Fair warning. Today's theory will completely alter the way you watch movies 3 through 7 Part 2 (otherwise known as 8 for any sane human), of
the Harry Potter series. If you want to preserve the memories of those, go binge watch them now because after today, you will never look at the battle between these two wizards the same way again. Your childhoods have been warned. (HEDWIG'S THEME) Hello internet!
Welcome to Film Theory, the show where I was gonna do a episode on Fantastic Beasts but frankly the more I looked into that movie the more I just wanted to go back and talk about some good old-fashioned Harry Potter. You know that feel when you gotta Scamander and you just want a little bit more Longbottom?
You know what I mean? You know what I mean?
YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN! So anyway in combing back through the old Potter lore to piece together the secrets of magical beasts which will eventually become a theory so don't get your Nifflers in a twist. I discovered something that literally changed everything I thought I knew about everyone's favorite boy who lived, and no it's not something that's an obvious part of the story's lore, at least I don't think so. In a weird way,
Harry should be thanking Voldemort, otherwise he would have just been well, Neville. Then again that Neville one surprised me too when I put all the pieces together, but apparently it was old news to a bunch of the Potterheads but hey okay, I'm sorry I'm not the type of person who remembers from memory what the Dursleys were eating for breakfast on the morning that Harry was invited to the Quidditch World Cup! It was grapefruit right?
I think that was grapefruit (It is MATPAT) . That's my answer. Grapefruit.
Let me know in the comments if I'm right. Anyway, theory hinges on an ancient
form of magic, number magic, otherwise known as MATH. (oh no!) Man, can you think about how much more excited everyone would be to have their 5th period class be number magic
instead of math? Math, real talk, you got yourself a branding problem, and heck no wonder Harry & Co. didn't figure this one out themselves since number magic isn't even a
subject that they're taught. (Fun fact: It's called Arithmancy in the wizarding world) But don't you worry because I've got you covered, so hop on those Firebolts 'cause away we go. For this theory we get to go back, way back... to Harry Potter Part 6. Long before Harry pulled the ultimate
fan boy move and named his kid Albus Severus Potter.
*Price is Right Failure Sound* We got this scene, where we see Tom Riddle, otherwise known as Pre-Voldemort, learning about splitting his soul using dark magic: "It's called, as I understand it, a Horcrux." It's the first time that we hear Tom Riddle specifically mentioned Horcruxes, which we know he later uses to divide up his soul into neat little slices of soul pie and shove 'em into pretty much anything he can get his hands on from books to cups to snakes, SNAKES not SNAPES. Though, real talk, how awesome
would it be to have Snapes on a Plane? Get these mo (of course) Snapes off my mother (of course) plane! Samuel L. Jackson must've failed potions. Oh and by the way, this joke in fond memory of Alan Rickman.
You are certainly missed, sir. T^T Now, enough sadness back to the theory, as Slughorn mentions in the scene, Horcrux talk is no laughing matter. "This is very dark stuff, very dark indeed." Tom says probably what we're all thinking: "I didn't fully understand it." Like the cheeky little scamp
that he is, but in all seriousness how does this work because if you really stop to think about it there are some pretty severe implications to this whole Horcrux business that goes unexplored in the books and movies, so before we go there let me remind you of the mechanics of splitting your soul. This one is for all of us who aren't hardcore enough to have yawned their way through the Deathly Hallows Part 1 fifteen times. Let's be honest here for a second, we can all agree right that Ron being gifted and brought back by a Deluminator is a pretty darn goofy moment right? Am I only one who thinks that still? Because seriously the thing just takes light away from things; it doesn't also have a magical teleportation device in it. That's just random. You must be jk, J.K. Anyway a Horcrux is an object that contains or hides part of someone's soul, thus allowing them to survive should someone kill their original body. It's like a bank but instead of money you store souls, just like a real Bank! Have you seen those interest rates lately? Seriously, less than 1 percent?
