“A Horcrux is a powerful object in which a Dark wizard or witch has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. Creating one Horcrux gave one the ability to anchor one’s own soul to earth if the body was destroyed. The more Horcruxes one created, the closer one was to true immortality. Creating multiple Horcruxes was suggested to be costly to the creator, by both diminishing their humanity and even physically disfiguring them.”
“. . .hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality.”
Tolstoy’s War and Peace. Vergil’s Aeneid. J.R.R. Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings. Robert Caro’s Years of Lyndon Johnson series. James Cameron’s Avatar.
The list is long.
The reason great art resonates so deeply is that it’s creator put their heart and soul into it. They gave a piece of themselves to the work. That is why they endure. That is why they affect us so.
“. . .the ability to anchor one’s own soul to the earth if the body was destroyed.”
Some of these people are dead. Physically at least. But through their art, they persist. They live on.
Perhaps that what J.K. Rowling intended as she worked on the Harry Potter series. The creation of her own Horcrux. The creation of something that would continue to live on long after she dies.
Perhaps, like Voldemort, she split her soul into seven pieces. Perhaps she, and a few other great artists, attained what Voldemort could not.
Immortality.
Not through the maiming of her soul, but through the power of her art.
Swell & Cut 