Killing a person or soul

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 141952

KJ wrote:
<big snip>
>    Plus, a question that I posted before, but has not been answered:
Why is it that no one on the list is at all concerned about killing
viable soul pieces. He has already killed one without knowing what it
was, and Dumbledore killed one. Why is it of concern that Harry might
split his soul killing Voldemort, but there is no concern about the
destruction of soul parts? I am interested in your opinion on this.
Presumably killing a person does not destroy the soul, merely the
earthly body. Harry has been specifically sent after Voldemort's souls.

Carol responds:
I've read the entire thread but haven't found an answer to your
question that quite matches what I want to say, so I've returned to
the original post.

First, your use of the term "Voldemort's souls" (plural) is
interesting and is possibly the source of your confusion. As I
understand it, a person has only one soul, the one he is born with.
Voldemort has fragmented that single soul through murder and then
separated the soul pieces by placing them in Horcruxes. As zgirnius
pointed out, in so doing, he has "anchor[ed]" his soul in this world,
preventing it from passing on into whatever afterlife JKR envisions.
What he has not done is to create additional souls. No human being,
wizard or not, can do that.

In other words, to destroy one of Voldemort's "soul bits" is not to
kill or destroy a soul, nor is it murder. Voldemort's original soul,
however mutilated, remains in him, whether he is Vapor!mort or is
occupying a restored body. Destroying the soul bits is necessary to
make Voldemort mortal--like every other wizard in the WW. And
Voldemort *must* die or be destroyed or the WW will never be free of
the evil he embodies. (Whether killing him constitutes murder is a
matter for another post.)

As for the "soul bits" being "viable," they require a body that they
were not born into, the preserved memory of young Tom, for example.
Had Memory!Tom been able to steal Ginny's life force to keep that body
alive (as opposed to possessing Ginny and using her body), he would
have had a "soul" that was not his own but a fragment of Vapor!mort's.
IOW, he would not be a real human being born into this world with a
soul and a body but, at best, a clone of the original Tom Riddle.
(What would have happened if the two Voldies had encountered one
another, I can't guess.) Harry didn't "murder" Diary!Tom. He destroyed
the memory (young Tom's body and personality) and (though he didn't
know it) a bit of a slightly older Tom's soul. But *no real person
died* as a result. Voldemort simply became a little bit less immortal,
or rather, a bit closer to the mortality that is normal for a human
being. 

Whether the "soul bits" in the other Horcruxes, which unlike the diary
were not designed to be interactive, are "viable" in this way, I don't
know. I don't think they are, or the ring Horcrux would have possessed
Dumbledore (instead of striking him with a curse that would have
killed him if not for Snape's "timely action"). Instead, DD, too,
brought LV a step closer to the death that awaits us all.

Killing Voldie's body once the Horcruxes are destroyed will prevent
him from ever taking bodily form again--surely a good thing for the WW
in general. Whether it will also enable his mutilated soul to enter
the afterlife (as represented by the veiled archway in the DoM), I
don't know. If not, I'll shed no tears for him. He murdered others for
no better reason than to make himself immortal, and he himself
separated the fragments. If his soul is destroyed when his body dies,
it's no one's fault but his own.

Carol, who wanted to provide a simple, canonical explanation and found
herself with a lengthy interpretation instead