Experiences with death can bring us closer to understanding the fragility of life often leaving us feeling scared, fragile, and powerless. Our grief scars become links between us and the existence of death. We are! Embrace the crazy and subscribe to receive posts straight to your inbox anyway.
Subscribe to stay up to date on all our posts. Carrie August 19, at am Reply. Kathy November 30, at pm Reply. Nathaniel August 12, at pm Reply. Glen December 17, at pm Reply. Quirinus Quirrell was not a horcrux. All the horcruxes were created before Harry survived the attack. So he is not a horcrux. Quirinus Quirrell was someone possessed by Voldemort. But he was not a horcrux. Can someone please explain to me as to how you can consider Quirinus Quirrell as a horcruxes. Please help me understand.
Willow November 23, at am Reply. There were only ever 7 Horcruxes. Voldemort did not set out to make 7 Horcruxes. What he set out to do was to split his soul into 7 pieces. The 7th piece of soul would remain with him, and is not a Horcrux.
Diana Tolladay June 16, at pm Reply. Linda November 1, at pm Reply. Janice January 12, at am Reply. Litsa January 12, at pm Reply. Kathleen January 9, at am Reply. Eleanor, In spite of this article being written a while ago I just read it I have to comment. I enjoyed it so much! I am going to refer to it often. Thank you. Vicki May 25, at am Reply.
My daughter wanted him back in an almost literal way the first year it happened. He died in Tower 1 of the World Trade Center. I thought she was steeped in too much grief after nearly witnessing with her own eyes the death of her dad in a violent way and that she wanted to find a way to decrease the pain.
She was sent to a hospital for 4 months after it happened because she was in no way prepared to handle it. Then we ended up in counseling for it. At least the counselor understood that. Jeannie December 30, at pm Reply. Vicki I know this was a while ago, but I was compelled to reach out to you.
I live in NC but grew up in NY. I lost friends and have family who were at ground zero looking for survivors. It was horrible. I am a true believer in Christ and am so sorry your child was given such a discouraging response to her question. You can teach me at winters.
Ally August 30, at pm Reply. Well… Quirrell was not a horcrux. Voldemort just possessed his body since he was stripped of his own after attempting to kill Harry. Mike Le August 27, at pm Reply.
This implied a finite number of Horcruxes any one person may create before the process became too dangerous to attempt again. It also implied that the creation of a Horcrux used a set amount of soul and that this amount was the same every time the process was undertaken. Creating multiple Horcruxes rendered the soul unstable and liable to break apart if the creator of the Horcruxes was killed.
Harry Potter destroying the diary Horcrux with a Basilisk fang unknowingly destroying one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Destroying a Horcrux required that the object containing the soul fragment be damaged to a point beyond any and all physical or magical repair. When a Horcrux was damaged to that point, it may appear to "bleed" ink in the case of Tom Riddle's diary [9] and a "dark blood-like substance" in the case of Ravenclaw's Diadem [10] and a scream may be heard as the soul fragment perished.
However, as a safety measure to protect one's immortality and precious soul fragment, the creator would usually place powerful enchantments onto the artefact to prevent damage. It was unknown if the creator of the Horcrux would be able to sense that their soul fragment was destroyed, although Dumbledore stated that in the particular case of Voldemort, he would not feel their loss because his soul had been split too many times and had been in that state for too long.
All known methods of Horcrux destruction required the "receptacle" to be damaged beyond repair [4] which, in the case of living receptacles, meant that they must be killed. For example, methods were Fiendfyre as evidenced by the destruction of Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem , which required extreme skill to control, [10] the Killing Curse on living Horcruxes. This was seen on Professor Quirrell when he was destroyed by Harry Potter's touch.
This was only achievable as basilisk venom was an extremely destructive substance capable of destroying Horcruxes. Although beyond repair when exposed to this venom, living Horcruxes could potentially be saved through the speedy administration of phoenix tears , an extremely rare substance.
Fawkes demonstrated this ability for Harry when he was bitten by the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. This was only achievable as goblin-wrought silver is a destructive enough metal capable of absorbing qualities that strengthen it. The sword demonstrated this ability for Harry Potter when he used it to slay the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets.
