This article is an attempt to clear up some common misconceptions posted by several readers here on Beyond Hogwarts about what Horcruxes are and how they work. I’m not claiming to have some great insight into what J.K. believes about Horcruxes. I merely offer up my own humble opinion, from information gleaned from the books, and years of unabashed geekdom, for the sake of discussion/argument on the topic of Horcruxes.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Professor Slughorn tells Tom Riddle:
You split your soul, you see, and hide part of it in an object outside the body. Then, even if one’s body is attacked or destroyed, one cannot die, for part of the soul remains earthbound and undamaged.
HBP pg. 497/464
In other words, a Horcrux is a container in which the witch or wizard who makes one puts a piece of their soul to keep safe in the event that the person’s body is destroyed. A Horcrux prevents the soul from “passing on” and thereby holds the witch or wizard’s consciousness earth bound. That’s it.
From that point on, steps would have to be taken to re-establish ones self in a body capable of functioning normally. It seems someone that creates a Horcrux would require assistance to perform the spells or rituals necessary to regain human form.
For example, an evil wizard creates a Horcrux. He has left instructions with his minions of what they are to do should he die (how to make him a body and how to put him in it).
The wizard is killed. His lackeys follow his instructions and he is restored. Then, he is killed again. His flunkies again follow his instructions, and again he is restored. One Horcrux, since it remained intact, brings the wizard back twice. It is not “used up”; it merely preformed its function.
Voldemort says he was ripped from his body but did not die. He existed as “less than the meanest ghost”. He forced himself second by second, minute by minute to live. He had no body to hold a wand and perform the spells that would return him to his body. He gets that help first from Quirrell, whom he possesses in hopes of getting the Sorcerer’s Stone. But it does not seem to be a normal possession. Quirrell is still in control of his own body, he just follows Voldemort’s orders. It is as if Voldemort is simply living off of Quirrell like a parasite. (Voldemort actually uses that word in the Sorcerer’s Stone movie.) Quirrell is killed when Harry stops him from getting the stone and Voldemort is forced from his body by physical contact with Harry.
Next, Pettigrew actively looks for Voldemort and finds him. Voldemort instructs him in “ancient dark magic” that returns Voldemort to a rudimentary, weak form that he can inhabit until he regains his full strength. Voldemort then instructs Pettigrew in how to make a potion from unicorn blood and snake venom to make him strong enough to travel. It is only through the ritual in the cemetery that Voldemort finally regains his full strength and body.
And through this all, there are still six horcruxes. Dumbledore tells us so.
If you’re putting a piece of your soul into something to keep it safe in order to “keep you alive” in the event your body is destroyed, you’re going to want to make sure that that object is also kept safe, preferably secret. I do not believe, nor is it stated in any of the books, that a Horcrux has the power to possess or harm any one on its own. It was the enchantments protecting the ring that damage Dumbledore’s hand. (A similar enchanment on the necklace, not a horcrux at all, injured Katie Bell.) The remoteness of the cave, the “blood tribute” arch, the lake of infirius and the potion are all employed to protect the locket.
I believe that many people are so distracted by the act of killing another human, and the subsequent damage to one’s soul, that they miss the truly evil act of REMOVING a piece of ones soul. I, like Dumbledore, am a firm believer in the power of, for lack of a better word, redemption. The idea that any one can turn their life around and try to atone for one’s prior misdeeds. Perhaps even if some one has torn their soul it can, over time, heal, I don’t know. But to remove one’s soul is an act of desecration from which there can be no recovery. I believe that it is due to the removing of the soul itself that Horcruxes are deemed to be such an evil thing.
About this, Slughorn says:
Existance in such a form … few would want it, Tom, very few. Death would be preferrable. You must understand that the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole. Splitting it is an act of violation, an act against nature.
HBP pg.497/465
If murder is evil, then the removal of pieces of the soul may be considered “beyond normal” evil. ONLY the most sinister, twisted and depraved individual would consider the act, much less actually do it. There is a reason all the foul and loathsome wizards flock to Voldemort’s banner, he alone is the one who appears to have made a Horcrux.
