Harry as a Non-crux - Soul Pieces in Context

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 158007

Mike:
> Interesting theory, but I have a couple of questions. First, when 
> Voldemort's body was destroyed at GH, why didn't his Core Soul also 
> become a Free Soul Piece? Or did it? And why don't the two Free Soul 
> Pieces from the Diary and the Ring try to regenerate themselves into 
> a body, like we know the diary tried? Or are they out there trying 
> right now?
> 
> Just to through in a clockwise stir, what if Ken and Sluggy are 
> right and DD is wrong? (huh?! DD wrong?!) Well, 3 pages after DD 
> explains about the quantity and continuation of LV soul pieces, he 
> told us LV used Nagini to kill Frank Bryce, and we know that was 
> wrong. Besides, how many Horcrux makers had their body destroyed, 
> came back in a new body, and wrote down their experience for people 
> like Dumbledore to understand the concept? I know of one and he aint 
> explainin' it to noone. Do ya wanna bet that *if* anybody else 
> accomplished this feat, they didn't explain how they did it either. 
> Why would they? So someone could figure out how to kill them.
> 
> But what if Ken and Sluggy are right, did LV have to go pick up one 
> of his Horcruxes and use that along with Bertha Jorkin's death to 
> regenerate that Baby!Mort body? Is that why he was hanging around 
> Albania all that time. I always wanted to know what was in Albania, 
> or conversely, why didn't LV go straight to one of his faithful DEs 
> after GH and get this regeneration going. What kept him from doing 
> the regeneration immediately and/or why was he afraid to stay in 
> Britain?
> 
> Wouldn't it be fortuitous if LV already used one of his Horcruxes 
> and it wasn't the Locket or the Cup? That would leave only one that 
> Harry doesn't know for sure what it is, but also mean Harry would 
> think he has at least one more to go before he goes after Voldemort.
> TOO complicating?
> 
> Mike
>
Carol responds:
I don't want to go into Horcruxes in any depth, but I'm pretty sure
that the core soul piece, as Steve calls it, is "anchored" to the
earth and can't die (go beyond the Veil) as long as a single Horcrux
exists. There's no need to "use" a Horcrux to restore it. The
existence of any Horcrux is all that's necessary. (Creating a
rudimentary body is another matter altogether and involves, according
to Voldemort, a few spells invented by Voldemort and performed by
Wormtail and a potion whose ingredients include Nagini's venom and
unicorn blood. (We know, of course, exactly the incantations used by
Wormtail and the ingredients he added to the already brewing potion in
the graveyard--bone, flesh, and blood. Possibly that potion was the
same one used to create Baby!mort but with added ingredients and
incantations.)

At any rate, I think that the diary was a special case and that the
*memory* (or memories) of Tom Riddle at sixteen was (were) placed in
the diary some years before it became a Horcrux. Just because this
particular soul bit enabled the memory to come to life (or nearly so)
after taking most of Ginny's soul doesn't mean that other Horcruxes
work in the same way. I don't think the cup, locket, ring, etc., are
designed to interact with others the way the diary was designed to
lure in a reader, who would then kill "Mudbloods" using the Basilisk.
Essentially, they're just containers to "encase" the soul bit and keep
the wizard who created the Horcrux from dying even if his body is
destroyed. Any "interaction" is, IMO, the result of a protective curse
like the one that snape somehow prevented from killing Dumbledore.

The problem is, we're not told that "thrilling tale" or what "timely
action" Snape took to save Dumbledore's life. But I don't think that
the soul bit from a Horcrux can possess its destroyer. I think that
once the container is destroyed, the Horcrux can no longer function,
whether the soul bit itself is destroyed, as Dumbldore says, or
whether it floats off beyond the Veil, which to me seems more likely
in view of JKR's Christian beliefs. I can't quite accept the concept
of a soul fragment being *destroyed* even though that's the word DD
uses. But there's no suggestion that it continues to function in any
way, including possession, once the Horcrux is destroyed.

But the Core soul can't become a free soul piece as long as a single
Horcrux anchors it to earth. Of that much I'm certain. It's the whole
point of creating a Horcrux in the first place, and it's the reason
that the Horcruxes are for the most part made of gold, which can't
corrode and allow the soul bit to escape. If you're going to create a
Horcrux that doesn't have some other function like the diary, you want
to be sure it will last forever--or as close to forever as the human
mind can imagine.

One thing is clear. Harry's job is to destroy the Horcruxes. Only then
can Voldemort be killed or permanently vanquished.

Carol, wondering if Harry is as confused as we are