Harrycrux FVO (Frequently Voiced Objections): Exploding the Myths

Stabbed diary

These are simply counter-arguments to not-a-Horcrux objections.
The "evidence pro" for Harry the Horcrux is not presented in full.


#1: The soul fragment would Possess Harry, just like Riddle's diary Possessed Ginny.

#2: The soul fragment would be expelled by Harry's love.

#3: Lily's protective shield would not have allowed something so evil to enter Harry.

#4: Dumbledore said Voldemort had "an unusual amount of control" over Nagini because Nagini is a Horcrux.

#5: Voldemort has tried to kill Harry.

#6: Voldemort would have known all along.

#7 Dumbledore would have told Harry.

#8a: Voldemort wouldn't make Harry a Horcrux if he was planning on killing him.

#8b: Voldemort didn't have time to cast the Horcrux-making spell while the AK Curse was rebounding.

#9: You can't make a Horcrux by accident!

#10: Harry can't be a Horcrux, because then he'd have to kill himself before killing Voldemort.


#1: The soul fragment would Possess Harry, just like Riddle's diary Possessed Ginny.

Ginny was never a Horcrux. Hence the comparison is false.

The diary was specifically designed and enchanted to Possess somebody. In fact, we've been told that a non-Horcrux magical item can compel someone to act against his will ("...a book that you could never stop reading!"). More importantly, when Dumbledore explained how he figured the diary was a Horcrux, he did not include Possession and control among the reasons.

Even cleverly enchanted, the diary required time and cooperation to control Ginny. Even then, Ginny was able to resist. Note carefully the final stage of the soul fragment's plan: It tried to kill Ginny and create an emergent Riddle, which would have looked terribly suspicious sneaking out of Hogwarts. It did not try to relocate itself into Ginny and take permanent Possession of her (which would have given it a perfect disguise).



#2: The soul fragment would be expelled by Harry's love.

First, there is a qualitative difference between Voldemort himself and the soul fragments which go into Horcruxes. Only the "main" part of Voldemort's soul has a sense-of-self.

Second, we saw Voldemort Possess Harry in the Ministry Atrium. He stayed for a time. And he was not expelled, he fled:
"...he could not bear to reside in a body so full of the force he detests."
(Dumbledore, OotP 37 pg 844)
So even if the soul fragment could feel anything (which I doubt) it lacks the power to run away on its own.



#3: Lily's protective shield would not have allowed something so evil to enter Harry.

First, the "protective shield" is a myth. Lily's offer was "kill me instead", not "make me a Horcrux instead of Harry." The AK Curse rebounded because it was an attempt to kill.

Harry has an empathic (sometimes telepathic) connection with the evil Dark Lord; it makes Harry feel tainted; he gets an occasional surge of evil emotion (e.g., the snake which wanted to strike at Dumbledore); and he's got a scar which can cause debilitating pain.

These unpleasant and evil effects are canon FACT. Lily's sacrifice did not prevent them.



#4: Dumbledore said Voldemort had "an unusual amount of control" over Nagini because Nagini is a Horcrux.

No, he didn't say that. That's a misinterpretation caused by ignoring the plain text and carrying a preconceived notion.

Dumbledore told Harry,

"Well, it is inadvisable to do so [use an animal as a Horcrux], because to confide a part of your soul to something that can think and move for itself is obviously a very risky business."
(HBP 23 pg 506)
That alone is sufficient to answer the objection. But to explain further, Dumbledore goes on to say,
"...he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into his last Horcrux."
(pg 506)
Having just given the warning about the inadvisability of making an animal a Horcrux, this statement begs the question: "Why would Voldemort consider making Nagini one?"

And so Dumbledore, continuing his discussion, gives several answers:
Voldemort's control over Nagini is a given, whether she is a Horcrux or not. Dumbledore isn't providing evidence to show Nagini is a Horcrux, he is providing evidence to show why Voldemort would want to make her a Horcrux. Naturally, given the dangers already cited, Voldemort would want to have an "unusual amount of control" before he confided a part of his soul to "something that can think and move for itself".



#5: Voldemort has tried to kill Harry.

Voldemort didn't know Harry was a Horcrux. (He most likely figured it out at the end of OotP or the beginning of HBP).



#6: Voldemort would have known all along.

Dumbledore doesn't think Voldemort has any awareness of his external soul fragments:
"I believe that Voldemort is now so immersed in evil, and these crucial parts of himself have been detached for so long, he does not feel as we do."
(HBP 23 pg 507)
At the very moment when Voldemort made Harry into a Horcrux, Voldemort was getting slapped with an AK Curse. That was a bit of a shock ("pain beyond pain"). Even so, Voldemort had a clue, he just missed it:
"I was ripped from my body"
(GoF 23 pg 653)
Compare to Slughorn's description of the Horcux-making process, "Killing rips the soul apart." (HBP 23 pg 498)



#7 Dumbledore would have told Harry.

Dumbledore tried to tell Harry. That's why we, the reader, have the clues we need. But Harry wasn't quite ready.

Dumbledore's promise of full disclosure comes with a temporal caveat:
Furthermore, we can be sure of three things Dumbledore never revelaed to Harry: The details of Voldemort's attack at Godric's Hollow, the reason for Dumbledore's "gleam of something like triumph" in GoF 36, and the meaning of the coiling smoke snakes in OotP 22.

Here's a news flash: All three of those secrets involve Harry's mysterious connection to Voldemort.



#8a: Voldemort wouldn't make Harry a Horcrux if he was planning on killing him.