In the wizarding world there is a spell specifically designed to kill, another that forces one to act against their will, and a third exists only to cause “pain beyond pain”. Use of any of these spells has been determined to be so horrific a crime that the spell caster is imprisoned for the rest of their lives. Yet, the children of the wizarding world know of their existence. Information on them, although limited I’m sure, could most likely be found in a well-stocked library. Yet nothing on Horcruxes appears in the library of the “greatest wizarding school in the world” except for just over a dozen words.
All I could find was this, in the introduction to Magick Moste Evile — listen — ‘Of the Horcrux, wickedest of magical inventions, we shall not speak nor give direction…’ I mean, why mention it then?” she said impatiently, slamming the old book shut.
HBP pg 381/357
We share Hermione’s frustration. But this is another indication of just how ultimately evil Horcruxes are, and how only the most evil of Wizards would even consider making one.
But what about Tom Riddle’s Diary? It’s the first Horcux that appears in the series, or perhaps it would be more accurate to say, the first we are made aware of, and it is worthy of closer examination.
Many people seem to believe the diary is a “typical” Horcrux. As Dumbledore and Harry explore the nature of Horcruxes in their private lessons, it seemed odd to Dumbledore (and for that matter me) that the diary was treated in a completely different fashion than, say, the ring, which Voldemort hid so that no one would find it and protected it with a “terrible curse”, or the locket, which he also went to extraordinary measures to protect. If you’re putting a piece of your soul into something to keep it safe in order to “keep you alive” in the event your body is destroyed, you’re going to want to make sure that that object is also kept safe, preferably secret.
About the diary, Dumbledore says:
Although I did not see the Riddle who came out of the diary, what you described was a phenomenon I had never witnessed. A mere memory starting to act and think for itself? A mere memory, sapping the life out of the girl into whose hands it had fallen? No, something much more sinister had lived inside that book…a fragment of soul, I was almost sure of it. The diary had been a Horcrux.
HBP pg. 500/467
The original enchantment on the diary was intended to posses a student at Hogwarts, and thereby force them to open the Chamber of Secretes, and release the Basilisk. It was INTENDED to wind up in the hands of another. And consider that being an extremely rare ability, there was almost no chance the person possessed or controlled by the diary would be a Parselmouth, although this skill would be needed to command the basilisk and set it on the students with muggle parents. So, somehow, I believe, the diary initially contained a bit of Tom Riddle’s sixteen-year-old consciousness, so that it (he) could actively control the person doing its (his) bidding.
As Ginny Weasley poured her thoughts and emotions into the diary, she activated the enchantments on it and provided the power needed for it to function as it was originally intended to, and in doing so, she became more and more susceptible to it’s influence. Perhaps even forcing Ginny to perform magic increased its (his) power over her and made it possible to become something more than just the memory left in the diary. I think this would explain why the Tom Riddle that came out of the diary was the sixteen-year-old Riddle and had no memory of Harry, or that night in Godrick’s Hollow. When he was placed there, the diary was not yet a Horcrux, and when it was made a Horcrux, Voldemort was still at the height of his power. Unlike the other Horcruxes, that would be hidden and protected to keep the soul fragment within them safe, the diary must be considered something other than a “typical” Horcrux.
The existance of the diary is one of the darkest indications of Voldemort’s evil insanity. Since he was so cavalier about the protection of this Horcrux, we can only assume this means he didn’t particularly care, because he intended to have other Horcruxes to protect him, something he, himself, boasts that no other wizard had ever done.
I’m really hoping that since Horcruxes have become so important to the whole Harry Potter story, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hollows will give us much more information on Horcruxes. It may come in the form of Viktor Krum, Dumbledore may have left notes, even Fleur may have some useful information. Until that time, this is the best information we have to go on.
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Great job Kevin!
Interesting summary.
that was very illuminating. the more i read the more i started thinking about other possibilities. even though the diary wasnt a typical hocrux, i hope it was one of the seven otherwise it would make harry’s job a lot more difficult.
I’m sure the diary was one of the six. It just had other enchantments on it also.
Hepzibah Smith said both Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s cup had magic powers. I don’t think being “Horcuxified” changes pre-existing enchantments.
