What are the 7 Horcruxes
Although Voldemort does not appear in every Harry Potter film, he is the series’s main antagonist, an omnipotent presence that keeps returning after every so-called defeat. For the first five films, we never truly understand how Voldemort survived after a baby Harry seemingly destroyed him. But in The Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore introduces Harry to the complicated piece of magic known as a horcruxes.
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What are Horcruxes? – 7 Horcruxes
Simply put, a Horcrux is a piece of one’s soul. If a witch or wizard creates a Horcrux, they can never truly die until said Horcrux is destroyed. A person’s physical body can be destroyed, but their soul can live on. So, when Voldemort’s killing curse backfired after attempting to murder young Harry, his physical body was destroyed. However, he was not truly dead since Voldemort had numerous other Horcruxes.
To make a Horcrux, the sorcerer or sorceress needs to contort their soul, splitting it into pieces. According to Dumbledore, one of the few strategies that might work is cold-blooded murder. Nevertheless, one might hold that many other crimes can be a Horcrux, too, if they are too much for a soul.
What are Horcruxes?
It is a very dark and complex form of magic for making Horcrux. Few people know how to make this thing, and it is prohibited to talk about it. In Book Six, Dumbledore directs Harry to get hold of Snape’s potions professor, Professor Slughorn and encourages him to divulge a susceptible but pertinent memory. Afterward, Harry and Dumbledore established it as Professor Slughorn, who confided to sixteen-year Voldemort of Hogwarts how to make Horcrux.
What are Voldemort’s 7 Horcruxes?
It is difficult to create even one Horcrux; Voldemort wanted to create six Horcruxes within his lifetime to limit his chances of truly dying. Since they are important to him, Voldemort turns important pieces of Hogwarts and charmed history into Horcruxes. As an orphan who never truly felt at home until he found he was a wizard and went to Hogwarts, Voldemort is extremely attached to his school like Harry.
Voldemort is a successor of Salazar Slytherin, one of the formation members of Hogwarts and Slytherin House. Voldemort decided to turn matters that solidified his magical heritage and importance into Horcruxes. It was the last confirmation of his magical status, a promise to his mad, forgotten younger self. Here is a brief of each of his Horcruxes:
Tom Riddle’s Diary – 7 Horcruxes
In The Chamber of Secrets, Tom Riddle’s diary from his days at Hogwarts finds itself amongst the possessions of Ginny Weasley. Since it holds a part of Voldemort’s soul, the diary can talk and influence Ginny, allowing her to open the Chamber of Secrets and uncheck the Basilisk upon Muggle-borns at school.
During the film’s climax, Harry manages to destroy the first Horcrux with venom from the fang of a Basilisk. We later knew this was the first Horcrux destroyed, which provoked Dumbledore to explore the clue that Voldemort might have created multiple ones.
Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring – 7 Horcruxes
The second Horcrux that was destroyed was Marvolo Gaunt’s ring. As we learn more about Voldemort’s life during the sixth movie, we discover his family history with the Gaunts. Marvolo Gaunt, Voldemort’s grandfather, possessed the ring as a family heirloom.
When Voldemort returned to his hometown to murder his father and paternal grandparents, he took the ring and turned it into a Horcrux. Dumbledore eventually retrieved the ring and destroyed it with the sword of Godric Gryffindor.
Salazar Slytherin’s Locket
Voldemort turned another family heirloom into a Horcrux — his mother’s locket originally belonging to Salazar Slytherin. One of the main plot points in the sixth movie revolves around Dumbledore and Harry recovering the locket to destroy it.
After escaping Voldemort’s magical defenses and taking the locket, Harry discovers that the locket they recovered was fake, first stolen by Regulus Black, Sirius Black’s brother and a reformed Death Eater. Harry, Ron, and Hermione finally re-discover the locket in the final book, in the possession of their former Headmaster, Dolores Umbridge.
In another dangerous and extended plot, the golden trio goes undercover at the Ministry of Magic to steal the locket. Afterward, Ron destroys the Horcrux with the sword of Godric Gryffindor.
Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup
Shortly after he graduated from Hogwarts, Tom Riddle found himself in the company of Hepzibah Smith, a wealthy and frivolous woman who collected precious and expensive antiques. She had the cup of Helga Hufflepuff, one of the founding members of Hogwarts and Hufflepuff House. Coveting the cup, Voldemort stole it and killed Smith, creating yet another Horcrux.
In Deathly Hallows – Part 2, Hermione, Ron, and mainly Harry deduce that the cup is being stored in the Gringotts vault of the Lestranges, a family deeply dedicated to Voldemort. After breaking into the vault and stealing the cup, Hermione destroys this Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets with a Basilisk fang.
Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem
How Voldemort retrieved Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem is unclear, but he most likely recovered the long-lost artifact in Albania. Rowena Ravenclaw was the final founding member of Hogwarts and the Ravenclaw House.
Harry realizes the diadem is a Horcrux by talking to Rowena’s daughter Helena, who remains a ghost at Hogwarts. Helena reveals that she stole her mother’s diadem out of jealousy and that Voldemort later turned it into a Horcrux.
Helena surreptitiously hints that the wreath is still in Hogwarts, where lost things can never remain found. Harry correctly guesses that Tom hid the diadem in the Room of Requirement, a secret room in Hogwarts that can turn into any location the user needs.
Harry finds the wreath in the version of the room that hides lost items. While Harry, Ron, and Hermione search for the room’s wreath, they remain discovered by Draco Malfoy and his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle. Emboldened by learning more Dark Arts, Crabbe uses the Fiendfyre curse, a fire curse that creates powerful and uncontrollable flames. Ones strong enough to destroy the diadem accidentally.
Nagini
Destroying the final Horcrux is less dramatic than the others, although the road to get there is long. Just before Harry heads into the forest to sacrifice himself, he runs into Neville. Harry quickly tells Neville that he must destroy Nagini, Voldemort’s snake. Nagini is the last Horcrux that Voldemort shaped and the last one to remain destroyed.
Through the final battle of Hogwarts, Neville pulls the sword of Godric Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and beheads Nagini, destroying the last Horcrux. It allows Harry to finally kill Voldemort after the latter’s killing curse poetically backfires when Harry uses a disarming spell on him.
The Secret Horcrux — Harry
Voldemort only ever intended to make six Horcrux, with the possibility that maybe he could create more in the future. However, when Voldemort attempted to kill baby Harry that fateful night, his killing curse backfired instead. Voldemort’s soul splintered then, killing his physical body and splitting his soul into a new Horcrux.
Since he had just murdered Harry’s parents in cold blood and attempted to kill a defenseless infant. There was enough justification for creating a Horcrux. At that moment, Voldemort’s soul latched onto the only living thing in the building Harry himself.
Conclusion
For almost his entire life, Harry was a Horcrux. It explains Harry’s skill to speak Parseltongue, an ability Voldemort has as a successor of Salazar Slytherin. Additionally, Voldemort and Harry have remain mentally connected, able to see and sense things only the other could know.
Therefore, when Voldemort used the killing curse against Harry in Deathly Hallows – Part 1. He killed part of his soul, and Harry could survive. After Neville killed Nagini, all Horcruxes remain destroyed. Harry finally ended Voldemort and lived in peace for the rest of his life.