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I was wondering why Voldemort didn't made Earth his Horcrux to live forever (Sol's last phases can't destroy a Horcrux). Everyone could reach it but wouldn't destroy it for the sake of their own survival.

Was there any rule to dictate that certain objects couldn't be made into a Horcrux?

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    As an aside, if he made the Earth a Horcrux, that would have severe repercussions for everyone living on Earth, much like when Harry, Ron, and Hermione were wearing Slytherin's locket. I don't think Voldemort would care, though.
    – DalekLuna
    Jan 21, 2014 at 20:02
  • For the same reason why someone can't just hit Earth with a disintegration spell to disintegrate the whole thing (someone did propose this). Either spell has a limit on the weight or volume you can affect, for power reasons.
    – b_jonas
    Jan 24, 2014 at 9:30
  • On disintegrating Earth, see giantitp.com/forums/archive/index.php?t-136457.html
    – b_jonas
    Jan 24, 2014 at 9:34
  • As a further aside, maybe an object can only be a Horcrux for one person, and he'd been beaten to it by some ancient wizard who wanted to live forever, but for knowledge rather than power. Unlikely, of course, but plausible if there isn't an upper bound on size of Horcruxes.
    – Darael
    Mar 30, 2014 at 10:21

2 Answers 2

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No answer has been given in canon, but it seems reasonable to assume that the horcrux-creation ritual requires the magic-user to lift the object to be made into a horcrux at some point, putting a natural limit on the size of such things.

It's also entirely possible that, as a horcrux works by binding a piece of a soul into it, the ritual in question places a sort of magic boundary at the edges of the object. Such a boundary would, again, take a lot more power for a larger object.

To clarify: while we can't know for sure unless JKR tells us at some point in the future, the most likely limiting qualities would be volume, surface area, or mass. Furthermore, presumably something has to be an object to be a horcrux: one can't make a small pile of sand into one. Again, unconfirmed, but seems reasonable. It's also likely that there's a minimum size, because otherwise someone would have tried making a grain of sand into their horcrux and dropping it on a beach. There are also limits on what one might want to make a horcrux - while the process gives the object increased resilience it's probably a bad idea to go with something too fragile. Quite possibly there's a limit to what the magic does to toughen the object, or the ritual might damage the thing as part of the process.

Similar constraints may apply, but to reiterate: These suggestions are speculation. There is no answer given in canon.

As a side note, it is not made explicit that the last stages of Sol cannot destroy a horcrux, as there may well be powerful innate magic in the Potterverse's Sun. It seems like the sort of thing that might.

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    I'm not sure about the lifting thing... Do you mean that the magic-user has to be capable of lifting it? If it's the first I don't recall Voldemort ever actually lifting Harry... Jan 21, 2014 at 20:14
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    As I mentioned, these are speculation; I just thought of what practicalities might possibly be involved in the horcrux-creation ritual. Bear in mind that Harry was not a "true" horcrux, though because he contained an accidentally-broken-off fragment of Voldemort's soul he fulfilled a similar function. The creation of a horcrux is canonically normally a complex and difficult ritual even without the murder requirement.
    – Darael
    Jan 21, 2014 at 21:32
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    @DoctorWho22 Further, it was implied that a human being generally can't be made a horcrux, and that Harry only became something like one because Voldemort's soul was so unstable and as a baby he was vulnerable, so I don't think we can take him as representative in any way. His being unlike other horcruxes is also backed up by his not appearing to have the frankly ridiculous levels of resilience attributed to horcruxes in general, nor to be able to repair himself any faster than a human body can ordinarily.
    – Darael
    Jan 23, 2014 at 23:28
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It would seem that size and weight of objects is not limited to something small, this was just the type of object that JKR wanted Harry to find

I did consider making Helga Hufflepuff's hallow a cauldron, but there was something slightly comical and incongruous about having such a large and heavy Horcrux; I wanted the objects Harry had to find to be smaller and more portable.

Pottermore - Cauldrons

I think the real problem here is understanding what could be deemed as a single object. I would not view the earth as a singular item, If encasing your Horcrux in the earth I think it would more likely cling to a small section of ground it deems to be singular.

We don't know how small an object can be (which is more interesting than how big) as you could encase your soul in a grain of sand. From the Pottermore quote I don't interpret it as JK imposing any limits but merely stating she wanted Harry to seek smaller items. So I see no reason why an object could not at least be infinitely large as long as it is a singular object.

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