Tom Riddle and the Diary!Horcrux

[snow15145]

No: HPFGUIDX 161119



Mike snipped greatly:

It is my opinion that removing a torn soul piece to it's encasement 
must be done in close proximity to the murder that is performed for 
that purpose. Envision a Lord Voldemort having murdered enough times 
to create an "army" of Inferi, not to mention murders that didn't 
become Inferi. If he could remove those torn soul pieces at any 
time, he would be taking a big risk of removing too much soul by the 
time he gets to his Godric Hollow attempt. Furthermore, it would 
render Dumbledore's opinion that Voldemort reserves his Horcrux 
making for "significant" murders as nonsensical. If you can remove a 
torn soul piece at any time because it stays seperate from the main 
soul, how does one "reserve" making a Horcrux? No, IMO a torn soul 
piece remains attached to the main soul and eventually reforms to it 
unless it is completely seperated and removed upon it's tearing.

Therefore, before he starts his sixth year at Hogwarts, Tom has 
created his first Horcrux. This sheds new light on the Slughorn 
memory. It now appears that Tom really did know how to create a 
Horcrux before that conversation, and all he really wanted is what 
Dumbledore said he was really after. Tom wanted Slughorn's opinion 
on *multiple* Horcruxes.

OK, Carol, Steve, Snow, et al, what did I miss?

Snow:

Tying all this together is quite difficult with so many things to 
take into account, most of which we have very little information 
about like; is the memory part of the soul or does a memory need a 
soul fragment to act; which murder is considered evil enough to split 
the soul; can you have more than one split in the soul before making 
a Horcrux? Most of these questions can only be answered by 
conjecture. 

Riddle murdered his father and grandparents in the summer of his 
sixteenth year HBP pg. 363 The one thing we know from these murders, 
and the blame on Uncle Morphin for them, is that Riddle is very good 
at altering memories. Riddle's forte' at this point in time is 
memories, so it is not a far stretch to admit that Riddle had placed 
a memory of himself in the Diary at sixteen. 

At some point before the meeting with Slughorn, Tom said he read 
about Horcruxes; was this reading before he murdered the parent and 
grandparents? I would think Tom would have murdered for a purpose 
other than just revenge since Voldemort chose certain persons to 
murder, so I do believe his objective was to make a Horcrux with 
those murders. I do believe, like you, that Tom accomplished this 
when he was sixteen at the same time he placed the memory of himself 
in the Diary but not at the site of the murders. 

I think the only way to try to prove this would be if the sixteen-
year-old Tom portrayed any qualities that older Voldemort has that 
can be attributed to loss of his soul i.e. red eyes etc. 

There are several canon reasons to suspect this; Diary Tom laughed 
the same high cold-pitched laugh that Voldemort does COS pg. 310

The other reason I suspect the memory accompanied the soul fragment 
was that Diary Tom admitted that he preserved himself in the pages of 
the Diary so one day he could lead another in his footsteps to finish 
Salazar's noble work. COS pg. 312

A mere memory would be unable to accomplish such a feat; the memory 
would have to accompany a bit of soul for interaction. Only a 
parcelmouth can open the Chamber, so no matter who picked up a diary 
with a memory, they would not be able to converse with the Chamber 
entrance the way Ginny did. A memory could not make Ginny write her 
own farewell on the wall. 

What good would a memory be without a soul? There would be little 
need to secure a memory that did not have the power to interact, 
would there? Diary Tom admits that he made the Diary for the soul 
purpose of leading another, no memory alone can do that. 

I think even Dumbledore may agree that Tom intended the Diary to lead 
someone to finish Slytherin's noble work and that a memory would not 
be able to accomplish this alone:

"Well, it worked as a Horcrux is supposed to work – in other words, 
the fragment of soul concealed inside it was kept safe and had 
undoubtedly played its part in preventing the death of its owner. But 
there could be no doubt that Riddle really wanted that diary read, 
wanted the piece of his soul to inhabit or possess somebody else, so 
the Slytherin's monster would be unleashed again."  HBP pg. 501

Dumbledore stated two paragraphs previous to this one that a mere 
memory could not have done what it did with Ginny, so Voldemort had 
to have made the memory to interact with the soul bit in order to 
possess another to unleash the monster in the Chamber, which he 
stated was the main purpose of the Diary. 

Why would Voldemort have done this procedure separately by first 
administering the memory and later the soul bit when he had to be 
aware that he needed a soul bit as a catalyst to the memory? If he 
knew about Horcruxes when he made the memory at sixteen why did he 
need to ask Slughorn about them a year later? 

This memory that Riddle placed inside the Diary would have been of 
himself, the way he was during his sixteenth year of life and of all 
the memories that transpired during that year. Note that Tom didn't 
leave `a' memory but `the' memory of his sixteen-year-old self. COS 
pg. 312

Diary Tom portrays the same cold laugh as Voldemort that raises the 
hair on the back of Harry's neck. A memory could not represent that 
laugh, that Harry said didn't suit Tom; the same laugh that the newly 
embodied Voldemort voiced in the graveyard, unless it was part of the 
sixteen-year-old Riddle's soul at the time he made the memory. This 
would make me think that Riddle had already split his soul and 
created the Horcrux Diary with a memory as the cherry on top. 

