Quick answer
- Voldemort made six Horcruxes on purpose: Tom Riddle’s diary, Marvolo Gaunt’s ring, Slytherin’s locket, Hufflepuff’s cup, Ravenclaw’s diadem and his snake Nagini. Harry became a seventh by accident in 1981.
- He meant to split his soul into seven pieces: six Horcruxes plus the piece in his body (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 23). Harry made it eight.
- Each one was destroyed by a different person: Harry (diary), Dumbledore (ring), Ron (locket), Hermione (cup), Crabbe’s Fiendfyre (diadem), Voldemort’s own Killing Curse (the piece in Harry) and Neville (Nagini).
- The main film change: in Deathly Hallows Part 2, Harry stabs the diadem with a basilisk fang and Ron kicks it into the fire.
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Voldemort had seven Horcruxes: six he made on purpose and one he made by accident. The six are Tom Riddle’s diary, Marvolo Gaunt’s ring, Salazar Slytherin’s locket, Helga Hufflepuff’s cup, Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem and the snake Nagini. The seventh was Harry Potter. A piece of Voldemort’s soul latched onto him the night the Killing Curse rebounded in Godric’s Hollow.
This guide lists every Horcrux with the murder used to make it, who destroyed it and how, and the chapter where it happens. Spoilers cover all seven books. Book references use the UK chapter numbers, which match the US editions. Film differences are listed separately.
All 7 Horcruxes at a glance
| # | Horcrux | Murder used to make it | Hidden where | Destroyed by | Method | Book & chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Riddle’s diary | Moaning Myrtle (1943) | Lucius Malfoy kept it, then slipped it to Ginny | Harry | Basilisk fang | Chamber of Secrets, ch. 17 |
| 2 | Marvolo Gaunt’s ring | Tom Riddle Sr. (1943) | The ruined Gaunt shack, Little Hangleton | Dumbledore | Sword of Gryffindor | Half-Blood Prince, ch. 23 (shown as already broken) |
| 3 | Slytherin’s locket | A Muggle tramp* | A seaside cave, behind a poison potion and Inferi | Ron | Sword of Gryffindor | Deathly Hallows, ch. 19 |
| 4 | Hufflepuff’s cup | Hepzibah Smith | The Lestrange vault at Gringotts | Hermione | Basilisk fang | Deathly Hallows, ch. 31 |
| 5 | Ravenclaw’s diadem | An Albanian peasant* | The Room of Requirement at Hogwarts | Vincent Crabbe (by accident) | Fiendfyre | Deathly Hallows, ch. 31 |
| 6 | Harry Potter | None: made by accident (1981) | Harry himself | Voldemort | His own Killing Curse | Deathly Hallows, ch. 34-35 |
| 7 | Nagini | Bertha Jorkins* (1994) | At Voldemort’s side | Neville | Sword of Gryffindor | Deathly Hallows, ch. 36 |
*These three victims are not named in the books. J.K. Rowling gave them in a Bloomsbury live chat on 30 July 2007. In the book, Dumbledore guesses that Nagini was made with the murder of an old Muggle man, meaning Frank Bryce (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 23). Rowling’s answer was Bertha Jorkins.
The table is in the order Voldemort probably made them, with Harry placed by date. The books fix the first two (both 1943), Harry (31 October 1981) and Nagini (1994). They don’t give an exact order for the locket, cup and diadem.
How many Horcruxes did Voldemort have?
Voldemort planned six. As a student, Tom Riddle asks Professor Slughorn whether splitting the soul into seven would be stronger, because seven is “the most powerfully magical number” (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 23). Dumbledore reads this as six Horcruxes plus the piece left in Voldemort’s body.
He ended up with seven Horcruxes and eight soul pieces in total. His soul was so unstable that when the curse on baby Harry rebounded in 1981, a fragment broke off and attached to Harry (Deathly Hallows, ch. 35). Voldemort never knew. In a 2007 interview, Rowling said Harry was not strictly a Horcrux, because no Horcrux spell was cast on him. Dumbledore calls him one in the book for simplicity.
