hallowed out

SPOILER ALERT:  This post is about HP7.

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My general verdict on the book:  if you squint your eyes, and don't think too hard about it, it turned out pretty good.  It was basically as expected:  hunt down the Horcruxes, destroy them, kill Voldemort.  But we knew it would have that structure because HP6 made it loud and clear.  Nonetheless, there was a lot of fun along the way.  I didn't think it was a page turner like Books 4-6 were for me.  And there wasn't enough betrayal, mystery, or tragedy for my liking.  But it turned out alright.

On the "Harry is Horcrux" theory:  I feel vindicated that Harry did NOT turn out to be the Gryffindor Horcrux that some people thought he would be.  It seemed pretty obvious to me that Voldemort didn't think Harry was a Horcrux, and certainly didn't show him the respect you would think he'd show to a descendant of Gryffindor if that descent on its own was so important he'd want to use it for a Horcrux.

Nonetheless, it is clear that I was wrong to say that Harry is not a Horcrux at all.  But the way he turns out to be a Horcrux is consistent with what I thought:  Voldemort gave a piece of himself to Harry back in 1981, without intending to or realizing it.  (In fact, the books make this pretty clear before HP7). 

But the story we get in HP7 about Harry as a Horcrux puzzles me.  He is the seventh Horcrux, and that's what causes problems:  Voldemort splits his soul in eight pieces, which is more than it can stand, and it weakens him.  Ok.  But if Harry is the seventh Horcrux, that means Nagini was already a Horcrux in 1981.  Which means that Dumbledore's theory in HP6 (that Nagini was made a Horcrux by Voldemort during HP4) is wrong.  Ok, so we know that Dumbledore is just guessing about all this (lame, JKR), so maybe this was just a bad guess.  But then I would still want an explanation of how and why Voldemort chose to make Nagini a Horcrux before he went after Harry.  Why did Voldemort abandon his (guessed-at) plan to make something of Gryffindor's into a Horcrux?  Surely there's more to it than just he didn't have enough time in Dumbledore's office to swipe the sword?  And given how much dull exposition fills the last 100-150 pages of the book, JKR could have fit it in somewhere.

I'm sure HP fanatics out there will have a helpful answer for me.  I could go on, but I'll hold my tongue for now.  Don't think too hard, trust Dumbledore and Snape, and everything will be okay in the end.

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Addendum:  Okay, I went back to the relevant passages of HP6 and HP7, and I realize that my confusion above is the result of me filling in details that aren't actually there.  I had it in my head somehow that Slughorn in Book 6 indicated that splitting your soul into seven pieces was a maximum, whereas it's really just a very bad idea.  I also took Dumbledore's guess that Harry is the seventh Horcrux to be a reference to chronology, whereas it need not be read that way at all.

That said, I am still puzzled by the idea of Harry as a Horcrux.  As you can see in HP2, and as is made clear throughout HP7, spending time with a Horcrux has an affect on you, and gives the Horcrux the opportunity to influence your thoughts and feelings, and maybe go so far as to possess you.  So, if Harry is a Horcrux:  1) why - given 16 years of proximity to a part of Voldemort's soul - isn't he similarly affected?  2) why aren't the people who spend lots of time with Harry affected by being around him?  3) why doesn't Voldemort notice that Harry's a Horcrux when he tries to possess him in HP5?

Again, I am sure I am missing something or overthinking the problem.  Maybe a re-read of HP7 will fix it.

Moral of the story:  give blood early and give blood often if you want to be immortal.  The Red Cross has to be pleased!

Comments

[Jenifer]

Oooh ... I just finished. I generally disagree with you ... I thought that this book was way more of a page-turner than the previous ones, way more action-packed, and definitely full of tragedy ... all those deaths?? I bawled through ch. 34(?) - when Harry is about to die and is joined by his parents and dead friends -- I found it to be very effective. I don't think Nagini had to be made into a horcrux before 1981 -- he could have still made Nagini into a horcrux while in albania, he just didn't know that he'd left a piece behind in Harry. And re: the gryffindor horcrux abandonment -- I think he just didn't have enough time, and that was that. I totally buy it. And also -- re: the horcruxes -- am I missing one? 1-Diary 2-Locket 3-Ring 4-cup 5-Harry 6-Nagini 7-Voldemort I still only count seven. Are you going to SnP on Sat? Hope to see you there -- we can discuss HP at great length. :)

[Anne]

Jenifer, you're missing the diadem. Its destruction is sort of skipped over, though it's nice that Draco destroys one (and so did his father).

[Jenifer]

Hee hee -- love your moral. My best guesses: 1) I think HP *was* similarly affected, just not quite so much because he's an actual person and not an object. But I think that as V gained strength, especially in OOTP, Harry started to turn more and more sinister -- remember him wanting to lunge at Dumbledore and sink his fangs into him? The last book is where he really learned to block himself off from those effects. 2) In the case of the locket, and the ring, you had to actually wear them in order to be affected -- so Harry's friends, while around him, weren't really touching him. (?) 3) I think that V doesn't notice that Harry is his horcrux in HP5 because he is already in such pain at being inside such a "good" person -- Harry's "goodness" distracts him from anything else he might recognize.

Just my thoughts! Let's talk more! (Can you tell that Dave hasn't finished the book yet and I really need to gush about HP??)

[Michelle]

I really enjoyed the book as well but would have to agree with your assessment that it wasn't as engaging as books 4-6 were. Those books I could barely put down until they were finished and this one I could walk away from easily. Though, not for very long. It just seemed to have a few scenes too many of them sitting around wondering what to do. Yeah. They moved camps again. And sat around wondering what to do. But there were certainly some excellent and humorous sections. All in all, a good ending.
As for your questions I want to take a stab
1) why - given 16 years of proximity to a part of Voldemort's soul - isn't he similarly affected? He is. At least isn't that why he has the connection to Voldemort's mind the way he does? It wasn't just that he was cursed, but he actually became "part" of Voldemort. 2) why aren't the people who spend lots of time with Harry affected by being around him? They aren't wearing him around their neck. Hahahaha Actually, the only Horcrux that affected them was the locket, unless I was reading too fast about the cup. I don't recall it affecting them nearly the same way. 3) why doesn't Voldemort notice that Harry's a Horcrux when he tries to possess him in HP5? Darn good question! Since he couldn't "feel" when the Horcrux were killed perhaps he couldn't truely sense them at all. He knew what he turned into Horcrux and knew if that was destroyed because it showed it. Which actually leads to another question you have not yet asked... If all the other Horcrux showed such significant damage due to the death of part of Voldemort's soul why didn't Harry end up with a huge section of his chest missing? Or at least an appendage?