On Horcrux-making and losing one’s looks
Jun. 19th, 2020 09:12 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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deathtocapslockWe know that Tom’s appearance deteriorated during the same time period he was making Horcruxes. Dumbledore and Harry seem to believe this is cause and effect: you split your soul, and your face gets melty-looking.
Are they correct, though?
In the graveyard, Voldemort brags that his followers knew some of the measures he’d taken to make himself deathless. Bellatrix and Lucius may have some idea about the objects their master gave them to guard, but not necessarily. Regulus had to discover the secret, after all—and did say he discovered it, not learned it from Voldemort and used it against him. So Voldemort didn’t tell him that the locket was a Horcrux. If even the Horcrux guardians don’t know about them, the rest of the Death Eaters must not know either. (Regulus almost certainly had no idea there was more than one, or he wouldn’t have taunted Voldemort about being “mortal once more” once the locket was destroyed.)
So. What were these other measures Voldemort took to preserve his life, which he told his followers about?
And, more pertinently, what did they do to Tom’s complexion?
It’s hard to see why ripping out a piece of one’s soul would affect one’s skin or facial structure. How would that work? When you rip off a piece of soul, it might be your soul-nose, the loss of which is then reflected in your face? Or is it more of a leeching out of some of your soul-stuff, so that your soul looks a bit runny, which then makes your flesh, blood, and bones a bit runny as well? Does making Horcruxes put you at risk for osteoporosis? (And does having an extra soul-bit shoved into you, as Harry did, also change one’s appearance, besides the scar entry wound? Did Harry’s nose grow after the Voldiebit died?) And a big gaping soul-wound also… turns your eyes glowing red?
It’s rather hard to credit. Though admittedly not inconceivable in the Potterverse. But Dumbledore and his Muggle-raised mother grew up in an era where Muggle doctors and scientists thought that personality traits were reflected in the shape of one’s skull and other such physical characteristics. Not to mention, wizarding society may retain ideas derived from the 17th century, when ideas like character traits being passed through breast milk and “like cures like” (e.g., red stones help with blood diseases because they share redness) were taken seriously by major figures such as Boyle. The idea that the state of the soul would be reflected in the state of the body wouldn’t be out there for wizards. Add that to the generally sketchy information about Horcruxes, and the lack of recorded instances of anyone making more than one, and maybe the conclusion seemed like a natural leap to Dumbledore.
But he might have been wrong. I don’t recall Hermione reading that Horcrux-making caused disfigurement in her purloined handbooks. Nor did Slughorn warn Tom about it. We’ve never seen any other cases to compare Tom’s progression to. Well, maybe it’s only really noticeable after you make more than one, which allegedly no one else has ever done…
But it seems just as likely, or more so, that those unspecified other measures were what really ruined Tom’s looks. He was only looking pale and gaunt at Hephzibah’s – nothing there that can’t be attributed to living on wizard Top Ramen due to a low salary at the shop or simply not taking the time to eat properly. The red eyes and melted-wax look only appeared after he’d been associating with “the worst of our kind” and doing something that his followers might reasonably believe would make him unkillable. (Dermus adamantius? No, seriously, what were those other measures? Yes, yes, probably Rowling forgot she’d ever mentioned any other measures, or originally intended the DEs to know about the Horcruxes and changed her mind. Let’s pretend there’s a coherent backstory for old times’ sake.)
For that matter, maybe only the melted wax stage was due to whatever special measures he took and after that, most changes were deliberate cosmetic alterations to suit his sense of drama.
Maybe he just liked having a much smaller nose.
Or literally cut it off to spite his face.
Stranger things have happened in the Potterverse.
Are they correct, though?
In the graveyard, Voldemort brags that his followers knew some of the measures he’d taken to make himself deathless. Bellatrix and Lucius may have some idea about the objects their master gave them to guard, but not necessarily. Regulus had to discover the secret, after all—and did say he discovered it, not learned it from Voldemort and used it against him. So Voldemort didn’t tell him that the locket was a Horcrux. If even the Horcrux guardians don’t know about them, the rest of the Death Eaters must not know either. (Regulus almost certainly had no idea there was more than one, or he wouldn’t have taunted Voldemort about being “mortal once more” once the locket was destroyed.)
So. What were these other measures Voldemort took to preserve his life, which he told his followers about?
And, more pertinently, what did they do to Tom’s complexion?
