Per request, here is a topic on what a soul is. This is all savingharry (AKA fish). Thanks for submitting it to the Inquisitorial Squad!
What is the soul?
Though the question is admittedly enigmatic, it deserves inquiry. Is the soul that thing that makes a person inherently “them,” or is it something else? Is a “soul” nothing more than a person’s thoughts, imagination, memories, and personality? If so, would a “soul” have any real “substance” at all, or would it merely be another term for “consciousness?” Or is a soul instead something other than, or more than, personality? Is the soul an inherent “you-ness” that goes beyond mere thought and understanding, in the same way that a person’s body is their own, and a clone of that same body would not be? Does such a thing as a “soul” even exist, or are we mere globules of carbon that happen to have bonded in such a way as to allow the unique chemical process of “thought?”
Harry Potter deals heavily with such issues. A horcrux is a receptacle to hold a piece of soul. But what is a “soul” to JK Rowling? From Dumbledore’s explanation, it appears that a horcrux is different that a magical portrait, or other such thing. A portrait, Dumbledore explains, does not have a soul, but is merely a reflection of the painted person’s personality. Does that mean, then, that the fat lady has no soul, or that she only did if and when she was alive? What type of life would this be, to live without a soul? Would the same be true of Barty Crouch Jr., now that his soul has been sucked out of him? Or is personality part of the soul, but not its whole, making Crouch blank and hollow, devoid of thought as well as a sense of himself? Would horcruxes, then, have personality, if given the capability to communicate? Or perhaps a personality is a hanger-on to a soul, and if so, can this piece of “you-ness” be severed from personality? Is a portrait an actual piece of a person’s personality, but lacking that person’s soul? Would, then, the portrait have memories, or is memory and thought separate from personality and “you-ness?”
These are the questions I ponder as I read Harry Potter. What are your thoughts?
-fish
Full Version: What Is A Soul?
Thanks I.S.! And good 'post' fish! 
The main elements involved here are the soul, personality, memories and life, I suppose. I think that for a human to be compos mentis and in all ways considered alive, all four must be present.
In the case of portraits, where only the personality is present, they are mere robot-like beings. I wouldn't say that portraits have lives. They are like talking suits of armour, the mirror in Harry's PoA Leaky Cauldron room, but they just have a very specific personality. They can only reiterate the superficial part of their living counterparts' personalities, because they cannot think, come to new insights or hatch plans.
Horcruxes are either pieces of soul encased in objects, or objects encasing pieces of soul. I think that a soul is an abstract consciousness that contains personality, memories and life. If one looks at the diary it seems to fit, because Tom Riddle had all of that.
Two things about Jo's possible idea of souls, in my mind, seem to be clashing.
First, it does seem as though Jo has given memories and souls a more tangible form in the wizarding world. Memories can be stirred around in a Pensieve and souls can be sucked out of someone's mouth. When a soul is ripped into pieces, it seems as though there is a literal tear, and two independant entities are formed.
This would mean, then, that if you killed someone, your soul would be teared in two. Does that mean that someone like Lucius has residing in him several little pieces of soul?
I'm not too sure. First, this technical look at souls seems to steal some of the fright of ripping a soul apart. Little pieces of ripped soul residing in Lucius is a comic idea, not a scary one.
What would be scary was if souls weren't tangible. I'll quote myself from the Harry is Horcrux thread:
This is scary, in my opinion, and fitting to how scary Jo has made the concept of horcruxes. In the wizarding world, souls are reverred, and horcruxes are so evil that almost no-one knows about them. The foulest of foul beings suck souls, and the wickedest man ever to live makes horcruxes. I believe Jo has gone out of her way to try to get the message across that souls and horcruxes are too evil to be meddled with. This reverance for souls fits better with a more abstract definition of them, in my opinion.
It is difficult to decide how literal some of the things Jo have created are. Memories are tangible, and they can be visited, but there still is a great amount of mystery surrounding them - how exactly do they work? The same with souls, I think.
Hmm, thoughts?
The main elements involved here are the soul, personality, memories and life, I suppose. I think that for a human to be compos mentis and in all ways considered alive, all four must be present.
In the case of portraits, where only the personality is present, they are mere robot-like beings. I wouldn't say that portraits have lives. They are like talking suits of armour, the mirror in Harry's PoA Leaky Cauldron room, but they just have a very specific personality. They can only reiterate the superficial part of their living counterparts' personalities, because they cannot think, come to new insights or hatch plans.
Horcruxes are either pieces of soul encased in objects, or objects encasing pieces of soul. I think that a soul is an abstract consciousness that contains personality, memories and life. If one looks at the diary it seems to fit, because Tom Riddle had all of that.
Two things about Jo's possible idea of souls, in my mind, seem to be clashing.
First, it does seem as though Jo has given memories and souls a more tangible form in the wizarding world. Memories can be stirred around in a Pensieve and souls can be sucked out of someone's mouth. When a soul is ripped into pieces, it seems as though there is a literal tear, and two independant entities are formed.
This would mean, then, that if you killed someone, your soul would be teared in two. Does that mean that someone like Lucius has residing in him several little pieces of soul?
I'm not too sure. First, this technical look at souls seems to steal some of the fright of ripping a soul apart. Little pieces of ripped soul residing in Lucius is a comic idea, not a scary one.
What would be scary was if souls weren't tangible. I'll quote myself from the Harry is Horcrux thread:
QUOTE
So, in my opinion, a horcrux is an impure and unwholesome state that takes hold of something. It's not a certain amount of substance that can be divided between seven objects. The "tearing" of a horcrux isn't literally, but a metaphor to how you as a being become less whole, and therefore, less human.
This unwholesome state, once established, can then be passed on to other objects.
This unwholesome state, once established, can then be passed on to other objects.
This is scary, in my opinion, and fitting to how scary Jo has made the concept of horcruxes. In the wizarding world, souls are reverred, and horcruxes are so evil that almost no-one knows about them. The foulest of foul beings suck souls, and the wickedest man ever to live makes horcruxes. I believe Jo has gone out of her way to try to get the message across that souls and horcruxes are too evil to be meddled with. This reverance for souls fits better with a more abstract definition of them, in my opinion.
It is difficult to decide how literal some of the things Jo have created are. Memories are tangible, and they can be visited, but there still is a great amount of mystery surrounding them - how exactly do they work? The same with souls, I think.
Hmm, thoughts?
I'll not delve into what I believe a soul to be in the real world, but in the Harry Potter universe it seems JK has set some pretty standard rules. A soul is a tangible thing, but not something that can effect the material world. For instance, ghosts are merely souls without bodies. Rather than pass on to that place where souls go when they no longer have a body, they decided to remain on earth, unable to effect things physical, yet still able to communicate. "I walk and talk, yes," as Nearly-Headless Nick says.
So that is what a soul is in the Harry Potter universe. It is our consciousness, our personality. It is the part of us which thinks and feels emotion and reacts, while our body is the part of us that lives and breathes, digests food, and effects the material world. Without a soul to command it, a body is merely an empty shell. It can continue to live and breathe and even digest food if someone can get it to eat.
Voldemort created Horcruxes, thereby ripping his soul and placing a portion of it in a different physical location than his body. This meant that when his body was destroyed, he still retained ties to the physical world. He became something "less than the meanest ghost." A vapor, a whisp, invisible and intangible, except that he was able to enter other living things, and, because he still retained his consciousness, his personality, he was able to dominate them.
However, this struggle between his invading personality and the native soul of the creature he was inhabiting, exacted a physical toll on the creature he was inhabiting, causing it to whither and die before its time.
By creating a living body through magic, Voldemort was able to create a being with no soul. This is not a true person, it is nothing more than a conglamoration of mollecules given the rough shape of a human being, but without a soul to struggle against the consciousness of voldemort which inhabits it. Therefore Voldemort is able to inhabit and dominate this automaton without exacting a physical toll, meaning he can reside within this body as long as it lives. As it was never born, and is not natural, who can say how long that will be? Perhaps forever, or until someone destroys it.
A Horcrux is a piece of the soul that has been removed from the "whole" and placed in a different physical location. However, I do not believe this is a piece with a consciousness of its own. It is like an arm, or a leg. Once it is removed, it is merely a piece of flesh. Theoretically, one could cut off their arm, hook it to machines that keep blood pumping through it, and the arm would continue to live on its own.
That is what the Horcrux is. It is a machine that keeps the soul alive, even though it has been seperated from the "body" of the soul. However, the soul is much more complex than any mere physical body, and so it is more than a bit of arm or leg, as JK shows us in CoS through the Diary. Papermort is a copy of Voldemort when he created his first Horcrux. It retains all of its memories up until the period of the split, yet its growth from that point onward is stunted. It does not age, nor think, nor feel, nor mature. It does not learn, or extrapolate new ideas on its own.
However, the Diary was a unique medium in which to create a Horcrux. It gave the means both for people to communicate with the segment of soul, as well as for the soul to communicate with them. Voldemort being a particularly greedy and ambitious individual, his segment of soul was able to drain the energy from Ginny's soul, thereby gaining enough power to "regenerate" if you will, becoming a whole soul of its own. Had Harry not destroyed Papermort, he most likely would have rejoined Vapormort, combining those two pieces of soul, and Vapormort, the more powerful, as he lived longer and gained more knowledge and power than Papermort, would have had his sixteen year old body back, along with two segments of his soul, as well as the energy sucked out of Ginny.
Notice that this "energy" is not Ginny's own soul. Had Papermort succeeded in draining Ginny of "lifeforce" her "soul" would have ceased to exist. The part of her that thinks and feels and reacts would have been destroyed, devoured, if you will, and used to sustain and nourish the piece of Voldemort's soul that was trapped within the pages of the Diary.