I thought that Dumbledore had stated in HBP, that he believed Riddle created his first hocrux at the age of 16, when he killed his father. So this would make the diary the first, and would explain why it was his 16 year old self was in the diary. It was not protected as the others we saw because he had given it to Lucius to use at a later time, and also because when he had given it to Lucius, he had created other hocruxes, though I am sure he did not think it would be destroyed.
congratulations kevin! this article helped me to improve my education in the wizardry world.
Kevin – Congratulations! This is an excellent article and I already sent it to all my friends who have their problems with Horcruxes;-) Glad we have something now to reread from time to time, in case we get stuck with the Horcrux-Situation.
Are you obbsessed? You must have spent hours going over the books searching for the possible answers to some of the worlds greatest mysteries. But, as great men have said, “Obsession is nothing less than genius.” Great work!
Jillian, Dumbledore said that at the same age Harry was (16), Morty was already LOOKING for ways to become immortal. He asked Slughorn and got what little information he had, but it would have had to have been after he left Hogwarts he learned how to make a Horcrux.
It would appear he did enchant the diary at 16, but that was to open the chamber after he left.
awesome man! you always know what to write. ur so cool:)
Great article! The idea of splitting ones soul to continue to exist, even after the body is destroyed, is horrid. I agree with Kevin that Voldemort had to have learned how to make Horcruxes after he left. It will be very interesting to find out who taught him this vile incantation. As for the Diary, did Malfoy know it was a Horcrux when he planted it? Or did he just think it would open the Chamber of Secrets? If I were Voldemort, I don’t know how much I would tell any of my lackeys. Knowledge is a very useful and dangerous thing; R.A.B has already proved that. I believe that some of the Horcruxes will be protected like the locket, but others will be hiding in plain sight.
Just to cover ALL the bases, the diary and the Voldemort under Professor Quirrel’s turban could have the common link of the leftover ink from the deatheater Tattoos. Quirrel could have been tattooed with the same ink that Tom Riddle ussed to enchant his journal.
I think magic has its own repercussions. If Dark Magic is used, there will be a price to pay. Voldemort is barely human, if at all, anymore because of how far along the path of Dark Magic he has travelled.
When Voldemort decided to preempt the prophecy, he set events in motion which were no longer under his control and cost him his physical body when the AK curse rebounded onto him. The cost may not always be physical, but I am sure there is always a cost. That is what defines the difference between murder and not murder. The immense remorse Harry would have felt if Draco had died from the Sectumsempra curse would have been the cost to Harry. His soul would have torn because of the unwitting and thoughtless way he used an unknown spell and the damage that would have resulted.
When someone delights in taking another life, the cost would not be taken into account, but would come back to bite them in the end, removing them one more step from humanity. People create their own consequences. The difficulty comes when they also wreak havoc on innocents. This is where the Order of the Pheonix comes in. “All that is required for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.” ( to paraphrase someone famous).
Mikey, I don’t think there is some external authority keeping tabs on the wizarding world, it is up to each person to decide on which side of the arbitrary line they fall, and up to society at large to protect itself.
you all have a good points above, i’d add that all the “normal” people are not happy when they see someone else suffering, this is because they feel empathy and they cannot do damage to another fellow human being without feeling the pain themselves. Harry was horrified when he saw the slashes of Sectusempra on Malfoy, he even hated himself for having tried that curse.
Voldy is incapable of “good” feelings, he is a coldbloded murderer, a sociopath, he enjoy seeing any other persons who suffers, the most the better.
I’d say that it must be really easy for Voldy make a horcrux, bet he can’t remember all the murders he has committed…
Patty,
I think we are in agreement then; that the ability to make a horcrux only comes from within. This all leads me to the following thought. If a witch/wizard kills someone and is in anyway remorseful, then they couldn’t produce a horcrux even if they tried. Only a person that has no negative feelings about committing the murder could make a horcrux. That being the case, I don’t think Dumbledore nor James could make a horcrux. I don’t think there are many people who could make a horcrux. Voldemort could.
Mikey,
Very well put. I agree completely. I could never see anyone but Voldemort “selling their soul” by making a Horcrux.
Its a good theory.
The thought of Victor Krum or Fluer Delacor giving information on Horcruxes is certainly exciting!:) I wish that we will see more of them in the next book, especially Krum.
