In order to keep themselves anchored to the world of living, the wizards or witches in Harry Potter must choose a valuable object to leave a fragment of their soul. These mystical objects are called Horcruxes, which the dark souls use to gain immortality. The first Horcrux to have existed was created by Herpo the Foul. However, no one knows what the object was like. Voldemort also created seven Horcruxes after that, and they eventually were the reason why the dark lord kept coming back after dying. So, what were these Horcruxes, and how were they destroyed?
1. Tom Riddle’s Diary
- Used for: Reopening the Chamber of Secrets
- Destroyed by: Harry Potter
Tom Riddle’s Diary was the first Horcrux we were introduced to in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Before becoming a Horcrux, it was an ordinary diary that was purchased by Tom Riddler from a Muggle shop sometime in 1943. Riddler became determined to locate the Chamber of Secrets. After that, when the Basilisk murdered a girl named Myrtle Warren, Riddler used the killing to create the Horcrux.
Riddler didn’t stop there; in fact, he framed Hagrid for the crime and became a hero in front of Albus Dumbledore. He received an award for helping catch the culprit. Following that, the boy imbued the diary with more powers so that the Chamber of Secrets could be opened in the future.
Years later, Voldemort handed the diary to Lucius Malfoy and asked him to safeguard it. However, after the fall of the dark lord, Malfoy slipped it into Ginny Weasley’s bag to get rid of it. Ginny soon started writing her biggest fears and darkest secrets in the diary, feeding it with more powers. Well, the girl didn’t know that it was Lord Voldemort who was controlling her mind.
Harry Potter starts hearing strange noises from the walls of Hogwarts. The young wizard soon discovered the diary and his owner, Tom Riddler, in the chamber. After struggling to eliminate the enemy a bit, Harry damaged the pages of the diary using a fang of the Basilisk in the second installment of Harry Potter movies.
2. Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring
- Used for: Reuniting the Deathly Hallows
- Destroyed by: Albus Dumbledore
The Marvolo Ring was passed down to the men of the House of Gaunt from generation to generation. However, no one knew that this heirloom would become a deadly object that would kill anyone who wore it.
When the ring was owned by Morfin Gaunt, Tom Riddle’s uncle, the latter learned about his father’s muggle heritage. Tom didn’t take much time to alter the memories of Morfin and steal the ring from him. He then killed his father and grandfather and put the blame for their deaths on Morfin Gaunt.
When Tom was in Hogwarts, he never hesitated to wear the ring openly. However, later, he used his father’s murder and transformed the ring into a cursed object. In 1996, Albus Dumbledore tracked the ring to the Gaunt Shack, and after encountering it, he ignored its Horcrux nature and wore it instantly. However, soon, the curse started spreading through Dumbledore’s body. Even though the ring shortened Dumbledore’s lifespan, he managed to damage the resurrection stone on it with the Sword of Gryffindor.
3. Salazar Slytherin’s Locket
- Used for: Feeding the wearer’s mind with negative and dark thoughts
- Destroyed by: Ron Weasley
Originally created and owned by Salazar Slytherin, the locket eventually became the third Horcrux created by Tom Riddle. After passing down from generation to generation in the Slytherin family, the locket was eventually discovered by a young Tom Riddle.
Later, he killed an unknown Muggle Trump and used the murder to create the Horcrux. It wasn’t until Harry’s confrontation with Riddler’s diary that Albus Dumbledore learned about the Horcruxes and their powers.
While spending some time trying to figure out what the other cursed objects look like, Dumbledore realized that the artifacts from Voldemort’s time that had disappeared were the Horcruxes. That’s when he found out about Salazar Slytherin’s Locket. Later, Ron Weasley stabbed the locket after recovering the Sword of Gryffindor.
4. Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup
- Used for: The cup’s exact potential is yet unknown
- Destroyed by: Hermione Granger
The founder of Hufflepuff House, Helga Hufflepuff, created the Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup. Throughout the centuries, the cup was passed down in the Hufflepuff family. When Hepzibah Smith received the cup, she flaunted it in front of Tom Riddle, who worked at Borgin and Burkes at that time. A few days later, Smith was found dead, and Riddle embedded the brain of her house elf-Hokey with a false memory. So, Hockey eventually took the blame for the murder on himself.