What are you doing economy? Anyway, in the scene we saw before Slughorn dishes up some really handy exposition by telling us that to create a Horcrux we have to commit a murder, then somehow use the life energy transferred during that murder to split your own soul in half and sort of rip part of it out of your body and cram it into the nearest
object of your choice. Preferably something with a little staying power and not that week old block of cheese in the back your fridge, though, I will admit that thing's been in there for a while and at this point I ain't touchin' it, so perhaps that cheese is the safest vessel for that soul. Anyway, based on info from the
books and the movies, the The actual mechanics of soul cutting and soul transferring are a bit hazy,
but it's not like we're writing an eHow page on
the subject. We get the general point that when you create a Horcrux you're splitting your soul in half between your body and an object and that tells us everything we need for today's theory, so Tom Riddle and (Professor) Slughorn talk about splitting the soul into seven pieces but we all assumed that it's seven equal pieces. It is most definitely not. Every time Voldemort splits his soul in half, he only leaves half of his remaining soul in his own body; then, the next time he creates a Horcrux, it splits in half again. Over and over. So what does that mean?
Well, let's walk through some history that must not be named to see how it all plays out. He starts in 1943 with one whole soul. This conversation with Slughorn happens after the school year starts in 1943 when Tom is 16 years old. In The Chamber of Secrets, we learned that Tom Riddle puts his 16-year old soul into his diary. Thus creating the first Horcrux. To create this Horcrux, he kills Moaning Myrtle which we also confirm when he describes her killer as a boy speaking
a strange language. "But they said something funny, a kind
of made up language." (A Tom Riddle speaking Parseltongue) With one Horcrux made, he who must need a rhinoplasty is down to 50 percent of a soul, with the other 50 percent locked into the diary. At this point we know then that The Diary is the Horcrux that contains the largest percentage of Voldemort. After that, the creation of each Horcrux is supposedly tied to a major murder committed by Tom, at least according to J.K. Rowling in a rule that we'll see her break in just under 45 seconds. Now when Tom kills his father, Tom Riddle Senior, he creates the Marvolo Gaunt
Ring Horcrux which we see on his finger in the scene with Slughorn. This is around the time of him creating the diary also when he's either 16 or 17, and since we're taking half the soul Voldemort has remaining this means that the Gaunt Ring has 25 percent Tom and Tom himself is down to 25 percent, and with his prospects rapidly falling. Next, he kills Hepzibah. Hepzibah. I don't know how to say your name Hepzibah but I'm gonna say it that way
cause it's fun to say. Next he kills Hepzibah Smith in 1945 followed by a random muggle like I said, J.K. breaking your own rule. Anyway, two characters aren't really in the movies but were confirmed in a web interview with JK Rowling's in 2007. Tom bumps them both off and splits his soul into the Hufflepuff Cup that we see in Goblet of Fire and the Slytherin Locket that shows up at the Sirius Black Estate, so these Horcruxes have 12.5 percent soul and 6.25 percent soul with Tom himself being down to 6.25 percent. If you think about what that means that's actually not surprising that as he rises to power you see him start to physically change in response to his soul being drained. If you could lose over ninety-five percent of your soul and only really be missing some skin pigment, your hair, and your nose, that's not such a bad trade-off for immortality all things considered. I'm just saying. Anyway, the next Horcrux is in 1956, The Ravenclaw Diadem. (The subber is a Ravenclaw) We know Voldemort. (Ravenclaw squad where you at?) shows back up at Hogwarts at this point to ask Dumbledore to become the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher which Dumbledore turns him down for. After that, Voldermort, get this, curses the position and everyone who holds it from then on, hence the reason why every year there's a new teacher in the position. I honestly didn't know this until reading up on all the lore bits on the Pottermore site. Isn't that insane? Voldermort is like
the sorest loser ever, and it's worth mentioning that this is probably Voldermort's most effective spell of the entire series. Anyway, JK Rowling has also confirmed in several interviews that Voldemort cursed the position and the curse wasn't broken until he died, and since he was in the neighborhood anyway, he hid the Diadem Horcrux in the Room of Requirement, which despite what he says about it in the book, was ridiculously easy to find. Here's a bright idea.