Voldemort never made a replacement Horcrux, even after he learned the diary was gone.
Voldemort’s Horcruxes in order of creation
1. Tom Riddle’s diary (1943)
Riddle made his first Horcrux from his school diary after opening the Chamber of Secrets. The basilisk killed Moaning Myrtle in the second-floor girls’ bathroom in June 1943, during his fifth year. The diary was more than a safeguard: it was built to make someone reopen the Chamber. Dumbledore tells Harry this in Half-Blood Prince, ch. 23. Lucius Malfoy slipped it into Ginny Weasley’s cauldron in Chamber of Secrets.
2. Marvolo Gaunt’s ring (1943)
The same summer, 16-year-old Riddle went to Little Hangleton, took the ring from his uncle Morfin and murdered his Muggle father and grandparents with Morfin’s wand. Morfin was framed for it (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 17, “A Sluggish Memory”). The ring had belonged to his grandfather Marvolo. Its black stone turns out to be the Resurrection Stone, one of the Deathly Hallows.
3. Slytherin’s locket and 4. Hufflepuff’s cup
After Hogwarts, Riddle worked at Borgin and Burkes. There he met Hepzibah Smith, a rich old witch who showed him two treasures: Hufflepuff’s cup and Slytherin’s locket. Riddle’s mother, Merope, had sold the locket to Borgin and Burkes for ten Galleons (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 13). Two days later Hepzibah was dead, her house-elf Hokey was blamed, and Riddle had disappeared with both objects (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 20, “Lord Voldemort’s Request”).
The cup’s Horcrux was made with Hepzibah’s murder. Rowling later said the locket was made by killing a Muggle tramp.
5. Ravenclaw’s diadem
The Grey Lady (Helena Ravenclaw) told young Riddle where she had hidden her mother’s lost diadem: a hollow tree in an Albanian forest. Riddle found it and made it a Horcrux. He hid it in the Room of Requirement on the night he came back to Hogwarts to ask Dumbledore for the Defence Against the Dark Arts job (Deathly Hallows, ch. 31). Harry walks past it in Half-Blood Prince, ch. 24, when he hides his Potions book and marks the spot with “a discoloured old tiara”.
6. Harry Potter (31 October 1981)
This one was an accident. When the Killing Curse rebounded off Harry, part of Voldemort’s soul attached to the only living thing in the room. Dumbledore says this soul fragment is why Harry can speak to snakes and see into Voldemort’s mind (Deathly Hallows, ch. 33).
7. Nagini (1994)
Voldemort made his last Horcrux in summer 1994, while he was still a weak, half-alive creature, around the start of Goblet of Fire. He kept Nagini close. After the cup was stolen, he kept her inside a protective sphere (Deathly Hallows, ch. 32-33).
How each Horcrux was destroyed, in order
Only two things in the books are shown destroying a Horcrux: basilisk venom and Fiendfyre. The Sword of Gryffindor works because it absorbed basilisk venom when Harry used it in the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione works this out in Deathly Hallows, ch. 15.
| Order | Horcrux | Who | When | Where | Chapter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Diary | Harry, with a basilisk fang | 1993 | Chamber of Secrets | Chamber of Secrets, ch. 17 |
| 2 | Ring | Dumbledore, with the sword | Summer 1996 | Off-page | Half-Blood Prince, ch. 23; how he was cursed: Deathly Hallows, ch. 33 |
| 3 | Locket | Ron, with the sword | December 1997 | Forest of Dean | Deathly Hallows, ch. 19 |
| 4 | Cup | Hermione, with a basilisk fang | 2 May 1998 | Chamber of Secrets | Deathly Hallows, ch. 31 |
| 5 | Diadem | Crabbe’s Fiendfyre | 2 May 1998 | Room of Requirement | Deathly Hallows, ch. 31 |
| 6 | Harry’s fragment | Voldemort’s Killing Curse | 2 May 1998 | Forbidden Forest | Deathly Hallows, ch. 34-35 |
| 7 | Nagini | Neville, with the sword | 2 May 1998 | Hogwarts grounds | Deathly Hallows, ch. 36 |
A few details that are easy to mix up:
- The ring cost Dumbledore his life. He put it on, tempted by the Resurrection Stone, and the curse spread through his hand. Snape slowed it down, but gave him about a year (Deathly Hallows, ch. 33, “The Prince’s Tale”).
