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Reader Comments: (Page 30)

At SS/PS time (before the diary was destroyed), I believe that Voldemort already had his six Horcruxes:

(1) The Ring, which symbolizes pure blood wizardry
(2) The Diary, which symbolizes Riddle’s power and s, and his ability to recreate Slytherin’s evil world (Chamber of Secrets)
(3) to (6) Relics from the four founders, which were used to produce the Sorting Hat and all sorts of Charms at Hogwarts:
(3) Slytherin Pentacle, inside Slytherin Locket
(4) Hufflepuff Cup
(5) Ravenclaw Wand
(6) Gryffindor Sword, then transfigured to a snake (Nagini) before GoF

Those Horcruxes deliver a clear message: "With help of the founder’s authentic relics, and through my own ss and power, I, Voldemort, re-create Hogwarts on Slytherin’s standards: pure blood wizardry and hatred for muggles and magic creatures." Up to now, only Dumbledore could prevent that.

Then, we see the seventh part of Voldemort's soul work on its own: possessing Quirrel, retrieveing a body in GoF.

Then, Harry seems to himself carry a bit of Voldemort's soul (the pain in his scar, how he gets memories from Voldemort, the prophecy about Voldemort marking him as his equal, how the dementors react to him, understanding and talking parseltongue). Is it an eighth part of Voldemort's soul, or is there another process we haven't been told about?

Posted by herve from strasbourg on March 2, 2007 10:23 AM

Heather, I really agree with your post about Neville. I think he is way too ignored, and play a bigger role in book 7.
I also agree that Dumbledore maneuvred the selection of Harry as the one to focus on, but I don't think there can by an accidental Horcrux.
When did Dumbledore find out about Horcruxes? Did he know about them when Voldemort was in the process of making them?
Would he have condemned Harry to as the only way of vanquishing Voldemort? Because if any horcrux survives, then so does Voldemort.

Posted by Patty from Quincy,Massachusetts on March 2, 2007 10:39 AM

Herve, please forgive me for asking this. I am confused as to where in any of the books I can find any evidence or mention of a transfiguration of Gryffindor's sword (which, as I recall continues to reside in the Headmaster's office).

While pentagrams (Pentacles) figure prominently in many historic views of 'dark arts', I do not recall any mention of them in any Harry Potter volume. What suggests a pentagram to be within the Slytherin Locket? Given the hostility of many religious groups who continue to request the banning of Potter books from libraries, it does not seem likely to me that our author would suddenly add the controversial symbol at this juncture in the story.

I must be quite remiss in my revisions and reviews of the series but I cannot recall or find a reference to a Ravenclaw wand either... or any abandoned wands in the story. Perhaps the disappearance of Olivander from Diagon alley might mean that such a wand continues to exist. However, if we were to take the ' ode' to 'ODO the wizard' to give us a clue as to Wizarding customs, at a wizard's his/her wand would be snapped in half. This, of course, was to happen to Harry on expulsion from Hogwarts per Fudge but was avoided by Dumbledore's legal ss. This was to be the fate of Hagrid's wand on expulsion but Hagrid concealed it within the umbrella he now carries. If Ravenclaw's wand survives to the present I would appreciate assistance in locating the clues in the text which help us know this.

Lastly, let me say that your comment has sparked yet another idea for me however. We were told that Huffelpuff's cup had MANY extraordinary powers...many of them untested by its last legal owner. We all must be worried that Harry's s level is simply not up to the task of defeating Voldemort. Is it possible that Harry's raw power and copious amounts of LOVE could give him the ability to wield massive power to defend or attack through one of the founder's artifacts? Would the artifact continue to retain its powers as an artifact if Voldemort's soul within it had been destroyed or removed?

As you point out, founder's items are certainly some of the Horcruxes. Could finding these items give Harry both the removal of Horcruxes and magical abilities at the same time?

Posted by Charlie Tarbox from Gettysburg, Pa on March 2, 2007 1:47 PM

Harry cannot possibly be the 6th horcrux as when Dumbledore is suggesting about Nagini being one of the horcruxes he says that the snake seems to be one because it is in too much CONTROL of Voldemort...no other animate being is so much controlled by Voldemort even when they are his slaves.....Harry is not at all under voldemort's control...

