Why Harry Potter is not a Horcrux
Proof that Harry Potter is not one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes could lie in the fact that when Harry’s and Voldemort’s wands were forced into a duel in the graveyard after Cedric was killed in The Goblet of Fire (chapter 34), we see the effects of Priori Incantatem – the spell that forces one wand to show what spells another wand has carried out. This spell comes into effect, as Dumbledore explains (chapter 36) when brother wands - ie. wands that share the same core, in this case feathers from Fawkes the Phoenix - duel. As a result of Priori Incantatem we see an echo of the new silver hand that Voldemort created for Wormtail, then we see an echo of Cedric Diggory, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins, and finally James and Lily Potter - all of whom Voldemort had killed before creating Wormtail’s new hand. If Voldemort had created another Horcrux after killing Harry’s parents, we should have seen an echo of the spell in between the appearance of Bertha and the appearances of Harry’s parents, but we did not. I would be inclined to argue, therefore, that my previous belief is correct - there was no opportunity for Voldemort to create a Horcrux that is bound to Harry before or after his Avada Kedavra spell rebounded from Harry thereby all but destroying Voldemort.
My thanks to my brother Scott for noticing, and sharing with me, the fact that the Priori Incantatem spell did not give us an echo of the Horcrux spell.
7 comments:
Oooooooo...that is REALLY good! Smart brother you have there.
Thanks for this bit of reasoning, Michele! It makes me feel better :) I so hope she doesn't off Harry in the end.
Camille, isn't he ? And it was a blinding revelation, he tells me...
Kelly, I'm with you ! I shall be severely disappointed if she kills Harry in the final book - less of the Frodo-effect, already ! I know - Frodo didn't die at the end of LotR, he was sent off to Valinor to recover and then he would have died, since mortals like Frodo and Bilbo could not remain in the Undying Lands, but a surprising number of people assume that Valinor is the Middle-earth equivalent of Heaven...
Given how many parallels there are between HP and LotR, I could really do with JKR NOT paralleling Frodo's ending. My inner 6 year old wants Harry to live to a ripe old age and become Minister for Magic (even if he doesn't have 12 children as Trelawney also predicted in Order of the Phoenix !)
Michele, I could not agree with you more.
We were watching GOF last week and I was struck by the agony Harry feels when Voldemort attacks him in the graveyard. I started moaning, "he's Frodo, he's Frodo." Everyone in the room told me to stuff it and hush up.
Part of me does not really think JKR is going to send Harry off to the Undying Lands. I believe she does think about her audience and she is a mom. On the other hand, the story is a lot tougher than Book 1 could have ever foretold. Please JKR, Harry is going to make a great dad!
Well I'm inclined to think the same about JKR not killing him off, but you just never know. What worries me more, though, is whether Harry will be able to stop Voldemort once and for all without killing him, especially now Dumbledore's gone and can't do it instead...
Wow, that's good reasoning! My family has been pretty strongly in the Harry is a horcrux camp, but maybe we need to rethink that. I never thought about the implications of Priori Incantatem in that respect.
Interesting ! I've been very against the idea of Harry being the Horcrux - but then I'm against the idea of him needing to die so Voldemort can be killed. I think that would be a horrible way to end the series.
There's also the question of when Voldemort could have made Harry into a Horcrux (assuming for a moment that a wand won't show that spell) ? I know some people have suggested that Voldemort took Polyjuice Potion to look like someone else so he could turn up at Godric's Hollow in safety and carry out the spell, but I don't buy that...
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