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Is Harry the last horcrux?

by David Haber

In Harry Potter and the Half-blood Prince, we learned that, to make himself immortal, Lord Voldemort ripped his soul into seven pieces, and created six horcruxes (the seventh piece of his soul still residing in his body). We know or suspect about five of the horcruxes. Is it possible that Harry is the sixth horcrux? There are clues to suggest that he is.

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Reader Comments: (Page 53)

I am not sure whether Harry is a horcrux or not but it is an interesting theory as if Harry is a horcrux he has to himself before Voldemort can be defeated so maybe Voldemort planned it this way...
"Harry says, "Voldemort put a bit of himself in me" and Dumbledore says "It certainly seems so.""
This is well pointed out I think it be crucial to the plot of the seventh and final book.

Posted by Helene Harrison from Newcastle on June 19, 2007 02:39 AM

Rafael - Unless you're trying to be poetic, I don't see how Harry is Voldemort. They have a few physical and background similarities, sure, but they have chosen different paths, which makes Harry very different from Voldemort, and thus he is not, nor he ever be, in any way Voldemort.

John - I like your theory about Peter stopping Harry from suicide, and the only thing I disagree with (if this Harry is a Horcrux theory is correct) is that Peter knows a lot about horcruxes just from being around Voldemort. There is doubt cast upon whether he told those followers of his he most trusts, and he does not care about Peter. He would not have told him anything about horcruxes.

Posted by Monkeeshrines from orlando fl on June 19, 2007 08:45 AM

"The truth." Dumbledore sighed. "It is a beautiful and terrible thing, and should therefore be treated with great caution."

Now, if this theory about Harry's Horcrux is true, then I think Dumbledore is totally right. Voldemort passed a bit of himself to Harry, therefore Harry is a marked boy, he always live knowing that Voldemort is still alive, because he is alive.

Moreover, the prophecy confirms it too, "neither can live while the other survives".

I think maybe Voldemort placed a horcrux in Harry because he immediately understood the power that Lily gave to Harry when she d. Maybe he understood the protection that horcrux would have.

Even more, maybe Harry passed a bit of himself to Voldemort, not planning that of course. that would give more reason to the prophecy.

Posted by Rafael Garcia from Oporto, Portugal on June 20, 2007 07:48 AM

Rafael - Voldemort did not understand immediately Lily's sacrifice meant protection for Harry. He says so himself, during his re-birthday party in Goblet of Fire. "His mother d in the attempt to save him, and unwittingly provided him with a protection, I admit, I had not foreseen."

I have not, however ever heard the theory that Harry ended up putting a bit of himself in Voldemort. Intriguing idea, but I would think that any part of Harry�s soul (which, by the way we have been assured is still whole) in Voldemort would cause the latter to be in unendurable pain constantly. But then again, he does have a bit of Harry�s blood in him now, so maybe.

Posted by Monkeeshrines from orlando fl on June 20, 2007 09:36 AM

There is one plausible way, I think, that JK Rowling use to avoid Harry's seemingly inevitable :
If Harry's scar is a Horcrux, then Harry would not have to himself to remove Voldemort's soul, but simply need to remove the soul by some magical means...
ONE WORD: dementors.

Posted by John on June 20, 2007 8:27 PM

I don't think Harry is a horcrux even though we've been given clues that fit it.

Though, something else i've noticed.. The wand in Ollivanders shop... The one on a cushion in the window... Could that be Rawenclaws wand and a horcrux?

Posted by Alex aka Potterting on June 20, 2007 8:48 PM

I think that in GOF when Voldy used Harry's bloood then he and Voldy became more of the same. They already share part of the same soul and now they share the same blood. I think the "twinkle in Dumbeldore's eye" was due to the fact that he knew Voldy just made the prophecy more true by havin Harry's blood in him.

Posted by John Walsh from West Chester, PA on June 20, 2007 9:19 PM

John, the dementors do the opposite: they take the good memories.

Posted by Rafael Garcia from Oporto, Portugal on June 21, 2007 06:28 AM

Yes, but they also SUCK SOULS. I believe this is too big a coicidence that we have the task to destroy hidden soul fragments, and we also have creatures that seemingly feed on souls. I believe the dementers aid Harry in some way of either finding or destroying the horcruxes.

Posted by Dave Haber from Los Angeles, CA on June 21, 2007 06:32 AM

At Grimmauld Place, Sirius tells the students that "there are things worth for" (OotP 477), for every member of the Order has put his/her life on the line to prevent Voldemort from obtaining the prophecy. Dumbledore tells Harry, "This is the weapon [Voldemort] has been seeking...the knowledge of how to destroy you" (OotP 840). The most crucial aspect of the prophecy appears to be the statement: "NEITHER CAN LIVE WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES" (OotP 841)-- if the prophecy presents both Voldemort and Harry in such an equal light, I propose that if Harry is a Horcrux for Voldemort, then conversely, Voldemort himself MUST be Harry's Horcrux.

