Harry Potter: What Would Happen to Voldemort If He Fell Through the Veil?

Summary:

• The Veil is a one-way gate into the world of the dead housed in the Ministry of Magic.
• If Lord Voldemort had gone through the Veil, his body would have been destroyed, and his soul stuck in Limbo.
• Voldemort’s Horcruxes would not have been affected, allowing him another chance to be resurrected.

The Ministry of Magic’s Department of Mysteries contained many questionable things, but the Veil proved to be the most enigmatic of them. The Veil claimed Sirius Black’s life in an instant; but what would have happened if Lord Voldemort went through it?

What Do We Know About the Veil?

Just like the Thestrals, the Veil only presents itself to those who have seen death. Both Harry Potter and Luna Lovegood saw it while others, like Hermione Granger, claimed it was but an empty archway. Apart from seeing the Veil itself, Harry and Luna heard voices from beyond — presumably, voices of those who went through it.

Our best guess about the nature of the Veil is that it’s a one-way gate to the world of the dead. When Sirius Black was knocked into the Veil by Bellatrix Lestrange’s spell, he was killed instantly, and his body simply vanished. Later, we saw Sirius answer the Resurrection Stone’s calling, meaning he made it to the world of the dead and didn’t get stuck in Limbo.

At the same time, Harry and Luna heard voices from beyond the Veil. Since we assume it doesn’t lead to Limbo, this confirms our theory that the Veil might be the unique place where the worlds of the living and the dead are closest to each other.

Could Voldemort Enter the World of the Dead?

The only interaction with the Veil we’ve seen was Sirius Black’s, so we’ll use it as a reference. The Veil immediately took Sirius’s life and his soul freely proceeded to whatever place awaits those who die in the Wizarding World, the world of the dead. His physical body was immediately destroyed, but his soul remained intact.

This leads us to believe that Voldemort’s body, too, would be destroyed upon his entering the Veil. But his soul, unlike Sirius’s, was shattered into the tiniest pieces. To figure out what would happen to it, we would need to remember another episode that actually took place in Limbo: Harry’s last talk with the late Albus Dumbledore.

After his final death, what was left of Lord Voldemort was there, in Limbo, and it was admittedly slowly dying — or, at least, stuck in the most pathetic and incapable state. Voldemort could not enter the realm of the dead since instead of a soul, he had — brace yourselves — exactly 0.0078125 of a soul as we calculated back in the day.

So, What If Lord Voldemort Entered the Veil?

This leads us to the final verdict. If Voldemort entered or, more likely, was pushed into the Veil, his physical body would have immediately disintegrated, and the tiny fracture of a soul it hosted would have ended up in Limbo instead of the world of the dead. His final version would have been incapacitated for good in two major ways.

But just like the first time, he would have still had several Horcruxes left. Those pieces of his soul would have remained active, waiting for an opportunity to possess someone (like with Quirrell), suck their life essence out (like with Ginny), or make them perform the resurrection ritual (like with Wormtail).

The most likely Horcrux to succeed was Hufflepuff’s Cup since it was hidden in the Lestrange Vault in Gringotts and Bellatrix knew or, at least, suspected what it was. After her favorite Dark Lord’s resurrection, she would have figured out that she could bring him back again, and it wouldn’t have been long until Voldemort was back.