The Question of Horcruxes

Speculation and horror abound in this posting as we delve into the process of how to make a Horcrux. While it's been hinted at in the books, we never get the sense of how it is done, and the precise method, so we will be extrapolating from the books to form a reasonable head cannon that could fit, and hopefully match with whatever is posted on Pottermore.


As a review, the following things are known about horcruxes:

1. One must tear one's soul (it appears murder is the only sufficient act to do so)
2. One must take out part of one's soul and seal it into an object. 
3. Horcruxes house the soul till destroyed, and it is possible to revive one's self so long as a horcrux exists
4. Horcruxes themselves can "manifest" a rudimentary "body" 
5. Horcruxes can influence those nearby
6. An individual can make as many horcruxes as they desire, though this can cause the soul to become unstable.
7. Living creatures can become horcruxes. 
8. The "prime" or original soul fragment can persist without being hosted/cannot be destroyed so long as a horcrux exists. 

With that, it's time for speculation, and initially the first question should be "is there any way other than murder to tear apart one's soul?" This is something I'm not quite certain about, because the essence of dark magic seems to be intent. Murder is something that anyone can do, but horcruxes seem to be particularly corrupt in their nature, and seem to imply some special condition to the murder. If I had to guess, I'd say murder with satisfaction and the intent to create a horcrux with it. This seems to fit considering Harry being turned into a horcrux, as he intended to make his LAST horcrux with the death of Harry. He intended to tear his soul apart in this murder and due to the precarious nature of his soul, the first murder ended up being sufficient to plant in a part of his soul. 

A lot of this seems like a "duh" bit of a requirement and explanation, but let's look at items 4, 5, and 7. These are peculiar and make horcruxes more impressive as dark magic. As Tom was able to form himself from the diary by sucking life out of Ginny, I would like to say that the body that Tom had wasn't so much a real human body as it was something being conjured as a sort of "meat puppet" where the diary would be the real body. Looking at 5 and 7 after, we see that this is possibly how Horcruxes were originally designed. We can assume that the wizard thought that if they died, they died and lived on through the object. That object would then create a body, or take over a body, so that the dark wizard could persist. So there would in effect be a different "voldemort" per horcrux. However, the fact was that the original soul fragment remains protected. This means that there's extra protection, as the "prime" can act to do as Voldemort did and gain a body through other means. 

So let's look at 8. This is what is perhaps the most peculiar, as it makes the least amount of sense, especially in voldemort's case. So take into account: Quirrel touches Harry, Quirrel dies. At that time, Quirrel was acting as a shell for Voldemort (not horcrux as there was no murder to cause it). When Quirrel dies, shouldn't voldemort have died as well? Well, if Quirrel wasn't we can say he left his body shortly before destruction, and if he was a horcrux, it becomes complex, though one can say that he simply was preserved as no others had been destroyed yet. 

Finally... it looks like all of horcruxes has been discussed but I'd like to address two final points:

1. Horcruxes can only be undone via regret. It is rather difficult to make a soul whole once it has been separated. Without some immense effort, the soul cannot be mended. This forces the soul to remain in a limbo area. 
2. Horcruxes seem to corrupt physical appearances, this ties into how injuries from dark magic do not heal. It is purposefully causing and taking advantage of damage to one's self, which distances the user from humanity. 

Please, if you like this share it with your friends, and leave your comments below! What do you think about Horcruxes? What's your head cannon?