Let me hide this item in a room that, if someone is required to kill me, will make sure it shows up right in time for that person, what an excellent hiding spot! Then again I suppose he required that the room needed to be hidden so he wouldn't die so really we just have the Room of Requirement playing favorites now. I see, of course, you too are choosing Team Harry. Anyway, short story even shorter if Malfoy hadn't shown up, the whole thing would have taken like three minutes, but I digress. What's important here that by age 30 Voldemort's soul is down to 3.125 percent of his original soul, and despite talking about this grand plan to split soul into seven pieces; he must absolutely suck at counting because he actually quits at six. Five items and his original soul. Way to do a job only 857 hundredths of the way, Voldie, because yeah at that point Voldemort takes a little siesta for about 30 years. I don't know, maybe he's afraid of more appendages falling off, so there's no other Horcrux creation until 1981. That's the moment when Voldemort attacks Harry Potter, and that's not even intentional Horcrux creation. I don't think this guy was ever gonna get to seven. By the way, just as a side note anyone else realize that Voldemort is 54 when he attacks Harry? I always just assumed that he was in
like his thirties, and that is still decades before the book. He is literally 70 when we see him returning to power. That is crazy. People give the guy a hard time for looking as rough as he does? Pfff. Come on. If I'm looking like that when I'm 70 then I must've had some plastic surgery done because he's really missing key features of his face. Also worth mentioning, in real life Harry Potter would be almost 40.
Ugghhhh makes me feel sad and old. Regardless, we all know the story, when Harry Potter and Voldemort meet, Voldemort's spell rebounds and he inadvertently splits his soul again making Harry the unintentional Horcrux. Now, there's some debate about the actual Horcruxiness of Harry, but in a web interview with J.K. Rowling on the Leaky Cauldron site, she directly confirms that Harry Potter is indeed the last unintentional Horcrux, so for this episode I'm with her. The important part here that when the attack happens Voldemort's soul splits again. His body basically vaporizes and turns that remaining 1.5625 percent of soul into some kind of weird wafting spirit that later attaches to the back of Professor Quirrell's head like some sort of face leech. This also means that we've pinpointed exactly how much Voldermort is in Harry. Just over 1.5 percent.
Maybe that's what Harry's scar really is, just a little soul schmutz on his forehead, ya got a little something, just uhh lick your thumb and a li'l something right there that uhh... Let me just ... since you don't have a mother I have to do it for you. OOOHH that hurts.
So what does all this tell us when the Harry Potter series starts? Well, first that the whole Potter series is predicated on a 1.5 percent soul blob, which does seem to take a little bit away from the gravitas of this series. It also tells us that when Harry's destroying Horcruxes, some of them matter a whole lot more than others. The very first one that Harry destroys is actually the biggest deal because it contains literally half of Voldermort. Half. Fifty percent. More than any other Horcrux, and way more than Voldemort himself at the end of the series, so in reality, by the end of book 2, Voldermort is mathematically, mostly dead. From there, the Horcruxes go on to be destroyed in pretty much the same order that they were created, effectively knocking out 96.875 percent of Voldemort's soul before the final movie even begins. Alright, but I hear you remembering your Harry Potter movie trivia and ya'll see what I'm leaving out here. It's not the elephant in the room; it's the SNAKE. Any true Potterite knows that Nagini is also a Horcrux in the series, but one that I haven't mentioned yet at all. Well here's why. Nagini was created in 1994, 13 years after his run-in with Harry Potter. During Harry's fourth year, Nagini becomes Voldermort's last attempt to split his soul into even more tiny little soul crumbs, but what this means for this series is the really fascinating part because at this point with the creation of the final Horcrux, Voldemort's soul splits one final time leaving him with only 0.78 percent; less than 1 percent of his original soul, meaning that Nagini has the other 0.78 percent. With so little so left, it's no wonder that Voldy can't effectively use the Elder Wand at the end of the series. Yeah, yeah, I know that the actual explanation given in the movies is about disarming the Elder Wand from other Wizards, but that is a whole 'nother episode unto itself my friends, but what's even more shocking about this reveal is that it means that Harry Potter himself, starting in the fourth movie and through to the end of series is more
Voldemort than Voldermort. In fact, he's literally twice the Voldemort Voldermort is! From the fourth movie onward, Tommy Riddle is at 0.78 percent soul. Harry, from his birth is rocking out at 1.5 percent Voldemort, and when you stop to think about it that way the last battles of this series are really anticlimactic. They are literally battling over a villain with a health bar of less than 1 percent. In this epic battle for Hogwarts, the grand evil wizard is just a fraction of a fraction of a fraction, so there you have it. Definitive mathematical proof supported by the author and the lore that Harry Potter is more Voldermort than the actual Voldermort in the Harry Potter series. Makes you look at him a bit differently, huh? Every time ya see Harry on screen you're literally looking at the largest percent of Dark Lord walking around in the whole series. Oh yea, and if you want one final thing that will completely ruin the way that you look at Harry Potter from here on out, Daniel Radcliffe starred in the broadway production of Equus in which he rides horses around naked, so on have fun Google image searching that one. Put away your wand Harry!
