[HPforGrownups] What, Voldemort Kill Myrtle ? (Was Re: Moaning Myrtle is Harry's aunt on James's

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 167748

Oh, the analogy game!  I *love* the analogy game! (No, seriously, I 
really do. ^_^)

Paul L:
> Did Voldemort kill Moaning Myrtle or did she die from looking
> at the basilisk?

Amiable Dorsai:
> If you shoot someone through the heart, did you kill them, or was
> it that pesky bullet?

Jordan Abel:
<SNIP>
> This is more like, if you're welding, and someone who you weren't
> expecting comes in without wearing goggles, is their eye damage your
> fault?

Annemehr:
> Nah.  The Basilisk did not have an innocent purpose, like a welding
> torch does.  Riddle summoned it to kill, and it did.  That's murder.

I think the proper analogy would be if a person brought a faulty 
welding torch ... Wait, no, let's go with a flame thrower here.  SO, 
suppose someone brought a faulty flame-thrower to school with the 
intent to kill their sex ed teacher with it.  Because it was faulty, 
however, it failed to kill the teacher, but instead fired randomly at a 
later time and killed a nearby classmate.

In such a scenario, is the person who brought the flame thrower to 
school *morally* guilty of murder (the legality of the situation is 
irrelevant in discussing whether the incidence could be used to form a 
horcrux), to the extent that his soul would be split?  Even though they 
didn't *intend* to kill their classmate?  In my opinion, yes, he is 
morally culpable for the "murder," due to the fact that he brought a 
lethal weapon to school that he knew was faulty and could go off at any 
time.

If you accept this premise (and I know some of you don't, but bear with 
me), the question of whether dear ol' Tommy could have created a 
horcrux from Mytrle's murder becomes an inquiry into the actual 
mechanics of horcrux creation.  That is, is it possible to make a 
horcrux from an unexpected murder, or does one need to make 
preparations beforehand?  If not, how long after the event of the 
murder can a horcrux be made?  Does the creation need to be 
instantaneous with the act?

These are questions I dearly hope JKR will answer in DH, although, at 
this rate, with the sheer volume of things I hope will be answered in 
DH, the book would end up being more of a Q&A than anything else if I 
got my way. ^_~

Laura (who hasn't posted in a long, long time.)