[HPforGrownups] CHAPTER DISCUSSION: Chamber of Secrets Chapter 18: Dobby's reward

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 189287

Bart wrote:
>> I was very much against the idea of Harry being a horcrux, too,
>> although I believed he was something akin to one. Still am. It just
>> appeared that the process of creating a horcrux was too complex for one
>> to be created by accident. My feeling was that a piece of Morty's soul
>> did move into Harry, but remained separate; this was part of the reason
>> why the soul piece could be removed from Harry without his own destruction.
>>      

> No.Limberger responds:
> We
> can speculate that the spell to create a horcrux was probably only intended
> to
> be used with an inanimate object. Thus, when LV tried to kill Harry, it was
> probably Lily's ancient magic combining with the fact that LV's soul was
> already
> weakened and primed for splitting that allowed the unintentional horcrux
> creation
> to occur. LV never knew that Harry was a horcrux, and Harry didn't have to
> be
> completely destroyed in order for the horcrux to be removed. This was an
> unexpected consequence.
>    

Bart:
     Well, this IS getting into the realm of hair splitting. And it is 
true that JKR never really fully defined a horcrux; we can only deduce 
from the "behavior" of the other horcruxes. And, for example, we can't 
know for sure how much Morty's connection with Naggy had to do with 
Naggy being a Horcrux, and how much being his natural affinity to 
snakes. Certainly, Morty's inability to get into Harry's head without so 
much pain as to make it not worth his while (note that, in OOP, Morty 
uses Harry's entree into HIS mind to manipulate Harry, rather than the 
other way around).

     The Prophecy combined with the established canon (third person 
accounts, as opposed to quotes, unless the material quoted is given as 
objective rather than speculation, even if it's DD's speculation) still 
implies that the Mortysoul in Harry is different than that in the other 
horcruxes. It is implied that there is as much Mortysoul in Harry as 
there is in Morty (which isn't much). Which means that if Harry killed 
Morty without destroying his own piece of Mortysoul, he might end up 
becoming the "New Morty" himself.

     In any case, the point is that, from the point of view of a horcrux 
being a piece of a wizard's soul stored outside the wizard, then yes, 
Harry is a horcrux. But from the "behavior" we have observed from the 
diary, the ring, and Naggy (we don't really see anything from the cup or 
the diadem), it does not look like Harry is the same kind of horcrux as 
the rest.

     Bart