Harry Potter Horcruxes (Complete Overview)


You’re probably curious about all the Horcruxes used in Harry Potter, especially if you’re a fan of the books or movies.

There seems to be so many of them that it can be difficult to keep track of them all.

However, all of them tie into one dark wizard called Voldemort.

These objects are a tremendous source of his power, as you’ll see.

As a result, it takes a lot to get rid of them.

Keep in mind that even knowing what some of these objects and even people are will reveal a lot to the story.

If you want to avoid any major spoilers, it’s probably best to come back to this article at a later time.

In particular, there are some major spoilers for parts of the beginning of the series, whether you’re reading the books or watching the movies.

Harry Potter Horcruxes:

  • Tom Riddle’s Diary
  • Morfin Gaunt’s Ring
  • Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup
  • Salazar Slytherin’s Locket
  • Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem
  • Nagini the Snake
  • Harry Potter Himself
  • Professional Quirinus Quirrell

The Harry Potter Series

You’ve probably at least heard something about this magical series, which fascinates children as well as adults alike.

It’s different than traditional fantasy series such as the Lord of the Rings in that it’s much more relatable, especially with young children growing up.

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After all, it’s set in modern times and people can feel like they’re really part of the world.

Narnia is the same way, but it’s set in a much older time so it’s a bit less relevant.

The original plotline involves the main character in his quest to learn about himself, learn about the magical world, grow into an adult wizard, and deal with one of the greatest evils that his world has ever seen.

While it seems like a lot for just one person, Harry has friends and allies to help him on this adventure.

While this doesn’t make his situation much easier, it helps prevent a catastrophe of all the evil magic users taking over the world.

Now that the main series has ended, there’s the possibility of an expanded world.

This is apparent from the spin-off series on a period shortly before the main series called Fantastic Beasts.

There are even movies based on these books.

Additionally, modern video games add another dimension to the Harry Potter universe, though it’s not just about the original plotline.

The mobile game Hogwarts Mystery is shortly before the main plot.

While the basic idea about the story’s important facts is simple enough to understand, there are some details that you may not even know about.

Perhaps you read the books as a child and some of the details are a little fuzzy.

This article will go over what’s making Voldemort immortal to give you a refresher, though there are some details that you might not even know about.

This includes whether it’s about something you glossed over or didn’t investigate.

What Are the Horcruxes?

To make a simple explanation, Horcruxes is some of the darkest magic that exists within this fictional magic universe.

They are objects or even people that contain a piece of a wizard’s inner essence.

As long as these objects or people exist, if the wizard is defeated, he or she cannot die and will come back.

While it seems strange, some people might wonder why this is such a bad thing.

Even though that seems to be the case, this kind of magic has a high and grave cost for its power.

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The way this magic is created is through none other than murder, which is one of the evilest acts someone can commit.

However, this is only part of the process. It involves an incredibly dark spell that must be performed after the murder.

Additionally, another horrific act must be committed to complete the process.

It’s one act that the author won’t disclose what it actually is to anyone, suggesting that it’s just too evil to even think about.

Even though all that seems bad enough, there’s actually more.

Since these objects or people essentially keep the dark magician alive forever, some protections are made to prevent their destruction.

When it comes to people, this kind of spell is usually made by accident, so protections through curses and other means aren’t normally in place.

For objects, many of these kinds of spells are in place, resulting in madness, sickness, or even death.

As you can tell, it’s not easy dealing with this kind of magic.

To break the connection with the dark wizard, another magic-user has to know more about him or her, including the history and habits.

Also, since this kind of spell is so forbidden, not much information exists on it.

A lot of investigation and research is required, much of which is dangerous.

However, getting rid of it is worth the trouble.

Below is a list of all of the ones that exist in the Hogwarts main plotline.

I noticed that some people confuse Horcruxes with Forbidden Spells in Harry Potter.

If you’d like to learn more about Forbidden Spells, make sure to check also this article.

List of all the Horcruxes

While the audience isn’t aware of what a Horcrux actually is, they’re introduced to it in the very first book and movie.

Part of this is something you may already know, but another part is something you may not be aware of.

Since these are so important in preventing one of the evilest wizards from coming back after being dealt with, it’s an important aspect of the plot.

Once all of these objects and people are dealt with, Voldemort can finally be defeated.

To actually find every last Horcrux, Harry and his friends have to adventure throughout the wizarding and non-wizarding worlds.

This makes the scenery quite a bit different and interesting, away from the Hogwarts magical school.

It’s more of a traditional fantasy setting than what the audience is used to, opening up quite a bit to the rest of the fictional universe.

About half are obvious and the other half isn’t as obvious.

You’ll see why.

Tom Riddle’s Diary

This is one of the Horcruxes that you’re introduced to very early in the series, but at the time you don’t actually know what significance this object plays.

In fact, you don’t even know that it’s tied to Voldemort when it’s first introduced.

This one gives some of the backstory information when it comes to that dark wizard.

This is something very dear and personal to him that he created when he was still at Hogwarts.

Besides keeping its user alive forever, the object works by possessing whoever writes in it.

It was given by Voldemort to Lucius Malfoy, who in turn secretly slipped it to Ginny Weasley.

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This created some chaos at the school, freeing Slytherin’s Basilisk to roam the place.

Eventually, Harry and his friends discovered what was going on. In the end, it took one of the serpent’s poisonous fangs to pierce the diary and destroy it.

Morfin Gaunt’s Ring

This Horcrux is one of the most obvious, as its first introduction is when the audience finds out about this kind of magic in the first place.