I think it most likely that we will see Krum again. He may even be invited to the wedding considering he was a champion, is an international celeb’ and is a loose end that needs a bow. I think of the two (Fleur and Krum) Krum is the best hope for information, as Durmstrang is the only school we have heard of that actually teaches the dark arts. Just HOW dark, we can only guess. However, if the death eaters try to disrupt the wedding, the Veela in Fleur may just reveal an “evil” side that until now has only been seen or felt by Ginny.
We still don’t know how Tom Riddle learned how to make Horcruxes while he was still at school. Slughorn tells Tom in the memory that he doesn’t know how to make one, but he also says that Dumbledore is particularly fierce about Horcruxes.
We know that there is nothing in the Hogwarts library about Horcruxes. We also know that Riddle made his first Horcrux while he was still at school, which was the diary, because the Riddle that came out of the diary was still a student wearing Hogwarts/Slytherin uniform. Someone inside Hogwarts must have taught Riddle how to make a Horcrux! Anyone have any ideas?
Javed,
I think most likely he found the same book that Hermonie found, that spoke of Horcruxes only once, and wanted to know more. I speculate that he may have found information regarding this in the Chamber of Secrets, used the Room of Requirement by simply saying, “I need a library with books about Horcruxes”, or it’s even possible that he contacted the Evil Wizard Grindelwald, who Dumbledore did not kill until 1945, to learn the correct spell to use.
Javed,
What about summer vacations? I am sure Riddle would not return to the orphanage unless he absolutely had to. He could have stayed with classmates families, probably from Slytherin. He could pick their brains about Dark Magic, following up on clues as he did when he asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Maybe Moaning Myrtle was his first murder. The basilisk was the weapon but the intent was all from Riddle. Once he had the ring, he wanted to find out how to use her murder to make himself a horcrux.
Tom Riddle was able to perform magic and control his powers before going to hogwarts and before knowing he was a wizard.
From HBP we know that after the killing of his uncle and granparents, he went back to Hogwarts with Marvolo’s ring
It must have been simple for him to find out more about horcruxes after his interview with Slughorn.
And, we know for sure, that he was able charm people around him, he is a very skilled legilimens so…no problem with the “recipe” on how to make a horcrux
Karen from Texas,
I think your idea about using the Room of Requirement for finding information on Horcruxes is brilliant! Simple and elegant…wow.
Karen from Texas and Patty from Quincy, Massachusetts:
Thanks for your ideas. The idea concerning the �Room of requirement� being used to provide Tom Riddle with equipment for making horcruxes convinced me the most. It really fits. Draco also uses the room in Half-Blood Prince without anyone being able to find him. It�s the kind of thing Riddle would do, since he liked to work alone.
What do you think happens to the soul in the case of a dementor’s kiss? Is it released to go where it’s supposed to go? Is it destroyed?
I think all we know is that it is taken out from one’s body, without killing him (which makes it different from Avada Kedavra).
Then what happens if the “kissed person” has a Horcrux? Is it possible for a dementor to suck his soul? If it is, does he recover his soul afterwards? Is the soul released and bound to earth?
Herve, very good question. I’m thinking that the dementor sucks out the part that is in the body, and “kills” that part of the soul, but not the body. If the person already had a horcrux, those peices are not touched by the dementor and probally are not harmed. Therefore, if you wanted to kill a kissed person you would only have to track down the horcruxes: the part in the body has already been done for you. At least, that is my theory.
Herve and Lucinda–
I think that Horcruxes can be attacked by dementors, because dementors feed on your soul, but I don’t think that dementors could find a Horcrux, because it doesn’t have any emotions; just a bit of a person’s soul in it. Sirius escaped Azkaban as a dog, because dog emotions are hard for dementors to sense. They sense emotion, not soul.
Lucinda–
I agree with you that you need only destroy the Horcruxes to kill the person. I only disagree because once a person is kissed by a dementor, it becomes a dementor. Therefore, they probably wouldn’t care about whatever their goal in life was anymore. But then again, the bit of soul in the Horcrux may still care. Quite the quandary…
Ashley, I have to disagree with you on the point of a person turning into a dementor. They turn into a soulless lump.