Therefore, the soul is also a form of energy. Not many things are capable of harnessing this energy from sources other then their own. So far, we know only of Dementors, and particular pieces of Voldemort's soul. Perhaps all Horcruxes are able to do this; using other people's soul-energy or "lifeforce" to replenish their own, depleted power levels, but only if they are somehow able to maintain communication with the outside world. I would think that, as Papermort, the fragment of Voldemort's soul was only conscious when someone was using the diary. Otherwise it would have gone mad, being imprisoned in an object, without eyes, or ears, or lips, just a mind, constantly thinking, feeling the passage of time, but unable to act.
As we know, Dementors absorb a soul through the victims mouth, destroying it utterly, denying the soul the ability to "pass on" or become a ghost, making this a fate worse than death in the minds of most. Dementors become excited at this prospect. They hunger for it, because, in a very real sense, it is food to them. Whatever they are, they themselves have little to no soul. They constantly feed on the lifeforce of humans, but only to a certain extent. They are never sated, never able to gain enough energy to become "full." The devouring of a human soul keeps them sated for a time, but then they digest this energy, burning it to maintain their own dark existance, and soon the "lifeforce" or soul-energy, is used up, requiring them to feed further.
So, in summation, in the HP universe a soul is the energy which powers a body. It is the CPU, if you will, along with the powersource. The body itself, without the soul, creates only enough energy to sustain life. To breathe, to replenish cells, to digest food and create more energy from it. It is a vessel for the soul, which holds the consciousness and personality of the individual. The soul is the battery and the brain, while the body is the interface with the material world. It is possible for each to exist without the other, at least for a time, but these are pale immitations of life. For the body it is merely breathing. For the soul it is a torment, often filled with regret.
So that is what a soul is in the Harry Potter universe. It is our consciousness, our personality. It is the part of us which thinks and feels emotion and reacts, while our body is the part of us that lives and breathes, digests food, and effects the material world. Without a soul to command it, a body is merely an empty shell. It can continue to live and breathe and even digest food if someone can get it to eat.
Voldemort created Horcruxes, thereby ripping his soul and placing a portion of it in a different physical location than his body. This meant that when his body was destroyed, he still retained ties to the physical world. He became something "less than the meanest ghost." A vapor, a whisp, invisible and intangible, except that he was able to enter other living things, and, because he still retained his consciousness, his personality, he was able to dominate them.
However, this struggle between his invading personality and the native soul of the creature he was inhabiting, exacted a physical toll on the creature he was inhabiting, causing it to whither and die before its time.
By creating a living body through magic, Voldemort was able to create a being with no soul. This is not a true person, it is nothing more than a conglamoration of mollecules given the rough shape of a human being, but without a soul to struggle against the consciousness of voldemort which inhabits it. Therefore Voldemort is able to inhabit and dominate this automaton without exacting a physical toll, meaning he can reside within this body as long as it lives. As it was never born, and is not natural, who can say how long that will be? Perhaps forever, or until someone destroys it.
A Horcrux is a piece of the soul that has been removed from the "whole" and placed in a different physical location. However, I do not believe this is a piece with a consciousness of its own. It is like an arm, or a leg. Once it is removed, it is merely a piece of flesh. Theoretically, one could cut off their arm, hook it to machines that keep blood pumping through it, and the arm would continue to live on its own.
That is what the Horcrux is. It is a machine that keeps the soul alive, even though it has been seperated from the "body" of the soul. However, the soul is much more complex than any mere physical body, and so it is more than a bit of arm or leg, as JK shows us in CoS through the Diary. Papermort is a copy of Voldemort when he created his first Horcrux. It retains all of its memories up until the period of the split, yet its growth from that point onward is stunted. It does not age, nor think, nor feel, nor mature. It does not learn, or extrapolate new ideas on its own.
However, the Diary was a unique medium in which to create a Horcrux. It gave the means both for people to communicate with the segment of soul, as well as for the soul to communicate with them. Voldemort being a particularly greedy and ambitious individual, his segment of soul was able to drain the energy from Ginny's soul, thereby gaining enough power to "regenerate" if you will, becoming a whole soul of its own. Had Harry not destroyed Papermort, he most likely would have rejoined Vapormort, combining those two pieces of soul, and Vapormort, the more powerful, as he lived longer and gained more knowledge and power than Papermort, would have had his sixteen year old body back, along with two segments of his soul, as well as the energy sucked out of Ginny.
Notice that this "energy" is not Ginny's own soul. Had Papermort succeeded in draining Ginny of "lifeforce" her "soul" would have ceased to exist. The part of her that thinks and feels and reacts would have been destroyed, devoured, if you will, and used to sustain and nourish the piece of Voldemort's soul that was trapped within the pages of the Diary.
Therefore, the soul is also a form of energy. Not many things are capable of harnessing this energy from sources other then their own. So far, we know only of Dementors, and particular pieces of Voldemort's soul. Perhaps all Horcruxes are able to do this; using other people's soul-energy or "lifeforce" to replenish their own, depleted power levels, but only if they are somehow able to maintain communication with the outside world. I would think that, as Papermort, the fragment of Voldemort's soul was only conscious when someone was using the diary. Otherwise it would have gone mad, being imprisoned in an object, without eyes, or ears, or lips, just a mind, constantly thinking, feeling the passage of time, but unable to act.
As we know, Dementors absorb a soul through the victims mouth, destroying it utterly, denying the soul the ability to "pass on" or become a ghost, making this a fate worse than death in the minds of most. Dementors become excited at this prospect. They hunger for it, because, in a very real sense, it is food to them. Whatever they are, they themselves have little to no soul. They constantly feed on the lifeforce of humans, but only to a certain extent. They are never sated, never able to gain enough energy to become "full." The devouring of a human soul keeps them sated for a time, but then they digest this energy, burning it to maintain their own dark existance, and soon the "lifeforce" or soul-energy, is used up, requiring them to feed further.
So, in summation, in the HP universe a soul is the energy which powers a body. It is the CPU, if you will, along with the powersource. The body itself, without the soul, creates only enough energy to sustain life. To breathe, to replenish cells, to digest food and create more energy from it. It is a vessel for the soul, which holds the consciousness and personality of the individual. The soul is the battery and the brain, while the body is the interface with the material world. It is possible for each to exist without the other, at least for a time, but these are pale immitations of life. For the body it is merely breathing. For the soul it is a torment, often filled with regret.
I hope to spark a little more discussion on this topic, since this is one that certainly merits it. In the Harry Potter universe, the soul must have some physical form. When discussing horcruxes, it is emphasised that the torn portion of the soul is placed within the object. The soul could be metaphorically torn, but how could the damage to one's identity placed upon the object? If this were the case, why is it that everyone who had killed did not have a horcrux? If the damage is metaphorical, then a damaged soul would still reside in each person. What is it that would tie the soul to the earth? Slughorn said that a part of the soul was earth-bound, which prevented the crossing into death.
Using this idea (along with the extensive post by the Weasel King) we should be sure that the soul is a physical, tangible object in the Harry Potter universe. This still does not answer the question: What is the soul?
I believe the soul is the essence of who we are. It is not our memories, actions, beliefs or emotions. The soul is everything that 'is' us, compacted into one tiny part of the person. It is not a part of the body, nor is it a non-existent object. It exists in a realm that cannot be accessed except at the metaphysical level. If our body is damaged or destroyed, the body's contact with the soul is severed. The breaking of this tie to the physical world is what causes the soul to pass on.
In terms of Harry Potter, the soul could be accessed by magic. When the dementor performs its kiss, it is breaking the tie between the soul and the body. This would allow the soul to pass on, but without the damage to the body. Thus, the body could still physically survive. Without the soul, it has no connection to the metaphysical world.
If a witch or wizard makes a horcrux, they are establishing a new connection with a piece of the soul to an object that is earth-bound. When the body is attacked or destroyed, the soul does not pass on because part of it still maintains the connection to the physical world.
Using this idea (along with the extensive post by the Weasel King) we should be sure that the soul is a physical, tangible object in the Harry Potter universe. This still does not answer the question: What is the soul?
I believe the soul is the essence of who we are. It is not our memories, actions, beliefs or emotions. The soul is everything that 'is' us, compacted into one tiny part of the person. It is not a part of the body, nor is it a non-existent object. It exists in a realm that cannot be accessed except at the metaphysical level. If our body is damaged or destroyed, the body's contact with the soul is severed. The breaking of this tie to the physical world is what causes the soul to pass on.
In terms of Harry Potter, the soul could be accessed by magic. When the dementor performs its kiss, it is breaking the tie between the soul and the body. This would allow the soul to pass on, but without the damage to the body. Thus, the body could still physically survive. Without the soul, it has no connection to the metaphysical world.
If a witch or wizard makes a horcrux, they are establishing a new connection with a piece of the soul to an object that is earth-bound. When the body is attacked or destroyed, the soul does not pass on because part of it still maintains the connection to the physical world.
QUOTE(After the Burial @ Oct 12 2006, 10:10 PM) [snapback]239738[/snapback]
I believe the soul is the essence of who we are. It is not our memories, actions, beliefs or emotions. The soul is everything that 'is' us, compacted into one tiny part of the person. It is not a part of the body, nor is it a non-existent object. It exists in a realm that cannot be accessed except at the metaphysical level. If our body is damaged or destroyed, the body's contact with the soul is severed. The breaking of this tie to the physical world is what causes the soul to pass on.
Ok, I don't know if you are saying two different things, or if I'm simply confused. Would either of the following (from my post earlier) be what you mean, or are you saying something else entirely?
