How did he know?

[Richard]

No: HPFGUIDX 146804

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "theadimail" <theadimail at y...> 
wrote:
>
> I was wondering about how Voldemort could have found about the spell 
> to make horcruxes eventhough it is supposed to be such a scret and 
> unmentionable subject. He found it even while he was at Hogwarts, so 
> how could a teen, no matter how talented, find such a thing without 
> arousing the interest of Dumbledore who was, as he says, has been 
> watching Tom Riddle, all the time,during his school days?
> 
> Bye
> Adi
>

Richard here:

We can't know how he learned of horcruxes until JKR tells us, of 
course, but it isn't difficult to imagine ways he might have leared at 
least something about them.

Remember, in this scene of Slughorn's memory, Tom is already a "middle 
teen," and has had a few years of magical education, has long known 
how to find Diagon Alley, is accustomed to operating on his own, and 
is inquisitive ... So, it isn't difficult to imagine him discovering 
Knockturn Alley, and all the dark wonders it holds.  I'm sure there 
are places other than Borgin and Burkes, including the odd book stall, 
that he might have visited, and perhaps leafed through the odd tome.  
Given what we are told of his intelligence and talent, I can easily 
imagine him finding reference to horcruxes, then going out of his way 
to learn more.

We also have to remember that he had to have had some contact with 
Borgin at Borgin and Burkes for him to have gotten a jog there.  While 
that COULD have been entirely after his graduation from Hogwarts, I'm 
sure there had to be more and earlier contact.  He may well have been 
working for them during the previous summer, legally or otherwise, and 
Borgin likely knew quite well about this young lads talent, interest 
and complete lack of moral and ethical constraint.  He and most any 
other vendor of truly dark items might well welcome such a young man, 
both because of his willingness to deal with dark subjects, but also 
because they might see him as a potential future customer.  After all, 
how could one be that talented, and that skilled that young, and not 
end up with a largish and quite full vault at Gringot's?

Given all this, I think he came across the "recipe" for Horcruxes 
during one summer break, and managed to memorize the spell and any 
other requirements.  He already possessed the ring (the diary could 
have been bought any time), and a soul torn by the murders of his 
father and grandparents, so with the reinforcement of Slughorn's 
comments regarding a sevenfold division of his soul, I think much of 
the intervening "lost" years were consumed by trying to find suitable 
objects for conversion into horcruxes, quests for additional means of 
securing immortality, developing means to protect the tools and 
objects created for that purpose, and commiting the crimes that funded 
all this.  He simply left Hogwarts with a head- and running- start on 
all this.

Richard, who thinks the greatest guarantee of the ability of anyone to 
commit acts of true evil is a lack of empathy for others.