Do you agree? (Harry as Horcrux)

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 163789

Geoff wrote:
<snip>
> However, if a person is made into a Horcrux, where does the soul
piece reside? Indeed, what form does a soul fragment take? Where does
our own soul reside for that matter? Can we see it, touch it? <snip>

Carol responds:
First, Geoff, I'm with you that Harry is not a Horcrux and that he
won't die. So I'm not arguing with your basic position, just
responding to this fragment of your post.

I think we can safely say that the soul is not in the brain. A
Dementor sucks it out through the mouth, leaving the brain intact.
Memories can be safely removed from the brain of a person who has not
committed murder, so they're not the same as soul bits. A wizard who
has not committed murder can leave part of himself in an object
(portrait, Sorting Hat, Marauder's Map) that can subsequently interact
with other people. Clearly, memory resides in the brain (as we see
again in the brain room), but apparently the soul does not. The soul
apparently goes beyond the Veil when a person dies. The brain remains
behind, where it can be studied by wizards interested in thought and
memory. Those interested in death study what goes on beyond the Veil.

I'm not sure, but I think that JKR's concept of a soul (as depicted in
the HP books, not her own Christian view) is something like the Latin
word "spiritus," meaning "breath, life, spirit" and related to the
concept of inspiration, or like the Greek word "pneuma," wind, breath,
spirit. The soul, in this view, would be the source of life (as
opposed to mere soulless existence, a la Barty Jr.) and the part of
the self that lives on after death. Think of God giving Adam the
breath of life (not the Michelangelo painting, where the spark of life
enters through a finger). The idea of an oracle or Seer(ess) who
inspired by a god is similar; she breathes in the spirit of the god
and breathes out a prophecy. A poet was supposedly similarly inspired
by the Muse Calliope. Or, if you're familiar with it, think of
Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind," in which the wind is simultaneously
wind, breath, and spirit, breathing life into Autumn "O wild West
Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being."

I guess I'm saying that the soul in HP seems to be the breath of life
made tangible and divisible. Just as memories can be made tangible and
withdrawn from the brain by a Legilimens, a fragment of a soul damaged
by murder can be withdrawn from the self and encased in an object
using an incantation. (I'm not sure whether the incantation is
required for the withdrawing or only the encasing, but that's not
really relevant here.)

Carol, sure that the brain and the soul are distinct concepts in the WW

Carol, again looking to canon and etymology for answers