Possible Horcrux Complication

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 139519

Lupinlore:
> I've been thinking about the whole Horcrux plotline, and something 
> occured to me.  Dumbledore and Harry are going on the assumption 
> that there are only four horcruxes left (five if you count
> Voldemort himself).  This is based in part on the idea that
> Voldemort can't feel when one of his horcruxes has been destroyed.
> 
> The problem is that Voldemort may very well know that the diary
> has been destroyed.  In fact, Dumbledore seems to believe that he
> does know this, based on his statement about the power of
> Voldemort's anger when he found out what Lucius had done.
> 
> Given this, how can Dumbledore and Harry be sure that Voldemort
> has not constructed another Horcrux to replace the diary? 

Jen: One important bit of wisdom Dumbledore imparted to Harry with 
the Riddle/LV memories was just how irrational and fixated Voldemort 
is in the throes of obsession. I think DD wanted to hammer this idea 
home--'Voldemort can be defeated because his weakness is his 
predictabilty'. He will always underestimate love magic; his 
protections on the Horcruxes will manifest his fear of death and 
darkness; his obsession with his own ideas will consistently defeat 
him i.e., having to use Harry for the 'blood of his enemy' most 
likely will backfire on him.

As such, I think Voldemort will defeat himself once again by NOT 
doing the obvious and sealing another Horcrux. More on this, but 
another comment by Lupinlore first:

Lupinlore:
> How many times can one divide one's soul?  Is there a limit?  
> Dumbledore is basing the idea that there are seven soul shards on 
> Voldemort's talk about the magical significance of seven.  But how 
> can they be sure.  How can they know that Voldemort didn't change
> his mind and go with another mystical number, such as nine?

Jen: I bet there's not a theoretical limit, but maybe a practical 
one? Since we're just musing about the process, it seems possible at 
some point the divisions would start to backfire, and cause a self-
implosion of some sort. Total speculation. I'm visualizing sort of a 
critical mass point with dividing the soul and after that, 
unexpected problems could start to occur.

But about the number 7. This was what I meant by Voldemort being 
defeated by his own obsessions. Just as he fixated on the idea of 
having certain trophies from a young age, he's also fixated on 
number 7 as 'the most powerfully magical number'. His psychological 
profile indicates an irrational need for control, as well as an 
abysmally deficient feedback-loop for changing his strategy in the 
case of failure. 

Voldemort didn't view what happened at Godric's Hollow as a defeat 
so much as proof his Horcrux strategy was working! He's now obsessed 
with killing Harry himself and can't see he is 'handing Harry 
weapons' with each failure, making it almost impossible now to kill 
Harry by his own hand. Yet Voldemort can't alter his obsession to 
kill Harry himself. This will be his downfall.

I just don't think his psychological make-up allows him to reassess 
and alter those things he is irrational and obsessive about. Even 
with evidence to the contrary, that Harry will be difficult to kill 
and has a proven ability to destroy his Horcruxes, Voldemort will 
continue to ride-out his 'most magically powerful 7-Horcrux plan' 
because he's psychologically incapable of doing anything else.

Jen