The heroes of the Harry Potter novel cycle for a long time tried to find the secret of immortality of the main antagonist of the epic - Voldemort. Once they succeeded and they learned that the Dark Mage survives thanks to the crucifixes. What kind of magic is this, how to deal with it, and how many crucifixes in Harry Potter?
What does the word "crucifix" mean?
In the original language, this term is called horcrux. This name was created by crossing the words horrendus (hellish) and crux (cross) - “hellish cross”.
There is a version that part of hor actually came from the noun horror (horror), which means that the word translates as “horror cross”.
Some associate the noun crucifix with the name of the Egyptian deity Horus, who was later able to resurrect.
Regardless of which of the listed versions is true, the purpose of the item called the crucifix is unchanged: it is designed to grant immortality to its creator.
How to create horcrux
Despite the fact that the hunting of Harry and his comrades for these items is given a lot of space in books, the novels do not indicate in detail how to create a crucifix. Harry Potter only found out that this is a very ancient witchcraft, to which all sorcerers treat with contempt.
It was mentioned that there are 2 conditions for creating these magic items.
- It is necessary to intentionally kill a person or a wizard, after having performed a certain witchcraft rite. How many people are killed - so many pieces of crucifixes can split your own soul.
- The chipped part must be hidden in a specific object. While it is stored in it, its owner will be able to survive even after a fatal wound: he will turn into a spirit that can under certain conditions (unicorn blood, philosopher's stone, dark ritual, etc.) gain flesh.
Destroying horcrux is almost impossible: it is protected by ancient black magic. In addition, each such artifact has its own will: in order to protect itself, it is able to subjugate people who are close to it.
Manslaughter, which is one of the conditions for creating a crucifix, is considered the most monstrous sin in the world of wizards. Therefore, the creation of horcrux is the worst witchcraft, so vile that before Voldemort it was only once committed, the Hero of the Disgusting. Moreover, this wizard created only one crucifix, while the Dark Lord divided his soul not into 2, but into 7 fragments, in other words, killed six people (one part always remains in the person himself).
The mention of the crucifixes and the methodology for their creation were deleted from all books of the magical world, except for the publication of “The Secrets of the Darkest Art” (in another translation “The Magus of All Despicable”).
How can you destroy the artifact of immortality
Overcome magic horcrux protection can only substances that are not subject to ordinary magic. At the moment, there are only two of them: the blood of a basilisk and hellfire.
The Secrets of the Darkest Art also describes a way in which the creator of an artifact can destroy his creation. To do this, he must repent from the bottom of his heart, but such a wizard will suffer such physical and moral torment that he will not live a day.
In which book did Harry first encounter the Voldemort mortuary
The first appearance of the artifact preserving the life of the Dark Lord occurred in the second novel of the cycle - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It was Tom Riddle's school diary (this name was the Evil Sorcerer in his youth).
Having learned about the way to gain immortality, the sixteen-year-old Tom decided to try it by setting a basilisk living in a secret room on a schoolgirl (Crybaby Myrtle) .
Being the first horcrux created, the diary was more powerful than the rest. Thanks to him, the spirit of Voldemort was commanded by Ginny Weasley and almost gained flesh in the second book of the cycle.
Riddle's diary is also the first destroyed crucifix by Harry Potter. Having done this, the young wizard did not yet realize what he was facing, but his mentor, Dumbledore, began to guess the nature of the immortality of the Evil Sorcerer.
After the second novel, as many as 3 books, Harry Potter did not encounter the Horcruxes and did not even know what it was. However, in the novel Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore tells his student about the secret of the immortality of a common enemy, and since then the boy has been looking for a way to destroy all of Reddle's relics.
How many artifacts of immortality were created and where were they hidden
In total, the creation of 7 crucifixes in "Harry Potter" is mentioned. However, some fans of the cycle claim that formally there were 8 of them, because one part of the soul has always lived in the body of its creator and it can be qualified as horcrux.
Honoring the figure of "seven" magic, the Dark Lord split the soul into 7 parts, hiding 6 of them in various objects.
- The first artifact was the aforementioned diary, which its creator deposited with Lucius Malfoy. Probably, he did not suspect the true nature of the subject, but guessed that the diary possessed some special power, and therefore carried it to Hogwarts with the help of Ginny Weasley.
- Despite the fact that the Dark Wizard is a half-blood, on the maternal side he was a descendant of the great sorcerer Salazar Slytherin, in memory of him, Tom Reddle's grandfather kept two little things belonging to his great ancestor: a locket and a ring. Slytherin ring became the second horcrux. To create it, the sorcerer killed his father and his parents. For some reason, the Evil Wizard left this artifact in his grandfather's abandoned house.
- The villain hid the third part of his soul in the Slytherin medallion.To do this, he needed to kill a tramp roaming the streets. Hide this item in an enchanted cave The dark wizard instructed Regulus Black (brother of Sirius Black), not knowing that he dreams of destroying it. Therefore, Regulus replaced horcrux in the cave, and gave the real one to the house elf Kikimer.