- The locket in the cave was a fake. Regulus Black (“R.A.B.”) and Kreacher had already swapped it (Deathly Hallows, ch. 10). Kreacher couldn’t destroy the real one. Mundungus Fletcher stole it from Grimmauld Place and gave it to Dolores Umbridge as a bribe. The trio took it back from her at the Ministry (Deathly Hallows, ch. 13).
- Ron and Hermione went to the Chamber of Secrets for the fang. Ron opened it by imitating Harry’s Parseltongue.
- Nobody chose to destroy the diadem. Crabbe cast Fiendfyre, lost control of it and died. The fire burned the diadem in Harry’s hand.
How many Horcruxes did Harry destroy?
In the books, Harry personally destroyed one: the diary, in Chamber of Secrets. He didn’t know it was a Horcrux at the time. He held the diadem when it was destroyed, but the fire did it.
The credit for the hunt is shared on purpose. Every Horcrux was destroyed by a different person, and four went on the night of the Battle of Hogwarts.
Book vs. film: what changed
The films keep most of this but change a few details.
| Horcrux | Book | Film |
|---|---|---|
| Diadem | Burned by Crabbe’s Fiendfyre | Harry stabs it with a basilisk fang, and Ron kicks it into the fire (Part 2) |
| Fiendfyre | Cast by Crabbe, who dies | Cast by Goyle, who dies. Crabbe is absent |
| Ring | Its destruction is mentioned, not shown | Dumbledore shows Harry the cracked ring in Half-Blood Prince |
| Voldemort’s death | His rebounding Killing Curse kills him and leaves a body | He flakes apart and drifts away |
Can a Horcrux be reversed?
In the books, yes, but only through remorse. Hermione reads this in Secrets of the Darkest Art, one of the Horcrux books she summoned from Dumbledore’s office (Deathly Hallows, ch. 6). The maker has to really feel what they did, and the pain of that can destroy them. Harry tells Voldemort to try remorse just before their last duel (Deathly Hallows, ch. 36). He doesn’t.
What Harry sees at King’s Cross is the cost of not doing it. Voldemort’s damaged soul appears as a small, flayed creature that cannot be helped (Deathly Hallows, ch. 35). Fans often call it the “Horcrux baby”.
FAQ
How many Horcruxes did Voldemort have?
Seven. He made six on purpose (diary, ring, locket, cup, diadem and Nagini), and Harry became the seventh by accident in 1981. Counting the piece left in his body, his soul was in eight pieces.
What was Voldemort’s first Horcrux?
Tom Riddle’s diary. He made it with the murder of Moaning Myrtle in 1943, when the basilisk killed her after he opened the Chamber of Secrets.
Who destroyed each Horcrux?
Harry destroyed the diary, Dumbledore the ring, Ron the locket and Hermione the cup. Crabbe’s Fiendfyre burned the diadem, Voldemort’s own Killing Curse destroyed the piece in Harry, and Neville killed Nagini.
How many Horcruxes did Harry destroy?
In the books, one: the diary, with a basilisk fang in Chamber of Secrets. In the Deathly Hallows Part 2 film, he also stabs the diadem before Ron kicks it into the fire.
Was Harry a Horcrux?
Effectively, yes. A piece of Voldemort’s soul attached to him when the Killing Curse rebounded in 1981. Rowling later said he was not technically a Horcrux, because no Horcrux spell was cast on him.
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This guide is the English edition of a BuzzBeaver article originally written in Japanese: 日本語版を読む. Facts are checked against the official manga and anime; fan theories are labeled as such.