We don't know for certain the full extent of how the Dark Magic went awry in Godric's Hollow, but Voldemort was intent on both and creating a Horcrux with Harry's when he entered the Potters' house. Whether the Horcrux spell had already been cast or was simply in the forefront of Voldemort's mind is unclear; however, the Avada Kedavra curse penetrated Harry's skin, coming in contact with his/Lily's blood, before being repelled. If the backfiring curse resulted in a bit of Voldemort's soul being deposited in Harry, it could equally have ripped loose a fragment of Harry's soul, sending it into Voldemort's body, fusing it with Voldemort's own soul a split second before his body was destroyed. I don't see the two souls becoming inextricably enmeshed; rather, Harry's soul would have STUCK to Voldemort's (as though by strong magnetic attraction) and been "hitching a ride" in all the years since then. Thus, when Dumbledore consulted his silvery instrument, asking, "But in essence divided?" (OotP 470), the smoky serpent's immediate division into two snakes could represent the presence of two separate souls in Voldemort's body.

Dumbledore either knows or suspects that Voldemort is Harry's Horcrux, but even though Harry is missing part of his soul, Dumbledore points out important differences between the two of them: Due to multiple mutilations of his soul, "Lord Voldemort has seemed to grow less human with the passing years" (HBP 502), while Harry's suffering (after Sirius' ) "proves [Harry is] still a man... This pain is part of being human" (OotP 824), Dumbledore assures him. Through it all, Dumbledore passes on clues to Harry concerning how to defeat Voldemort, telling him, "You have a power that Voldemort has never had" (HBP 509) and "You are protected...by your ability to love" (HBP 511). Above all, "[Voldemort] not only handpicked the man most likely to finish him, he handed him uniquely ly weapons" (HBP 510), which include his enemy's Horcrux in Voldemort's own body.

If you annotate Trelawney's prophecy to read, "EITHER MUST [physically] DIE AT THE HAND OF THE OTHER FOR NEITHER CAN LIVE [a MORTAL life] WHILE THE OTHER SURVIVES [as a Horcrux of immortality]" (OotP 841), the underlying meaning of the prophecy becomes clearer. Assuming that all of Voldemort's other Horcruxes have been destroyed, the prophecy puts Voldemort and Harry on equal footing, with two exceptions: 1) Voldemort's vastly-diminished soul, and 2) Harry's blood/DNA residing in Voldemort's regenerated body. Equal footing dictates that whoever physically s the other immediately renders HIMSELF mortal. If Harry s Voldemort, Harry destroys his own Horcrux, while Voldemort's soul remains earthbound due to his Horcrux in Harry. Voldemort could have his body regenerated once again, but the next time he comes after Harry, he'll succeed in ing a now-mortal Harry.

For Harry to vanquish Voldemort, Harry must allow Voldemort to his body, an act which also destroys Voldemort's Horcrux in Harry's body. This renders Voldemort mortal (although he won't realize it if he believes his other Horcruxes still exist). Harry's earthbound soul then possesses Voldemort's body, and the presence of Harry's blood/DNA therein, in conjunction with conscious action on Harry's part, could act as the catalyst for the refusion of both parts of Harry's soul (thus explaining Dumbledore's "gleam of...triumph" when Harry told him that his blood was used to regenerate Voldemort's body (GOF 696). Voldemort's body now contains 100% of Harry Potter's soul in addition to the remains of Voldemort's own soul, and we see one of Dumbledore's statements fulfilled: "[Voldemort] was in such a hurry to mutilate his own soul, he never paused to understand the incomparable power of a soul that is untarnished and whole" (HBP 511). Once again, as in the Ministry, love fills Harry's being, and because Voldemort "[cannot] bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests" (OotP 844), Voldemort is DRIVEN TO RELINQUISH HIS OWN BODY, not realizing until a split second too late that he has no Horcruxes left, and FMMMPPP!-- gives up the ghost definitively.

Dumbledore had told Harry, "[I]n marking you with that scar, [Voldemort]...gave you powers, and a future, which have fitted you to escape him not once, but four times so far" (OotP 842). Once again, Harry Potter survives, his own soul intact, as a noseless, scarless, bald man-- with Lily's eyes.

Posted by Nancy from Virginia on June 21, 2007 10:24 AM

Seeing that way, you may have a big point, but they need to pass to the good side first.

Posted by Rafael Garcia from Oporto, Portugal on June 21, 2007 10:35 AM

Yes again, but Dementors ARE on Voldemort's side...how could they change their mind?

Posted by nikki from greece on June 21, 2007 2:08 PM

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