On Horcrux-making and losing one’s looks

[sunnyskywalker]

We 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?

Comments

[chantaldormand]

On the one hand, we don't see Dementor's victims suddenly becoming melty. They are just empty... nobody is home.
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

[sunnyskywalker]

Barty Jr. going all Melty-Nazi like in Raiders of the Lost Ark after the Dementor sucked his soul would have been very dramatic, but I guess even Rowling couldn't bring herself to go that over the top ;-)

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?

[nx74defiant]

And if that's a weakened Voldemort, what kind of magic was he capable of before he started chopping off bits of his soul?

He does hold his own against Dumbledore at the Ministry.