A reflection on Horcruces and Dumbledore

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

I've argued before that Dumbledore knew from the start that Harry had become Tom's Horcrux.

But, if he were as smart as he thought he were, he should have realized that that fact alone proved that Riddle had others (or some other means of avoiding death when his body was destroyed, and Horcruces do seem to be the only known means).

He deduced that Riddle had planned to manufacture a Horcrux from the baby's death, right? Not either of the parents' deaths.

Therefore, the death that created the soul-fragment that landed in Harry, was Riddle's own from that reflected AK.

If he hadn't already been anchored to life by another Horcrux somewhere, he should have merely died.

So Dumbledore ought to have started looking for another Horcrux in 1981....

Comments

Re: Horcrux making

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, it is certainly true that the Diary revenant learned from Ginny Weasley's writing in it. But given that the Diary actively tried to take over anyone who came in contact with it, and that Tom would have hardly been unaware of that, I think Tom would have been more likely to have started a new diary if he intended to continue recording his adventures.

At the very least, he'd have been concerned that the Diary fragment might manage to climb back aboard and reincorporate itself with the rest of his soul. Which is exactly what he *didn't* want to have happen.

But then, I'm rather of the opinion that crafting the Diary into a loaded weapon to raise havoc on Albus's turf is something that didn't occur to him until much later, and that the Diary wasn't the first Horcrux, but something like the 5th. Created shortly before he handed it over to Lucius with instructions to keep it safe and await further orders. I which case, it may have been made from Dorcas Meadows' death.

Re: Horcrux making

[oryx_leucoryx]

I tend to think he made it when he was about 16 because the Riddle that came out of the diary was a young Riddle. I think that was his bodily state when that bit of his soul was ripped off.

Re: Horcrux making

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Well, that is certainly what we are supposed to think. But while Horcruxes have a disposition, they have limited self-identity (the Harrycrux vaguely recognized Riddle's name, but had no real context for it), and don't seem to have any true self-image or personal memories, since the memories are all in the custody of the "prime". Even the Locket, the only other one we got any chance to observe, only seemed to be able to play back whatever fears it had picked up from the people it had been in contact with. Nothing of a personal history.

Most Horcruxes really aren't much better off than the victims of Dementors. They are self-aware, which the victims aren't, but they have no access to their prime's personal memories, and usually no sensory input since they don't have eyes or ears, and have usually been hidden away for safety. It's small wonder that they latch onto anyone who comes in contact with them. It's their only escape from complete sensory deprivation.

The Diary, however had custody of most of a year's worth of Tom's own personal memories to form a self-image from, and consequently, whenever the Horcrux was created, the image it built would have been that of the 16-year-old Riddle, since those were the only memories it had access to.