Lord Voldemort’s Horcruxes

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Tom Marvolo Riddle intended to split his soul into seven pieces because seven is a magically powerful number. There is a difference between each piece of soul and the seven Horcruxes. The seven horcruxes had to be destroyed to defeat Voldemort, but one was unknowingly created by the Dark Lord

What is a Horcrux?

A Horcrux is a powerful object in which a dark witch or wizard has hidden a fragment of his or her soul for the purpose of attaining immortality. Creating one Horcrux gives one the ability to anchor one’s own soul to earth if the body is destroyed; the more Horcruxes one creates, the closer one is to true immortality. Horcruxes are objects infused with dark magic that allow their owners to become immortal by holding a piece of their soul within them. To create a Horcrux, one needs to commit a horrific sin in the wizarding world.

What Are Voldemort’s Horcruxes?

• Tom Riddle’s Diary
• Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring
• Salazar Slytherin’s Locket
• Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup
• Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem
• Nagini the Snake
• The Secret Horcrux — Harry.

What can destroy a Horcrux?

Horcruxes were also extremely durable, and therefore only the most powerful and potent elements and magical spells of the wizarding world could truly destroy them, such as Basilisk venom.

Related Post: Download Harry Potter Ebooks by J.K. Rowling (PDF)

When did Voldemort create each Horcrux? Who killed each one?

The Diary was the first one, created with the death of Myrtle Warren (Moaning Myrtle). He framed Hagrid.

The Gaunt Ring (encasing the second Hallow) was the second, while he was still in school (he is seen wearing it at one of Slughorn’s Slug Club meetings), using the deaths of his father and paternal grandparents. He framed his maternal grandfather Marvolo Gaunt.

The third and fourth were the Hufflepuff Cup and Slytherin locket, done after he left Hogwarts and while he was employed with Borgin and Burkes. He stole them from Hepsibah Smith, after murdering her and framing her house-elf Hokey.

It’s not certain exactly when the diadem was done – it could be just before he came back to Hogwarts to request the DADA post the first time (from Armando Dippet), but it could have been done as early as the summer after he wrangled its exact location from the Grey Lady, while he was still in school. One thing is certain, it was during his second return to Hogwarts, to ask for the DADA post again (from Dumbledore this time), that he stashed it in the Room-Where-Everything-Is-Hidden. He used an Albanian peasant for Horcruxing purposes. There doesn’t appear to have been any need to frame anyone this time, or else the story doesn’t tell.

Nagini was the last Horcrux… He had planned to use Harry’s death, but the Killing Curse rebounded and disembodied him, and he wasn’t even able to use the Potters’ deaths, as he was made powerless by his disembodiment, “less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost” (GoF, The Death Eaters). He had to wait for Wormtail to somehow (process unknown) provide him with the Baby-Voldy interim body, for him to use Frank Bryce’s murder. Before that he was unable to use a wand and to kill anyone directly.

And Nagini was the last intentional Horcrux… The murders of the Potters had produced another split of Voldemort’s soul, the shard of which implanted itself into Harry when Avada Kedavra rebounded – the secret, incomplete, unwiling and unwelcome Horcrux.

As to who destroyed what:

1. Harry destroyed the diary in the Chamber of Secrets with the Basilisk’s fang;
2. Dumbledore destroyed the Gaunt Ring in his office with the Sword of Gryffindor, now that it was steeped in Basilisk venom (a known Horcrux-killer), shortly before Harry’s sixth year – that’s when we see Dumbledore with a ruined, blackened hand for the fist time;
3. The Slytherin Locket was destroyed by Ron, with the Sword of Gryffindor he had recovered in the Forest of Dean, during that year of errantry spent hunting Horcruxes, when they should have been passing their N.E.W.T.s in Hogwarts;
4. The Hufflepuff Cup was destroyed by Hermione in the Chamber of Secrets, where she and Ron had gone to recover some Basilisk fangs, just prior to the Battle of Hogwarts;
5. The Diadem was destroyed by Fiendfyre conjured by Vincent Crabbe in the Room-Where-Everything-Is-Hidden, again just prior to the Battle of Hogwarts, right after the Cup;
6. Neville Longbottom sliced the head off Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor, which he had pulled out of the Sorting Hat Voldemort himself had put on his head to torture him, while exhibiting Harry’s “body” during the Battle of Hogwarts;
7. Just before that, in the Forbidden Forest. Voldemort himself had used Avada Kedavra on Harry, and destroyed the part of himself inside his head instead of Harry.

Why did Voldemort choose Harry as a Horcrux?

Harry’s scar not only fulfilled the part of the prophecy about Voldemort marking him, but that mark inadvertently caused the boy to become one of the seven Horcruxes created to prolong his life.

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