Because it was made of goblin-wrought silver itself, the sword was imbued with basilisk venom and became capable of destroying Horcruxes. The main purpose and power of a Horcrux was to anchor the creator to the mortal realm for the sake of achieving immortality.
As long as at least one Horcrux existed, the creator's soul would be bound to the world of the living. Hence, if the body was destroyed, the soul would remain as a lingering spirit instead of passing through to the other side. Though being in such a state of existence was what very few would prefer over death, the soul could possess others to regain physical form, which shortened the host's lifespan drastically.
The fragment of a person's soul within a Horcrux was capable of thinking for itself and had certain magical abilities, including the ability to influence those in their vicinity and affect them mentally.
When Harry, Ron, and Hermione were carrying Salazar Slytherin's locket around their necks in , it brought out the worst in the trio by making them moodier, more prone to fighting, and slowly darker aspects of them began to appear, especially Ron as he carried the locket much longer than his friends.
They were also unable to summon their Patronuses while wearing the locket since the soul fragment inside was darkening their thoughts. A person with an affinity for the Dark Arts , on the other hand, would be strengthened by the influence of a Horcrux, as Dolores Umbridge was when wearing Salazar Slytherin's locket. The diary Horcrux takes possession of Ginny Weasley. If a person was more emotionally vulnerable, it was possible for the soul inside the Horcrux to take control of him or her, as Ginny Weasley using her.
In fact, Voldemort took advantage of this possessive power over Ginny to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, using the diary as a weapon rather than a safeguard.
This quasi-sentient entity that was capable of sapping life-force to create a physical form differed from a "mere memory ", which the diary's manifestation claimed itself to be, as no mere charmed object could achieve such a feat, though Lucius Malfoy thought that was what the diary simply was. In this way, a Horcrux could gradually feed on another person's life or negative emotions to strengthen itself and increase the ability of the soul fragment within to act independently in the physical world.
The best example of this was in the case of Tom Riddle's diary. For decades, the diary lay dormant in Lucius Malfoy 's possession, doing nothing other than safeguarding the soul fragment of Tom Riddle.
When Ginny Weasley began to transcribe her fears and insecurities into the pages of the diary, the fragment of Tom Riddle's soul contained within was not only able to write back to Ginny but eventually drained enough life out of her to actually manifest itself in a semi-corporeal form and work magic with Harry Potter 's wand.
While she wore the locket Horcrux, the evil Dolores Umbridge grew stronger. Likewise, Salazar Slytherin's locket slowly gained power when it was in the possession of Harry, Ron, and Hermione in the months prior to its destruction. It can be theorised that the locket gained somewhat less power from them not enough for Riddle to fully manifest but still enough to speak and create illusions because Harry, Ron, and Hermione were actively resisting the locket's influence instead of embracing it as Ginny had done with the diary.
Even Slytherin's locket was fairly inert when it was initially discovered in a cabinet in the drawing-room at 12 Grimmauld Place. It displayed no powers and gave no indication that it possessed superior magical properties. Horcruxes also possessed some last line of defence against destruction. The fragment of soul within the Horcrux seems to be able to sense impending threats and can act to defend itself.
For instance, Slytherin's locket viciously taunted Ron Weasley with visions of his deepest fears in the hopes of preventing him from stabbing it with Godric Gryffindor's sword , and even attempted to strangle Harry Potter when he was close to obtaining the Sword with the intent of piercing the locket.
Aside from its self-defence mechanism from the soul fragment, a Horcrux is usually enchanted by the creator to have other forms of defences to prevent destruction. Marvolo Gaunt's ring contained a deadly curse that would kill anyone who touched it. To create a Horcrux was to divide one's soul — the " essence of self " — and it was therefore in the creation of a Horcrux that one fell prey to Adalbert Waffling 's first Fundamental Laws of Magic , which essentially stated that tampering with one's soul inevitably resulted in grave side effects.
Creating Horcruxes was considered perhaps the most dreadful act possible. One of these such side-effects was the "dehumanising" effect the mutilation of one's soul was said to have. The more Horcruxes one created, the less human they became, both emotionally and physically; for example, in the house-elf Hokey 's memory, Tom Riddle was initially shown to be hollow-cheeked but otherwise normal, [23] though ten years later his features look as if they have been burned and blurred, and his skin was extremely white.
