Harry Potter

One can acknowledge Voldemort's desire for meaningful Horcruxes and still think him dumb for choosing them.

Horcruxes can't be summoned. Surely someone could personalize a spell that could recognize a horcrux by its unique magical properties? Like a spell that checks each object in the nearby area, burning a microscopically small spot on its outer layer, and reporting back if there are any objects that can resist such a spell?

Too bad "important for the user" wasn't a explicit requirement.

Or at least some better hideouts. Like a random shack in the middle of nowhere that didn't belong to his grandpa, or something like that.

That random shack was heavily guarded with deadly curses, and would have outright killed Dumbledore if it wasn't for Snape.

Lets repeat that. The most powerful Wizard of this century all but died from trying to retrieve that Horcrux.

And lets remember also that no one even knew about that shack, or his human family, or his Horcruxes for that matter. It took years of sleuthing to even figure all that out.

Yeah, I can see how Voldemort thought it was safe enough there.

Counterpoint: The only reason it almost killed Dumbledore is because he did something unfathomably stupid by putting on the ring. He knew it was cursed, he did it anyway because he wanted to see his sister.

Now, maybe that would have worked on anyone else, but it shouldn't have worked on Dumbledore.

I do agree with you, I'm just playing Devil's advocate.

edited 9th Jun '18 7:58:31 AM by Discar

Yeah, Dumbledore's death was his own fault. I got the impression that he knew it, too.

Has it been established if horcruxes need to be meaningful to you or not? My query was in response to if anything could be made into one

I think the implication is no, anything can be a Horcrux, even a living being, as Nagini and Harry prove. And the diary, while meaningful to Voldemort, is basically just a diary.

Thing is, the wizards that are clever enough to not use something grandiloquent are also the wizards that are clever enough not to crack their soul open by murdering people. By definition if you're narcissistic enough to debase yourself with a Horcrux, you're narcissistic enough to use something absolutely stupid to store your soul in. Besides, you can't hide it too well, otherwise you end up trapped in a tiny object hidden at the bottom of the sea or something. You need to be able to be retrieved and restored by a helpful servant.

I think you're spot on there. It is not enough simply to have a Horcrux, you also need someone to resurrect you from it. The fourth book made that abundantly clear.

... I just had a thought. You know how they can animate statues? I wonder...

If I recall correctly, I don't think you're trapped in your Horcrux if you die (I mean, Voldemort had a bunch of them - how would that have even worked?). It's more like it sort of ties your soul to the living world. Voldemort was a disembodied spirit, he wasn't contained in the locket or anything.

Like, the Horcruxes aren't empty vessels - as the diary and to a lesser extent the locket shows, they're occupied, and sentient to boot.

edited 11th Jun '18 8:17:51 AM by KarkatTheDalek

Well, I think you'd go to your nearest one. Voldemort was hidden away until Quirrel discovered him. He was hiding out in one of his soul jars in.... Albania? Algeria? Azerbaijan? I can't remember where, but Quirrel had to discover him. Like, you'd think if he had a choice he would have sought one of his loyal Death Eaters.

He was in Albania. But when was it ever said that he was in a Horcrux when Quirrell found him?

edited 11th Jun '18 8:36:15 AM by KarkatTheDalek

If I recall correctly, Quirrell did NOT find the horcrux, but rather Voldemort's ghost, who was wandering a forest in Albania, and was able to posess him and formed a growth with Voldy's conscience on the back of Quirrell's skull.

But then there was that weird fetus thing the second time Voldemort came back. I'm not entirely sure how that works. Did... Did Voldemort try to possess a pregnant woman, or something? What IS the story with that?

Also, notice that Voldemort resurrected twice, but this did not use up a Horcrux. The implication seems to be that the Horcruxes allow him to exist as... something. Something that is definitely not your run of the mill ghost. And unlike normal ghosts, this Horcrux-ghost CAN be resurrected.

Why Voldemort's ghost dissapeared to Albania is another question entirely.

Wasn't the diadem of Ravenclaw hidden there?

By Helena Ravenclaw, yes, but the implication seems to have been that he moved it to Hogwarts when he last visited the school, during his job interview with Dumbledore.

Yes, I think its all but stated that that return was to hide the Diadem in the Room of Requirements.

I think the implication of the text was not that, should Voldemort ever be fatally struck, that one of his Horcruxes somewhere would burst open and release the soul inside. He's been at that stage before, but he's never needed to replace a Horcrux, so it's unlikely they're spent restoring their maker to life. It's more likely that by separating the soul into pieces, the portion in his body can never move on to the afterlife. He merely becomes incorporeal, but the portion that was in the Albanian forest was the one that inhabited his original body.

So you think that there was a Horcrux in Albania? If so, which one?

I don't think that Nagini was a Horcrux at the time, the diary, locket and diadem definitely weren't there, and I personally doubt the ring was too.

Now, the cup was moved to the Lestranges' vault as some point - the question is when?

edited 11th Jun '18 11:14:33 AM by KarkatTheDalek

I'd assume during the first war, or else it'd make for an interesting scene on Diagon Alley. Unless there was Polyjuice involved, of course.

Still, if you are gonna hide an Horcrux, it better be in a place where you know you can find it,, so you can go and check if it's not destroyed yet. Imagine the surprise of being fatally struck, thinking "Idiots, I'll be back" only to find out, that, no, you won't.

I'm not sure there was a Horcrux in Albania, just that Voldemort was drawn there for some reason. Remember that it had been a decade.

It may also be a sly Dracula reference. I think the text did mention vampires.

The Diadem definitely lived in Albania for a long-ass time.

I suppose that explains it. Another thing about horcruxes is that while Tom Marvolo Riddle wasn't the first person to make one, he was the first recorded to make multiple. So I'm assuming that it was theoretical to split your soul multiple times, and Voldemort was lucky he didn't kill himself doing so

Since the diary showed the most power and intelligence of all the horcruxes(presumably because its the one with the most Tom Riddle in it), I've wondered;- if Diary Riddle won, would he still need the diary to exist? What would his relationship be with his current, primary Voldemort self?

I think Diary Riddle would have helped V to get his body back, and then go back to the Diary.

If the multiple Horcrux thing failed, it might have ended looking like he tried to smooch a Dementor, but that's just my opinion.