Killing tears the soul apart redux. WAS: Re: Snape's penance?

[saraquel_omphale]

No: HPFGUIDX 139831

> Carol wrote:
 For her, the soul seems to be sufficiently tangible to be sucked
> out of a body by a Dementor--through the mouth--which suggests a
> concept something like that of the ancient Greek word "psyche" 
(can't
> do Greek letters, sorry), meaning "breath," "spirit," "animating
> principle," or maybe "pneuma," meaning "wind" or "breath" but
> associated with the Latin "spiritus" in early Christian writings > 
http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem1902.html
> 
> What I'm trying to say is I don't think that the soul in the
> Potterverse is a solid object that can be divided into halves and
> quarters and so forth like a pie, with each succeeding "half" being
> smaller until the portion of soul remaining in Voldie is so small 
that
> it is hardly worth dividing. 

Saraquel:
I wish i'd seen your post before I posted my last one, 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/139828 as we are 
thinking along the same lines I think.  I took it one little step 
further and suggested that the soul is in fact the personality. But 
your post has sparked off more thoughts on the topic.

If this is accurate, and I did find quite a lot of canon that fits 
the model, then splitting your soul is not a physical thing, more 
like fragmenting your personality.  So because personality is not a 
physical thing, size is not an issue. It doesn't get smaller or 
larger (as you suggest) IMO, it changes from being whole - meaning 
consistent and in touch with itself (more akin to holistic) - to 
split - meaning inconsistent, contradictory and at war with itself. 

In making a horcrux you could possibly choose which personality 
traits to syphon off into the horcrux.  In fact, if that is the 
case, I can imagine that the early horcruxes are less deadly than 
the later ones, as they are likely to contain the softer sides of 
Voldemort's personality, the parts he despises the most.  Tom Riddle 
in CoS, was much less foul than the later Voldemort - still foul 
though!

Carol wrote:
> One more thing that confuses me. Slughorn says that killing (or
> murder) splits the soul, yet Dumbledore says that only one wizard
> besides LV (almost certainly Grindelwald) has split his soul, 
meaning
> made a Horcrux. So splitting the soul seems to have two different
> meanings. Maybe murder *enables* a powerful and evil wizard to 
split
> his damaged soul and create a Horcrux (if he knows the ancient 
magic
> required to do so).

Saraquel:
Carrying on with my thread above, the personality/soul can become 
split and still stay in one body.  I think that this would still 
enable you to die and go beyond the veil (I discussed this, and the 
case of Nearly Headless Nick, in the post I've linked to above.) The 
real crime, I speculate, which stops you from going beyond the veil, 
is syphoning off part of your soul into another container and 
effectively behaving as though it doesn't exist.  In fact, JKR says 
that Voldemort has severed his link completely with his horcrux soul 
pieces, he has lost the ability to connect with those parts of his 
personality - hence IMO, he can never be redeemed, or brought back 
together.

Snape however, has in all probability committed murder, if not of 
DD, probably in his past - one assumes that his soul is probably 
split, but becuase it is all still in the same body, there is a 
chance of bringing it back together again - redemption.  If you 
don't like using Snape in this example, use anyone who has committed 
murder.

Saraquel