The Great Harry Potter as Horcrux Debate

With the seventh and final Harry Potter book coming out in July, fans just can't seem to get enough of the speculation and spoilers that surrounds The Deathly Hollows. Harry Potter message boards are filled with fans claiming to have read leaked copies of the book (claims that hold as much validity as Geraldo's claims regarding Al Capone's vault), while other fans boast they that are certain they've figured out the ending based on clues that J.K. Rowling, the woman behind the boy wizard, has left in previous volumes.

Perhaps one of the most talked about speculations is one regarding Harry Potter and the Horcruxes of Voldemort. For those who don't remember or simply don't know, a Horcrux is an object, animate or inanimate, in which a dark wizard can store a part of his soul once he has successfully split it into "pieces." According to Dumbledore, Voldemort, the series villain and the wizard responsible for the deaths of Harry's parents, had successfully split his soul into several Horcruxes before attempting to kill Harry. As of book six, Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince, only two Horcruxes had been found with a supposed four remaining.

The two Horcruxes previously found have already been destroyed. One being Tom Riddle's diary which was destroyed in Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets and the other destroyed by Dumbledore in book 6, an act which left Dumbledore's hand blackened and useless. In the last book, Dumbledore surmised that there were four remaining Horcurxes and each would represent one significant event in Voldemort's life. The question that keeps being brought forth is this one: Could Harry be one of the remaining Horcruxes? Meaning that part of Voldemort's soul lie within him and that the only way Voldemort could be destroyed would be by Harry destroying himself. This theory has become a favorite of fans hoping for a valiant sacrificial death on the part of Harry and has been questioned by journalists and readers alike.

The theory seems farfetched and riddled with problems. The biggest question of all being: How would Voldemort have placed part of his soul into Harry? As far as we know, Voldemort's only real face time with Harry was right before his attempt to kill him. Would this have been when Voldemort would have made Harry into his own personal Horcrux? If so, then why would he quickly turn around and try to kill him?

The biggest argument for the Harry as Horcrux theory seems to be that, when Voldemort's Avada Kedavra curse failed on Harry, it not only backfired on Voldemort, rendering him weak and almost useless, but also accidentally turned Harry into a Horcrux. Thus, Voldemort would have never known that he made Harry into one.

This, of course, hinges on the fact that Voldemort, nor any other dark wizard, has been shown creating a Horcrux within any of the previous books. In the world that Rowling has created, would such a complex act as splitting one's soul and placing it into another object or being be made so flimsy that it could just "happen?" Creating a Horcrux and splitting one's soul is, as described by Dumbledore, advanced magic only attempted by the most astute wizards. Are fans going to buy that Voldemort "accidentally" put a piece of his soul into Harry?

Fans of this theory also cite that, when Harry was to be brought to Voldemort in Book Six, the Death Eaters were under strict instructions not to kill him. However, in The Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort seems to relish the day he will be able to finally, properly enact the Avada Kedavra curse upon Harry and correct his mistake.

The Harry as Horcrux theory is one of the most debated theories currently within the Harry Potter fandom. With Rowling's clues that The Deathly Hollows will most likely resemble an apocalyptic bloodbath with characters dying right and left, it seems a great possibility that Harry will also perish, a thought that has some fans biting their nails as the release date arrives. Rumors of hotlines opening the day of the release to counsel distraught Potter fans have only fanned the flames. Which might just be the very purpose of such a hotline being announced at this time.

No doubt, some characters dear to the hearts of Potter fans will be checking out in the last volume of the saga. Whether or not Harry will and, if so, because he is, indeed, holding within him a part of Voldemort's soul, will remain the topic of heated debates until the book's release on July 21st.