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A Horcrux is a magical objects in the fictional Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling.

The first example of such an object was introduced in the second novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, although the concept of the Horcrux was only explained in the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Horcruxes are expected to play a large part in the last book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Template:Spoiler

Description

A Horcrux is defined by Rowling as a "receptacle in which a Dark wizard has hidden a fragment of his soul for the purposes of attaining immortality." With part of a wizard's soul thus stored, the wizard becomes immortal so long as the Horcrux remains intact, typically hidden away in a safe location. If the wizard's body is destroyed, part of the soul remains preserved within the Horcrux. However, the destruction of the Horcrux creator's body leaves the wizard in a state of half-life, "lesser than the meanest ghost.". Lord Voldemort was left in this state when his attempted use of a Killing Curse on the infant Harry Potter backfired upon himself. The magic involved in the creation of a horcrux is considered one of the worst of the Dark Arts.

A Horcrux can be made from any normal object: Lord Voldemort used a diary, a ring, and other objects as Horcruxes. Horcruxes may be concealed for security, but if discovered are vulnerable to destruction, as seen with Tom Riddle's diary and Marvolo Gaunt's ring. Destruction of the Horcrux destroys the fragment of soul contained within it, ending the protection it provides, and rendering the creator mortal if he or she has no remaining Horcruxes. A wizard must have at least one piece of his soul intact on Earth in order to continue living. Thus, if all of the Horcruxes created by one wizard were destroyed, then there would be no way for them to return after being killed, as their death would release the last piece of their soul from mortal existence.

Although Albus Dumbledore confirmed that others have created a Horcrux before, Lord Voldemort is the only wizard explicitly mentioned as having created a Horcrux, and is the only wizard known to have created more than one, thus going "further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality."

Creation

Creating a Horcrux requires an act of violence and supreme wrong: the murder of an individual, which is "the supreme act of evil", that "rips the soul apart". The soul of the creator is split, and a spell is cast to infuse one portion of the soul into the intended object, which becomes a Horcrux. Professor Horace Slughorn tells a young Tom Riddle, "the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole... splitting it is an act against nature". It is implied that Voldemort became less human with each Horcrux he created, even before the concept was clearly defined; Rubeus Hagrid commented in the first book that rumours of Voldemort's death were "codswallop" because there wasn't "enough human left in him to die".

There is no apparent limitation on the nature of items that can be made into a Horcrux - even living creatures may be used. Lord Voldemort, because of his own arrogance and megalomania, chose objects of significant sentimental or historical value, or as Albus Dumbledore put it, objects "worthy of the honour".

Horcruxes within the Harry Potter novels

File:Riddle's Diary.jpg
Tom Riddle's diary: one of the known (albeit destroyed) Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort, as seen in the film version of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

Lord Voldemort's creation of Horcruxes is central to the later storyline of the Harry Potter novels.

In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore states that he believes it is likely that Voldemort created six Horcruxes from six important murders, and kept the remaining portion of his soul within his body, thus keeping his soul in seven separate locations. Voldemort chose to do so as seven is a powerful, mystical number (see Bridget Wenlock). Thus, anyone wishing to completely kill Voldemort must first locate and destroy all of his Horcruxes, before attempting to eliminate the remainder of his soul that resides in his body.

Dumbledore believed that all of Voldemort's Horcruxes are objects that have had some importance or sentimental value to him. Since he can only create a Horcrux through a deliberate act of murder, knowing the setting and circumstances of Voldemort's murderous acts can yield clues to the possible location and form of his Horcruxes.

Known Horcruxes

There were two confirmed Horcruxes that were recovered in the first six books of the series, and whose soul fragments were subsequently destroyed:

  • Tom Riddle's diary, previously in Lucius Malfoy's custody, along with other possessions of Riddle's. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Lucius secretly slipped the diary into Ginny Weasley's Transfiguration textbook while she was shopping for school supplies at the Flourish & Blotts bookstore. She unwittingly took the diary back to Hogwarts, fell under the influence of Riddle's "memories", reopened the Chamber of Secrets, and released the Basilisk. For a short time, Harry came into possession of the Riddle diary, and thus began a dialogue with Riddle's "memories". Ginny was captured and taken to the Chamber of Secrets, and while attempting a rescue, Harry confronted Riddle and came to realise there was a connection between the diary and the manifestation of Tom Riddle. While Harry did not know the diary was a Horcrux at the time (or even what a Horcrux was), he destroyed it, along with the Riddle memories and soul fragment, using the Basilisk's poisonous fang to stab into the pages of the diary. Harry took the destroyed diary back to McGonagall's office, where he and Dumbledore confronted Lucius Malfoy. Harry returned the diary to Lucius, as part of a ploy to cause Lucius to free his house-elf Dobby, by stuffing a sock into the diary which Malfoy then inadvertently threw at the elf. The current whereabouts of the destroyed diary Horcrux is not stated, it was last known to be in the possession of Lucius Malfoy.
  • Marvolo Gaunt's ring, found by Dumbledore hidden in the Gaunt shack, and subsequently destroyed. Events of Riddle's earlier life suggest that he took the heirloom ring when he framed his uncle, Morfin Gaunt, for the murder of his father. Riddle wore the gold-and-black ring at Hogwarts, and it appears on his hand in Horace Slughorn's Pensieve memories.) Dumbledore destroyed the ring Horcrux during the summer, shortly before the start of Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts. Dumbledore was seriously injured in the process, with his hand appearing blackened and burned, due to a "terrible curse" placed upon the Horcrux ring. The damaged ring, with its black stone cracked down the middle, was kept for a time on a little table in the Headmaster's office; Harry later noted that it was no longer there, but received no explanation from Dumbledore. Its current whereabouts are unknown.

