I thought that I had heard some people theorizing that Nagini was more than just a snake, perhaps a baby basilisk. Either way, it's a not-so-bright idea to put your soul fragment in something that will die.

And as for the seven deadly sins route, perhaps the wizarding world have a different seven deadly sins. Since the original seven were put forth by the Catholic church, there isn't much reason for witches to follow them, is there?

 

I think that might have been me. I said it was a bit of my own headcanon, though I suppose you may have seen the idea elsewhere. I certainly haven't come across it in fanfic yet.

Beyond her supernatural anatomy, she has a way of "paralyzing" even competent wizards with her gaze (usually described as panic or fear - petrified?). She'd be absurdly impressive for a mundane snake, even if she is a Horcrux, and no one can seem to do shit when they look her in the eyes. Arthur got pwnt, Snape got pwnt. Shit, it even pwnt Harry and Hermione at the same time. It might have been too young to manifest a full death-gaze.

Which makes Neville that much more badass, but I digress.

EDIT: Though I suppose that Voldemort simply experimenting with her makes just as much sense. But it would be another nice parallel with Slytherin and his magical animal husbandry.

 

The whole long drawn out ritual isn't possible. If I remember correctly He uses the murder of Tom Riddle Sr. to make the ring into a Horcrux. He got the ring on the same day he killed the Riddles. In addition he didn't set out to make a Horcurx that day. And I don't think he carried the ingriedients to a "disgusting and horrible" ritual with him all the time.

 

You're assuming that you have to split off the soul fragment immediately after the murder. It's possible he got the ring, killed Riddle Sr., then turned the ring into a horcrux using that death several weeks later.

 

I believe the ritual to create a soul receptacle can be done before or after the murder, and the soul can be put it at any time after provided you don't feel any remorse.

 

While you are correct that would make the murder unimportant. He killed three people that night. Does it mean the last murder is used as basis for the Horcrux? Or the one he felt most strongly about? The second is unlikely because he used "an unnamed Albanian peasant" to make the diadem-crux.
The murder fractures the soul so a part can be split of. For how long does the fracture last? If the answer is longer then a few weeks (as in "murder marks you for life") then he would have no need to ever kill someone for the express purpose of making a Horcrux.

 

I always like the idea that the ritual to create a horcrux was actually clean and precise.That the ritual wasn't really the disgusting part, the actual act of what you were doing was so wrong on so many natural levels that it just left a feeling of wrongness so thick that you could feel it on your skin.

I like to imagine that the ritual takes place in a small, clean room where the only markings is a large drawing of the symbol of the hallows. The user then places the item they want to turn into a horcrux in the middle of the symbold, does some mumbo jumbo, maybe cuts his hand, bleeds on the floor and boom. Horcrux.

 

I've always preferred the sacrifice angle. With every horcrux the wizard has to give up something. Not something in the 'something important to me' sense, but more of a concept. Like Voldemort would have given up his good looks, his fear and a bunch of other things.

 

Aekiel, we don't actually know how Voldemort looked when he came to the Potters. The bald, no-nose look when he emerged from the cauldron in GoF might have started only then. Although on the other hand, no Death Eater made a mention that he looks differently.

 

We saw him when he went to Hogwarts for the Defence Against the Dark Arts interview (and to turn Ravenclaw's Diadem into a horcrux). He had snake-like features and red eyes at that point, though not to the extent that he had after GoF.

 

Yeah, it's pretty clear in HBP that each horcrux he makes changes his appearance. At first they seem to improve it, but after too many he goes from attractive to uncanny valley and finally to snake-like.

 

Whatever the receptacle-preparation ritual actually is, I think JK has confirmed that it was disgusting.

 

Yeah, but in my experience things that would turn the stomachs of most wouldn't even faze most internet-dwellers.

Of course, I swear I heard that the description of the process made Rowling's editor vomit.

 

Yeah, I think that's also why she hasn't described it in more detail. Whatever we imagine would probably be worse than anything she could put down on paper. The mystery of it adds to the whole thing.

But it is supposed to be disgusting, whatever you consider that to be. Whatever qualifies as disgusting to you is supposed to be an aspect of it.

 

Maybe that's quite literally true: the creation of a Horcrux requires the thing that most disgusts whoever is making it. Wonder what that would mean for Voldemort.

 

Love. He would have to subject himself to the emotional bond, or the seemingly utter dependency, of love, and that would be absolutely gross and revolting to him.

Seeking approval and affection from someone you consider an equal partner in your endeavors? Yuck. Someone that means more to you than yourself? Ew.

Which is why I think it has to be something more along the lines of what you'd call "objectively disgusting."

Maybe sex would qualify as a prerequisite act though, of sufficient closeness to qualify as disgusting in his book.

 

I like this explanation. Watching Heroes also gave me the idea that Horcrux creation entailed eating a victim's brain like Sylar. Apparently the creation process is disgusting enough to make a publisher vomit so cannibalism seems disturbing enough. Lily's death does not count because as already acknowledged, Harry isn't a true Horcrux in terms of creation procedure.

 

Since there won't ever be an official, elaborate explanation on as to how a Horcrux might be made, could someone list a number of fanfics that talk about them?

I seem to recall that the fic "Rectifier" mentions it, though I don't think it's in great detail.

 

This explanation is not plausible, because Voldemort would essentially sacrifice everything just to create first Horcrux, and then he would have nothing left to sacrifice to create other Horcruxes.

That idea with sacrificing one's humanity seems acceptable at first sight, but I can't help myself but ask: What makes us humans? Obviously, most apparent trait would be our intelligence, but the idea that Voldemort would be with creating more and more Horcruxes stupider and stupider, is laughable. Next most obvious thing to lose would be sanity, but I can't honestly imagine anyone voluntarily sacrificing that. I won't even start with sacrificing emotions, because Voldemort is obviously psychopath, person incapable of feeling them, just feigning them to get something they want.

I think that to truly understand the ritual and its long-term outcomes, we must firstly understand the soul itself.

Ritual of creating the Horcrux is probably just disgusting. There is no need to sacrifice anything. True sacrifice is losing, or shattering of one's soul.

When Dementor drains person of his soul, said person loses his will, which is the only thing truly valuable. Whith it comes losing of direction, or lack of meaning of life. Voldemort, with so many Horcruxes, would probably be somewhere in between souless body and normal person.

That is what happened to Voldemort. He probably just lost meaning of life. He didn't know what to do with living, but he was too afraid to die (I sense thanatophobia here, or whatever is is called). In the end, he turned to violence.

Final conclusion: With creating Horcruxes, gradual losing of soul's main three abilities is to be expected.

EDIT: This has gotten a little off topic. I think that preparation of the object would involve spiritually 'highlighting' it, so soul shard would know where to attach itself.