Posted by Shreya on March 3, 2007 03:14 AM

Charlie: there is a connection lane between Nagini, the silver hand of Pettigrew, mythical king Nuada, the sword of Nuada and Gryffindor swaord, but it would be way too long to explain it here. Anyway, we can't assume that we are so much told about transfiguration, through McGonagall's lessons and Fudge attitude in Prime Minister's office, and not expect it to play a huge role in DH. And Dumbledore explained how foolish it would be to make a Horcrux from a real animal.

The wand and the stone are pure speculation. Middle age wizardry seems to turn pretty much about four tools: the sword, the wand, the stone (usually showing a pentacle) and the cap. Since we already have a cup, and a sword as Gryffindor's last relic, the stone and the wand could easily fit in this lot. The stone would explain why the locket (in 12 Grimmault Place) is heavy and doesn't open. The wand, as you stated, could be related to Ollivander's disappearance. Some readers even recognized the wand exposed in a glasscase as being Ravenclaw.

Last thought: the first card in tarot games shows a magician with a wand, a stone, a cup and a sword. He is called the apprentice. Does that mean that Harry have to operate with those four objects-relics of the fouders and do the greatest magic we have ever heard of?

Posted by herve from strasbourg on March 3, 2007 10:25 AM

I'm not convinced that Harry is a horcrux, but if we were to assume that Voldemort did make him a horcrux, it is possible that he is not one anymore. Is it possible for Voldemort to regain part of his soul? When he possessed Harry in the Ministry, maybe (if Harry was a horcrux) that part of his soul residing in Harry rejoined the part left inside Voldemort. After all, following that scene, Harry has no more complaints of pains in his scar or visions of Voldemort. Dumbledore explains this as Voldemort performing Occlumency against Harry, but perhaps it is more than that. Perhaps Harry no longer possesses that fragment of Voldemort's soul.

Also, if Harry did contain part of Voldemort's soul, would that have prevented him from being able to cross in the boat on the lake? I don't know if a fragment of a soul would register.

Posted by Lisa from North Carolina on March 3, 2007 8:46 PM

Harry is not a horcrux. You made one big and crucial mistake. The night Voldemort ed Lily and James he already had about 3 or 4 horcruxes. Which would've been the diary, the ring, the locket and maybe even hufflepuff's cup. Also to get a horcrux you must perform a spell on the object after you ed. Voldemort could not make Harry a horcrux if he was half-.

Posted by Bob from Michigan on March 4, 2007 04:37 AM

Interesting thought Lisa with Voldemort getting back his part of soul in the ministry. I also see this as a proof that Harry is no Horcrux. On the other hand, although a divided soul can only pass to when all parts are free, we do not know if these parts would also try to get together on living earth.
To the lake: what counts in the boat is magic ability. But Dumbledore already warned Harry that Voldemort is still a powerful wizard although he has a tarnished soul (with other words: soul and magic are not connected as long as you don't consider the "ability to love"-magic, which Harry has but Voldemort never had). So, no, Horcrux-Harry would have been able to cross the lake together with Dumbledore.

Posted by jens from freiburg, germany on March 4, 2007 05:36 AM

i dont see how harry is a horcrux. Isnt it only objects that are it? I dont count humans under that category. I think that voldemort tried to make harry into one, but it didnt work. You know how Lily's eyes are important? Well there is this charm called an ojo(evil eye) it protects you from evil spirits. well if you read into evil eyes, then maybe its possible that harry could of repelled being turned into a horcrux.

Posted by Aye from Texas on March 4, 2007 12:43 PM

I don't think that Harry is a Horcrux, but I do think it is possible for him to be one. Look at Nagini. She's alive, and she is a Horcrux. So I think that means that Harry COULD be a Horcrux, but I don't think he is one.

Posted by Ashley from Missouri on March 4, 2007 1:22 PM

Is the wand on display in Ollivander's shop Ravenclaw's?
There's not that much info about the wand. It did rest on a faded PURPLE pillow. So I thought this would be an opportunity for J.K. to give us a clue by using colors. Alas, the colors of Ravenclaw are blue and bronze.
I'm betting that the wand did not belong to Ravenclaw.

Posted by mikey from New Jersey on March 4, 2007 6:49 PM

i read something in the first book that disturbed me. after his sorting, harry has a dream where he is wearing quirrels turbin, and the turbin (voldemort though harry did not know it at the time) is telling him that he must transfer to slytherin because it is his destiny. any one have any thoughts on this.

Posted by dave from south windsor ct on March 5, 2007 08:38 AM

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