Many people complain about the plot element of the Horcruxes, referring disparagingly to a video-game-style "collect the plot coupons" story.
I think I see a way to keep the basic idea, but completely eliminate the Horcruxes themselves - except, in the end, for Harry.
What if the Dark Mark were, or at least were built around a seed/core/"keystone" of, a tiny fragment of Voldemort's soul? Taking it farther, what if Horcruxes had to be living things?
The process of making Voldemort susceptible to permanent death would be at once much more straightforward and much harder. (Especially if he arranged to have some Marked followers who were not classed among his agents, but simply lived quietly, serving him only by preventing his death.)
The collect-the-magical-artifacts Horcrux hunt would be entirely optional, or with the latter model, could even be a decoy set up to distract people from what really preserves Voldemort's life.
Nagini-as-Horcrux would seem like considerably less of a stupid idea, especially in the latter model - and even more especially if she were a lot less obviously something more than an ordinary snake.
Harry's connection to Voldemort, and the manifestations derived therefrom, could potentially fit logically within the overall framework - with the differences resulting, at least in part, from the fact that he has a much larger fragment of Voldemort's soul.
And to top it all off, the name "Death Eater" would make a whole lot more sense than usual.
(I came up with this idea while contemplating the practicalities, logistics, and how-would-it-work of the idea of magical wards keyed to allow passage based on the Dark Mark, but it doesn't really have very much to do with that in the end.)
I think I see a way to keep the basic idea, but completely eliminate the Horcruxes themselves - except, in the end, for Harry.
What if the Dark Mark were, or at least were built around a seed/core/"keystone" of, a tiny fragment of Voldemort's soul? Taking it farther, what if Horcruxes had to be living things?
The process of making Voldemort susceptible to permanent death would be at once much more straightforward and much harder. (Especially if he arranged to have some Marked followers who were not classed among his agents, but simply lived quietly, serving him only by preventing his death.)
The collect-the-magical-artifacts Horcrux hunt would be entirely optional, or with the latter model, could even be a decoy set up to distract people from what really preserves Voldemort's life.
Nagini-as-Horcrux would seem like considerably less of a stupid idea, especially in the latter model - and even more especially if she were a lot less obviously something more than an ordinary snake.
Harry's connection to Voldemort, and the manifestations derived therefrom, could potentially fit logically within the overall framework - with the differences resulting, at least in part, from the fact that he has a much larger fragment of Voldemort's soul.
And to top it all off, the name "Death Eater" would make a whole lot more sense than usual.
(I came up with this idea while contemplating the practicalities, logistics, and how-would-it-work of the idea of magical wards keyed to allow passage based on the Dark Mark, but it doesn't really have very much to do with that in the end.)