But then… how do they get more dementors? You mean to tell me that all the dementors that guard Azkaban were there at the beginning of time?
I would assume they breed, like any other creature.
Yes, it says that in one of the books, doesn’t it? I don’t remember where, perhaps it’s mentioned in HBP when they’re causing all the mist?
Breed? I never thought of that…. doesnt strike me as something dementors would do…. But if you were a soul-less lump, why would they go into great detail about how you can survive without your soul? Because somwhere, I think it was Lupin, said, “You can survive without your soul, as long as your brain and heart were still working.” I had always taken that to mean that you became a dementor.
And i think i might have read somewhere that, “What happens to you when you get kissed by a dementor?” “They turn you into a similar creature like themselves…”
Not sure though…
Ashley,
Just because they have no soul does not mean the kissed one could perform the kiss on someone else. I think the dementors have something to do with the Deathly Hallows. Just a hunch.
Breeding doesn’t need a soul, if it is only breeding, but do they need to breed. Do they ever die?
I wonder if dementors are necessary to make a horcrux.Possibly in a controlled environment, they could extract the torn piece of soul. Under the guidance of an expert wizard using the appropriate spell, the torn piece could be protected from being destroyed or whatever it is the dementors do to it, and then placed inside the object that is to be the horcrux.
I wonder if the Death Eaters are somehow involved in making a horcrux. The name itself sounds like something to defy immortality. I seem to remember Harry saying “And then Nagini was going to eat me.” I can’t find it in the books, so it might be a figment of my imagination, but it would fit. When Harry was tied to the gravestone, encircled by the Death Eaters, Nagini was circling Harry and Voldemort said to her “Not yet, not yet.” I understood “eat me” to mean physically eat, but what if it means “to eat Harry’s death” and become a horcrux?
I looked up dementors and breeding. JKR says they don’t breed, they grow like a fungus wherever there is decay.
In HBP, the chapter, The Other Minister, Fudge say that dementors are breeding and thats what’s causing the cold misty weather.
Kevin,
Fudge is not such a reliable source of info that I have seen, but maybe he should have said multiplying instead of breeding, unless JKR changed her mind about them breeding.
Umbridge probably told Fudge the dementors breed, so of course he believes it completely. Until he hears otherwise from Voldemort maybe.
Funnily enough, I read that chapter literally yesterday, and i can’t remember seeing it at all. And i remembered Dave Haber mentioning that, so I was looking for it too! Strange how that happens innit?
Kevin–
What does Fudge know about dementors? Hes the one that kept them at Azkaban when Dumbledore had said not to. If someone like Dumbledore had come up to me with news that the most evil sorcerer ever to exsist had suddenly risen to power again, Id be keen to take his advice! Fudge is a blustering idiot..
And Patty– I never said breeding required a soul. I simply said it was not something that struck me as “dementor-like.” You are confusing the two. Growing like fungus seems to me like someting a dementor would do, and it fits because there is probably no place on earth more decayed than Azkaban.
The new paintings in the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom for Snape’s sojurn as its instructor included a person who had suffered the Dementor’s kiss. The person was wide eyed, vacant, blank…. There was no indication that then, or shortly thereafter they would become a dementor. Arguably, this would simply make it more horrible (not yet Shakespear’s oh Horrible, horrible, Most horrible!) but certainly worthy of teaching to the students.. specially as Lupin covered Dementors with great detail to Harry given Harry’s background.
If the unseasonable mists mean that they are ‘breeding’ I suspect that some other horrific process leads to the creation of new Dementors. Perhaps Uncle Vernon could even be right… little dementors being only ‘dementoids’?
Ashley, I think of them breeding more like single celled organisms.
Where they get into the optimum environment and they just divide. Or it could be more like a virus where they invade a healthy host and multiply until the host explodes and tiny little dementors scatter everywhere.
I personally just dont see dementors breeding. Growing like a fungus seems to be more their realm: hideous and grotesque, just like the dementors themselves.
Charlie-
I had never thought much of Snivellus’s classroom: Id go into grander detail but you all know that i despise Snivellus on VERY deep levels. So dont act surprised that I didn’t notice the paintings: you are right. The man who had been kissed did NOT turn into a dementor: I cave. they dont make new dementors by kissing the victim. But when Lupin had said “They turn you into similar creatures like themselves” I had taken that to mean you became a soul-less predator who lived to make people miserable, like a dementor.