Put it away! but Hey, that's just a theory... a Film Theory! and cut!... Accio subscribe button and remember it's called subscribE button and not subscriBE the so please perform the magic of your own and click that subscribe button like I mentioned with Fantastic Beasts being a new series you can bet theories are on their way about that one and if subscribing ain't your thing, well then do me a favor click on your favorite character,
Harry, Ron, or Hermione, Consider this the SUPER AMAZING END CARD TOURNAMENT. Choose whichever one, I'm just curious which one is your favorite. Hermione, definitely mine. I mean she's got a great brain on her just sayin' so please click subscribe if you haven't, make sure he cast your vote on your favorite character, and now if you'll excuse me I have a new theory to work on, I'll see you next week with something that's a bit more sinister and blonde.
Seriously, Google is your friend, use it!
This theory is years old, literally google it... 2 year old reddit discussion
Also, Number Magic is offered at Hogwarts, it's called Arithmancy, there are only a handful of subjects in the books.
After this and the whole "WHOA, NEVILLE COULD BE THE CHOSEN ONE, GUYS" thing, I'm starting to doubt if any effort goes into these.
I love MatPat but his Harry Potter Film Theories just make me wanna... UGH. REEEEEEEEEE. Did you read the books Mat??
He uses a lot of references from interviews from JKR when nearly all of it is said in the book (curse of the DADA professors, the Chosen One, etc). He misinterprets things from the books and JKR interviews (splitting soul =/= splitting it in half, horcruxes doesn't have to be a major murder, Arithmancy is a thing, etc).
Maybe I'm just a super nitpicky and salty HP fan, but MatPat needs to just stop doing HP film theories. Or do more research/let someone else write the script.
I love your content but dude so many things wrong, or wrongly assumed
"Number Magic" Arithmancy. You're thinking of Arithmancy. That's already a thing
And It never said the souls split in Half, Just that it splits.
Hufflepuff's Cup isn't ever seen in Book 4. The first time we hear of it is Book 6.
I'm pretty sure this was not an unknown theory in the HP fandom.
Also, when he said that J.K. confirmed that each part is 1/2 of the soul in an interview, a source would have been nice. :/
Can't remember much about the different items, only that the Diary was really freaking good at keeping information about Riddle, like his whole past and even a ghost thing. So it always made sense that it had the most "soul" with everything else being far more defenseless.
I think that my biggest problem with this episode is the immense amount of padding in the form of non-sequiturs and tangent; this video would've been significantly shorter without them. But I'm also displeased with the thumbnail and title, since it's not only click-baity, but also misleading; the title and thumbnail make it look like it's gonna talk about Harry being evil, but instead it's just relegated to the end of the video in a small quip about how Voldemort ends up with less of his soul than Harry's. The video in general also feels pretty pointless, since a lot of it is just a bunch a summarizing of parts of the series, citings, and dividing down 100 seven times in a calculator.
I really appreciate how J.K. Rowling can continue to add lore even after the books are done.
I know this might not be that relevant, but i need to know what song starts at 11:45, and end at around 12:32.
Thanks :)
I don't think anywhere in the books it's mentioned that the soul is equally divided. For all we know Voldemort could just choose the amount of soul to put in, or he might only need to leave behind some infinitesimal trace of his soul to anchor himself into the living world.
Apperently a Voldermort is a spiritual master wizard expert lol