I love the Harry Potter books and movies, and I love all kinds of Folklore and Fantasy as well.
I thought the Potter book's concept of Horcruxes sounded familiar but I couldn't pin it down. The idea of putting a part of oneself magically outside the body to guarantee immortality seemed like maybe something out of Eastern Folklore.
There is a great podcast called Myths and Legends that I recently came across, and there is an Episode about a character from Slavic Folklore named Koschei the Deathless
Koschei the Deathless is an Evil Wizard who has placed his soul (or death) in a needle, which is in an egg, which is in a Duck, which is in a Hare, which is kept in an an iron box a long way away from his castle. SO long as this is safe, he cannot die, and he recovers from all manner of gruesome death. This is an awful lot like the concept of a Horcrux. Even the descriptions of Koschei remind me of Voldemort. Koschei is described as tall and nearly skeletal.
So does anyone know if the inspiration for Voldemort and the Horcruxes came from this bit of Slavic Folklore? Or did JKR get the idea from somewhere else?