Possible remaining Horcruxes

While the list of items that Lord Voldemort used for his Horcruxes is at present incomplete, Dumbledore made educated guesses about the other four possible Horcruxes. Dumbledore did tell Harry that Voldemort "liked to collect trophies" and would have "preferred objects with a powerful magical history". Dumbledore went on to speculate that Voldemort intended to secure objects previously owned by each of the four Hogwarts founders. Template:HP6

In an interview, author J.K. Rowling indicated that one could correctly identify some of the Horcruxes by carefully rereading the books. Dumbledore theorised the four remaining and active Horcruxes to be:

  • Salazar Slytherin's locket, believed to have been stolen from Hepzibah Smith by Tom Riddle. It is described as "a heavy golden locket" with "Slytherin's mark ... an ornate, serpentine S." Dumbledore and Harry, in an attempt to recover a Horcrux, found a locket in a basin on a small island in the middle of a lake, inside a cave along the coast, where Riddle once terrified young children from his orphanage. Harry discovered that the locket was in fact not a Horcrux, but instead contained a note to the Dark Lord, from someone with the initials "R.A.B.", who stated that he (or she) had stolen the real Horcrux and planned to destroy it. It is unknown if the Horcrux was successfully destroyed. The jacket cover for the UK adult edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows features a golden locket with a serpentine S.
  • Helga Hufflepuff's cup, also believed to have been stolen from Hepzibah Smith by Tom Riddle. It is described as "a small golden cup with two finely wrought handles", with an engraving of "a badger". The current location of Hufflepuff's cup is unknown.
  • An unknown relic belonging to either Godric Gryffindor or Rowena Ravenclaw. Dumbledore was unsure whether Voldemort ever managed to find any of Ravenclaw's relics, but he was confident that Gryffindor's only known surviving relics, the Gryffindor Sword (previously mentioned in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) and the Sorting Hat, are safe and accounted for in the Headmaster's office. Rowling has also stated on her website that the Sorting Hat is not a Horcrux.
  • The great snake Nagini. Dumbledore believed the final Horcrux was originally to be made upon the murder of Harry Potter, considering his importance as the "Chosen One" as foretold by Sybill Trelawney's prophecy. Since that attempt failed, Dumbledore believed that the murder of Frank Bryce in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire may have been used to produced the last Horcrux, and that Nagini became the vessel, based on her behaviour and the control Voldemort exerts over her. Dumbledore also states that Nagini "underlines the Slytherin connection".

Fans have speculated about the identity of other possible Horcruxes, and some have even published whole books of theories about it, such as John Granger's Who Killed Albus Dumbledore? (Zossima Press, 2006), but no other possibilities are suggested by characters in Rowling's books.

Bibliography

Books

Online resources

Notes

  1. Author's website, Diary entry, Sept 29th, Harry Potter Lexicon archive
  2. Rowling, Half Blood Prince (Scholastic edition), p.503
  3. Rowling, Goblet of Fire (British Bloomsbury edition), p.566
  4. Rowling, Philosopher's Stone (British Bloomsbury edition), pp.14-15
  5. Tom Riddle's Diary is destroyed in Chamber of Secrets (British Bloomsbury edition), p.237, while the ring is confirmed as destroyed in Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), pp.470-471
  6. Half-Blood Prince (US Scholastic Hardback edition), p.503 "That seventh piece of soul will be the last that anybody wishing to kill Voldemort must attack-- the piece that lives in his body."
  7. Half-Blood Prince (US Scholastic Hardback edition), p.501-502
  8. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), p.465
  9. Half-Blood Prince (US Scholastic Hardback edition), p.498 ".. the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, it is against nature."
  10. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), p.469
  11. ^ Half-Blood Prince (US Scholastic Hardback edition), p.504 "... these things suggest to me that Voldemort would have chosen his Horcruxes with some care, favoring objects worthy of the honour."
  12. Half-Blood Prince (US Scholastic Hardback edition), p.506
  13. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), pp.335-346
  14. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), pp.470-471
  15. MuggleNet and The Leaky Cauldron interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling Part III "JKR: Well, I'm prepared to bet you now, that at least before the week is out, at least one of the Horcruxes will have been correctly identified by careful re-readers of the books."
  16. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), p.409
  17. Scotsman: First Hallow for the new Harry Potter Cover. Accessed on 2007-03-29
  18. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), pp.408-409
  19. Author's website, Rumours section.
  20. Rowling, Goblet of Fire (British Bloomsbury edition), p.19 - Frank Bryce is murdered. Half-Blood Prince (US Scholastic Hardback edition), p.506, Dumbledore speculates on the possibility of Nagini as a Horcrux.
  21. Rowling, Half-Blood Prince (British Bloomsbury edition), p.473
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