On horcruxes and the saving of souls

[likeaglass]

It was sunny and the grounds around him were full of laughing people, and even though he felt as distant from them as though he belonged to a different race, it was still very hard to believe as he sat here that his life must include, or end in, murder....

OotP, 855-856

Comments

[likeaglass]

Oh, it's definitely psychological (which I did mention in the essay, btw). I think Harry has a lot of latent power and could use the dark arts; he's just, like Dumbledore, a bit too noble for that. And the horcrux bit was a typo. I actually meant murder, so thanks for catching that :D

The priori incantatem bit is partly why I think someone else is going to have to AK Voldemort. It's in the nature of these books to have a big climactic battle scene at the end, and I can see priori incantatem playing a role in the 7th book battle. Harry's wand and Voldemort's connect, leaving someone else free to cast the killing curse. I suspect that's why Voldemort made such a big deal about "leave him to me!" and all that, because the golden cage that came out of the wands wasn't actually protecting them or anything, and they were still vulnerable to attack.

I have a theory about the Harry-as-Horcrux thing, which is that he'll need to die, then come back. It's based on Joseph Campbell's Hero with a Thousand Faces, which talks about the quintessential hero quest, and I think JKR definitely draws a lot from this book and other quest stories. But, yes, this is another essay begging to be written after term ends :D But I don't think Ron or Hermione will be the ones to kill Voldemort, just because, like I said, that would make them on a par with that which they were trying to destroy, which is Not On. We'll see though, I guess

Glad I could give the brain a little prod at such an ungodly hour :D