7

Voldemort says, 7 being a magical number, he would make 7 fragments of his soul. And according to Dumbledore, he never meant to make Harry his Horcrux. Of course that is obvious. But the point is instead of 7, he made 8 fragments unknowingly.

So what I make out of this is if he had not gone forth to make an attempt at killing Harry in the first place, he would have maintained the magical 7 figure mark! Instead, the ripping of his soul into the 8th part breaks the magical rule of thumb: the number 7. Does that mean he would have been completely indestructible if he hadn't attempted the murder of small Harry?

EDIT I know, Horcruxes just help you not die. They are gone means you are just as vincible as others. But TMR clearly favoured the number 7. What I asked is if he would have become more powerful (ok, not "invincible") if really 7 soul pieces had been made instead of 8 (8th being Harry).

Is there any speculation about this idea? Has it been raised before anywhere, like in the interviews with JKR or whatever?

Perhaps I had not made my question clear enough and I apologise.

10
  • 11
    Never seen a hint in the potterverse that numerology has anymore significance than it has in our world...
    – flq
    Jun 1, 2014 at 11:27
  • What about the point of time when T M R was talking to Slughorn about horcruxes?
    – MycrofD
    Jun 1, 2014 at 13:46
  • 2
    Numerology (at least the version in our world) can be wishy-washy; Voldemort would have ended up with 6 horcruxes and 1 original, which isn't the same as 7. And with Harry not being a true horcrux, it could've been either 6 horcruxes and 2 non-cursed soul pieces, or 6 and 1 and 1 since the piece in Harry wasn't part of the original...
    – Izkata
    Jun 1, 2014 at 14:11
  • TMR was supposed to make 7 pieces of his soul. He made up his mind for that. After coming back in his full form, why wouldn't he complete his task if he had stopped at 6 ? Must b coz he thought he had already made 7 (he definitely counted himself). And he was unaware that he had already made another, the 8th, in Harry.
    – MycrofD
    Jun 1, 2014 at 14:34
  • 1
    @flq: surely the existence of arithmancy implies that numbers can indeed have magical significance? Jun 2, 2014 at 0:43

4 Answers 4

13

The number Seven is regarded at least by Voldemort as the most powerful magic number. It is also a recurring theme in Harry Potter whether through a clever interwoven mechanic of JKR or just pure coincidence. This article discusses all the uses of 7 in HP http://www.the-leaky-cauldron.org/features/essays/issue2/MysteryOfSeven.

As for Horcruxes they will not make you invincible you can still be killed but you will be anchored into the realm of the living by the Horcrux. It is a container for a fragment of your soul and so you can remain on earth until you regain power and then regain a body (basically the story of voldemort up to GoF). Voldemort stopped at seven because he felt it magically imperative to do so, he could have carried on but it is also known that the more one rips a soul the more dangerous it becomes. Voldemort was the first to rip and fragment his soul 7 times.

Increasing or Decreasing the amount of Horcruxes would in no way alter his power even if it was to the 'magical' number 7. He only chose to have more than one Horcrux as he deemed one to be possibly too vulnerable. When he made the decision to go more than one I think he chose 7 just because of his Personal opinion of that number.

4
  • can you please update your answer about the EDIT I made in my question if it is possible.. any clues..
    – MycrofD
    Jun 4, 2014 at 11:25
  • @MycrofD Edited let me know if you want more details. What I should say is the number of Horcrux anyone has will not alter their power level it will merely be harder to destroy them as you have to destroy all the Horcruxes first. Jun 4, 2014 at 12:13
  • yes bro. I get that. Lastly, has it ever been discussed anywhere else? has any1 asked JKR abt this? not that important..just wanna know..
    – MycrofD
    Jun 4, 2014 at 18:08
  • Not that I know of I can have a look at some point tomorrow though. Or you can head over to chat and ask there! @mycrofd Jun 4, 2014 at 18:09
3

No, his soul was already unstable enough to break at six pieces.

The Dark Lord only had his soul split into six pieces (five Horcruxes and the ‘master’ piece of soul) when he attempted to kill the Potters and a piece of his soul broke off when he was ripped from his body by the rebounding Killing Curse. Nagini wasn’t made a Horcrux until years after, when the Dark Lord used Bertha Jorkins’s death to turn her into one. Though it was in only six pieces, not seven, at that point his soul was so unstable that a piece broke off when the Killing Curse hit him.

“He had rendered his soul so unstable that it broke apart when he committed those acts of unspeakable evil, the murder of your parents, the attempted killing of a child. But what escaped from that room was even less than he knew. He left more than his body behind. He left part of himself latched to you, the would-be victim who had survived.”
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter 35 (King’s Cross)

The Dark Lord didn’t have all six of his intended Horcruxes made when he went to kill the Potters. He had only made five Horcruxes by then, meaning his soul was only in six pieces. Dumbledore suspected he hadn’t made all and planned to make one with Harry’s death.

“However, if my calculations are correct, Voldemort was still at least one Horcrux short of his goal of six when he entered your parents’ house with the intention of killing you.”
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 23 (Horcruxes)

Further, Dumbledore also had suspected that after the Dark Lord used her to kill an old Muggle man, the Dark Lord then decided to make Nagini his last Horcrux, again meaning she was made into a Horcrux (so the Dark Lord split his soul to make her) only after the Potters were killed.

“After an interval of some years, however, he used Nagini to kill an old Muggle man, and it might then have occurred to him to turn her into his last Horcrux.”
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 23 (Horcruxes)

This is confirmed in an interview with J.K. Rowling, where she says the Dark Lord turned Nagini into a Horcrux using Bertha Jorkins’s death - which happened years after his killing the Potters.

Lady Bella: Whose murders did Voldemort use to create each of the Horcruxes?

J.K. Rowling: The diary – Moaning Myrtle. The cup – Hepzibah Smith, the previous owner. The locket – a Muggle tramp. Nagini – Bertha Jorkins (Voldemort could use a wand once he regained a rudimentary body, as long as the victim was subdued). The diadem – an Albanian peasant. The ring – Tom Riddle Sr.
- Bloomsbury Live Chat (July 30, 2007)

The Dark Lord hadn’t finished creating his Horcruxes when he went to Godric’s Hollow to kill the Potters - he’d already had five of them but he needed one more to make six, and therefore have his soul be in seven parts in all. However, before he ever got to that point, when his soul was still just in six pieces, it was already made so unstable it broke off when the Killing Curse hit him. Not having tried to kill Harry would have helped him because he wouldn’t have been ripped from his body, and he wouldn’t have a piece of soul in his enemy, but it would’ve actually given him a seven-part soul.

2

Horcruxes are not meant to make you invincible, they merely act as an anchor, which keeps you from completely dying.

It does not matter if Voldemort created seven, eight or a houndred horcruxes. As long as there is one single horcrux remaining, he can not die. As soon as all horcruxes are destroyed, he is no longer "immortal".

2

Horcruxes does not make the person (or creature) invincible. They make it much harder for them to be killed, but not immortal. Horcruxes can still be destroyed, as explained and shown throughout the Harry Potter books and movies.

One, two, seven, or three thousand horcruxes, they're all the same. You murder someone, you rip apart your soul, you make a horcrux. Voldemort only believed that seven was the most powerful number, but it was never proven. As soon as all the horcruxes are destroyed, whoever made them becomes just a regular human (or creature) again.

1
  • 2
    Although a good answer, you have not added anything more than Lars.
    – Möoz
    Jun 2, 2014 at 10:42

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