- The legendary bowl of Penelope Hufflepuff was chosen for the role of the next artifact. To create a crucifix, the owner of the bowl, Hepziba Smith, was killed. The Dark Lord deposited this item with the faithful Bellatrix Lestrange, who hid it in a bank safe.
- Candida Ravenclaw diadem is another historical relic used by Voldemort to gain immortality. Presumably, creating this horcrux, the magician killed an unknown villager. The hidden diadem was in the help-room.
- The last of his crucifixes, the Evil Wizard created shortly before his return. By that time, Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Jr. joined him. Together, they helped the owner partially regain his strength and, just in case, he created a spare artifact. He became the serpent of Nagain, accompanying him everywhere. To conduct a full-fledged ceremony, Berta Jonkins was killed.
What crucifixes were in Harry Potter
However, there was another horcrux, which the Dark Wizard was not about to create. Moreover: he never found out about his existence. This crucifix is Harry Potter.
The fact is that the magic with which immortality was achieved was forbidden, and therefore little studied. Moreover, before Voldemort, no one tried to split the soul into more than 2 fragments. Therefore, in the process of creating artifacts, the Evil Wizard encountered a lot of unexpected consequences.
- First of all, his appearance suffered: cutting off a bit from the soul, the appearance of a sorcerer changed more and more, losing human features.
- The same thing happened with the personality of Tom Riddle: due to the magic of the crucifixes, he gradually lost his humanity, turning into a soulless, ruthless monster, experiencing only a thirst for power and the fear of death.
- Another extremely important consequence of the use of forbidden magic was the instability of the soul of the Dark Magician. So, trying to kill young Harry, Voldemort was confronted with the power of maternal sacrificial love, which repelled his curse and directed him against his creator. At this moment, the villain’s soul, protecting itself, spontaneously divided, and a new splinter penetrated the baby Potter. Thus turned into the seventh Harry Potter crucifix.
Who and how destroyed each of the crucifixes
Although the young wizard with a scar is considered to be the destroyer of the Dark Lord, in fact he was neutralized with only one horcrux - a diary, and Volan de Mort, who remained defenseless, was killed. So if you consider the mage himself to be also a crucifix, then Harry himself destroyed the first and last parts of the soul of his main enemy.
The rest of the relics of Reddle were neutralized by different people.
- The ring was rendered harmless by Dumbledore with the help of the sword of Godric Gryffindor, hardened in the blood of a basilisk, and therefore adopted its properties.
- The Salazar Slytherin locket was destroyed by Harry's best friend, Ron Weasley, with the help of Godric Gryffindor's sword.
- Ironically, Joan Rowling, a woman (Hermione with a fang of a basilisk) neutralized the bowl of Penelope Hufflepuff , but a representative of the fair sex was also killed to create this artifact.
- The fourth relic of the sorcerer (Candida Ravenclaw diadem) was exterminated due to the stupidity of one of his supporters - Krebba. Desiring to destroy Harry, Hermione and Ron, he set fire to hellfire throughout the Room of Help and died with the diadem himself.
- The faithful companion of the villain - the serpent of Nagain, was the last artifact destroyed (except for the Dark Lord himself). He was killed with the help of the sword of Godric Gryffindor Neville Longbottom.
- The unscheduled crucifixion (Harry Potter) was destroyed by the Evil Wizard himself, who always wanted to take revenge on the boy, not knowing that he was ruining himself with his own hands. The deadly spell applied to Harry killed part of Riddle’s soul in him, and the hero himself survived with the help of a resurrecting stone.
Known analogues of crucifixes in world literature
Although the term horcrux was coined by Joan Rowlin specifically for his novels, the very concept of a magical subject, which contains the secret of the immortality of a character, appeared in literature long before it.
For example, in many Slavic tales of Koschey, the Immortal hides the secret of his eternal life in a needle that is in an egg. Until you break the needle, no matter how many you injure, the villain will remain unscathed. Judging by the magical properties - a magic needle from folk tales - the most that neither is a crucifix.
Another analogue of this artifact can be considered the Ring of Power from Tolkien's novels, which Joan Rowling was once fond of. Probably the idea of an object with its own will, capable of making his master immortal, was inspired by her precisely by this work.
Quest "Harry Potter: The Last Horcrux"
In recent years, new entertainment has become increasingly popular: quest rooms. For a moderate fee, visitors are allowed into a specialized game complex, where in 1 hour you need to solve puzzles and puzzles to get out of there.
In most cases, stories for quests are taken from famous books or horror films. Among them was the Harry Potter cycle, according to the plot of which Ilocked organized the Harry Potter and the Last Horcrux quest room in St. Petersburg.
Not only the inhabitants of the Northern capital, but also residents of other cities can pamper themselves with such entertainment, because Ilocked organizes its quests in many large cities of the Russian Federation and four more countries.
After the adaptation of the Harry Potter cycle, many enterprising shopkeepers began to offer their customers to become owners of souvenirs disposed of under horcrux. And today, despite the fact that 5 years have already passed since the last movie of the epic was released, those who want to take possession of the Voldemort mortuary cross are always.