Is a soul:
QUOTE
an inherent “you-ness” that goes beyond mere thought and understanding, in the same way that a person’s body is their own, and a clone of that same body would not be?
or:
QUOTE
is personality part of the soul, but not its whole, making Crouch blank and hollow, devoid of thought as well as a sense of himself? Would horcruxes, then, have personality, if given the capability to communicate?
If you say it is the first one, I would be curious what you think of the following question:
QUOTE
perhaps a personality is a hanger-on to a soul, and if so, can this piece of “you-ness” be severed from personality? Is a portrait an actual piece of a person’s personality, but lacking that person’s soul? Would, then, the portrait have memories, or is memory and thought separate from personality and “you-ness?”
On the point of physicality, I definitely agree with what you have said. Upon further reflection, it does seem to me that the soul must have some physicality for it to function as it is described in the book. "Vapormort" would be an example of this.
-Fish
I believe, in the 'real world' that a soul is not and cannot be a physical thing, or even be concieved as something with form. I think a 'soul' os not even real, to some people. It is what we believe it to be, what we thinkof ourselves, the beliefs we have. A buddhist believes that they have a soul, of sorts whereas somebody of another religion would believe different. A soul is, what we believe it to be. some people let having a soul affect their actions and descisions and influence their lives, whilst others believe that every descision that they make affects their soul. yet others believe a soul to be a thing that defines them, and when talking about souls we have to be careful not to judge, or seem to judge a person that lives by the 'rules' that they create to safeguard their soul, that is somebody that believes what they do in life, affects them in death. my favorite line "what we do in life, echoes in eternity" (gladiator) i dont believe it, but hey, its got a ring to it.
However, in Hp Jk seems to strive as much as possible, to get us into the state of mind that allows us to concieve souls to be more physical, and therefore more important. they have a kind of matter, even if you can't touch them, they are there and they are not held in place by beliefs or religions, but they are inevitably connected to us as physical beings. this means they have more of an affect, as they are not a mental state, they are a physical thing and even those that have complete control of the mind can not escape the weakness of having some thing that can be removed, leaving you either stronger or weaker. it is the weakness of having a dependancy. even though the 'ripping of the soul' is a metaphor, it holds meaning, on a most basic level. the words themselves potray something that should not be done.
In Hp, changing the soul is a contortion of your own humanity, removing you from the category of human, and even alive, it takes away everything that makes you real. Even if Souls were not the sacred thing that the are made to be in Hp, mutating them to fit your own wants and needs, is playing God. even though life is not created, and in fact doomed, the life is changed and moved. The reasons that wizards fear horcruxes so much, is because it truely removes all dependancy and removes all weakness. it makes you, to a point, invincable.
The soul, in Hp is something that affects everybody, their descisions, actions, lifespan and power, it is not mental and cannot be kept within the limits of the 'mental realms' it has power and form. the soul, when corrupted, is lethal.
However, in Hp Jk seems to strive as much as possible, to get us into the state of mind that allows us to concieve souls to be more physical, and therefore more important. they have a kind of matter, even if you can't touch them, they are there and they are not held in place by beliefs or religions, but they are inevitably connected to us as physical beings. this means they have more of an affect, as they are not a mental state, they are a physical thing and even those that have complete control of the mind can not escape the weakness of having some thing that can be removed, leaving you either stronger or weaker. it is the weakness of having a dependancy. even though the 'ripping of the soul' is a metaphor, it holds meaning, on a most basic level. the words themselves potray something that should not be done.
In Hp, changing the soul is a contortion of your own humanity, removing you from the category of human, and even alive, it takes away everything that makes you real. Even if Souls were not the sacred thing that the are made to be in Hp, mutating them to fit your own wants and needs, is playing God. even though life is not created, and in fact doomed, the life is changed and moved. The reasons that wizards fear horcruxes so much, is because it truely removes all dependancy and removes all weakness. it makes you, to a point, invincable.
The soul, in Hp is something that affects everybody, their descisions, actions, lifespan and power, it is not mental and cannot be kept within the limits of the 'mental realms' it has power and form. the soul, when corrupted, is lethal.
What is a soul?
I think that the soul in HP is part of what makes up a person, like body and psyche. Being like body and psyche it can be damaged or destroyed.
The body’s significance is obvious. It is what gets a wizard through the physical world. It needs food, air, water, protection from physical hurts. It can be injured or killed in many ways both tangible and magical. (too many examples to list)
The psyche is the thinking part of the person; learning, reason, and personality characteristics. It is basically the mind. It can be damaged by experiences, illnesses, magic (Lockhart, The Longbottoms).
Soul is like a conscience. Lack of a soul or a damaged soul represents bad. It can be hurt by performing acts of evil only (it seems). The worst act is Killing. It can be diminished or taken away by oneself or a dementor. (LV, Barty Crouch)
These parts of a person can be healed. The psyche and soul can be healed only if the person so chooses (the difference between Harry and Snape). The body can be healed from most damage with magic, but not all. The psyche can be healed by magic and/or TLC. The soul can also be healed. I think only the person can heal his own soul, willingly.
I don’t think that when the soul is torn (by killing or other evil deed) that there are little pieces bouncing around in a person. They will mend back together, either in a good way or in a bad way unless the wizard puts the ripped part in a Horcux. Since Horcux knowledge is Dark Magic that is well hidden, the wizard has to have mal intent to begin with.
There are manythings in this world and the HP world that do not have substance but can be handled or managed. I don't think the soul has a substance per se. It needs to be bound by magic to give it a kind of spacial relevance and 'placed' into an object.
The soul just a part of what makes up an individual. With out one of the parts the person would not be the same. When a part is damaged the person changes. When a part is lost it is catastrophic.
*holds hands to head* Wow that hurt! I need to go mend my psyche now. I hope that made some kind of sense.
Too much pressure for my first post in the Great Hall. 
I think that the soul in HP is part of what makes up a person, like body and psyche. Being like body and psyche it can be damaged or destroyed.
The body’s significance is obvious. It is what gets a wizard through the physical world. It needs food, air, water, protection from physical hurts. It can be injured or killed in many ways both tangible and magical. (too many examples to list)
The psyche is the thinking part of the person; learning, reason, and personality characteristics. It is basically the mind. It can be damaged by experiences, illnesses, magic (Lockhart, The Longbottoms).
Soul is like a conscience. Lack of a soul or a damaged soul represents bad. It can be hurt by performing acts of evil only (it seems). The worst act is Killing. It can be diminished or taken away by oneself or a dementor. (LV, Barty Crouch)
These parts of a person can be healed. The psyche and soul can be healed only if the person so chooses (the difference between Harry and Snape). The body can be healed from most damage with magic, but not all. The psyche can be healed by magic and/or TLC. The soul can also be healed. I think only the person can heal his own soul, willingly.
I don’t think that when the soul is torn (by killing or other evil deed) that there are little pieces bouncing around in a person. They will mend back together, either in a good way or in a bad way unless the wizard puts the ripped part in a Horcux. Since Horcux knowledge is Dark Magic that is well hidden, the wizard has to have mal intent to begin with.
There are manythings in this world and the HP world that do not have substance but can be handled or managed. I don't think the soul has a substance per se. It needs to be bound by magic to give it a kind of spacial relevance and 'placed' into an object.
The soul just a part of what makes up an individual. With out one of the parts the person would not be the same. When a part is damaged the person changes. When a part is lost it is catastrophic.
*holds hands to head* Wow that hurt! I need to go mend my psyche now. I hope that made some kind of sense.
Too much pressure for my first post in the Great Hall.
An excellent first post, I might add.
I believe, as stated in my post above, that the soul in HP is a sort of "energy" that animates the body, and the consciousness. For example, Snape had a portrait of the effect of a dementor's kiss in his classroom in HP&HBP which showed a person slumped listlessly against a wall, staring vacantly. We have also heard, in PoA that "it is possible to live without the soul" but that doing so meant the body would walk as long as someone pushed it, continue to breathe, etc. Basically an invalid, or "vegetable."
So the soul is not merely "animating" the body, as that implies motion without intent, but it is the center of our personality, our decision making process and our ability to think, act, and "feel" in the emotional sense. In essence a ghost is a soul without a body, as they feel emotions but cannot physically feel the world, while a body without a soul is so much matter which does little more than turn air into carbon dioxide and can be maintained only so long as some other agent acts to keep it alive. I.e. a nurse or equivilent feeds it and makes sure it is not harmed. It feel's the world physically but does not "feel" one way or another about it.
The "physicality" of the soul which others in this thread have refered to is a simple matter if the soul is thought of as this "energy" or "lifeforce" of which I speak. Energy is not necissarily a "physical" thing. Gravity or electromagnetic force, for example, are not "physical" in the sense that they do not act through atoms or particles but are merely a "force" which exerts influence upon physical bodies. In other words, they do not send out particles to physically interact with other particles. (I have not studied quantum physics to any great extent in some years, so my memory may be faulty on this, and anyone should feel free to correct me, though it really doesn't matter for the purposes of this discussion.)
As an energy, the soul can be divided and stored in other containers. Such as if you connect a capacitor to a battery. Some of the battery's energy enters the capacitor and is stored, diminishing the amount of energy which is in the battery, but remaining connected through the wires, and maintaining the same level of energy in the system as before.
If we think of Horcruxes and soul's in this fashion, using electricity and electric componants as analogies, we could imagine the "soul" as electricity, the body is the battery which stores this electricity. The creation of a horcrux adds a capacitor (a component which stores energy, similar to a battery, but with differences which I will not get into here and now) creating a series which is connected by wires. Obviously the soul and horcrux are not connected by anything as tangible as wires, but there is a connection, as we know for a fact because we know that the purpose of a Horcrux is to bind the soul to earth should the body die, keeping it from either "moving on" or becoming a ghost.
