Involving the act of murder and other atrocities, the process of creating a Horcrux is considered so heinous that it is kept a secret from the wizarding world in Harry Potter. Voldemort, in his quest to become immortal, masters the spell to create seven Horcruxes (as he believes this to be the most powerful number). He splits his soul to tether each part to an object that he considers to be of value, which connects him to the mortal realm.

Each Horcrux is carefully chosen, serving as symbols of Voldemort’s pure-blood lineage or his connection to Hogwarts, the only place he once thought of as home.

RELATED: Harry Potter: 12 Things You Didn't Know About Lord Voldemort

The Diary

dumbledore holding tom riddle's diary

Voldemort’s first Horcrux is created when he is a student at Hogwarts; he opens the Chamber of Secrets and unleashes the Basilisk to kill a fellow student, Myrtle Warren, and rip his soul in the process.

Having obtained it from a Muggle bookshop, the diary itself does not hold significance as such. This is why a young Ginny Weasley is not suspicious of its true nature when she comes across it years later, in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Voldemort had entrusted Lucius Malfoy with the diary, who slips it inside Ginny’s cauldron when he gets the chance. It gradually possesses her and uses her to reopen the Chamber of Secrets so that the Basilisk can attack Muggle-born students. Harry eventually stabs it with the Basilisk’s fang — although he is unaware at the time that it is a Horcrux.

Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring

dumbledore trying on marvolo gaunt's ring

Voldemort’s mother Merope belongs to an ancient pure-blood wizarding clan called the Gaunts, who are also the direct descendants of Salazar Slytherin. She lives with her father Marvolo and her brother Morfin, both of whom strongly believe in pure-blood supremacy. Being in love with Tom Riddle Senior, a handsome and affluent Muggle, she uses magic to force him to marry her. However, the spell eventually wears off and Riddle abandons his wife, who ends up giving birth to Voldemort in an orphanage and dying shortly afterwards.

In 1943, Voldemort traces his mother’s roots and visits her former home. He encounters a lone Morfin, who is wearing the family heirloom — a ring with a stone bearing the coat of arms of the Peverell family. Both Voldemort and his uncle are unaware that this is actually the sign of the Deathly Hallows and the stone is, in fact, the Resurrection Stone. Voldemort modifies Morfin’s memory to forget their meeting, and takes the ring. Morfin is later sent to Azkaban as he is framed by his nephew for the Riddle family’s murder. Killing Tom Riddle Senior allows the ring to be turned into another Horcrux, which Voldemort hides in the ruins of the House of Gaunt.

Years later, Dumbledore reinstates Morfin’s memory to find out what really happened, and retrieves the ring. He impairs it with the sword of Godric Gryffindor, but not before falling victim to a powerful curse in the ring.

Salazar Slytherin’s Locket

Salazar Slytherin's locket

This Horcrux is another valuable item that belongs to the Gaunts (and originally to Slytherin). It is embedded with emeralds in the shape of a serpentine. A desperate Merope steals the locket and, unaware of its true worth, sells it for ten Galleons. It winds up with Hepzibah Smith, a wealthy witch who is an avid collector of precious antiques. She is later approached by a young and charming Tom Riddle, who soon kills her and steals the locket.

While living at the orphanage as a child, he had terrorized two children in a cave near the sea. After killing a homeless Muggle to turn the locket into a Horcrux, he chooses this location to hide it. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore and Harry manage to get past Voldemort’s magical defenses and take the locket — only for Harry to discover later on that it is a fake. The real locket has somehow made its way around the neck of Dolores Umbridge, the former headmistress of Hogwarts. The Golden Trio breaks into the Ministry of Magic to take it, and it is finally destroyed by Ron with the sword of Gryffindor.

Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup

cup of Helga Hufflepuff

While in the company of Hepzibah, Voldemort learns about another treasure in her collection: the cup of Helga Hufflepuff. He steals this as well, and kills her to make it a Horcrux. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is deduced that the cup is kept in the Gringotts vault of his devoted follower, Bellatrix Lestrange. Harry, Ron and Hermione manage to steal the cup, and Hermione pierces it with the Basilisk's fang during the Battle of Hogwarts.

Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem

Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem

While still at Hogwarts, Voldemort persuades the ghost of Helena Ravenclaw, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw, to reveal where her mother’s diadem is. She stole it out of jealousy when she was alive, and had gone into hiding. Her mother sent the Bloody Baron to bring her back, who ended up finding her in the forests of Albania. However, his unrequited love for Helena caused him to murder her, and the diadem remained hidden in a hollowed tree until Voldemort recovers it much later. He turns it into a Horcrux by killing an Albanian peasant. Under the pretense of inquiring about a teaching position at Hogwarts, he hides it in the Room of Requirement.

Harry finds it there during the Battle of Hogwarts, only to run into Draco Malfoy and his cronies, Gregory Goyle and Vincent Crabbe. The latter casts the Fiendfyre curse, which causes uncontrollable flames to destroy the room and the objects hidden inside — including the diadem.

Nagini

Harry Potter Ways Neville Longbottom Could Be The Perfect Chosen One Neville vs Nagini the final Horcrux

In 1994, a bodiless Voldemort devises a plan with the Death Eater Peter Pettigrew for his resurrection. They run into the Ministry of Magic employee Bertha Jorkins, and extract confidential information from her regarding the upcoming Triwizard Tournament before killing her. Her murder is used to create another Horcrux: Voldemort’s pet snake Nagini, who has proven to be a faithful companion to him.

Before Harry sacrifices his life during the final battle, he tells Neville Longbottom to kill Nagini. Neville seizes the chance later on, when he pulls out the sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and beheads the snake — thus, killing the last Horcrux.

Harry Potter

Harry Potter Plot Holes That The Movies Fixed Harry Posessed by Voldemort

On the night of Halloween in 1981, Voldemort goes to Godric’s Hollow to kill the boy whom he believes could bring about his downfall in the future. However, after the murders of James and Lily Potter, the Avada Kedavra curse directed at Harry rebounds due to his mother’s sacrifice, leaving Voldemort in barely a human state. Unknown to him, his already maimed soul gets further splintered, which latches onto the only intact soul in the room — inadvertently making Harry another Horcrux. This is the reason why he shares some of Voldemort’s thoughts and powers (such as speaking Parseltongue). It is only when he is struck down by the Killing Curse again in the Forbidden Forest that this part of his soul is destroyed, and he comes back to life to kill Voldemort once and for all.

MORE: Harry Potter: 5 Great Places To Hide A Horcrux