Tom Riddle and the RoR

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 181876

Tal wrote:
> > <snip> Makes me wonder:
> > 
> > 1. Can you make a horcrux from 'cold' murders (murders that
already happened sometime before) -- or has it be hot? How hot?
 
Beatrice responded:

> Well, I can't really answer this question, but I suspect that it has
to happen shortly after a murder is committed.  While the soul may
never heal completely it might be able to mend a bit over time. 
Particularly, if the perpetrator regrets his actions - not that LV
could or does.  Well, maybe his attempt on Harry, but for purely
selfish reasons...

Carol:
A failed murder attempt wouldn't damage the soul, would it? But it's
clear that, even without the Horcruxes, LV's soul was unstable because
he'd committed so many, and evidently the piece from Lily's (or, less
likely, James's) murder just flew off and hit Harry in the head in,
IMO, the place that the AK had just exploded out of.

However, it does seem that he used "fresh" murders for the creation of
Horcruxes (not necessarily"significant" murders as DD suggests,
though). Here's the list that JKR provides in a webchat,
extracanonical, I realize:

The diary - Moaning Myrtle
The ring - Tom Riddle Sr.
The cup - Hepzibah Smith, the previous owner
The locket - a Muggle tramp
The diadem - an Albanian peasant
Nagini - Bertha Jorkins 

(I've changed the order given on Mugglenet to reflect the probable
order in which they were created.) If LV resorted to murdering a
Muggle tramp to create the locket Horcrux, symbol of his descent from
Salazar Slytherin himself, it looks as if the "old" soul bits from the
elder Riddles (who were at least also his ancestors and killed in part
for revenge) could no longer be used. Same with the Albanian peasant,
hardly significant enough for his precious Ravenclaw Horcrux, but
sufficient to provide a soul bit.

Tal:
> > 2. What is the feeling of having your own horcrux around? LV's
horcrux has negative vibes to the trio - how about the creator 
> themself? Does is feel 'nice' ? Why does LV keep just one of his 
> (Nagini) around?
> 
Beatrice: 
> I would speculate that the soul bit would be more friendly to LV
than anyone else.  <snip> Unlike the trio, LV wouldn't find carrying
it around much of a burden. <snip>

Carol:
And yet LV no longer wore the ring (or, perhaps, carried the diary in
his pocket) after making it a Horcrux. And imagine a blurry-faced LV
wearing both the ring and the locket (perhaps under his robes),
carrying the diary in his pocket, drinking from the Hufflepuff cup
(which he'd need to keep with him at all times), and wearing the
tarnished Ravenclaw tiara. The cup and the tiara, at least, were large
enough and conspicuous enough that he needed a safe place to hide
them. In fact, I suspect that he returned to Britain specifically to
hide the Horcrux, with the application for the DADA position as a
reason for being in Hogwarts (though he did really want the DADA
position, having already applied for it at age nineteen). He
disappeared again, to do what I don't know, immediately afterwards.

At any rate, he didn't want to keep the Horcruxes with him. He wanted
to keep them magically protected and safe, out of the sight of curious
DEs and anyone else who might wonder about his "souvenirs." The diary
he could keep with him until he found a suitable keeper who could
return it to Hogwarts at the proper time. Possibly he chose Lucius
after Lucius became a father and intended for Draco to take the diary
back to Hogwarts at some point. (?) I've already speculated on the
hiding places and their timing. The Prophecy seems to have spurred him
to hide any Horcruxes that he still had with him, including the locket
and the diary. As for Nagini, she didn't need to be hidden. She could
be controlled. And unlike the other Horcruxes, most of which could be
stolen by anyone aware of their history or magical properties or just
for the gold or silver that they were made of, Nagini could fend for
herself, she could not easily be hidden, and she could be controlled
and used for purposes other than keeping LV "alive" (his soul
"anchored" to the earth) by her mere existence. Only when he realized
that she was his last Horcrux (the others had been stolen, if not
destroyed) did he feel the need to protect her and keep her with them.

So to return to the question of how they made LV feel, they were
important to him either for their connection with Hogwarts or their
connection to his Slytherin heritage (Nagini could fall into the
second category), and perhaps wearing them would give him a feeling of
pleasure or wholeness, but he seems to have been more concerned with
preserving and protecting them than with whatever sensation he felt
when he wore or used them. As for Nagini, I think that she was his
"dear Nagini" even before she became a Horcrux. Her venom was one of
the ingredients in the potion that gave him his fetal form. That bond
would have become even closer as he drank her "milk" to sustain him.
Whether the venom itself had magical properties or he was, in a sense,
drinking bits of his own soul is unclear, but Nagini is the only
living creature that LV fully trusts and for whom he feels affection.
It's as if she's his alter ego, his "mother," and his familiar at the
same time. I think that being with her and giving her the gruesome
privilege of eating his victims gave him a grim sort of pleasure,
rather like the satisfaction he himself felt after committing a
"necessary" murder.

Carol, feeling more repulsed than fascinated by LV and his Horcruxes