Now, back to the whole soul/electricity analogy. The series which is created between battery and capacitor contains, as a whole, the same amount of energy as the original battery held, though now it is being stored in two seperate places. It is my opinion that the dividing the soul and the creation of a Horcrux works in a similar fashion. The soul and horcrux "series" contain the same amount of "energy" or "lifeforce" as the original body contained. The user of the Horcrux would feel no diminishing in this soul-energy, as it has not been diminished but merely stored elsewhere.
Voldemort, on the other hand, created multiple horcruxes. This would, in effect, create what is called a "parallel circuit." In essence, there are wires connecting each capacitor, or Horcrux, to the battery, or original soul, without actually connecting any of the capacitors to each other. Now, this is where the analogy breaks down a bit for anyone who is versed in parallel and series circuits, but keep quiet you and bear with me. As each Horcrux was created one after the other, I believe some of them contain more energy than others. For example, the Diary was created first, when Voldemort's soul was still "whole" or, at least, its various "parts" were still all within his own physical body. This is why the Diary was able to think and act for itself, creating what I have dubbed "Papermort" or the "memory" of Tom Riddle. Also, the Diary was a unique medium which allowed a means of communication with the outside world, whereas most Horcruxes are more permanant in nature, I would imagine, such as objects of metal or precious stones, which do not have a means of either recieving nor transmitting data.
After creating the diary, Voldemort created four other Horcruxes before attempting to kill Harry. I do not believe the Horcrux holds anything near "half" of a soul's energy, so let us say ten percent, as that is a relatively easy number to work with. So, with the creation of a single Horcrux, let us say Voldemort placed ten percent of his energy into the diary, leaving 90% with his physical body. When he created a second horcrux it took another ten percent of the energy available, or 9%, and placed it in yet another container, leaving him with 81%, a third took 8.1% and left him with 72.9% and so on and so forth. Yet, as a system, Voldemort's soul still contains the same amount of "energy."
When these capacitors or "soul-energy" are destroyed it diminishes the amount of "energy" which is available to the whole, but it is such a minor amount of energy that it is not missed by the majority. Such as putting your hand under running water and gradually increasing the temperature allows you to withstand heats much higher than if you were to put it on the highest temperature and thrust your hand in without any preparation.
This would also make Voldemort's attempt at immortality more "powerful," as he believes, in that, with multiple horcruxes, a greater percentage of his "soul-energy" is stored outside of his body, meaning that when his body is destroyed, he has access to more energy than the mere 10% that a single Horcrux would allow. Yet, the creation of multiple horcruxes actually weakens him, in that, while he is alive, his actual body or, "central being," whathaveyou, has less energy to draw upon than normal people, making him less than human, and unable to percieve the whole spectrum or range of human emotion and behavior, vis. Love.
I believe, as stated in my post above, that the soul in HP is a sort of "energy" that animates the body, and the consciousness. For example, Snape had a portrait of the effect of a dementor's kiss in his classroom in HP&HBP which showed a person slumped listlessly against a wall, staring vacantly. We have also heard, in PoA that "it is possible to live without the soul" but that doing so meant the body would walk as long as someone pushed it, continue to breathe, etc. Basically an invalid, or "vegetable."
So the soul is not merely "animating" the body, as that implies motion without intent, but it is the center of our personality, our decision making process and our ability to think, act, and "feel" in the emotional sense. In essence a ghost is a soul without a body, as they feel emotions but cannot physically feel the world, while a body without a soul is so much matter which does little more than turn air into carbon dioxide and can be maintained only so long as some other agent acts to keep it alive. I.e. a nurse or equivilent feeds it and makes sure it is not harmed. It feel's the world physically but does not "feel" one way or another about it.
The "physicality" of the soul which others in this thread have refered to is a simple matter if the soul is thought of as this "energy" or "lifeforce" of which I speak. Energy is not necissarily a "physical" thing. Gravity or electromagnetic force, for example, are not "physical" in the sense that they do not act through atoms or particles but are merely a "force" which exerts influence upon physical bodies. In other words, they do not send out particles to physically interact with other particles. (I have not studied quantum physics to any great extent in some years, so my memory may be faulty on this, and anyone should feel free to correct me, though it really doesn't matter for the purposes of this discussion.)
As an energy, the soul can be divided and stored in other containers. Such as if you connect a capacitor to a battery. Some of the battery's energy enters the capacitor and is stored, diminishing the amount of energy which is in the battery, but remaining connected through the wires, and maintaining the same level of energy in the system as before.
If we think of Horcruxes and soul's in this fashion, using electricity and electric componants as analogies, we could imagine the "soul" as electricity, the body is the battery which stores this electricity. The creation of a horcrux adds a capacitor (a component which stores energy, similar to a battery, but with differences which I will not get into here and now) creating a series which is connected by wires. Obviously the soul and horcrux are not connected by anything as tangible as wires, but there is a connection, as we know for a fact because we know that the purpose of a Horcrux is to bind the soul to earth should the body die, keeping it from either "moving on" or becoming a ghost.
Now, back to the whole soul/electricity analogy. The series which is created between battery and capacitor contains, as a whole, the same amount of energy as the original battery held, though now it is being stored in two seperate places. It is my opinion that the dividing the soul and the creation of a Horcrux works in a similar fashion. The soul and horcrux "series" contain the same amount of "energy" or "lifeforce" as the original body contained. The user of the Horcrux would feel no diminishing in this soul-energy, as it has not been diminished but merely stored elsewhere.
Voldemort, on the other hand, created multiple horcruxes. This would, in effect, create what is called a "parallel circuit." In essence, there are wires connecting each capacitor, or Horcrux, to the battery, or original soul, without actually connecting any of the capacitors to each other. Now, this is where the analogy breaks down a bit for anyone who is versed in parallel and series circuits, but keep quiet you and bear with me. As each Horcrux was created one after the other, I believe some of them contain more energy than others. For example, the Diary was created first, when Voldemort's soul was still "whole" or, at least, its various "parts" were still all within his own physical body. This is why the Diary was able to think and act for itself, creating what I have dubbed "Papermort" or the "memory" of Tom Riddle. Also, the Diary was a unique medium which allowed a means of communication with the outside world, whereas most Horcruxes are more permanant in nature, I would imagine, such as objects of metal or precious stones, which do not have a means of either recieving nor transmitting data.
After creating the diary, Voldemort created four other Horcruxes before attempting to kill Harry. I do not believe the Horcrux holds anything near "half" of a soul's energy, so let us say ten percent, as that is a relatively easy number to work with. So, with the creation of a single Horcrux, let us say Voldemort placed ten percent of his energy into the diary, leaving 90% with his physical body. When he created a second horcrux it took another ten percent of the energy available, or 9%, and placed it in yet another container, leaving him with 81%, a third took 8.1% and left him with 72.9% and so on and so forth. Yet, as a system, Voldemort's soul still contains the same amount of "energy."
When these capacitors or "soul-energy" are destroyed it diminishes the amount of "energy" which is available to the whole, but it is such a minor amount of energy that it is not missed by the majority. Such as putting your hand under running water and gradually increasing the temperature allows you to withstand heats much higher than if you were to put it on the highest temperature and thrust your hand in without any preparation.
This would also make Voldemort's attempt at immortality more "powerful," as he believes, in that, with multiple horcruxes, a greater percentage of his "soul-energy" is stored outside of his body, meaning that when his body is destroyed, he has access to more energy than the mere 10% that a single Horcrux would allow. Yet, the creation of multiple horcruxes actually weakens him, in that, while he is alive, his actual body or, "central being," whathaveyou, has less energy to draw upon than normal people, making him less than human, and unable to percieve the whole spectrum or range of human emotion and behavior, vis. Love.
Very interesting ideas.
You said
I agree LV did not connect them together. If he had, theoretically, if one was obtained, the others could be destroyed in sequence. Also, as seen by the Diary Horcux, Tom Riddle did not age. He only knew about Harry through Ginny. He did not have current knowledge of himself.
I don't believe the Horcurxes are connected to LV either. He would have known about the ring and the necklace being taken/destroyed, been very angry and have said something to some one, somewhere.
Wellllll, Of course he knew about the diary having been destroyed. He was VERY mad at Lucius, wasn't he? Wahahahaha!!! 
If LV had to regress to an early Horcrux would he lose knowledge and possibly a little power?
I agree with the main being diminished at least. But I don't think he would think that way. 7 equal parts. Why would he have put the biggest percentage of soul into the horcrux DD thought was considered by LV to be disposable? Was it that he needed it to reopen the Chamber? I guess his ego never thought it would be destroyed.
If Harry destroys the remaining horcurx(es) (following your 10% of soul out each time he makes a horcurx) LV will have less than 50% energy/soul left. Will this make him easier to destroy or harder? If it is purely energy I would say easier. If it is soul and therefore humanity, then it would be harder.
As far as LV thinking he is stronger being divided but really being weaker because he is less than human:
Is this another aspect of the Unity theme in the books? LV is divided. The main characters are divided, the houses are divided, the wizarding community is divided. Separation bad. Unity good.
Enough ramblings for tonight. I'm beginning to sound like Buffy after they blew up the high school. Fire bad. Tree Pretty. My brain's mush.
Cris
(Thanks for the compliment on the first post.
)
You said
QUOTE
Voldemort, on the other hand, created multiple horcruxes. This would, in effect, create what is called a "parallel circuit." In essence, there are wires connecting each capacitor, or Horcrux, to the battery, or original soul, without actually connecting any of the capacitors to each other.