And if dementors did “breed” which is pretty freaky just thinking about, would the little dementors, or “dementoids” as you so punnily put it, exsist only to suck peoples souls like the beings that created them? Would they be under-developed for that, or could the dementoids wreak such havoc so early on?
maybe they breed when they suck the soul out of someone creating another dementor and giving life to it. maybe it works like that. i mean we are never told it was possible to destroy them only to stop them attackng. please rely i want to see if this makes sense.
The idea of demonic creatures feeding on human souls was also used by C.S Lewis in The Screwtape Letters. Advice from an experienced devil to a younger one on how best to lure a human to damnation. Rowling’s concept is quite different though, in that the victims of the Dementors do not have to consent in any way to their own spiritual destruction. In that I think they have more in common perhaps with vampires than Lewis’s more traditionally Christian devils.
I suggested a while back that it might perhaps be possible to destroy a horcrux by feeding it to a dementor. Sort of like an hors-d’oeuvre. As for how they breed… well, I’m not sure any of the ideas I could come up with would pass Dave’s scrutiny. And quite right too! But it would be a fascinating question to put to JKR. It just goes to show the depth of the world she has created that we can find so much to wonder about and discuss.
Mikedagr8–
I had the same idea as you, that when you were Kissed by a dementor that you would turn into a dementor. That is what started this whole chain; me thinking that.
However, as Charlie points out, there is obvious evidence that this it NOT the case. Turn in your Half-Blood Prince book to the chapter of Harry’s first DADA lesson with Snape. During the description of Snapes classroom, they went into detail about the pictures hanging on the walls, one of which was a man who had suffered the dementor’s Kiss. His eyes were white and rolling, his mouth was sagged open; he showed no signs that then OR soon after that point, that he would turn into a dementor. He had simply lost his soul.
Patty looked this up on JKR’s site and reported back that “Dementors grow like a fungus wherever there is decay” so… there is your answer.
Thank you, Charlie and Patty!
yeah, i reckon dementors have no soul and that if you lose your soul to a dementor they get your soul and you become a dementor until you earn a soul off someone.
Lord Voldemort attempted to use a Killing Curse on Harry Potter which backfired upon himself! Doesn’t this count as a horcrux?
A Horcrux is a thing, not an action, created by a witch or wizard to protect a piece of thier soul and there by keep the whole of thier soul earth bound in the event thier body is destroyed. I’d be very interested to know if a dementor could destroy a Horcrux, or if the Horcrux would protect the soul even against a dementor.
Anyone wishing to kill Voldemort must destroy all of his Horcruxes, before attempting to eliminate the remainder of his soul that resides in his BODY. As everyone knows, Voldemorts body was destroyed while trying to kill the infant Harry, so doesn’t that leave the four unknown horcruxes?
Doug,
The physical body was destroyed, but the soul did not die. Voldemort was only a soul. This is the purpose of the Horcruxes. If the body dies, a wizard “merely” needs a new one to put his undamaged soul into.
If the Horcruxes are destroyed and only the piece of soul within the wizard’s body is left, then the death of the physical body would cause the soul to move on to the next state — ghost, or true death. The Horcruxes act as tethers holding the soul from passing on.
Kevin, when I suggested that a Dementor could swallow Voldemort’s soul in Harry’s scar, someone made it clear that it wouldn’t be easy, since the scar had no opening (the Dementors get the soul through the mouth).
However, I think the Dementors will play a great role in the final battle, because of the “usual story about a couple of invisible dementors”. I don’t think the couple of dementors who came to Privet Drive in OotP could be considered as “invisible”, since Harry saw them.
I re-read COS again, and I was just thinking that maybe Ginny is one of Voldemort’s horcruxes. The Riddle that comes out of the diary says: (after explaining that Ginny was writing in his diary causing him to become powerful) “Powerful enough to start feeding Miss Weasley a few of my secrets, to start pouring a little of my soul back into her…” What if “a little of my soul” doesn’t just mean writing to her in his diary, but that he made her one of his horcruxes?