And Voldi Makes Seven: The Horcrux Problem
To begin with I need to state one thing right away: It might be that there isn’t a horcrux problem at all, and that I’m constructing problems where there aren’t any. But just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean you’re wrong…
Ever since reading HBP I’ve had the feeling that at least one of the horcruxes might be a red herring. This feeling stems mainly from two sources. For once it’s the typical thing JKR likes to do. On a more textual level Dumbledore tells Harry on several occasions during their lessons how they are now about to enter the realm of guesswork and speculation. Secondly he tells Harry right out that even he makes the occasional mistake and when he does, they usually turn out to be rather spectacular.
This had me thinking in two directions. Either all these points are supposed to send us off looking for red herrings where there aren’t any, or one of Dumbledore’s guesses about the horcruxes is indeed wrong. Somehow I tend more to the latter.
So what do we actually know about Voldemort and the horcruxes by the end of HBP?
We learn that by the end of his time at Hogwarts Voldemort had two major goals; becoming the most powerful dark wizard of all times and creating the horcruxes. We also learn that he had the idea of using relics of all four Hogwarts founders as vessels for his horcruxes.
There are supposed to be seven horcruxes, including the last bit of soul still residing in Voldemort himself. Given what we see in Slughorn’s memory I think we can trust that the actual number of seven will turn out to be correct.
The items Dumbledore suspects to be horcruxes are the following:
1 Voldemort himself
2 Marvolo Gaunt’s ring
3 Slytherin’s locket
4 Hufflepuff’s cup
5 Tom Riddle’s diary
6 Nagini
7 Something of either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor
From this list I think there are only two positions we can be reasonably sure about, namely Voldemort himself and the ring. Positions 2, 3 and 7 tie into Dumbledore’s theory of Voldemort trying to get one item of each founder. And this is where my suspicion kicks in.
As stated above, Voldemort had very definite goals by the end of his school years. But the first job he takes on is a (at first glance) quite unglamorous and insignificant position with “Borgin and Berks”. As we can conclude from the pensive scenes Voldemort’s only objective in this job was to get his hands on the founder relics. Insofar Dumbledore’s theory seems to be correct.
But there is one point that does not quite fit in there. As Dumbledore tells Harry there are only two known relics of Gryffindor: the sword and the sorting hat. Voldemort is described (also by Dumbledore) as somebody who knows more about Hogwarts than most, probably even more than Dumbledore, so he (Voldemort) surely knew about there not being anymore Gryffindor relics apart from those two.
Voldemort also knew that it would be virtually impossible for him to get to either one of those relics. Nevertheless after finishing school he takes on the job with “Borgin and Berks”. With all we know about Voldemort I can’t really picture him as somebody who would voluntarily give up a job half done. But here Dumbledore wants Harry (and us) to believe Voldemort held on to his “founder plan” with regard to the horcruxes, full well knowing he would not be able to get the “full set”.
So am I really to believe Voldemort would go “OK, if I can’t get anything of Gryffindor I’ll at least have something of the other three?”
Somehow I can’t really believe that. Nevertheless the “Borgin and Berks” job and the Hepzibah Smith episode seem to only allow for this conclusion. Unless Voldemort knows something Dumbledore doesn’t, and that is that there might be another Gryffindor relic. If we go with this theory, we would have the following horcruxes:
1 Voldemort himself
2 Marvolo Gaunt’s ring
3 Slytherin’s locket
4 Hufflepuff’s cup
5 Something of Ravenclaw (unknown)
6 Something of Gryffindor (unknown)
7 Tom Riddle’s diary
8 Nagini
This can mean one of two things:
Either the diary or Nagini is not a horcrux, or there is more to the diary than met the eye and the book itself actually was a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor relic.
Either way, for me the diary is the one item that stands out most among the horcruxes for several reasons. Even if we go with Dumbledore’s original list, all the other items have either a significance with regards to Hogwarts (Hufflepuff’s cup) or Voldemort’s family history (Marvolo’s ring, Nagini) or both (Slytherin’s locket).
Only the diary stands out in several regards:
1. The book itself does not seem to have been of any significance.
2. The diary was (rather carelessly) given into the hands of Lucius Malfoy, not hidden away.
3. The diary was intended as a tool with quite some likelihood if it being destroyed in the process it was intended for.
Of course the purpose it was used for does tie it back to Hogwarts, but that still sets it apart. With all the other horcruxes their sole purpose is to insure Voldemort’s immortality, but the items themselves carry significance. That does not seem to be the case with the diary.
Also, if (as Dumbledore suspects) Voldemort wanted to created seven horcruxes because of the particular significance/power of this magical number, would he really be willing to have this “spell” broken by intentional or accidental destruction of the book? I know, the diary put up a good fight and it took a basilisk fang to finally destroy it, but this still does not sit quite right with me.
As for what or where the two missing founder horcruxes are, I have some (completely speculative) ideas: For one thing Harry’s first stop in book 7 will be GODERIC’S Hollow, which I suspect might turn out to be Gryffindor’s birthplace. What better location for an unknown/forgotten about relic? Secondly (as some people have pointed out before) what about the wand on display in Olivander’s shop? Apart from Snape, Olivander is the only character of (so far) unidentified loyalty we meet, who calls Voldemort “The Dark Lord”…
Thoughts, comments, ideas?