I agree LV did not connect them together. If he had, theoretically, if one was obtained, the others could be destroyed in sequence. Also, as seen by the Diary Horcux, Tom Riddle did not age. He only knew about Harry through Ginny. He did not have current knowledge of himself.
I don't believe the Horcurxes are connected to LV either. He would have known about the ring and the necklace being taken/destroyed, been very angry and have said something to some one, somewhere.
Wellllll, Of course he knew about the diary having been destroyed. He was VERY mad at Lucius, wasn't he? Wahahahaha!!! If LV had to regress to an early Horcrux would he lose knowledge and possibly a little power?
QUOTE
As each Horcrux was created one after the other, I believe some of them contain more energy than others. For example, the Diary was created first, when Voldemort's soul was still "whole" or, at least, its various "parts" were still all within his own physical body.
I agree with the main being diminished at least. But I don't think he would think that way. 7 equal parts. Why would he have put the biggest percentage of soul into the horcrux DD thought was considered by LV to be disposable? Was it that he needed it to reopen the Chamber? I guess his ego never thought it would be destroyed.
If Harry destroys the remaining horcurx(es) (following your 10% of soul out each time he makes a horcurx) LV will have less than 50% energy/soul left. Will this make him easier to destroy or harder? If it is purely energy I would say easier. If it is soul and therefore humanity, then it would be harder.
As far as LV thinking he is stronger being divided but really being weaker because he is less than human:
Is this another aspect of the Unity theme in the books? LV is divided. The main characters are divided, the houses are divided, the wizarding community is divided. Separation bad. Unity good.
Enough ramblings for tonight. I'm beginning to sound like Buffy after they blew up the high school. Fire bad. Tree Pretty. My brain's mush.
Cris
(Thanks for the compliment on the first post.
)
QUOTE
Also, as seen by the Diary Horcux, Tom Riddle did not age. He only knew about Harry through Ginny. He did not have current knowledge of himself.
Well, we need to be carefull to build our understanding about the horcruxes upon our experiences from the diary. I have been more keenly aware this morning how indebted I am to my training in biblical hermeneutics, but still, I apply the lessons to other types of interpretation and find them to be true. That being said, I think that the diary experiencve is much like parables in the bible. I only mean that you cannot build doctrine upon parables. Parables are illustrations of topics, and therefore express them imperfectly. The same principles apply to using the diary as a basis for understanding horcruxes. This is because we do not understand how the diary functions. The diary was a unique horcrux that obviously held magic beyond merely the soul-piece itself. Therefore, we do not know if a soul-piece contains "memory" at all, because it has been placed inside an object housing the memories of Voldemort. Therefore, we do not know if the memories on which "papermort" (as LLtWK has so kindly coined for us) were drawing were because the soul piece does not age or share experience with the other soul pieces, or if it is because diary was drawing upon the memories and personality housed in the diary itself. Of course, this is all given we can trust the word of Tom Riddle at all, which of course we cannot.
-Fish
Fish,
Thanks for the learned advise. I agree that nothing can be taken as 'Gospel' in the attempt to use the diary to gather info about horcurxes.
It is different than the others because the other horcruxes will need some kind of magic to protect them and keep the soul in, where the diary needed to be found and let some of the soul out.
However I feel differently about the contents of the diary (pre Ginny). I really don't think that Tom Riddle would have used a diary to record his innermost secrets or put any of his true memory into it. It wasn't his diary. It was a means to an end. He wanted an object to keep a piece of his soul stong enough to be able to communicate with a student and get more power (as LLtWK illustrated in his post), and open the Chamber of Secrets again somewhere down the line. He needed somthing that someone would use to pour out their soul so that he could pour in some of his (or something like that).
He could not have chosen the Peverell ring or Hufflepuffs cup because they were too famous. The locket would have been found and given to a girlfriend or mother. He needed something that would be common in a school with a bunch of students. Something innocuous. The diary fit.
Cris
Thanks for the learned advise. I agree that nothing can be taken as 'Gospel' in the attempt to use the diary to gather info about horcurxes.
It is different than the others because the other horcruxes will need some kind of magic to protect them and keep the soul in, where the diary needed to be found and let some of the soul out.
However I feel differently about the contents of the diary (pre Ginny). I really don't think that Tom Riddle would have used a diary to record his innermost secrets or put any of his true memory into it. It wasn't his diary. It was a means to an end. He wanted an object to keep a piece of his soul stong enough to be able to communicate with a student and get more power (as LLtWK illustrated in his post), and open the Chamber of Secrets again somewhere down the line. He needed somthing that someone would use to pour out their soul so that he could pour in some of his (or something like that).
He could not have chosen the Peverell ring or Hufflepuffs cup because they were too famous. The locket would have been found and given to a girlfriend or mother. He needed something that would be common in a school with a bunch of students. Something innocuous. The diary fit.
Cris
That's true. But the diary no doubt had enchantments on it beyond the mere horcrux itself. I say this because we have seen the spell before. Remember the marauder's map. James's voice, personality, and writing were embedded in the map. Thus, we have James's written response to Snape, even though James is dead. The map is not a horcrux (If you doubt this, remember that it also housed Sirus, Lupin, and Wormtail's voices). The writing spell is much the same as the diary's enchantment. Likewise, the memories really are "memories" as from a Pensive. The memories seem to definitely be embedded into the diary. How would the diary be able to show memories to harry and draw him in if it were merely a piece of soul? It would need an enchantment that allowed the memory to be displayed like in a pensive.
-Fish
-Fish
I agree the diary had enchanments other than the horcrux. Good point that it is probably very similar to the map. The objects don't have ALL them memories of the person. Otherwise someone could use them against him.
Perhaps it is more like the pensieve, where you can put selected memories in the item. Could this be where LV got the idea? Take out select memories of his current self to put into the diary? But how would he know which memories he would need? Perhaps just those appealing to that age group etc.
As far as the horcruxes what I'm saying is that the memories don't go beyond the point that the soul was put into the object. They don't know about the person beyond the point of separation.
Perhaps it is more like the pensieve, where you can put selected memories in the item. Could this be where LV got the idea? Take out select memories of his current self to put into the diary? But how would he know which memories he would need? Perhaps just those appealing to that age group etc.
As far as the horcruxes what I'm saying is that the memories don't go beyond the point that the soul was put into the object. They don't know about the person beyond the point of separation.
Chris- earlier you mentioned whether voldemort would be stronger or weaker without that certain percentage of his soul. It does make sense that he is weaker because there is less of him around - the whole reason that Harry is searching for the horcruxes is to make Voldemort kill-able. But i had conflicting veiws on whether the lack of humanity would make it him easier or harder to kill. Usually, the humanity is the concience, the ability to think as a human thinks, the ability to feel - this as the 'soul', but Voldemort doesn't seem to have any concience, at least not an active one. If you'll remember that before he even started at hogwarts he was able to torment other children, far more than a usual child could.
It would seem that his soul, or concience or humanity, does not mean much to him at all, and therefore it would not affect how easy or hard it would be to kill him, as he had very little in him before he decided to rip it up. Basically, what i am trying to say, is that the eviler the person, the less affect humanity- their own and others, hason them.
On to the diary, i do agree that it had more than just the horcrux/soul in it, but not enchantments. It seemed to have more of him in it, it had a part of his soul, and a part of his mind, enough to project an image to the outside world, and given that it gets enough life or power (-from ginny) it could become corporeal and real, giving us two voldemorts, on signifigantly younger than the other.
Also, looking at the age that Riddle appeared to be in the diary, how old he was in the chamber, it would suggest that the diary was the first horcrux that Tom made. It was also the easiest to detroy, judging from dumbledore's hand. Maybe Tom realised that it was the weakest of the horcruxes, it was the first he created and hadn't had time to be perfected, and this is why it was so easily found and desroyed.
Anyway, since i'm going a bit off of the subject of a soul, i will bring this all together in a nice easy to read conclusion...
Yes, the soul is part of the mind and concience, but it is deeper, and more profound than the shallow beliefs of the mind, it leads motre to instinct and instant knowledge. Riddle, as a young man, saw his soul and mind as the same thing, and when making the diary, let some of his current mind imprint itself in the diary, along with the soul. As he grew slightly, in power and age, he realsied that the mind of the boy in the diary could jeprodise the soul inside, as it was not experienced enough to know that this could happen. The only way he could rectify his mistake would be to make the most of the situation that he was in- try to bring the fragment of mind to life. This could go either way, that part of his soul could be destroyed, or he could come back more powerful in body than he was at the time. Unfortunately for him, becuase of the recklessness of his young self, the part of his soul and mind in the past was destroyed in the present, and his current self lost that part of his soul. The memories that were in that piece of soul were limited to the day that the horcrux was forged, and therefore could not anticipate what could possibly happen.
What that doesn't explain however, is why Voldemort (past) was so eager to entrap harry in his scheme when he didnt know about harry until years along the line in his future (harry's past), and why he believed it was so important that harry was involved. He said he couldn't believe his luck when the diary fell into Harry's hands -or something of the sort- even though he shouldn't have known about harry's importance -or some of it- until the day he heard the first half of the prophecy. and doesn't even know the full extent of it now.
phew. i am now very confused, and i have the feeling i sligtly trailed off of souls here...
never mind..
Clara}~
It would seem that his soul, or concience or humanity, does not mean much to him at all, and therefore it would not affect how easy or hard it would be to kill him, as he had very little in him before he decided to rip it up. Basically, what i am trying to say, is that the eviler the person, the less affect humanity- their own and others, hason them.