Lord Voldemort after his transformation. One should note that it is unclear whether the red eyes and slit-like nostrils that Voldemort had after he was reborn were caused by having more Horcruxes than he did than when he applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post a second time, [23] whether they were characteristics of a person who had been resurrected with the help of serpents which had continued to play key roles in his revival , or whether due to any other alterations he had made to himself.
Dumbledore speculated that Voldemort underwent other dangerous transformations, as well as creating Horcruxes which resulted in Voldemort's hideous appearance. A third side effect of Horcrux creation was that the master soul itself became unstable even with creating just one Horcrux.
For example, the creation of Voldemort's sixth "Horcrux" of seven — Harry Potter — is known to be the direct result of this. The rest of Voldemort's mutilated soul fled.
After mangling his own soul through many Horcrux creations, the fragments of Voldemort are trapped in limbo for eternity. The final known side-effect of Horcrux creation was a possible inability to move on from limbo after death. This was seen when Voldemort's Killing Curse destroyed the part of his soul that resided in Harry Potter. This broken and mangled piece of soul [25] was forced to exist in the stunted form of a flayed and mutilated baby that Harry saw in King's Cross during his visit to limbo, unable to return to the land of the living as a ghost, and unable to move on to the afterlife because his soul was maimed and corrupted.
The same fate was implied to have been suffered by Voldemort's "main" soul piece, the one that inhabited his body; it is unknown if this was a standard fate meted out for all Horcrux creators, or if it was unique to Voldemort due to the number of his Horcruxes.
Regardless, reconciliation apparently cannot occur after death, as the soul's state at death remains forever, so the greatest of all consequences incurred by Horcrux creation may be the possibility of eternal limbo of the soul.
Voldemort's soul fragments also appeared to possess only the awareness and intelligence of the infant they appeared to be. Lord Voldemort , obsessed with immortality and unable or unwilling to understand the importance of the soul's well-being, went further than any wizard known to history, creating seven — although he wanted six Horcruxes to have a seven part soul.
He accidentally created a pseudo-Horcrux when he failed to murder Harry Potter in , [8] and later made his pet snake Nagini into his seventh Horcrux. As a student named Tom Riddle at Hogwarts in the s, he learned of Horcruxes through books in the Restricted Section , including Secrets of the Darkest Art , and sought out Potions Master Horace Slughorn for further information about creating more than one, of which no book would have any record.
The first Horcrux — Tom Riddle's diary — made by Lord Voldemort came into existence when the villain was only a sixteen-year-old Hogwarts student. Before he was defeated, Voldemort passed the diary on to a man whom he considered to be a faithful follower, Lucius Malfoy. The diary then found its way into the hands of Ginny Weasley, who, terrifyingly, nearly died because of the whole ordeal and Tom Riddle began to seep through its pages in an attempt to come back while the real Voldemort was off hiding.
Harry managed to destroy it by impulsively stabbing it with a Basilisk fang, with Basilisk venom just so happening to be one of the very few substances that is corrosive to a Horcrux — a crucial bit of luck for Harry.
Marvolo Gaunt's ring was a Gaunt family heirloom. Merope was Tom Riddle's mother, and although the Gaunt family were ostracized, they were about as pure-blood as it got before their line died out. In fact, they descended from Salazar Slytherin himself. Since Merope had Voldemort with a Muggle, he was not pure-blood, but others in his family were, and no doubt he valued this enough to consider the ring worthy of being one of the seven Horcruxes.
Tom wore the ring while at Hogwarts, but it was not actually made to hold a piece of his soul until later. The ring was destroyed close to the end of the book series by Albus Dumbledore, who used Godric Gryffindor's sword.
Thanks to Harry, the sword was impregnated with Basilisk venom, marking its destruction. As a child, Voldemort was very lonely. Born as a product of Amortentia, left to grow up in an orphanage, he had a bad start in life and this made him into who he was. Much like Harry, Hogwarts was the first place he could really call home. With the castle being so important to him, Voldemort decided each of his Horcruxes should be something from each of the founders.
Tom Riddle murdered a wealthy woman to get Salazar Slytherin's locket and forced her house-elf into a confession. It was hidden in the seaside cave, one of the most dangerous locations in Harry Potter , where he tortured fellow orphans as a child, turning them into the Inferi who infested the lake.
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