Ever since reading HBP I’ve had the feeling that at least one of the horcruxes might be a red herring. This feeling stems mainly from two sources. For once it’s the typical thing JKR likes to do. On a more textual level Dumbledore tells Harry on several occasions during their lessons how they are now about to enter the realm of guesswork and speculation. Secondly he tells Harry right out that even he makes the occasional mistake and when he does, they usually turn out to be rather spectacular.
This had me thinking in two directions. Either all these points are supposed to send us off looking for red herrings where there aren’t any, or one of Dumbledore’s guesses about the horcruxes is indeed wrong. Somehow I tend more to the latter.
So what do we actually know about Voldemort and the horcruxes by the end of HBP?
We learn that by the end of his time at Hogwarts Voldemort had two major goals; becoming the most powerful dark wizard of all times and creating the horcruxes. We also learn that he had the idea of using relics of all four Hogwarts founders as vessels for his horcruxes.
There are supposed to be seven horcruxes, including the last bit of soul still residing in Voldemort himself. Given what we see in Slughorn’s memory I think we can trust that the actual number of seven will turn out to be correct.
The items Dumbledore suspects to be horcruxes are the following:
1 Voldemort himself
2 Marvolo Gaunt’s ring
3 Slytherin’s locket
4 Hufflepuff’s cup
5 Tom Riddle’s diary
6 Nagini
7 Something of either Ravenclaw or Gryffindor
From this list I think there are only two positions we can be reasonably sure about, namely Voldemort himself and the ring. Positions 2, 3 and 7 tie into Dumbledore’s theory of Voldemort trying to get one item of each founder. And this is where my suspicion kicks in.
As stated above, Voldemort had very definite goals by the end of his school years. But the first job he takes on is a (at first glance) quite unglamorous and insignificant position with “Borgin and Berks”. As we can conclude from the pensive scenes Voldemort’s only objective in this job was to get his hands on the founder relics. Insofar Dumbledore’s theory seems to be correct.
But there is one point that does not quite fit in there. As Dumbledore tells Harry there are only two known relics of Gryffindor: the sword and the sorting hat. Voldemort is described (also by Dumbledore) as somebody who knows more about Hogwarts than most, probably even more than Dumbledore, so he (Voldemort) surely knew about there not being anymore Gryffindor relics apart from those two.
Voldemort also knew that it would be virtually impossible for him to get to either one of those relics. Nevertheless after finishing school he takes on the job with “Borgin and Berks”. With all we know about Voldemort I can’t really picture him as somebody who would voluntarily give up a job half done. But here Dumbledore wants Harry (and us) to believe Voldemort held on to his “founder plan” with regard to the horcruxes, full well knowing he would not be able to get the “full set”.
So am I really to believe Voldemort would go “OK, if I can’t get anything of Gryffindor I’ll at least have something of the other three?”
Somehow I can’t really believe that. Nevertheless the “Borgin and Berks” job and the Hepzibah Smith episode seem to only allow for this conclusion. Unless Voldemort knows something Dumbledore doesn’t, and that is that there might be another Gryffindor relic. If we go with this theory, we would have the following horcruxes:
1 Voldemort himself
2 Marvolo Gaunt’s ring
3 Slytherin’s locket
4 Hufflepuff’s cup
5 Something of Ravenclaw (unknown)
6 Something of Gryffindor (unknown)
7 Tom Riddle’s diary
8 Nagini
This can mean one of two things:
Either the diary or Nagini is not a horcrux, or there is more to the diary than met the eye and the book itself actually was a Ravenclaw or Gryffindor relic.
Either way, for me the diary is the one item that stands out most among the horcruxes for several reasons. Even if we go with Dumbledore’s original list, all the other items have either a significance with regards to Hogwarts (Hufflepuff’s cup) or Voldemort’s family history (Marvolo’s ring, Nagini) or both (Slytherin’s locket).
Only the diary stands out in several regards:
1. The book itself does not seem to have been of any significance.
2. The diary was (rather carelessly) given into the hands of Lucius Malfoy, not hidden away.
3. The diary was intended as a tool with quite some likelihood if it being destroyed in the process it was intended for.
Of course the purpose it was used for does tie it back to Hogwarts, but that still sets it apart. With all the other horcruxes their sole purpose is to insure Voldemort’s immortality, but the items themselves carry significance. That does not seem to be the case with the diary.
Also, if (as Dumbledore suspects) Voldemort wanted to created seven horcruxes because of the particular significance/power of this magical number, would he really be willing to have this “spell” broken by intentional or accidental destruction of the book? I know, the diary put up a good fight and it took a basilisk fang to finally destroy it, but this still does not sit quite right with me.
As for what or where the two missing founder horcruxes are, I have some (completely speculative) ideas: For one thing Harry’s first stop in book 7 will be GODERIC’S Hollow, which I suspect might turn out to be Gryffindor’s birthplace. What better location for an unknown/forgotten about relic? Secondly (as some people have pointed out before) what about the wand on display in Olivander’s shop? Apart from Snape, Olivander is the only character of (so far) unidentified loyalty we meet, who calls Voldemort “The Dark Lord”…
Thoughts, comments, ideas?