying forever to figure out what that could possibly mean (silvery instrument thing with the snakes) I have never applied it to the horcrux theory. Interesting, can't wait to go back and read that tonight! Thanks.

Posted by tracy on February 12, 2007 3:43 PM

I don't dismiss this theory out of hand, but narritively speaking it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense. 'A powerful evil curse' could refer equally to the Avada Kavadra, for example.

Although it is possible that Harry is the final Horcrux (just as it is possible that Sirius lives, Snivillus isn't the git he currently appears, and that Draco is secretly a sensitive and traumatized boy) I think it's important to be aware that no mention is made of a connection between a soul and the wizarding power of it's possesor. Filch, for all his unpleasantness, evidently has a soul but is a squib; Tom Riddle had a soul (if we consider Voldemort and Tom Riddle as seperate entities for now) and posseses great power, as does Harry and any number of other characters. Power is just energy at the end of the day, and energy cannot be destroyed. It must go somewhere, and it would be logical for it to follow the path of least resistence into the wizard towards whom the spell was directed. The fly in that ointment is of course the parseltounge ability passed on to Harry, as this seems to be genetic rather than knowlage based. But it does seem that Soul and Power (in this case wizarding) are two seperate things which may be transferred seperately.

Also there are many ovbious indications throughout the series that Voldemort very much wants to Harry, and secure his own survival by the terms of what he knows about the prophecy. And that's key to Voldemort's character, his dual thirsts for immortality and power. So why perform a dangerous spell (and it certainly seems that the desire must be there for dark magic to work) to put a peice of himself into the boy he wants to ? Surely the fewer Horcruxes, the smaller his chance of survival?

Sometimes a scar is just a scar.

Posted by Kay Barnes from Carmarthen, UK on February 13, 2007 08:03 AM

Let's say Harry IS the horcrux and Voldemort knows he is. Wouldn't it just be part of Voldemorts plan?! He might know that Harry sooner or later would find out about the existence of the horcruxes made by Voldemort. It would be the perfect plan, wouldn't it? Harry cant him because there is still a horcrux (Harry) and a Harry can't Voldemort either. And why should Voldemort care for destroying one of his horcruxes if he can Harry with it? If it would be this way there are two possibilities: 1. Harry s in book seven and evil finally win. 2. There would be a way of getting a horcrux out of someone/something.

But if Harry would the horcrux, then why can everybody just touch him? Dumbledore couldn't touch Slytherin's ring without losing his hand.

And what if the locket isn't destroyed? The note says that that guy would destroy it as soon as he could but what if he didn't get the chance?
Isn't it possible that the locket in which the horcrux is hidden is the same as the one Malfoy made Madam Rosmerta give to Katie Bell in the Half-blood prince?

Posted by Michiel Verheijen from Venlo, Limburg, The Netherlands on February 13, 2007 10:00 AM

Alia, your last sentence is very powerful i had to go back and read it for myself. This may infact be a clue about harry being a horcrux. it seems that if he is one, that is was accidental. voldemort has spent too much time trying to harry for it to have been intentional.

i just re-read the few pages leading up to the smoke snake. dumbledore was asking Harry about how he was witnessing the attack on Mr. Weasley. harry explained that it was as the snake. maybe the smoke snake was showing Dumbledore that Nagini was voldemort's horcrux.

Anyway, i'm not really convinced that Harry is a Horcrux. Kay Barnes brings up an good point regarding the difference between the soul and the power of a wizard. What dumbledore may have witnessed in the snake smoke may have been voldemort's powers being divided.

I guess we need to determine if the "soul" and "power of the wizard are the same". Voldemort speaks parseltongue---is this from his soul or part of his "power"? does the soul give the wizard his/her power? or are they two different entities?

Posted by Heather from NJ on February 13, 2007 10:48 AM

Michiel Verheijen: The fact that Dumbledore got injured by the ring does not mean all horcruxes cannot be touched. That particular horcrux had a spell on it giving it special protection of injuring (or ing) someone who tried to nandle it. Other horcruxes might have different protection spells. (We saw how the horcux in the cave was protected, for example.)

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on February 13, 2007 11:14 AM

Michiel Verheijen: To further Dave Haber's point, it's not the receptacles that can't be touched. The ring was apparently booby-trapped with spells, like the 'fake' locket was, and as far as I can recall, we don't know if it was during the act of getting the ring from its hiding place or destroying the horcrux itself that crisped Dumbledore's arm.

I'm betting it was the former, because when Harry destroyed the Diary horcrux, he took no harm himself. The harm he suffered in the Chamber was from the venom in the basilisk fang, its poison already in his system before he used it to destroy the diary. Also, the diary itself could be touched and handled just fine by people. Ginny ran into trouble when she tried to USE it.

Nagini can be touched, as well.

Also, I'm pretty sure the real horcrux locket is already in Grimmauld Place, though it's possible that Mundungus nicked it with some of the other things he stole, or that Kreacher nicked it from the sack they were using to throw things in and is hoarding it:

Page 116 (US Paperback) of OotP (Chapter 6) when cleaning out the drawing room, one of the things they find in the glass cabinets is "a heavy locket that none of them could open".