On to the diary, i do agree that it had more than just the horcrux/soul in it, but not enchantments. It seemed to have more of him in it, it had a part of his soul, and a part of his mind, enough to project an image to the outside world, and given that it gets enough life or power (-from ginny) it could become corporeal and real, giving us two voldemorts, on signifigantly younger than the other.
Also, looking at the age that Riddle appeared to be in the diary, how old he was in the chamber, it would suggest that the diary was the first horcrux that Tom made. It was also the easiest to detroy, judging from dumbledore's hand. Maybe Tom realised that it was the weakest of the horcruxes, it was the first he created and hadn't had time to be perfected, and this is why it was so easily found and desroyed.
Anyway, since i'm going a bit off of the subject of a soul, i will bring this all together in a nice easy to read conclusion...
Yes, the soul is part of the mind and concience, but it is deeper, and more profound than the shallow beliefs of the mind, it leads motre to instinct and instant knowledge. Riddle, as a young man, saw his soul and mind as the same thing, and when making the diary, let some of his current mind imprint itself in the diary, along with the soul. As he grew slightly, in power and age, he realsied that the mind of the boy in the diary could jeprodise the soul inside, as it was not experienced enough to know that this could happen. The only way he could rectify his mistake would be to make the most of the situation that he was in- try to bring the fragment of mind to life. This could go either way, that part of his soul could be destroyed, or he could come back more powerful in body than he was at the time. Unfortunately for him, becuase of the recklessness of his young self, the part of his soul and mind in the past was destroyed in the present, and his current self lost that part of his soul. The memories that were in that piece of soul were limited to the day that the horcrux was forged, and therefore could not anticipate what could possibly happen.
What that doesn't explain however, is why Voldemort (past) was so eager to entrap harry in his scheme when he didnt know about harry until years along the line in his future (harry's past), and why he believed it was so important that harry was involved. He said he couldn't believe his luck when the diary fell into Harry's hands -or something of the sort- even though he shouldn't have known about harry's importance -or some of it- until the day he heard the first half of the prophecy. and doesn't even know the full extent of it now.
phew. i am now very confused, and i have the feeling i sligtly trailed off of souls here...
never mind..
Clara}~
Clara,
I like your summary of the soul conversation. And the fact that since the diary was the first horcux, LV probably put too much into it. He needed just enough soul for his plans to work but not something that would 'become corporeal'.
I guess I'm going
here.
As far as the diary being easily found and destroyed:
Riddle wanted the diary to be easily found so that the chamber could be opened. Remeber he had given it to Lucius to be planted at an appropriate time. A time of his choosing.
If Harry hadn't had Fawkes' help he wouldn't have been able to destroy the diary. That wasn't easy.
What that doesn't explain however, is why Voldemort (past) was so eager to entrap harry in his scheme when he didnt know about harry until years along the line in his future (harry's past), and why he believed it was so important that harry was involved. He said he couldn't believe his luck when the diary fell into Harry's hands -or something of the sort- even though he shouldn't have known about harry's importance -or some of it- until the day he heard the first half of the prophecy. and doesn't even know the full extent of it now.
LV wasn't eager to entrap Harry. He was eager to entrap any student with whom he could exchange enough 'energy' to get the chamber opened again.
He didn't find out about Harry and the current state of things until Ginny started writing about him. LV assumed that his plans of becoming the greatest and ridding the world of non pure blood wizards (genecide?) were well underway. His ego would not have even contemplated that he hadn't succeeded.
LV found out from Ginny about the setback and Harry. That's why he was so please that Harry got the diary. Now he had a chance to get rid of Harry and continue in his plans.
Tom Riddle of the diary didn't know about the profecy because Ginny didn't know about it. Harry didn't even know about the profecy at this point.
Cris
I like your summary of the soul conversation. And the fact that since the diary was the first horcux, LV probably put too much into it. He needed just enough soul for his plans to work but not something that would 'become corporeal'.
I guess I'm going
here.As far as the diary being easily found and destroyed:
Riddle wanted the diary to be easily found so that the chamber could be opened. Remeber he had given it to Lucius to be planted at an appropriate time. A time of his choosing.
If Harry hadn't had Fawkes' help he wouldn't have been able to destroy the diary. That wasn't easy.
QUOTE
What that doesn't explain however, is why Voldemort (past) was so eager to entrap harry in his scheme when he didnt know about harry until years along the line in his future (harry's past), and why he believed it was so important that harry was involved. He said he couldn't believe his luck when the diary fell into Harry's hands -or something of the sort- even though he shouldn't have known about harry's importance -or some of it- until the day he heard the first half of the prophecy. and doesn't even know the full extent of it now.
LV wasn't eager to entrap Harry. He was eager to entrap any student with whom he could exchange enough 'energy' to get the chamber opened again.
He didn't find out about Harry and the current state of things until Ginny started writing about him. LV assumed that his plans of becoming the greatest and ridding the world of non pure blood wizards (genecide?) were well underway. His ego would not have even contemplated that he hadn't succeeded.
LV found out from Ginny about the setback and Harry. That's why he was so please that Harry got the diary. Now he had a chance to get rid of Harry and continue in his plans.
Tom Riddle of the diary didn't know about the profecy because Ginny didn't know about it. Harry didn't even know about the profecy at this point.
Cris
There is a connection between Voldemort and the Horcruxes. The Horcruxes act as an anchor for his soul, to keep it earthbound even if his body is destroyed. Like an anchor, there must be some form of chain connecting anchor to the object to be anchored. Also, like an anchor, if someone severs that link you would not necissarily know about it until you hauled up the chain and took a look, or started to drift in the current.
As far as "drifting" goes, this will only happen when Harry finally gets around to destroying Voldemort and his soul is forced to "move on" or become a ghost. As mangled and depleted as V's soul is, It is my guess that he will not even be givin this choice and that the little bit of his soul that is left will simply fall apart, the "soul-energy" going to feed the world, or something. His cognizance will simply cease.
I believe in HBP Dumbledore straight out says that the diary was V's first attempt at a Horcrux, and that it showed how little V cared about his own soul that he would choose such a temporal object. Also, the Diary was, infact, easy to destroy. All it took was stabbing something sharp into it. I'm guessing a match would have worked just as easily. It was the BASALISK which Harry needed Fawke's help with.
If we think of Papermort in the capacitor analogy, it enables us to easily understand how he could have used Ginny's "life-force" or "soul-energy" to replenish himself. A capacitor wants to be full at all times. Basically, you add it to a circuit and it is like a well. The energy stops flowing forward until the well is full, then the well overflows and the energy continues on its curcuit.
It is my belief that a bit of broken soul has a longing to be whole once more. I believe Dementors illustrate this, as I think they are incomplete souls, constantly hungering for what they lack, i.e. human emotion. This is also why they feed on people's souls, to replenish their own lack of soul-energy.
When Ginny made an emotional investment with the Diary, began to "pour her heart out" to Papermort, it created enough of an emotional link that Papermort could siphon off Ginny's life-force to fill its capacitance. Just as a capacitor will leach all the energy from a battery which has no way to replenish itself. (Though that's not quite right, but shhhhh.) This is why Ginny began to die as Papermort became more corporeal. She did not have enough lifeforce to sustain her. It is also the basis for my understanding of how soul's work in the HP universe. If one person's soul can be used to sustain another, without lending its personality to that person, it is not a matter of simply "sharing" a body with another soul, as it is when Voldemort possesses others. Souls can also be fed upon by dementors. Food is no more than a chemical which is broken down and converted to energy to be used by the cells of the body.
As for how "powerful" or difficult to defeat Voldemort will be, I don't think it will make any difference. Magic, I believe, is something which is inherent to a soul, such as the Parseltongue ability, or other magical genitically passed on traits. Once one has the ability, it is their intelligence and strength of will that determines how "powerful" they are or can become. We know that Voldemort has an incredibly strong will, as he was able to possess and dominate others even as Vapormort, a "less than complete" bit of soul, floating around the world. We also know that he is intelligent, as he knows more of magic than anyone, to which even Dumbledore admitted during his attempts at false modesty.
Where the soul grants "power" is in the humanity of the subject. The ability to feel emotion and empathize with others. Harry, who has a complete, untainted soul, along with the protection of his mother's sacrifice and (if he truly is a Horcrux as I believe) a bit of extra soul-energy to draw upon, can easily use the "force" of his emotions to overpower Voldemort's will.
I believe the final confrontation between them will go along the lines of Harry destroying the known Horcruxes and defeating Voldemort. Voldemort will then have only one Horcrux connecting him to the earth, and both Harry and he will be surprised to discover this. V will then follow the "chain" to the "anchor" and try and possess Harry. Harry will then use his emotional power to somehow destroy the remaining shreds of Voldemort's soul, and or trap him long enough to sacrifice himself in order to destroy Voldemort's only remaining link to the earth.
As far as "drifting" goes, this will only happen when Harry finally gets around to destroying Voldemort and his soul is forced to "move on" or become a ghost. As mangled and depleted as V's soul is, It is my guess that he will not even be givin this choice and that the little bit of his soul that is left will simply fall apart, the "soul-energy" going to feed the world, or something. His cognizance will simply cease.
I believe in HBP Dumbledore straight out says that the diary was V's first attempt at a Horcrux, and that it showed how little V cared about his own soul that he would choose such a temporal object. Also, the Diary was, infact, easy to destroy. All it took was stabbing something sharp into it. I'm guessing a match would have worked just as easily. It was the BASALISK which Harry needed Fawke's help with.
If we think of Papermort in the capacitor analogy, it enables us to easily understand how he could have used Ginny's "life-force" or "soul-energy" to replenish himself. A capacitor wants to be full at all times. Basically, you add it to a circuit and it is like a well. The energy stops flowing forward until the well is full, then the well overflows and the energy continues on its curcuit.
