Or he thought of that and reluctantly accepts it as a second-worst scenario that is better than a final, mortal death. In JKR-canon, Horcruxes don’t just send a signal to regenerate soul bits, they are fractions of a soul...if I were an evil Dark Lord in MoR-canon-world, I might accept a fractured existence in deep space, but I would not accept a fractured exsistence in a pocket universe that contained nothing else and was a priori inaccessible to my familiar world(s), even given that I hate and fear death, anticipate a triumphant galactic civilization, etc. Being alone and mostly dead in an empty vacuum for eternity really sucks.
Well, given enough time you might be able to make new pocket universes and give them life or the like. And if things get bad you can always destroy the Horcrux yourself.
Oh, c’mon, that’s just reckless. In JKR-canon, Voldemort emerges from his first pseudo-death as a fragment of his former self, dependent on familiar landscapes and pre-existing allies/victims as he tries to regain enough life force just to remember who he is.
Conjecturing that (a) creating life-filled pocket universes is possible, (b) you will have the tools/resources with which to do so in a hard vacuum, (c) the part of you that survives your body’s death will have enough of the right kind of magical power to do so, AND (d) the capacity to spontaneously re-generate your psychological infrastructure without external stimuli after suffering a death of unknown type and origin is just begging for Occam to come up and slit your throat. Remember that if you’re wrong about any of these conjectures, you are moderately likely to spend eternity in semi-conscious isolation from literally everything.
Claiming that you could destroy the Horcrux yourself doesn’t buy you a whole lot of leverage; the whole plot of Books 6 and 7 in JKR-canon is that destroying a Horcrux generally takes an epic-level artifact, a character with a pure heart and a focused mind, AND a whole lot of effort. These are not tools that you have access to when you’re a pseudo-murdered villain floating around in an empty pocket universe.
Points in paragraphs 1 and 2 are valid. Three is wrong. I’m not sure where you are getting the idea that psychological properties were not fully functioning. Moreover,according to book 7, regret and remorse of the creator of a Horcrux will destroy it. If you are stuck in that state for a few hundred years in that state, likely the Horcrux will be destroyed by you simply being terribly regretful about the situation.
I suppose the regret is a decent way out, although I would guess that you would need to experience true contrition over the murder or over the atrociousness of splitting your soul, rather than the mere attrition of noticing that you didn’t like the consequences. At least, if you wanted to destroy the Horcrux using merely the touchy-feely power of love. There might be a way to magically enhance the power of attrition, but, again, it probably requires raw materials or living things or a wand or focused discipline, none of which are especially likely to be available.
There is a scene somewhere in Book 1 where Voldemort complains about his loss of psychological identity as he lusts after the unicorn blood or the Sorcerer’s Stone or something like that. I forget if he was manipulating Quirrell or just boasting about how far he had risen or how desperate he was not to return to that state. Unfortunately, I can’t find the exact quote because JKR has totally blocked GoogleBooks search, my book is elsewhere, and there are limits to my Potter-nerddom.
Also,
Riddle also reveals that he is Voldemort as a boy. He further explains that he learned from Ginny who Harry was and about his own deeds as Voldemort.
~Wikipedia, book 2
Agree with most of your analysis although confused about what your point about the book 2. Since the diary wasn’t the primary consciousness it doesn’t seem relevant.
At this point I am far enough out of my depth that I will have to wait until I can get my hands on the books again. I suddenly regret donating books 2-7 to the library. This is almost certainly irrational. :-(
Or he thought of that and eagerly anticipates it as the end of his struggle.
Or he thought of that and reluctantly accepts it as a second-worst scenario that is better than a final, mortal death. In JKR-canon, Horcruxes don’t just send a signal to regenerate soul bits, they are fractions of a soul...if I were an evil Dark Lord in MoR-canon-world, I might accept a fractured existence in deep space, but I would not accept a fractured exsistence in a pocket universe that contained nothing else and was a priori inaccessible to my familiar world(s), even given that I hate and fear death, anticipate a triumphant galactic civilization, etc. Being alone and mostly dead in an empty vacuum for eternity really sucks.
Well, given enough time you might be able to make new pocket universes and give them life or the like. And if things get bad you can always destroy the Horcrux yourself.
Oh, c’mon, that’s just reckless. In JKR-canon, Voldemort emerges from his first pseudo-death as a fragment of his former self, dependent on familiar landscapes and pre-existing allies/victims as he tries to regain enough life force just to remember who he is.
Conjecturing that (a) creating life-filled pocket universes is possible, (b) you will have the tools/resources with which to do so in a hard vacuum, (c) the part of you that survives your body’s death will have enough of the right kind of magical power to do so, AND (d) the capacity to spontaneously re-generate your psychological infrastructure without external stimuli after suffering a death of unknown type and origin is just begging for Occam to come up and slit your throat. Remember that if you’re wrong about any of these conjectures, you are moderately likely to spend eternity in semi-conscious isolation from literally everything.
Claiming that you could destroy the Horcrux yourself doesn’t buy you a whole lot of leverage; the whole plot of Books 6 and 7 in JKR-canon is that destroying a Horcrux generally takes an epic-level artifact, a character with a pure heart and a focused mind, AND a whole lot of effort. These are not tools that you have access to when you’re a pseudo-murdered villain floating around in an empty pocket universe.
Points in paragraphs 1 and 2 are valid. Three is wrong. I’m not sure where you are getting the idea that psychological properties were not fully functioning. Moreover,according to book 7, regret and remorse of the creator of a Horcrux will destroy it. If you are stuck in that state for a few hundred years in that state, likely the Horcrux will be destroyed by you simply being terribly regretful about the situation.
I suppose the regret is a decent way out, although I would guess that you would need to experience true contrition over the murder or over the atrociousness of splitting your soul, rather than the mere attrition of noticing that you didn’t like the consequences. At least, if you wanted to destroy the Horcrux using merely the touchy-feely power of love. There might be a way to magically enhance the power of attrition, but, again, it probably requires raw materials or living things or a wand or focused discipline, none of which are especially likely to be available.
There is a scene somewhere in Book 1 where Voldemort complains about his loss of psychological identity as he lusts after the unicorn blood or the Sorcerer’s Stone or something like that. I forget if he was manipulating Quirrell or just boasting about how far he had risen or how desperate he was not to return to that state. Unfortunately, I can’t find the exact quote because JKR has totally blocked GoogleBooks search, my book is elsewhere, and there are limits to my Potter-nerddom.
Also,
Agree with most of your analysis although confused about what your point about the book 2. Since the diary wasn’t the primary consciousness it doesn’t seem relevant.
At this point I am far enough out of my depth that I will have to wait until I can get my hands on the books again. I suddenly regret donating books 2-7 to the library. This is almost certainly irrational. :-(