Curse on Marvolo Gaunt's ring

"That ring carried a curse of extraordinary power, to contain it is all we can hope for; I have trapped the curse in one hand for the time being —"

- Severus Snape describing the potency of the curse.

A powerful curse was placed upon Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, around the time Lord Voldemort turned the ring into a Horcrux, as a defence against anyone who might try to destroy it. This curse was designed to infect anyone who dared to wear the ring, causing them to die quickly.

Effects
The curse spreads rapidly upon contact with the person and causes them to die in a painful and humiliating way moments after adorning it. However, against wizards with prodigious skill such as Albus Dumbledore and Severus Snape, the effects of this curse may be contained or temporarily halted. In the case of Albus Dumbledore, this led the quarantined section to look blackened and dead. The containment would not hold indefinitely, as the curse would continue to slowly spread and eventually kill the victim.

Neither the curse nor the damage it inflicts seem to be reversible, as Dumbledore and Snape did all they could, but ultimately could do nothing to save Dumbledore from eventual death. Dumbledore's right hand looked blackened and dead for the last year of his life, seemingly with no improvement. This also hindered his ability to use his right hand, as he had trouble uncorking a bottle containing a memory. All the while his infected hand hurt from time to time. In the films, however, after his death, instead of part of his hand being skeletel, his whole hand turned black.

dubledoreHistory


In the summer of 1996, when Albus Dumbledore found the ring under the rotting floorboards of the Gaunt Shack, he saw it immediately as the Hallow that he had desired for so many years, the Resurrection Stone. Wanting to use it to revive his family and apologise for his selfishness in the past, Dumbledore lost his common sense, forgetting it to be a horcrux which may very well be cursed and adorned it on his right hand. Almost immediately, the curse triggered, nearly killing Dumbledore.

However, Dumbledore managed to use his own prodigious talents to contain the curse from spreading any further, which prevented him from dying within moments. He returned to Hogwarts quickly and went to see Severus Snape, whose masterful knowledge in the Dark Arts managed to halt the curse's spread temporarily through a thick golden potion and several incantations.

Unfortunately, Snape claimed that though the curse was contained in his right hand, it would eventually break free of the restraints and spread once again, killing Dumbledore in a painful and humiliating way. Snape also claimed that had Dumbledore managed to return sooner, he might have done more to save him. Upon learning that he had no more than a year to live, and in an attempt at preventing a humiliating and agonising death, he requested Snape to kill him when the time came.

When Dumbledore used Godric Gryffindor's Sword to crack the ring, the curse seemingly disappeared, as he was able to wear the ring to pick up Harry Potter from the Dursleys with no further ill effects. Also, when Harry received the Resurrection Stone that was taken out of the ring, the curse did not spread on contact.

Behind the scenes

 * It is unknown if Dumbledore severing his infected hand while the curse was still contained in it would have prevented the curse from spreading any further to the rest of his body, thus saving him. One might assume not, since Dumbledore did not attempt this (which he surely would have could it have saved his life).

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2