. . "Because how a horcrux works is not that piece of soul residing in the body dies, but that it tethers them to life. Voldemort because just his soul when the curse rebounded, he said it himself he was less than a ghost. The killing curse didn't kill him because he couldn't be killed while the horcruxes existed. Only after they were destroyed could he have been destroyed."@en . . "Why did voldemort not go to a horcrux after he first tried to kill harry and failed? the killing curse that rebounded should have killed that one off and sent him to a different portion of his soul"@en . "Because how a horcrux works is not that piece of soul residing in the body dies, but that it tethers them to life. Voldemort because just his soul when the curse rebounded, he said it himself he was less than a ghost. The killing curse didn't kill him because he couldn't be killed while the horcruxes existed. Only after they were destroyed could he have been destroyed."@en .