HBP Chapter Twenty-Three: "Horcruxes"

[for-diddled.livejournal.com]

* So Harry goes into Dumbledore’s office and we all get to see the memory. Brace yourself for some disappointment, people, it’s going to seem really anti-climactic after all the build-up we were given.

* Tom’s attempt to get the info out of Slughorn is “very well done”, if by “very well done” you mean “so blatant that even Mr. Oblivious Potter can see what he’s up to”.

* Riddle’s practically drooling before long. Yup, that boy sure is a master at this sort of thing.

* It’s a bit odd that Slughorn’s so shocked at the idea of killing people. I mean, c’mon, since when has wizarding society ever shown any disapproval of casual violence?

* I’m not sure why nobody’s allowed to talk about Horcruxes in Hogwarts. I mean, sure, there’s the danger that somebody might try and make one, but Muggle schools don’t feel the need to ban people from talking about murder for fear that someone will go on a killing spree.

* Although then again, wizards in general are quite psychopathic, maybe keeping them in ignorance about Horcruxes is the only way to stop them from trying to make some…

* I’m surprised Voldemort is the first wizard ever to make more than one Horcrux. It seems like an obvious enough idea that at least one other person would have tried it, even given the points raised in Sunnyskywalker’s post.

* Or maybe they did, and there’s a long-forgotten dark wizard’s soul hiding away, just waiting for somebody to resurrect them…

* “A mere memory starting to act and think for itself?” What, you mean like portraits which can have conversations with people, lock students out of common rooms when they’re annoyed, or pretend to be asleep when listening in on conversations? Or people in photographs who can get annoyed and storm off the edges of their picture? Or ghosts who can chat with students? Yeah, Riddle’s diary sure was unique, alright. *rolls eyes*

* “‘I still don’t understand,’ said Harry.” Well colour me shocked.

* Everybody seems a little too ready to buy the six Horcruxes theory. I mean, sure, it’s plausible, based on what we’ve seen, but the evidence for it isn’t decisive by any means. How does Dumbledore know that he didn’t actually make seven Horcruxes? Or that he got around to making all of them? Or that he didn’t stop short when all the soul-splitting made him too unstable?

* And why, for that matter, does anybody wishing to kill Voldemort have to attack his body last of all? Surely if you destroyed that first, it would then be much easier to destroy the other Horcruxes without Voldemort breathing down your neck and trying to stop you.

* Wow, these Horcruxes must be really dangerous, if Dumbledore was almost killed trying to destroy one. Remind me again why exactly he’s sending Harry to get rid of them?

* Wait a minute… Dumbledore says that Tom would have chosen special objects as his Horcruxes, and that the diary was special to him, even though it didn’t seem special to anybody looking at it. So how do we know that at least some of the other Horcruxes aren’t also special to Tom without looking special? Why assume that they all must be showy magical heirlooms?

* I’m not sure why Rowling needed to have Harry “counting on his fingers”, since it just makes him look like an idiot. Then again, Hogwarts doesn’t seem to offer any education in mathematics, so maybe wizards in general can’t actually count up to six in their head.

* Now you see, this “reserving Horcruxes for significant deaths” thing is where Voldemort’s love of the dramatic really bites him on the backside. If he’s just killed random muggle homeless people, he could have had seven or more well before he went after Harry, and nobody would have noticed or, unfortunately, cared.

* “‘An admirably succinct and accurate summary, yes,’ said Dumbledore, bowing his head.” Hmm, so now Dumbledore’s praising Harry for, essentially, repeating what the Headmaster told him all of forty seconds ago. No wonder that boy has a superiority complex.

* Although sadly enough it seems like repeating stuff you’ve heard/read is considered the apex of intelligence in the wizarding world. Cf. every time Hermione gets praised by a teacher.

* Dumbledore warns Harry that, even though Voldemort’s soul is damaged, his brain remains intact. Well, I suppose we’ll just have to take Albus’ word for it, since it’s certainly not obvious from Voldie’s behaviour.

* All this talk of Voldemort’s brain reminds me of the fan theory that his plans are so rubbish because the resurrection ceremony didn’t work and he ended up returning as an idiot. *sigh* It’s sad when the best way to make sense of a series is to assume that the main villain’s suffering from brain damage.

* I have to admit, I do quite like the idea of Voldemort trying to squash a potential threat and instead making his own worst enemy. I mean, yeah, the whole “person tries to avert a prophecy, and in so doing ends up bringing it to fulfilment” trope is quite common, but it’s not a bad one for all that. A pity this angle was ditched in favour of the silly wand lore business.

Comments

[aasaylva.livejournal.com]

Brace yourself for some disappointment, people, it’s going to seem really anti-climactic after all the build-up we were given.
That's an admirably succinct and accurate summary of the last two books...


Or maybe they did, and there’s a long-forgotten dark wizard’s soul hiding away, just waiting for somebody to resurrect them…
That's what's been puzzling me all along - what good are Horcruxes to anyone? Sure he cannot be "totally killed" but he IS reduced to float around eternally unless he finds someone to restore him like Quirrel attempted to and Wormtail did. the way JKR painted Riddle you'd think the last thing he'd go for would be to be so totally dependent on someone else.

* Everybody seems a little too ready to buy the six Horcruxes theory.
Oh yes. The movie handled this much better by making Dumbledore completely ignorant as to what Tom had been up to. Thus, Slughorn's memory really does help in figuring out how to bring Voldy down while at the same time giving Slughorn a somewhat better reason for not wanting anyone to know about it.

I agree with everything you said about the Horcruxes being an illogical mess of epic proportions. How can any author care so little about the centre of her own plot?

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

re he cannot be "totally killed" but he IS reduced to float around eternally unless he finds someone to restore him like Quirrel attempted to and Wormtail did.

Didn't Voldemort also claim that his resurrection ritual was something he'd invented from first principles? The only way I can make sense of it is if Horcruces keep you in your body as long as said body exists, regardless of what condition it's in, and in that case there's some genuine potential for horrific consequences that I'm surprised* Rowling missed.

*I'm not surprised.

[terri-testing.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was my theory. Imagine having your consciousness trapped in a corpse rotting around you.

Horace did tell Tom, "But of course, existence in such a form....

"... few would want it, Tom, very few. Death would be preferable."

[sunnyskywalker]

Horrifying as living in a rotting corpse would be, the worst part is still probably after it disintegrates enough to make you vapor. Then you're apparently stuck not being able to channel most of your magic usefully (otherwise Voldemort would have done more than possess squirrels and snakes for eleven years). And that is the worst thing ever, for wizards. They're helpless! Truly, few would want that.

That he could possess snakes is probably supposed to show how exceptionally powerful he is, but it's related to the kinds of magic he'd already started learning before he got a wand. It makes me wonder about that theory that while wands may help provide focus, they also make wizards believe they can't do magic without them when actually they all could, if they practiced. If so, it's fortunate Voldemort never figured that out, or he would have been able to run around doing... whatever... without bothering with all that re-embodiment rigamarole that took so much time out of his schedule. Getting a new body does seem to have kept him from possessing anyone besides Harry for a minute - can you imagine if anyone who stepped outside the Hogwarts grounds was in danger of ending up with Voldemort sharing their heads?