It’s hard to see why ripping out a piece of one’s soul would affect one’s skin or facial structure. How would that work? When you rip off a piece of soul, it might be your soul-nose, the loss of which is then reflected in your face? Or is it more of a leeching out of some of your soul-stuff, so that your soul looks a bit runny, which then makes your flesh, blood, and bones a bit runny as well? Does making Horcruxes put you at risk for osteoporosis? (And does having an extra soul-bit shoved into you, as Harry did, also change one’s appearance, besides the scar entry wound? Did Harry’s nose grow after the Voldiebit died?) And a big gaping soul-wound also… turns your eyes glowing red?
It’s rather hard to credit. Though admittedly not inconceivable in the Potterverse. But Dumbledore and his Muggle-raised mother grew up in an era where Muggle doctors and scientists thought that personality traits were reflected in the shape of one’s skull and other such physical characteristics. Not to mention, wizarding society may retain ideas derived from the 17th century, when ideas like character traits being passed through breast milk and “like cures like” (e.g., red stones help with blood diseases because they share redness) were taken seriously by major figures such as Boyle. The idea that the state of the soul would be reflected in the state of the body wouldn’t be out there for wizards. Add that to the generally sketchy information about Horcruxes, and the lack of recorded instances of anyone making more than one, and maybe the conclusion seemed like a natural leap to Dumbledore.
But he might have been wrong. I don’t recall Hermione reading that Horcrux-making caused disfigurement in her purloined handbooks. Nor did Slughorn warn Tom about it. We’ve never seen any other cases to compare Tom’s progression to. Well, maybe it’s only really noticeable after you make more than one, which allegedly no one else has ever done…
But it seems just as likely, or more so, that those unspecified other measures were what really ruined Tom’s looks. He was only looking pale and gaunt at Hephzibah’s – nothing there that can’t be attributed to living on wizard Top Ramen due to a low salary at the shop or simply not taking the time to eat properly. The red eyes and melted-wax look only appeared after he’d been associating with “the worst of our kind” and doing something that his followers might reasonably believe would make him unkillable. (Dermus adamantius? No, seriously, what were those other measures? Yes, yes, probably Rowling forgot she’d ever mentioned any other measures, or originally intended the DEs to know about the Horcruxes and changed her mind. Let’s pretend there’s a coherent backstory for old times’ sake.)
For that matter, maybe only the melted wax stage was due to whatever special measures he took and after that, most changes were deliberate cosmetic alterations to suit his sense of drama.
Maybe he just liked having a much smaller nose.
Or literally cut it off to spite his face.
Stranger things have happened in the Potterverse.
no subject
Date: 2020-06-20 06:13 am (UTC)On the other hand Voldemort loves traditional magic- stuff that could easily fit in Grimm Brother's fairy tales.
Hmm so maybe it isn't reversed The Picture of Dorian Grey but a side effect of some other spells. Didn't Tom dabble in necromancy? I can easily see overconfident Voldemort trying out a spell he created and getting backlash straight into the face.
Or maybe there is more to what Remus said about Dementors. If losing soul means losing magic then the soul is source of magic. And while investing money into different businesses might be a good idea, it seems to me that Rowling's wizards have pre-set power level and can't get stronger magically. Since Voldemort deliberately was cutting away pieces of soul, he might be much weaker in his 50's than he was as a teenager.
So how are you going to control a group of rowdy dark wizards and stop them from realising your true power level? By scaring the shit out of them, obviously. /s
Though if Horcruxes have an impact on Voldemort's sanity then this plan might sound great to him.
Or perhaps he ran into very bad MLM products :P
no subject
Date: 2020-06-21 12:40 am (UTC)Some kind of experimental spell with unanticipated side effects seems like a strong possibility.
That is a good question about soul-splitting and magical power. Can the divided pieces keep in some kind of mystical contact to keep one's power level consistent? It doesn't seem like they're closely connected, if at all--book!Voldemort doesn't know when a Horcrux is destroyed. Can a soul-piece channel the same amount of magic as before, because it isn't a strictly physical process? Or has Voldemort's magic gotten progressively weaker? And if so, did he realize what was happening, or did it muddle his perceptions too?
And if that's a weakened Voldemort, what kind of magic was he capable of before he started chopping off bits of his soul?
no subject
Date: 2020-07-13 12:21 am (UTC)He does hold his own against Dumbledore at the Ministry.