Tom Marvolo Riddle's Horcruxes

"I, who have gone further than anybody along the path that leads to immortality..."

- Lord Voldemort to his gathered Death Eaters after his rebirth

Lord Voldemort, obsessed with immortality and inability to understand the importance of the soul's well-being, went further than any wizard known to history to create seven — although he had an eight-part soul, because he accidentally created his sixth Horcrux when he failed to kill Harry Potter in 1981, and later made his pet snake Nagini into what he thought was the sixth, but was in fact the seventh, Horcrux. As a student named Tom Marvolo Riddle at Hogwarts in the 1940s, 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. Albus Dumbledore removed those books from the Hogwarts Library soon afterwards. Although later he suspected that Slughorn had given information to Riddle about Horcruxes, Slughorn refused to reveal the true account of what really happened. Dumbledore later assigned Harry to retrieve the stored memory of it during the 1996–1997 school year. Harry was able to get it through the use of Felix Felicis.

This was part of Dumbledore and Harry's quest to determine, locate, and destroy, in secret, what they believed to be as many as six of Voldemort's Horcruxes. After Dumbledore's death, Harry took up the quest with his friends Ron and Hermione. Hermione was able to Summon the books on the subject to her from the Headmaster's office at the end of the 1996–1997 school year to aid them in their research on Horcruxes.

Although Voldemort had seven Horcruxes, no more than six existed at one time because Tom Riddle's diary was destroyed before Nagini was turned into a Horcrux. Hence he did have his soul split in seven pieces as he intended; however, it conferred no special added protection as he seemed to feel it might. Concerning Nagini, it is not known if she had to have been killed by Godric Gryffindor's Sword or if any other means, such as a regular sword killing her, would have destroyed the Horcrux. However, as Albus Dumbledore stated, using a living being as a Horcrux is a risky business, due to it being able to move around and think for itself. It is unknown if any method that would normally kill Nagini would also destroy the Horcrux.

All of Voldemort's Horcruxes are made from objects that have extreme value, in his desire to secure his position as the greatest in history, and that only noteworthy items can live up to his standards and having the honour of housing a fragment of his precious soul. As such, he had originally made it his desire to collect four items of the four founders of Hogwarts; he found only three, and gave up after failing to find another, but made Horcruxes out of other items that have sentimental value to himself, if not as a priceless artefact of the Wizarding world. Believing the number seven is the most powerful, Voldemort intended to split his soul into seven pieces, with six Horcruxes housing one fragment each and his main body the seventh. He hid these Horcruxes in special locations and kept their existence and purposes from absolutely everyone. However, his arrogance has also inadvertently let him leave behind subtle hints of their whereabouts, leading to their demises.

Behind the scenes

 * J. K. Rowling revealed in Pottermore that Prof. Quirinus Quirrell served as a temporary Horcrux when Voldemort's soul possessed his body during Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts. A notable difference however is that the piece of soul within Quirrell was able to exist without its container, as it abandoned Quirrell and left him to die in the Underground Chambers. This is due to it being the "main" soul that serves as the awareness and consciousness of Voldemort's psyche.
 * Based on this, the animals that Voldemort inhabited during his years of exile, such as rats and snakes, can also be considered as temporary Horcruxes.
 * The only Horcrux that Harry personally destroyed was Tom Riddle's Diary, even though he was the only one clearly stated to be sent for the mission. Also, he did not even know that it was a Horcrux at the time. The Ring was destroyed by Albus Dumbledore, the Locket by Ron Weasley, the Cup by Hermione Granger, the Diadem with Fiendfyre that was conjured by Vincent Crabbe, Nagini was killed by Neville Longbottom, and the fragment within Harry was inadvertently destroyed by Voldemort himself. In the film adaptation, however, the Diadem is stabbed with a basilisk's fang by Harry and then kicked by Ron into the oncoming Fiendfyre.
 * Of the seven Horcruxes Voldemort created (intentionally and unintentionally), four of them were destroyed during the Battle of Hogwarts, along with Voldemort himself. In fact, aside from Salazar Slytherin's Locket, all Horcruxes were destroyed within Hogwarts grounds, either during or before the aforementioned battle.
 * In the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the only Horcruxes mentioned are the diary, the ring, and the locket, leaving Harry with no direction in the film adaptations of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. In addition, Ginny hides Harry's potion book while Harry closes his eyes (as well as kissing him for the very first time), and there is no indication that Harry sees the diadem.
 * There has been controversy of the fact that, in the films, Harry, Ron and Hermione do not have any leads to find the remaining Horcruxes, apart from the locket. However, in the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, it is shown that a Horcrux will leave a trace of Dark magic - this gives the person who touches the Horcrux visions of associated events and other related Horcruxes. A scene in the sixth film shows Harry touching Marvolo Gaunt's Ring and experiencing a flow of high speed visions including Tom Riddle screaming in agony (possibly due to the method of ripping his soul) and Nagini, one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes. This is also stated in Steve Klove's script for the film. This would ultimately lead Harry, Ron, and Hermione to know most (if not all) of the Horcruxes in the film versions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
 * According to Dumbledore, Voldemort was preserving the creation of his Horcruxes for significant deaths. However, this stands to be another one of Dumbledore's deductions being wrong, as Voldemort has used a Muggle tramp and Albanian peasant to create two of his Horcruxes, with no known significance for the two. However, Dumbledore only knew for certain of two of the murders committed to create Voldemort's Horcruxes: the murder of Moaning Myrtle (his very first killing) to create the diary, and murder of Tom Riddle Sr., his father, for the Gaunt Ring Horcrux. Both of these murders were very significant, but it turns out later that Dumbledore was incorrect that all Horcrux-related deaths were important ones.
 * Interestingly, no one destroyed more than two Horcruxes (counting Quirrell) and half of them were destroyed by someone other than Harry, Ron, and Hermione. (This does not apply to the films, however, as Harry (and Ron, to an extent) destroy the diadem, which is destroyed by Crabbe in the book.)
 * Interestingly, the majority of the people who destroyed Voldemort's Horcruxes didn't know what they were destroying at the time. Neville didn't know what Horcruxes were when he killed Nagini, Harry didn't know about Horcruxes when he destroyed the diary, Voldemort didn't know he was destroying a Horcrux when he attempted to kill Harry Potter, and Vincent Crabbe didn't know what he was destroying when he destroyed the diadem. Hermione, Ron, and Dumbledore all knew that they were destroying Horcruxes, which was exactly what they were trying to do.
 * The books previously established that Voldemort can't feel when a Horcrux is destroyed. However, this was completely reversed in the movies. That is the reason he starts on the journey of seeing if all the Horcruxes are safe in the books, but in the movies it is unclear if he even checks his hiding spots. When Hermione destroys the Hufflepuff Cup, Voldemort, Harry and Nagini all seem to be momentarily incapacitated by pain. This also happens when the Ravenclaw Diadem and Nagini are destroyed, clearly showing that all Horcruxes and the Master Soul feel the destruction of the others.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * 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 1
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 (video game)
 * Harry Potter: A Pop-Up Book
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Building the Magical World
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Characters of the Magical World
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
 * LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
 * Harry Potter LEGO Sets