When Tom asked Slughorn about multiple Horcruxes, he had the ring on 
his finger so it was not a Horcrux at this point. I think that this 
Horcrux was made `after' Tom visited Hepzibah because Tom 
still "looked more handsome than ever" when he spoke with Hepzibah. 
HBP pg. 434

We do know that he looked pale according to Hepzibah (pg. 435) and we 
are fairly certain at this point that the Diary had already become a 
Horcrux so some slight change in appearance had been noticed.

We know from Ginny's experience, that losing your soul makes you look 
pale:

"So Ginny poured out her soul to me, and her soul happened to be 
exactly what I wanted."

[
]

"Dear Tom, Percy keeps telling me I'm pale and I'm not myself." COS 
pg. 310

Ginny's soul was already being sucked out of her which isn't much 
different than departing a piece of soul into an object; both 
circumstances seem to cause the paling effect. 

However, Tom did not portrait any semblance to a disfigured human at 
the point that he spoke with Hepzibah looking more handsome than ever 
but also a bit pale. It must take more than one Horcrux attempt to 
start to transfigure the once handsome boy that Hepzibah met. Killing 
may mutilate the soul but the departure of the soul from inside the 
body must disfigure the body and become more prominent with each 
Horcrux that is made. 

At this point Tom has four deaths and four Horcrux objects credited 
to him. One death and object were used to make his first Horcrux, 
which was the Diary. Voldemort disappeared for ten years following 
Hepzibah's death and returned for a teaching position at Hogwarts 
looking more like the present day Voldemort but not yet so vividly 
but much more pale than he looked at Hepzibah's. HBP pg. 441

>From this we can assume that he had made at least one more Horcrux if 
not all three that he had in his possession when he left to parts 
unknown. We know that Dumbledore found the ring at Morphin's house 
and the locket in the cave of his childhood days. Voldemort, within 
the ten years that no one knew his whereabouts, was probably securing 
these Horcrux objects in the most unlikely of places to be sought 
out. 

The Diary ended up in Lucius' possession, although I think it was 
initially given to Bella. The ring that was once on the hand of 
Morphin was hidden in the rubble of Morphin's home. Why did he choose 
the necklace to be hidden in the cave? And where did he place the 
Hufflepuff cup? Could there be any rhyme and reason as to where each 
Horcrux was placed?  

Why would Voldemort want to reenter Hogwarts under a teaching 
pretense unless he was seeking his next Horcrux object? There are 
perks to being there like the stronghold of magic inside its walls 
but wouldn't it be the best place to find an heirloom of the 
remaining founders he sought? 

We can assume that Dorcas Meadowes was Voldemort's fifth victim that 
ripped his soul and further more assume that this death was used for 
an heirloom from the Ravenclaw line. We know nothing of Dorcas 
Meadowes or why she would have been significant enough for Voldemort 
to have killed her himself.

I might take a stab at it and say that she was from the Ravenclaw 
lineage since her name of Meadowes may also represent `Fair Ravenclaw 
from Glen'. Voldemort may not have acquired an item from Ravenclaw 
but using a death that was representative of the line may have 
sufficed. Although, as many have pondered on this list, the Ravenclaw 
wand may have been the very object and killing Dorcas to get it was 
just a two-for-one if she was a descendant. 

I guess the only thing that I would disagree with, in what you said 
Mike, was that the death has to be immediately encased or else the 
soul simply heals itself given time. 

I take the soul-splitting factor very literally; the soul is severed 
which does mutilate it. If Voldemort severed his soul three times by 
killing Pap, Grandma and Dad, all three pieces still reside with him 
but split from each other and from the core soul until what time they 
are intentionally departed from the body [given that there is still a 
body :) ].

I envision that only great good (which is the opposite of a great 
evil to rip the soul) would be able to mend the pieces together 
again. In Voldemort's case that isn't even an option since he 
purposely wants to use these soul bits to make himself immortal. The 
spell in which to draw out the severed piece of soul from the body 
and encase it in an object has never been told to us so we have no 
idea the wording. 

It could be something to the effect of `with this murder of so-and-so 
that caused my soul to split, depart from me and dwell inside this 
object'. Voldemort may be able to direct what killing is to be 
encased in which object. Harry's case would be slightly different 
since Voldemort had no body just after his vile killing of Lily, 
where the heck did that piece of soul go
 Of course that soul 
fragment wouldn't be encased since there wasn't any spell 
accompanying it so it wouldn't be a Horcrux, would it?

Snow realizing that JKR can safely say that Harry is not a Horcrux 
but that doesn't mean he doesn't have Voldy soul.