“Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction —” — Magick Moste Evile.
Did you just watch the Harry Potter movies on a long flight for probably the third time but are still confused about the how-about of Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes?
Let me tell you that you are not alone. Every Harry Potter enthusiast knows very well how and when Lord Voldemort created the Horcruxes, but they might be thrown off balance when asked about their destruction. But don’t worry as I will be taking you through all-things-Horcruxes in this article.
To simply put it, a Horcrux is an object, living or dead, in which a Dark Wizard or Witch had hidden a fragment of their soul to become immortal. Created through dark magic, Horcruxes conceal in themselves parts of the creator’s split-up soul.
When a Wizard splits up his soul and hides parts of it in objects outside the body, he cannot die even if his body is attacked or destroyed because parts of his soul remain intact and earthbound in the Horcruxes. This way, he becomes immortal till parts of his soul live in the Horcruxes.
Horcruxes were among the many intriguing things in Harry Potter, which justifies the confusion around them. This section will explore various aspects of the Horcruxes in Harry Potter to answer all your potential questions.
Who Created The Horcruxes In Harry Potter?
Herpo the Foul is considered to be the first in history to create a Horcrux successfully. He created only one Horcrux but being obsessed with immortality Lord Voldemort was the first Wizard to split his soul multiple times and create several Horcruxes.
The Creation Of Horcruxes By Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort learned of Horcruxes through books in the Restricted Section, especially Secrets of the Darkest Art as a student at Hogwarts in the 1940s named Tom Riddle. He created Horcruxes after seeking further information from the Potions Master Horace Slughorn about how to create more than one Horcrux, of which no book would have any record.
When Tom Riddle asks Slughorn about how to create a Horcrux, he says-
“..By an act of evil — the supreme act of evil. By committing murder. Killing rips the soul apart.”
To split their soul, a Wizard must deliberately commit the supreme act of evil— murder —which would result in the Wizard metaphysically damaging his own soul. The Wizard would then use this damage to his advantage and enclose a part of their soul into the desired object with a spell. If the Wizard was later killed, he would continue to exist in a non-corporeal form.
As a fragment of the soul, a Horcrux would always retain the identity of the creator at the time of its creation. For instance, Tom Riddle’s diary portrayed Tom Riddle as a teenager while the eyes inside Salazar Slytherin’s locket resembled Voldemort’s eyes as they were black.
Are There Seven Or Eight Horcruxes?
In the Half-Blood Prince, Harry finds out that Tom Riddle intended to create 7 Horcruxes but, it is later revealed that he accidentally made another Horcrux, making the number 8. It could be confusing to many a Potterheads, but this section must vanish all your doubts regarding the same.
In Harry Potter, the number 7 is a powerful number for Voldemort. Voldemort wanted to split his soul into seven parts. So he created six Horcruxes- ring, cup, locket, diadem, diary, and Nagini. The seventh bit of his soul was stored in his own body, making it the seventh Horcrux.
Voldemort had already “pushed his soul to the limit” in creating his seven Horcruxes, and his soul became so incredibly fragile that it ripped apart when the Killing Curse rebounded upon him. This newly torn piece of his soul latched on to the only living being in the vicinity-Harry. So Harry was an unintentional pseudo-Horcrux, making him the 8th Horcrux.
Was Professor Quirrel A Horcrux?
No, Professor Quirrel should not be considered as a Horcrux. His body was just temporarily possessed by Voldemort when he needed an outlet for physical presence.
It is believed that Quirrel was a temporary Horcrux, but he cannot be considered as a Horcrux because when Voldemort took over his body, he did not kill anybody (unlike during the creation of a Horcrux). Also, Horcruxes are difficult to destroy, but Harry kills Quirrel by a mere physical touch. It proves the fact that Quirrel was not a Horcrux.
Was Harry Potter a Horcrux?
Yes, Harry Potter was the sixth Horcrux. He was accidentally made a Horcrux in 1981. When Voldemort murdered Harry’s parents, his soul was so unstable that it broke off and latched on to the infant Harry. However, the Dark Lord was not aware of the fact that a piece of his soul was in Harry, i.e. Harry was a Horcrux. His soul was so fragmented and broken that he seemed disconnected from them to the point that he didn’t realize that several pieces had been destroyed.
When And How Did Lord Voldemort Create Each Horcrux?
Here are the details of all the seven Horcruxes created by Lord Voldemort (apart from the one in his body of course)-:
Here is the List of Horcruxes
- The Diary was the first Horcrux created by Voldemort in June 1943 with the death of Myrtle Warren (Moaning Myrtle).
- The Gaunt Ring (encasing the second Hallow) was the second. Voldemort created it in 1943 using the deaths of his father.
- The third and fourth were Slytherin’s Locket and Hufflepuff’s Cup, created around the same time (between 1943 and 1970s) using the deaths of a Muggle Tramp and Hepzibah Smith respectively.
- The Ravenclaw’s Diadem was the fifth Horcrux created with the death of an Albanian peasant. The exact time of creation is unknown but it took place sometime after Tom Riddle finished school and before he went to Professor Dumbledore to apply for the Defense position a second time.
- Harry Potter was the sixth Horcrux created (accidentally) in 1981 with the murder of Harry’s parents and attempted killing of the infant Harry. He was an accidental Horcrux as, at the time of the killing of James and Lily Potter, Voldemort’s soul was so unstable that it broke off and latched on to baby Harry.
- Nagini was the seventh Horcrux created in 1994 with the death of Bertha Jorkins though Professor Dumbledore speculated that it was the death of Muggle caretaker Frank Bryce.
In a conversation about how Lord Voldemort could be killed, Albus Dumbledore tells Harry- “without his Horcruxes, Voldemort will be a mortal man with a maimed and diminished soul.” So before any attempt to kill Voldemort, all his Horcruxes had to be destroyed.
To destroy the Horcrux, the object encasing the soul fragment had to be damaged to the point beyond any physical or magical repair. When a Horcrux was damaged to that point, it may appear to “bleed” (ink in the case of Tom Riddle’s diary and a “dark blood-like substance” in the case of Ravenclaw’s Diadem), and a scream may be heard as the soul fragment perished.
The Destruction Of Each Horcrux In Harry Potter- When, How, And By Whom?
Here are all the details that you need about the destruction of each Horcrux of Lord Voldemort-:
- Tom Riddle’s Diary- Harry Potter destroyed the first made Horcrux with a Basilisk Fang. It was destroyed in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
- Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring- Albus Dumbledore destroyed the ring with the sword of Godric Gryffindor in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Salazar Slytherin’s Locket- It is destroyed by Ron Weasley with Gryffindor’s sword in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.
- Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup- Hermione Granger destroyed the cup with a Basilisk Fang in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
- Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem: Harry stabs the diadem with a Basilisk Fang and Ron Weasley kicks it into Gregory Goyle’s Fiendfyre spell. It was destroyed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
- Harry Potter- Harry was destroyed as a Horcrux by Voldemort using the Killing Curse (Avada Kedavra) in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2. Harry, however, came back to life as a Horcrux no more.
- Nagini- Neville Longbottom destroyed Nagini using Godric Gryffindor’s Sword in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2.
I hope this article solved some of your Potter problems!
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