In response to yesterday’s essay, explaining how Harry survived the killing curse through Voldemort carrying his blood and Lily’s protection, staff member Noah examines the magic involved in horcruxes and love protection spells.

In his quibble, "The Horcrux of Love", he argues that both Lily and Voldemort drew on similar elements to enact their magical protection (Lily for Harry, and Voldemort for himself), and in fact the only fundamental differences between their respective spells may be the emotion and substance behind the magic. Noah writes:

What if the magics involved here are only different as far as their significance in the series is concerned, but really do the same thing? As weird as it sounds, I think Lily Potter and Tom Riddle evoked the exact same kind of magic, though one manipulated blood - and the other, soul. If you think about it, the act of sacrificing yourself for another person and thereby preserving life in that person produces the same effect as creating a Horcrux, with your own soul being the necessary sacrificed energy for that process and another soul reaping the immortal benefits of that sacrifice.

It is true that both Harry and Voldemort were provided a reprieve from death, due to the effects of these seemingly distinct types of magic (i.e. love and hate). However, has J.K. Rowling not explicitly told us via Professor Dumbledore that they indeed are different branches of magic: one that harms and the other that heals? Is this instance purely unique to Harry and Voldemort, or is it very easily repeated?

Have a thought or theory about the Harry Potter series that you'd like to explore? Would you like to share it with the fandom? You can submit your quibble to be featured on MuggleNet by sending it in an e-mail to mugglenetessays@gmail.com. But wait - don't forget to read our guidelines for submission over in our Quibbler section before you do, right here.

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Posted by Brandon Smith
01-04-2013at 3:00 PM

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