It is my belief that a bit of broken soul has a longing to be whole once more. I believe Dementors illustrate this, as I think they are incomplete souls, constantly hungering for what they lack, i.e. human emotion. This is also why they feed on people's souls, to replenish their own lack of soul-energy.
When Ginny made an emotional investment with the Diary, began to "pour her heart out" to Papermort, it created enough of an emotional link that Papermort could siphon off Ginny's life-force to fill its capacitance. Just as a capacitor will leach all the energy from a battery which has no way to replenish itself. (Though that's not quite right, but shhhhh.) This is why Ginny began to die as Papermort became more corporeal. She did not have enough lifeforce to sustain her. It is also the basis for my understanding of how soul's work in the HP universe. If one person's soul can be used to sustain another, without lending its personality to that person, it is not a matter of simply "sharing" a body with another soul, as it is when Voldemort possesses others. Souls can also be fed upon by dementors. Food is no more than a chemical which is broken down and converted to energy to be used by the cells of the body.
As for how "powerful" or difficult to defeat Voldemort will be, I don't think it will make any difference. Magic, I believe, is something which is inherent to a soul, such as the Parseltongue ability, or other magical genitically passed on traits. Once one has the ability, it is their intelligence and strength of will that determines how "powerful" they are or can become. We know that Voldemort has an incredibly strong will, as he was able to possess and dominate others even as Vapormort, a "less than complete" bit of soul, floating around the world. We also know that he is intelligent, as he knows more of magic than anyone, to which even Dumbledore admitted during his attempts at false modesty.
Where the soul grants "power" is in the humanity of the subject. The ability to feel emotion and empathize with others. Harry, who has a complete, untainted soul, along with the protection of his mother's sacrifice and (if he truly is a Horcrux as I believe) a bit of extra soul-energy to draw upon, can easily use the "force" of his emotions to overpower Voldemort's will.
I believe the final confrontation between them will go along the lines of Harry destroying the known Horcruxes and defeating Voldemort. Voldemort will then have only one Horcrux connecting him to the earth, and both Harry and he will be surprised to discover this. V will then follow the "chain" to the "anchor" and try and possess Harry. Harry will then use his emotional power to somehow destroy the remaining shreds of Voldemort's soul, and or trap him long enough to sacrifice himself in order to destroy Voldemort's only remaining link to the earth.
It's been a year and a half since the last post in this thread. Since then we gained a very important piece of information about the soul in the train station. In the FAQ section of her site JKR says this about the "mutilated baby-like creature":
Does this change our understanding of the Harry Potter version of the soul? Voldemort's body and memory seem to function properly despite having only a stub of a soul left, while Harry's and Dumbledore's souls appear completely in tact and whole--just like their normal selves.
What does this mean for Voldemort now? If someone were to come on Voldemort's soul at this point, what would it be like? Does the condition of a person's soul in Harry Potter's world affect the amount of good they can do? Does it change their talents and abilities?
How much do you think the soul in Harry Potter's world has in common with our own souls? Is there a third component to who we are other than nature and nurture? Do we inherit anything from our soul that is not explained by genetics or environment?
The last question posed, is of course simply asking people to offer up some of their own beliefs about the soul. There is no right or wrong answer to the question, I just think it would be interesting if people gave us a glimpse into their own beliefs.
QUOTE(JKR)
It is the last piece of soul Voldemort possesses. When Voldemort attacks Harry, they both fall temporarily unconscious, and both their souls - Harry's undamaged and healthy, Voldemort's stunted and maimed - appear in the limbo where Harry meets [Albus-wan].
Does this change our understanding of the Harry Potter version of the soul? Voldemort's body and memory seem to function properly despite having only a stub of a soul left, while Harry's and Dumbledore's souls appear completely in tact and whole--just like their normal selves.
What does this mean for Voldemort now? If someone were to come on Voldemort's soul at this point, what would it be like? Does the condition of a person's soul in Harry Potter's world affect the amount of good they can do? Does it change their talents and abilities?
How much do you think the soul in Harry Potter's world has in common with our own souls? Is there a third component to who we are other than nature and nurture? Do we inherit anything from our soul that is not explained by genetics or environment?
The last question posed, is of course simply asking people to offer up some of their own beliefs about the soul. There is no right or wrong answer to the question, I just think it would be interesting if people gave us a glimpse into their own beliefs.
Voldemort's soul represents his essence to me: all the bad he did in his life, both to himself and the world. His maimed soul in the train station represented what "was" Voldemort. Not the body he used Dark Magic to create, not the body he was born with, but the essence of the wizard born Tom Riddle that became the atrocity that was Voldemort at his end.
I do not believe the soul of a person is determined by genetics or environment. I do believe a person can be influenced by them, though. Voldemort created the damage to his soul, it was intentional and methodical. Therein lies the direction Voldemort's soul took, and I don't think his growing up in an orphange has any influence. We are shown he liked to torture and torment the other students through Dumbledore's memories of visiting Tom Riddle there. To me this depiction of Voldemort's inherent evil coincides with my own beliefs that a person is good or bad early in life, and their progress goes accordingly. Can people change? Yes, they can, but the desire must come from within themselves to put the change into positive motion.
Harry is good. Harry is inherently good and Tom is inherently bad, this is the direct conflict of good verses evil. They were born on two sides of the fence never to meet in the middle. There is no compromise, as they are opposing forces. They both have a soul, JKR showed us this at the train station. However, those souls are as different as Harry and Tom were in life. Their soul is their essence and choice is what makes them who they are, just as I believe it does in the real world.
I do not believe the soul of a person is determined by genetics or environment. I do believe a person can be influenced by them, though. Voldemort created the damage to his soul, it was intentional and methodical. Therein lies the direction Voldemort's soul took, and I don't think his growing up in an orphange has any influence. We are shown he liked to torture and torment the other students through Dumbledore's memories of visiting Tom Riddle there. To me this depiction of Voldemort's inherent evil coincides with my own beliefs that a person is good or bad early in life, and their progress goes accordingly. Can people change? Yes, they can, but the desire must come from within themselves to put the change into positive motion.
Harry is good. Harry is inherently good and Tom is inherently bad, this is the direct conflict of good verses evil. They were born on two sides of the fence never to meet in the middle. There is no compromise, as they are opposing forces. They both have a soul, JKR showed us this at the train station. However, those souls are as different as Harry and Tom were in life. Their soul is their essence and choice is what makes them who they are, just as I believe it does in the real world.
I believe that the soul is shaped by both environment and the person itself. Genetics is out of question for me: if our soul had a genetic code, we would have found it already and we wouldn't be talking vaguely about it.
Somehow, when a person is born, he/she follows a certain direction. The environment may be a good one but if this person has a tendency towards evil deeds, then they'll lean to it. I don't know who decides these things, or how one's soul is either "white" or "black". What I know is that the soul influences the character one has.
We must realise that it is not only black and white, evil and good, in such cases. There are always cases in between. Narcissa for example. She can't really be called evil, but she is not good either. Dumbledore on the other hand, seems purely good to me, like Hagrid who has the soul of a child. There is a grey zone in between. I believe this is the zone where most of us stand.
We have both good and evil inside of us every single day. But as Dorthy said, it is our choices and actions that define who we are. We define every single day ourselves as good ones. We have to rediscover ourselves every time we have to make a serious decision. The soul is not something given to us a certain way and so it stays. It changes constantly. This is why people who could be described evil, change sometimes and turn into better people.
When it comes to Harry Potter, let me say that Harry is no saint. He has a good soul but somehow I find Hagrid better.
However, when it comes to his relationship with Voldemort, the clearness of his soul was what led him to victory in the end. It is not about good always winning. It is about the strength we have because of the good deeds we do.
One last remark that just slipped my mind. A soul is very vulnerable. Imagine if Voldemort had won (very hypothetical and unlikely). Wouldn't he corrupt everyone's soul day by day? The world of magic would never recover by that.
Somehow, when a person is born, he/she follows a certain direction. The environment may be a good one but if this person has a tendency towards evil deeds, then they'll lean to it. I don't know who decides these things, or how one's soul is either "white" or "black". What I know is that the soul influences the character one has.
We must realise that it is not only black and white, evil and good, in such cases. There are always cases in between. Narcissa for example. She can't really be called evil, but she is not good either. Dumbledore on the other hand, seems purely good to me, like Hagrid who has the soul of a child. There is a grey zone in between. I believe this is the zone where most of us stand.
We have both good and evil inside of us every single day. But as Dorthy said, it is our choices and actions that define who we are. We define every single day ourselves as good ones. We have to rediscover ourselves every time we have to make a serious decision. The soul is not something given to us a certain way and so it stays. It changes constantly. This is why people who could be described evil, change sometimes and turn into better people.
When it comes to Harry Potter, let me say that Harry is no saint. He has a good soul but somehow I find Hagrid better.
However, when it comes to his relationship with Voldemort, the clearness of his soul was what led him to victory in the end. It is not about good always winning. It is about the strength we have because of the good deeds we do.One last remark that just slipped my mind. A soul is very vulnerable. Imagine if Voldemort had won (very hypothetical and unlikely). Wouldn't he corrupt everyone's soul day by day? The world of magic would never recover by that.
I think your soul is who you are. Although this is obvious, that's the only reason why everybody's differnt. According to JKR, your soul can be maimed, split, torn to pieces. No, I don't think that souls have a genetic code either. Since we're talking so vaguely about our souls, it must be more deep than we can comprehend. When I was just a kid and somebody died, my Mom would tell me that their body did nothing, it was just a shape, and that didn't go up to heaven, but your soul, you, went up to heaven. You body wasn't a part of who you were. It was just your soul. Your body just kept you from being a ghost, really!