This one is actually a family heirloom stolen by Tom Riddle from his uncle, Morfin Gaunt.

As you find out by the end of the final book, there is actually more to this one than what you initially know.

It also contains the resurrection stone, which also deals with keeping people alive.

With all the curses and protections on the ring, it took a long time to finally remove the dark magic.

Eventually, Albus Dumbledore destroyed the ring but discovered the inner stone, which Voldemort didn’t know was inside.

The temptation of using the stone led to the headmaster falling victim to a powerful curse.

In the end, the stone is useful in dealing with the most important Horcrux of all, which you’ll read about later on.

Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup

This Horcrux is an object once owned by one of Hogwarts’s founders and was passed down her family line.

When the dark wizard was investigating important aspects of Hogwarts, he discovered this item.

By itself, it’s apparently just a decorative piece, though symbolically it has great importance to the school. Voldemort was able to get his hands on it and make it into his own Horcrux.

No one would think to destroy such an object.

It was created into a dark object by the death of its final legitimate owner, Hepzibah Smith.

Apparently, she was poisoned by her own house-elf through some cocoa.

The cup was missing from its legitimate possession, It was kept safe by Bellatrix Lestrange, one of Voldemort’s loyal followers.

Since the cup was in her vault at Gringotts, it was a difficult time getting to it, even requiring facing a dragon. It was destroyed the same way the diary was destroyed.

Salazar Slytherin’s Locket

Another artifact close to the founding of Hogwarts, this is another that was in the possession of Tom Riddle’s family, though not initially by Tom himself.

His mother, Merope, stole it from her family’s possession and sold it out of desperation, eventually it getting into the hands of Hepzibah Smith.

It was stolen at the same time as the cup, though the Horcrux was randomly made by killing an innocent and homeless non-magic user.

This is the second Horcrux that the audience is introduced to.

It involved Harry and Headmaster Dumbledore venturing into a deep and dark cave by the water.

However, their effort was in vain, as it was already stolen by Regulus Black.

With multiple changes of hands, it eventually got into the possession of Dolores Umbridge of the Ministry of Magic.

Harry and his friends infiltrating and retrieved the locket, destroying it with Godric Gryffindor’s sword.

Rowena Ravenclaw’s Diadem

As the third Horcrux related to the founding of Hogwarts, it was just as tricky to find.

The Grey Lady Helena Ravenclaw, one of the ghosts during the main series, stole it from her mother and went with it to Albania, where she died at the hand of the Bloody Baron.

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Voldemort discovered this secret by manipulating the ghost, and he traveled to Albania to retrieve it and stored it in the room of requirement.

Since there was such a mess of various objects in this room, the diadem was incredibly difficult to find, let alone actually figure out that its location was actually in the room.

Even so, it was destroyed shortly after its discovery by the main characters.

Ironically, a son of a death eater, Vincent Crabbe, ultimately destroyed it through a fire spell that set the whole room ablaze.

Nagini the Snake

This Horcrux is a bit less obvious than the rest of them.

While most of the others are objects, this is actually a deadly snake, which is fitting considering that Tom Riddle belonged to the Slytherin House during his time at Hogwarts.

This was created more recently by the Bertha Jorkins of the Ministry of Magic.

The snake was part of a trap to lure Harry Potter and murder him.

Eventually, it was used to murder Severus Snape during the Battle of Hogwarts.

While this battle was taking place, Neville Longbottom managed to kill the snake with Gryffindor’s sword.

That makes it the second of the Horcruxes destroyed with the sword.

Harry Potter Himself

The most important of all the Horcruxes is none other than the main character himself, though this wasn’t intentional by the dark wizard.

Since this dark magic requires murder, it was created when Voldemort attempted to murder Harry Potter when he was an infant.

It’s not clear what the wizard might have done afterward to finalize the spell, it’s possible that trying to murder a child was in itself enough to make it happen.

The Horcruxes were made out of each most important object affiliated with three houses of Hogwarts, and the evil wizard wanted to make one affiliated with Gryffindor, possibly even Godric Gryffindor’s sword.

With Harry being associated with Gryffindor, the spell accidentally went to him.

The spell was ultimately removed by Harry’s death.

However, with the aid of the resurrection stone with him when he died, he was brought back to life.

Bonus: Professional Quirinus Quirrell

This is one of the Horcruxes that you probably didn’t expect.

In fact, it had to be explained by J.K. Rowling herself because it isn’t entirely clear that this is one of them.

Like Harry Potter, this wasn’t the intention but he did become a Horcrux.

The piece of Voldemort was contained within the professor, essentially making him a kind of Horcrux.

However, this was a conscious piece that was able to leave the container.

Conclusion

Those are all the Horcruxes of Voldemort in the main Harry Potter series that the main characters need to deal with to stop the evil wizard.

As you can see, these aren’t simple curses that one can easily destroy.

They’re intricate as well as dangerous, requiring much caution.

Luckily, they’re quite difficult to make so there aren’t that many around in the magical world.

While the dark wizard Voldemort is still dangerous without this kind of magic, letting them exist makes defeating him once and for all impossible.

In this world, going straight for what you want isn’t always the most efficient option, nor is it the safest.

Sometimes, it takes awareness and carefulness to solve problems and reach one’s concluding goal.

Mojmir Trefulka

I believe that life is magic. I'm a playing cards collector, I love performing magic tricks and I'm also the owner of a small magic shop. Apart from that I like to explore different kinds of supernatural magic that we all have in our lives and I like to share what I learn... I'm great fan of Harry Potter...

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