This time, it was Smith whose murder contributed to the creation of Lord Voldemort’s fourth Horcrux. Years later, the Horcrux was passed to Bellatrix Lestrange by the dark lord, who asked her to keep the cup in full protection. Even though Lestrange wasn’t familiar with it being an ordinary cup, she kept it under a spell in her family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank. The spell didn’t allow anyone except the vault owners to touch the Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup.
Dumbledore and Harry were the ones to discover that Hufflepuff’s Cup was one of the Horcruxes of Lord Voldemort. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine tracked down the cup to the vault; they eventually managed to steal it after bypassing the vault’s security.
However, since they didn’t have the Sword of Gryffindor anymore, Hermoine damaged the cup using a Basilisk fang, as after the sword, it was the only substance that could destroy the Horcrux.
5. Ravenclaw’s Diadem
- Used for: Enhanced wisdom
- Destroyed by: Vincent Crabbe
This one comes from Rowena Ravenclaw, the founder of Ravenclaw House. It was originally made with the good intention of enhancing the wearer’s intelligence. It was later stolen by her daughter Helena, who hid it in a hollow tree in the forest of Albania before getting murdered by someone who loved her earlier. Years later, Tom Riddle discovered the artifact and made it his fifth Hoxcrx using an Albanian peasant’s murder as a tool.
Riddle then hid the diadem in the room of hidden things in Hogwarts. However, this time, he didn’t secure the Hoxcrux with any protective spell. Harry saw it when he entered the room to hide the potions book in the Half-Blood Prince. However, he didn’t recognize it until Deathly Hollows when Draco Malfoy, Gregory Goyle, and Vincent Crabbe confronted him, and our protagonist got into a fight with them.
However, before Harry could destroy it, Vincent Crabbe burned the Horcrux with a powerful spell that burned everything around into ashes.
6. Nagini
- Used for: Enhanced wisdom
- Destroyed by: Neville Longbottom
Nagini was basically a woman who was born with a blood curse that would transform her into a snake. Initially, she was able to transform as per her will. In 1994, after coming across Voldemort and becoming a Horcrux, Nagini helped him regain strength after his first downfall. Apart from the Death Eaters, Nagini was the closest ally of Voldemort, who communicated with her using Parseltongue.
Albus Dumbledore mentioned in Half-Blood Prince that it may be Frank Bryce’s death that gave birth to Nagini’s Hoxcrus, but J.K Rowling revealed in an interview that it was Bertha Jorkins whose murder contributed to her creation. Initially, there was a rumor stating that Nagini was none other than the snake Harry released from the zoo; however, it turned out to be a false belief.
Nagini was the last Horcrux created by Lord Voldemort, so it was crucial to kill her to defeat the dark lord. Harry knew that his sacrifice would eventually end the story of Nagini, but before he could sacrifice himself, he encountered Neville Longbottom and told him what he was up to. Neville immediately pulled out the Gryffindor’s Sword from the sorting hat and beheaded Nagini. Following the death of the living Horcrux, Harry defeated Voldemort.
7. Harry Potter
- Destroyed by: Lord Voldemort/Harry Potter
Harry Potter wasn’t a planned Horcrux. Instead, Voldemort created him by accident. When the dark lord looked forward to killing baby Harry, his killing curse backfired. A fragment of Voldemort’s soul got attached to the soul of Harry Potter. So, interestingly, Harry has been a Horcrux from the beginning, but the one who created him didn’t know that. I hope now you realize why Harry could speak with snakes and why he could see and hear things that no one else could.
What’s more interesting is that even Voldemort didn’t know that Harry was a Horcrux, which eventually worked in Harry’s favor. Knowing that all Horcrux needed to be destroyed, Harry decided to sacrifice himself in Deathly Hollows Part 2. During a direct confrontation with Voldemort, Harry intentionally planned to get hit by one of the enemy’s spells. Harry hoped that a direct hit would kill him and Horcrux within him. However, that sense of self-sacrifice destroyed the Horcrux and allowed the boy to live.
