Yeah, don't read me Partially Kissed Hero. It's shit.

Otherwise, good. Now go write something.

 

Partially Kissed Hero? Never heard of it. Don't expect this any time soon, though; I've got a lot of prep work still and other projects I'm also working on, and a job.

 

I'm calling bullshit.

The idea is interesting enough, but it still stands to see whether you can follow through with actually writing something good.

Also, why would you bring this topic up, and then say 'don't expect anything'? Bit pointless really...

 

He's a lucky fucking bastard. Never, ever read it if you havn't, nxt. Or anything else by Perfect Lionheart.

 

Really, I've never heard of it. But based on your obvious view of it, I'll avoid it like the plague. What was it that I said which made you think of whatever it is?

And really, I just wanted some feedback on the magic system; I'm still in the planning stage.

 

Partially Kissed Hero is a pretty bad parody, where later on, the villains get killed off and resurrected almost every chapter, last time I checked.

 

Oh. Well, I made that assumption based of Voldy getting resurrected by Peter; but then again, it could just be the way he died. Perhaps you don't need to be resurrected if you weren't killed by a reflected killing curse cast by yourself which struck you when you only have 1/32nd of a soul. Hm... yes, that opens up better things for me.

 

Okay, tangent time. I've seen this bandied around enough that I need to say something.

To me, it seems unlikely that a Horcrux contains an entire half of a soul. Indeed, what the hell is a "soul-part?" The soul of the ear? This gets into the whole argument on what a soul actually is, and by extension, what part of one is.

But I digress from the digression. I think that a Horcrux contains only a tiny part of a soul, essentially only enough to keep the "main" soul attached to our plane of existence should the body it's in expire. Think about it: if every Horcrux took half of the soul available, than all of Voldemort's Horcruxes would be more Voldemort than Voldemort himself! In this case, you need to start thinking about what exactly has the most right to even be called Voldemort.

It makes a lot more since if a Horcrux contains only a sliver of the owner's soul. As far as I know, canon only states that the soul is split in two, not in half, so I believe my theory is canon-compliant as well, for what that's worth. This idea that a Horcrux contains half a soul is so prevalent in fanon, however, that many people seem to assume it's canon, and it makes no sense to me. It's probably one of my pet peeves, in fact.

Anyway, digression over. Just thought I'd chip in my $0.02. Again.

 

There's nothing that supports either point of view, the only canon knowledge we have of Horcuxes are that they split the user's soul, and can only be created after murdering someone, because, according to Dumbledore, murder is the most heinous of acts and your soul suffers for you committing murder.

While calling bullshit on that is perfectly valid, (especially when Dumbledore himself said that are things worse than death), it's not the point. Whether it takes little pieces or half of what you have left every time you create one is, until JKR opens her mouth and fucks something up again, purely author preference.

Here's a question. Does someone with a Horcrux have that piece of their soul return to them when the Horcrux is destroyed (this could make for an interesting idea where Tom is affected by the presence of a fragment of his sixteen year old soul), or do they even feel it when it's destroyed? I know Harry was wondering something to that effect when they were off on their little camping trip.

 

The exponentially decreasing strength of the first three and last two horcruxes supports the 'divides the soul in half' argument pretty soundly (or at least supports the idea of horcrux soul fragments being progressively smaller than the previous).

1. The ring (1/2) kills.
2. The diary (1/4) possesses those who write in it, and contains an afterimage of Riddle.
3. The locket (1/8 ) influences emotions and contains the manipulative presence that Ron stabbed.
4. Harry's soul piece (1/64) gives him his visions, pain in his scar, and appears as the helpless wrinkled baby creature in king's cross.
5. Nagini (1/128 ) has a connection to voldemort and stitch-melting venom, but otherwise has no other powers to speak of.

Were it not for the the cup and diadem (1/16 and 1/32 respectively), the effects of which are relatively unknown, I think the argument would be pretty solid. That, mknote, is the reason why this standpoint is so prevalent in fanon.

Keeping with the spirit of the magical properties of seven, I personally like to think that a horcrux continuously splits 1/7th of the existing soul. I have no desire to work out the fractions for the fragments.

The answer is no on both counts.

 

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I agree with mknote.

I always hate it when people pull math when explaining the soul splits. It's a fucking soul, beyond comprehension for most. Make it something magical instead of fractions.

 

I'm not saying you have to think of it that way, just explaining why it's such a commonly held idea.

 

Yeah, I'm not hating you. That was actually the first time I saw that theory in such detail, and I admit it does make some sense. I just hate it when in a fic Hermione suddenly realizes that Voldemort only has 1/128 of his soul left, or something. I don't believe that soul is something you can quantify.

 

I thought that, unless the soul was seperated for a long, long time (like Voldemort's), the maker of a horcrux would feel its destruction?

 

That's movie canon. Not book canon.

 

From chapter "Horcruxes", in HBP:
'“Does Voldemort know when a Horcrux is destroyed, sir? Can he feel it?” Harry asked, ignoring the portraits.
“A very interesting question, Harry. I believe not. I believe that Voldemort is now so immersed in evil, and these crucial parts of himself have been detached for so long, he does not feel as we do. Perhaps, at the point of death, he might be aware of his loss… but he was not aware, for instance, that the diary had been destroyed until he forced the truth out of Lucius Malfoy."'
So no, it's canon in both. Personally, I would agree with mknote's theory, it seems to make the most logical sense, and I had never thought the idea that horcruxes split the soul evenly in two had much credence to it in the first place.

 

That's all well and good, but there's no physical reaction to Nagini's destruction either. Voldemort just has a ragefit.

So I'm still going to say no.

 

JKR basically had Dumbledore as the mouthpiece for all the info that Harry learned about Voldemort in the books, so whatever he says is essentially automatically correct unless directly stated otherwise (which hasn't happened). Besides, Voldemort may well have been completely unable to detect the sensation of a Horcrux being destroyed by then, and thus not incur any sort of physical reaction. Actually, I'm pretty sure that whether or not there is a physical reaction isn't even stated in the series, though I could be wrong.

 

Annnnd as much as I'd like to continue debating, our speculation is wholly pointless, since we only have Voldemort as an example.

I wash my hands of such futility.

 

On the story, I think that the magic system sounds interesting. Personally, however, I don't see a need to include a time-turner in this, at all. It's perfectly plausible that the destruction of a Horcrux could result in rapid aging if a wizard had lived long past his natural years. Time-turners just complicates things unnecessarily.

Now, go write!