Harry Potter introduced a number of characters, creatures, spells, and objects from the Wizarding World, and the most dangerous practice was the creation of Horcruxes, of which Lord Voldemort made a total of six – but who did he have to kill to make them? J.K. Rowling’s world of magic began in 1997 with Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone, which introduced the title character, his best friends, and the biggest threat these young wizards were going to encounter: Lord Voldemort, who was only mentioned in the first book, not showing his face until the second.
Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets revealed Voldemort as a memory of his young self, Tom Riddle, through his first Horcrux. His first proper appearance didn’t happen until Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, where he was reborn. On his quest for immortality, Voldemort split his soul and kept a piece of it in different objects (including Harry Potter, although that was accidental), thus creating various Horcruxes. The process of creating a Horcrux involves a spell, a murder (as it fractures the soul), and another horrific act that Rowling has refused to share. Given Voldemort had no problem killing innocent people, is not surprising he went on to successfully create more than one.
Voldemort’s first Horcrux, the diary, was created through the murder of Myrtle Warren, later known as Moaning Myrtle. During his fifth year at Hogwarts, Voldemort (Tom Riddle back then) opened the Chamber of Secrets and ordered the Basilisk inside it to hunt down muggle-born students. Its victim was Myrtle, and this murder was used to keep a fragment of his soul in the diary. His second Horcrux was Marvolo Gaunt’s ring, which he stole from his uncle, Morfin Gaunt, along with his wand. Voldemort then killed his father, Tom Riddle Sr, along with his grandparents and used the murder of his father to turn the ring into a Horcrux. His father and his family were muggles, which along with Myrtle’s murder is another indication of his hatred towards muggles and muggle-borns. The following Horcruxes were Hufflepuff’s cup and Salazar Slytherin’s locket, both stolen from Hepzibah Smith, an avid collector of magical antiquities. Voldemort earned her trust and later killed her, using this murder to turn the cup into the third Horcrux. He later killed an unknown muggle to make the locket a Horcrux.
Voldemort then traveled to Albania to retrieve Ravenclaw’s diadem and killed an Albanian peasant to transform it into his fifth horcrux. Lastly, Voldemort turned his snake, Nagini, into a horcrux by killing Bertha Jorkins, an employee of the Ministry of Magic. Jorkins was lured into the Albanian forest by Peter Pettigrew, where he tortured her to get information. This left her severely damaged and Voldemort killed her, as she was no longer useful to him. Although considered by many as a Horcrux, Harry Potter wasn’t exactly one as a piece of Voldemort was kept inside him by accident: when Voldemort tried to kill Harry and the spell backfired, his soul “broke apart” and a fragment sought out the only other living thing in the room, attaching to it.
The process of creating his horcruxes was also a sample of Voldemort’s total lack of compassion towards not only muggles and muggle-borns but other wizards as well – if they were not on his side or weren’t useful to him, they didn’t deserve to live. Lord Voldemort is the only wizard known to have successfully created more than one horcrux, and it most likely has to do with his ambition, thirst for power, and the aforementioned lack of compassion and empathy.
