Help with canon

[wook77]

Ok, so this is what goes through my head as I'm trying to sleep... (yes, Yoda is talking to me)


Wook's canon question(s) of the moment -


Voldemort split his soul into a proposed 7 Horcruxes. Then he was "killed" by Harry.

When he was "killed", does that mean he used one of the Horcruxes so that there were only 6 for Harry and Dumbledore to destroy?

If he didn't, then how did he survive? Shouldn't his soul have been so weakened from being split up like that that he couldn't have survived without using one of his Horcruxes?

If he did, which one did he use?

Am I just being a moron because there's an obvious answer somewhere in the books that I didn't see? Has this been debated a gadzillion times and I just didn't pay attention?

Thoughts? Feelings? Suggestions? Links to previous discussions?

Comments

[akahannah.livejournal.com]

Well, what I think is that in being killed he used up the seventh of the Horcrux that was still within his body. However, he could not die because there were other pieces of his soul still surviving out there.

Can't explain why I think this, though. I'm probably horribly wrong.

*goes back to her corner*

[midnitemaraud-r.livejournal.com]

My view on this:

Voldemort was trying to make 6 horcruxes so his soul would ultimately be in 7 pieces - 7 being a powerful magical number. Harry's murder was supposed to be the catalyst for his making another one - possibly the final one, though we don't know if or when Nagini was made into a horcrux, so it's a bit tricky.

Anyway, he survived because, while he had bits of his soul saved and encased in the various objects, he still had what was left of his soul (after the bits were split off) inside his own body. That's what 'fled' and 'lived' in the forest in Romania or wherever the hell it was he met both Quirrel, Wormtail and Bertha. And that's what is inside the body that Wormtail helped create for him in GoF. He didn't go and get one of his horcruxes and use the fragment encased inside.

See, the reason he didn't "die" and was able to be 'put back into another body' after his human body was 'destroyed/killed' or whatever that halloween night was because the horcruxes anchored his soul to the earth. His soul (what was left of it) couldn't 'pass on' to wherever it is souls go when a person dies and remained earth bound.

The pieces that are inside the horcruxes he had made (diary, cup, locket, etc.) are not used to 'reincarnate him', though in the case of the diary, we saw that that was something of a possibility because of the nature of the soul fragment interacting with the already-charmed diary, but the diary was different from the non-sentient and inanimate locket or cup. (Am I confusing you yet?)

He didn't die because he was 'anchored' to 'Earth' (or the living plane of existence) by having a horcrux. Having one is enough to do this when someone dies. Voldemort thought six (seven pieces) would be better than one (two pieces) because he's a nut case. :) When the body dies, the soul doesn't die with it. The soul would move on to wherever - to live Dumbledore's next great adventure or what have you. But the horcruxes don't let the soul move on, effectively rendering a person immortal, as long as there is a living body for them to inhabit, and of course with magic, a new one was actually created for Voldemort.

Was that clear(ish)?

[eviljade.livejournal.com]

Hi there. Interesting question.

I don't recall anything in canon that definitively said what became of Voldemort after the encounter at Godric's Hallow. I guess I had always just assumed, in my mind, that the fact that parts of Voldemort's soul that were stored in the horcruxes acted as anchors.

Here's how it works in my mind: Voldemort's soul is in 7 parts. One of those remains in his body, the other 6 are stored in the various horcruxes. The parts in the horcruxes are not parts to be reclaimed later or used as "lives" like a cat, rather they are anchors which tie him to the living (corporeal) world.

When Voldemort's spell rebounded on him at Godric's Hallow his body was killed but the piece of soul the was residing within that body, though released from it's fleshy container, could not move on. It is tied to 6 other pieces of soul which are bound to this earth. Therefore, when his body died, that bit Voldemort's soul was just release into the ether until he could find someone of weak enough mind (Quirell) to possess or inhabit them.

We really weren't given any indication of how long Voldemort and Quirell had been living in the state they were in when we met them. I got the impression that it had been a while. When Quirell's body was destroyed that bit of soul was released out into the ether again eventually finding/being found by Wormtail who apparently helped him become somewhat corporeal again.

*shrugs* I don't know if I'm really conveying my meaning very well but those are the basic mechanics of how it works in my head. :)