I'd also say in the magical world souls can be damaged more easily. All souls can be damaged, but especially with Voldemort and horcruxes I think your sould will be more vulnerable in the magical world.
One more thing: I like what you said, Sirren, about your soul being your essence, because that reminded me of what I had read during my reread of CoS. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were putting the hairs in their goblets of Polyjuice Potion, Ron says "Urgh, essence of Crabbe'. And what you said, Sirren, reminded me of that. It reminded me of that color being their soul, in a far, far off way, however. I just like to think in that way, even though obviously that wasn't their actual soul, if Harry and Ron are turning into Crabbe and Goyle, than they need something like Crabbe and Goyle. (A piece of hair!)
I'd also say in the magical world souls can be damaged more easily. All souls can be damaged, but especially with Voldemort and horcruxes I think your sould will be more vulnerable in the magical world.
One more thing: I like what you said, Sirren, about your soul being your essence, because that reminded me of what I had read during my reread of CoS. When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were putting the hairs in their goblets of Polyjuice Potion, Ron says "Urgh, essence of Crabbe'. And what you said, Sirren, reminded me of that. It reminded me of that color being their soul, in a far, far off way, however. I just like to think in that way, even though obviously that wasn't their actual soul, if Harry and Ron are turning into Crabbe and Goyle, than they need something like Crabbe and Goyle. (A piece of hair!)
What is a soul?
I think this is probably one of the most asked questions in history. Well a soul is who we are. We all have that established. But more into depth about it, a soul is what keeps us, us. We can either have a good soul or a bad soul. It doesn't have a shape, it isn't physical & it ceartainly isn't visible to the naked eye. We don't feel it but it's there.
Bookworm_1918 said something that might lead me off topic but it reminded me of it, so it's only right if I put some of my thoughts onto it. When she said about the essence of Crabbe having a color I sort of had the fastest thought ever drop in my head. I started to think that maybe a soul has no color. White is just a color that Harry Potter since we can't see it. But maybe the aura is what substitues as the soul's color.
We are told that the soul is who you are in the spiritual sense. We can never see it but it is possible to know the color of one's aura. It is said that the color of our aura tells alot about us. Again i might be but I think that an aura is the visible state of a soul. As in color and what it might mean. But our soul is who we are, character wise.
Now genetically shaped? No. Like many have mentioned we would have discovered that by now and we all wouldn't still be wondering and asking. I do think that people can mold it and enviornemnt affects it. Then as we grow it comes down to you personally how you want it to be "seen" as. Random though: my dad has always told me that you can 'see' a person's soul reflected on there face. If you look at someone and sense right away good or bad that usually tells a little something about there soul. You usually know for sure when you know that person.
But the whole what is a soul is to general of a thought. We don't have man y confirmed facts about it. Only theories that keep getting proven or disproven. Which is annoying and why not many want to research more on becuase it's a really tiring thought. My grandma likes to consider the soul or spiritual body. It is inside our body when we take that first breath at birth.
I think this is probably one of the most asked questions in history. Well a soul is who we are. We all have that established. But more into depth about it, a soul is what keeps us, us. We can either have a good soul or a bad soul. It doesn't have a shape, it isn't physical & it ceartainly isn't visible to the naked eye. We don't feel it but it's there.
Bookworm_1918 said something that might lead me off topic but it reminded me of it, so it's only right if I put some of my thoughts onto it. When she said about the essence of Crabbe having a color I sort of had the fastest thought ever drop in my head. I started to think that maybe a soul has no color. White is just a color that Harry Potter since we can't see it. But maybe the aura is what substitues as the soul's color.
We are told that the soul is who you are in the spiritual sense. We can never see it but it is possible to know the color of one's aura. It is said that the color of our aura tells alot about us. Again i might be
but I think that an aura is the visible state of a soul. As in color and what it might mean. But our soul is who we are, character wise.Now genetically shaped? No. Like many have mentioned we would have discovered that by now and we all wouldn't still be wondering and asking. I do think that people can mold it and enviornemnt affects it. Then as we grow it comes down to you personally how you want it to be "seen" as. Random though: my dad has always told me that you can 'see' a person's soul reflected on there face. If you look at someone and sense right away good or bad that usually tells a little something about there soul. You usually know for sure when you know that person.
But the whole what is a soul is to general of a thought. We don't have man y confirmed facts about it. Only theories that keep getting proven or disproven. Which is annoying and why not many want to research more on becuase it's a really tiring thought. My grandma likes to consider the soul or spiritual body. It is inside our body when we take that first breath at birth.
Hey. This is a great question. At the same time I think that it could open up a proverbial can of worms. There are too many questions to answer them all now,and figure out my opinion on some of them, so I'll just answer what I think a soul is.
A soul is in my opinion your very essence. I think that your soul holds all of your personality, your true nature, your thoughts, anything and everything that helps define who you are. When I here the word soul, I think of a glowing ball, and its almost like this ball is a ball of energy, but it is not affected by anything around it. When a person's soul is in the body, I think of it as a tiny ball with threads connecting through your entire being. And for some reason, whenever I think about this, it makes me think of somebody holding a blacklight up to a person, and lines of color just trace around and through your body. I also think the pattern in which they do this reflects the soul itself. This is what I think of as a soul. As to when you die, I think that your soul never dies, but it also does not continue to think as if it is taking over your mind's responsibility to think, especially since your mind mostly thinks about matters that require moving with arms and legs. I believe that the soul just wanders, and depending on the soul and, for lack of better term because this might make it confusing, the essence of the soul determine what will happen to it. If the soul just wants to not be there, then it will disintegrate. If it feels a peaceful connection with life, it might merge with the soul of the forest. If it feels as if its life went unfinished, it might stay around as a ghost. But each case requires a different process. The soul when in a body, is alive, when outside of a body, it is neither alive nor dead. In fact it might be possible for a soul to move from one body to the next, merging with the soul that already exists in that body. What if a clash between souls is what creates anger issues or depression. What if one soul taking over the other and then the original takes back over again and again is what creates bi-polar disorder? This is what I personally think about the soul.
A soul is in my opinion your very essence. I think that your soul holds all of your personality, your true nature, your thoughts, anything and everything that helps define who you are. When I here the word soul, I think of a glowing ball, and its almost like this ball is a ball of energy, but it is not affected by anything around it. When a person's soul is in the body, I think of it as a tiny ball with threads connecting through your entire being. And for some reason, whenever I think about this, it makes me think of somebody holding a blacklight up to a person, and lines of color just trace around and through your body. I also think the pattern in which they do this reflects the soul itself. This is what I think of as a soul. As to when you die, I think that your soul never dies, but it also does not continue to think as if it is taking over your mind's responsibility to think, especially since your mind mostly thinks about matters that require moving with arms and legs. I believe that the soul just wanders, and depending on the soul and, for lack of better term because this might make it confusing, the essence of the soul determine what will happen to it. If the soul just wants to not be there, then it will disintegrate. If it feels a peaceful connection with life, it might merge with the soul of the forest. If it feels as if its life went unfinished, it might stay around as a ghost. But each case requires a different process. The soul when in a body, is alive, when outside of a body, it is neither alive nor dead. In fact it might be possible for a soul to move from one body to the next, merging with the soul that already exists in that body. What if a clash between souls is what creates anger issues or depression. What if one soul taking over the other and then the original takes back over again and again is what creates bi-polar disorder? This is what I personally think about the soul.
In the Prisoner of Azkaban Lupin tells Harry that a person who has experienced the Dementors Kiss will keep on living but will have no memory and no sense of self so I think that the soul is the persons experiences and feelings. But not only the experiences and feelings themselves but the ability to have them too.
The Soul a very intrguing question a soul is you in other words who you are it is not your life but the very thing that gines a reason to live. Why without it we'd be empty shells not caring, loving, hating or playing. No laughter, no fun and worst of all who you are, 
What a deep and interesting question , well the soul for me can be defined in many ways but in essentials the soul of a person is not what defines him, i think that the person defines its soul. His actions and decisions all through their lives modify his soul , making a misture of memories, feelings and decisions that can define if we are talking about a noble person, an evil person you know that stuff. But i really dont think taht the soul can think by itself it just limits itself to show a mere image of what the person was or is in life, so when Lord Voldemort splitted up his soul, he didnt create six voldemorts enclosed in an object but six images of him, of his cruelty and vanity that could not think , only show what it had been of him.
Returning to Lord Voldemort, i dont believe that the Diary`s Riddle could think by himself it was just a memory that voldemort had impressed on a diary so that he could assure himself that one day he would lead another person to complete waht he had started when he was at school.
As regarding why some souls return as ghosts and others no , i just think that it is a matter of fulfillness, as Nick says harry when Harry goes to meet him when Sirius dies, some souls choose to come back because i think they still need to do something in the world and they are not ready to go with the others yet. Well all in all it is a really deep question and there are many aspects to discuss but all these comments are really a good start !
Returning to Lord Voldemort, i dont believe that the Diary`s Riddle could think by himself it was just a memory that voldemort had impressed on a diary so that he could assure himself that one day he would lead another person to complete waht he had started when he was at school.
As regarding why some souls return as ghosts and others no , i just think that it is a matter of fulfillness, as Nick says harry when Harry goes to meet him when Sirius dies, some souls choose to come back because i think they still need to do something in the world and they are not ready to go with the others yet. Well all in all it is a really deep question and there are many aspects to discuss but all these comments are really a good start !
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