#8b: Voldemort didn't have time to cast the Horcrux-making spell while the AK Curse was rebounding.

Voldemort did not, certainly does not, want Harry to be a Horcrux. It's a huge disincentive for Voldemort to kill Harry, and thus to Harry's advantage.

Harry was made a Horcrux accidentally.

If Voldemort did indeed use the Horcrux-making spell, he cast it before he tried to kill Harry, with the intent to direct his soul fragment into some object after he murdered Harry. But things went haywire. There was no ripping of the soul from Harry's murder, so the Horcrux-making spell acted on the previous rip (from Lily's murder). Voldemort was also busy getting AK'd. He simply had no control over the spell, so it hit the wrong target (not coincidentally, the exact target toward which he was pointing his wand -- Harry).

But note that the "pre-casting" scenario is not at all necessary to the Harrycrux theory. It's just one possible way the accident could have happened.



#9: You can't make a Horcrux by accident!

Let's back up a bit to answer this.

Harry's got a scar, he has an empathic (sometimes telepathic) connection to Voldemort, he's a Parselmouth, there is a little voice in his head, he is the Chosen One because Voldemort handed him "uniquely deadly weapons", he has inexplicable memories (e.g., "And while Harry was sure he had never heard the name T.M. Riddle before, it still seemed to mean something to him"; CoS 13 pg 233), and he seems to be a Legilimens.

One way to explain all of this is to apply...

Ockham's Razor - Entities should not be multiplied unnecessarily; the simplest of two or more competing theories is preferable; and any explanation for unknown phenomena should first be attempted in terms of what is already known.

In this case, the simplest explanation for all that junk is the presence of a soul fragment in Harry.

Nothing else in the given rules of magic can explain the connection/powers/memory/voice/scar bundle that Harry got from Voldemort (accidentally, per indisputable canon).

Now, some folks in the HiNaH camp will dispute the relevance of the known magical rules and Okham's Razor. They'll insist that the accidental, complex, and multi-faceted phenomena do not require an explanation because this is a work of fiction. Rowling wanted Harry to have the connection/powers/memory/voice/scar because they were needed for the story.

The argument is valid, but not convincing. It assumes there is no mystery involved in Harry's connection/powers/memory/voice/scar. Furthermore, being an argument from ignorance, it is not affirmative evidence for HiNaH nor contradictory evidence for HiaH.

Now comes the real trick.

If we suggest that Harry was accidentally made a Horcrux, the rules change. Complex accidents can't happen, says the HiNaH camp. Story necessity is irrelevant; failed spells are rigorously subjected to Okham's Razor; the known rules of magic must be strictly followed (and, conveniently, they are suddenly experts on the making of Horcruxes).

This is the Great Harry-is-not-a-Horcrux Fallacy:
One rule for me, another rule for you.

So pick a rule, folks.


Examining the Harrycrux issue one rule at a time:

First Rule: Magical phenomena require explanation.

The Horcrux-based explanations range from "perfect fit" (Parseltongue, just like the diary) to "very probable" (the soul is the vessel of memory, hence Harry remembers the name T.M. Riddle) to "at least plausible" (the telepathic connection follows the rules of Legilimency if we assume a soul fragment; the scar is permanent because thoughts "leave deeper scarring than almost anything else").

The non-Horcrux explanations are virtually non-existent. The connection, powers, memory, voice and scar are not duplicated or approximated by other demonstrated magic. Not only would Voldemort have to cast about six different spells, simultaneously and accidentally, he would've had to invent most of them on the spot.

Second Rule: Rowling created the phenomena that were necessary for the story.

Just ask yourself which scneario is more interesting, horrifying, gripping, frightening, dramatic, and seemingly impossible for our hero:

#1) Harry has to kill a snake before he kills Voldemort.

#2) Harry's carrying around a piece of Voldemort's vile soul, it is the very thing that makes Harry so special, and he's got to die before he kills Voldemort.

Which brings us to...



#10: Harry can't be a Horcrux, because then he'd have to kill himself before killing Voldemort.

If you and I were sitting down to write Deathly Hallows together, if we were trying to come up with a good plot and fill in the details of an unwritten and as-yet unconceived story, this objection would be valid.

But we aren't and it isn't.

What if I said this?: "Voldemort can't have any more Horcruxes hidden, because Dumbledore failed to get them, so there's no way Harry will be able to find and destroy them."

Or this?: "Voldemort has to win, because there's no way a half-trained wizard like Harry -- or anyone else, for that matter -- can defeat him."

You'd probably look at me like I was an idiot. Of course we don't know what all the other Horcruxes are, we certainly don't know where they're all located, and we don't know how to safely destroy them. We don't know how Harry will defeat Voldemort, either.

That's the whole point. This is supposed to be an impossible situation! It's supposed to be horrifying! Harry is supposed to feel frightened, depressed, and utterly hopeless! It's called drama. Honestly, do you expect to start the last chapter of Deathly Hallows and see something like this?:
Then, with Voldemort still unvanquished, Harry realized he was a Horcrux. At that point... er...

Crud. Sorry, folks. I can't figure a way around that, and even if I did, I don't know how Harry could beat the Dark Lord. I guess I should have planned the series better. Well, I hope you've enjoyed what I did manage to write.

Sincerely yours,
J.K. Rowling

THE END
In other words, just because you can't figure it out doesn't mean Rowling hasn't figured it out.

That's that. I hope I've completely failed to convince anyone, as that leaves more opportunity for gloating come July 21.



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