With regard to the separation of Soul and Power, we really have no idea how it works. I refer to Voldemort himself after he was 'vanquished' the first time. He had enough consciousness to flee, to possess other bos, both animal and human, and he took his powers with him from body to body. When he possessed animals, he was limited to the abilities of the animals - the rats in the forest for example, but it was different when he was in Quirrel. (The blood protection spell was only one spell protecting Harry - which is why Harry was able to Quirrel, and why Voldemort can now touch Harry after using his blood in GoF to create a new body. I believe that was separate from the Horcrux issues.) He was also able to Frank the caretaker in the infant-like (-sized) body he possessed during GoF, and probably ed Bertha Jorkins, too.

In the Chamber of Secrets, the soul fragment interacted with the enchanted 16-year-old diary Tom and gave the diary memories 'life' and abilities and power. Voldemort also appears to have a very tight control on Nagini, but Nagini is also a snake, and would potentially have less...resistance than another human being might.

What this all suggests to me is that the power goes where the soul (fragment) goes. However, Harry has more than one protection spell on him:

Page 696 of GoF (US paperback - chapter 36), when Harry tells Dumbledore about the blood, Dumbledore replies: "Very well. Voldemort has overcome that particular barrier"

Again, we still do not know the significance of "Lily's eyes" or the extent of the protection spell that caused the AK spell to rebound. But what it says to me, is that if Harry is indeed a horcrux (and again, if he is, it was accidental - Voldemort did NOT intend to make him one) then he is quite different from the other horcruxes. Firstly, some of the others are inanimate objects - the locket, the cup, the ring and have no consciousness. Secondly, the diary was Tom's and the 'consciousness' - the memories - would not 'reject itself'. Also, being mere memories, the soul fragment would have more power anyway. Third, with Nagini, Voldemort speaks parseltongue and already had this ability to communicate and 'control' snakes. The soul fragment would only enhance that, and Nagini's own was either less powerful or she submitted ingly. We can't know for sure. Quirrel - he submitted, either ingly or through fear, but he submitted.

Harry however, would not submit. He also has the ability to break out of the Imperius trance, which might possibly have something to do with it. And then there's the mysterious 'power the Dark Lord knows not' to contend with, along with the other, unknown, protection spells on him. All of this suggests that Harry is different, and if Harry is a horcrux, which I believe, then he's not a simple pawn for Voldemort/Voldemort's soul to use.

Anyway, those are more of my thoughts.

Posted by Alia from New York, NY on February 13, 2007 12:46 PM

I like the scar horcrux theory! The only problem seems to be the idea that a horcrux can be created by accident. Do we know that can happen? We've seem spells back fire before, but they tend to cause the effect that was intended to rebound on the caster (Lockhart's memory spell etc.).

This would seem to me to mean that Voldemort wasn't trying to Harry that night, but cast the horcrux spell on him.

After all, he'd just deliberately ed James (splitting his soul), ed Lilly to get her out of the way, and then heads towards Harry. It would be a good opportunity to create a horcrux, I'm thinking!

Are we sure that the spell that Voldemort cast on Harry was the avada kedavra? Harry recalls a green light, but many dark arts spells are green.

Lilly's sacrifice may have caused the spell to misfire, sealing Harry off from it's effects, destroying Voldemort in the backflash, but leaving the small piece of soul embedded in the scar on his skin.

Why make, or try to make Harry a horcrux? Voldemort is so obsessed with immortality, that he thinks everyone is! It would be impossible for him to consider that his nemesis would himself to defeat him.

Let's hope that it's just the scar that is a horcrux - it gives Harry a better chance of surviving! And it also explains why Voldemort has been trying to him - get rid of Harry, get the piece of skin that holds the scar! Yech!

Posted by Goff Morgan from Wales UK on February 13, 2007 7:12 PM

Alia: lots of Eaters have opportunities to Harry, and don't even try. Bellatrix faces Harry in OotP and stuns him. After Voldemort failed, several Eaters face Harry in GoF and try to stun him. Draco tries to Dumbledore, not Harry. In GoF, the only curse Voldemort sends for sure is towards Dumbledore and it "s" Fawkes. We have absolutely no evidence that Voldemort tries to Harry, except in SS because he wants the stone over anything else. In CoS, Harry faces young Riddle, who doesn't know the whole story. Green lights don't mean Avada Kedavra for sure.

You also evoke Lily's eyes. I wonder if the expression "you have your mother's eyes" means: "your eyes look the same as your mother's", or: "your eyes ARE your mother's". Moody has a magic eye and it works. Could Harry have got the eyes of his mother? Would some spell, maybe an unbreakable vow, apply to the eyes - the kind of promise a teenager could do, when in love with a schoolmate: "I always be fidel to your eyes". Snape and Lily?

Posted by herve from strasbourg on February 14, 2007 02:38 AM

I was shocked when I was thinking of what I am going to tell you now. We all know Voldemort was kind of obsessed with Hogwarts. He tried to become a teacher at the school twice. Dumbledore said one of the reasons for that was he might have been looking for possible horcruxes at that time. Dumbledore thinks that Voldemort was looking for items of the four founders of the Hogwarts. Griffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff. Items that belonged to one of them are rare and expensive as we know, and it's hard to find one. But the one item which belongs to all four the founders is known by each and every one of us and you can find it at Hogwarts:

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry itself!

If Hogwarts would be a horcrux and I really think it is possible, than it would be the perfect one for Voldemort.
Nobody suspects it to be one, it is propably hard to destroy and it's the ultimate relic of the four founders because it is created and owned by all four founders at the same time.

Posted by Michiel Verheijen from Venlo, Limburg, The Netherlands on February 14, 2007 05:11 AM

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