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Introduction | How They Work
Significance | The Seven Explained | Questions?
The etymology of the word seems to be this: a combination of "hors" from the French "dehors" meaning outside and "crux" meaning "essence." Thus, a Horcrux is a device for keeping your soul (the essence) outside your body.
A Horcrux is created by manually putting part of the soul into an object. Firstly, the soul must be split into two, where one part remains in the human body while the other is destined for the Horcrux. This splitting is accomplished by the "supreme act of evil," murder, which "rips the soul apart."
Secondly, a powerful spell must be used to gain control over the divided soul to allow the witch or wizard to physically move it into the object they have chosen for the Horcrux.
Creating a Horcrux is unnatural and immoral. Professor Slughorn notes that "the soul is supposed to remain intact and whole...splitting it is an act against nature." Whether this means the creation of a Horcrux is inherently evil is debatable, but it is clearly frowned upon at the very least in the wizarding community, shown particularly by Dumbledore's banning of its discussion at Hogwarts.
Post Deathly Hallows Analysis
Given what we've learned from Deathly Hallows, there is something new that should be noted about the creation of Horcruxes.
Indeed, in the event of recklessly committing murder, a wizard can inadvertently create a Horcrux without supplying the necessary incantations.
In the sequence with which we are all very familiar, Voldemort was able to split his soul so efficiently because he was as evil as to target his Avada Kedavra at a helpless baby Harry. But considering the many times he had mutilated his soul before this confrontation, it is possible that his body had been able to do this horrible process naturally - it becoming a subconscious bodily function like breathing.
Much like their creator, the Horcruxes in the series have the ability to deceive and manipulate. (For details about each one, you can go here). But why do they have these qualities if all they need to do is exist so that the creator lives?
An easy explanation is that it's a defense mechanism. What better way for a helpless bit of soul to survive than using a potential destroyer's own emotions against them? Think of what the locket did to Ron before he stabbed it in Deathly Hallows! It tortured him with images of Harry kissing Hermione. Who knows what damage Ron could have done to himself and others if Harry wasn't there to pacify him?
But maybe Horcruxes have far more sinister motives. The fact that Voldemort could not even feel it when they were destroyed might mean that Horcruxes have separate, individual identities. Though a majority of the Horcruxes were created from inanimate objects, were they made sentient when infused with a piece of Voldemort's soul? Do they have minds? Do they have desires?
As to what a Horcrux would want for itself, one need only look to book two where our heroes encountered Tom Riddle's old diary. In Chamber of Secrets, that first Horcrux tried to gain a body by sucking the life out of poor Ginny Weasley.
Tom Riddle, page 313, CoS
While this might not be true for all Horcruxes, this Horcrux intended to be more than just a book, and that in itself proves that Horcruxes have a will of their own - or perhaps - a will mirroring Lord Voldemort's.
Or maybe there's something else to be realized in this Horcrux's unyielding determination to become complete. Perhaps a sliver of soul cares about that beyond everything else; healing the wound of its creation at any cost. For maybe it knows about it's excruciating fate.
But let us not forget that Voldemort put a fair bit of magical enchantments on these Horcruxes. It's a fair possibility that these spells granted them aggressive behavior as well as protection, and therefore trumping the entire preceding argument. (But for the sake of analysis consider both possibilities!)
Among the seven Horcruxes Lord Voldemort created, two of them were living creatures: Nagini the snake, and Harry Potter the boy wizard.
Living Horcruxes maintain a strong connection with their "creator." In terms of Harry Potter, his connection with Voldemort presented in the painful scar in his forehead, and later in occasional visits to the Dark Lord’s mind. The infusion of Voldemort's soul allowed him to speak Parseltoungue. And back at Hogwarts, Harry could even feel it when Voldemort was giddy, or burning with anger.
Nagini, on the other hand, might have acquired a more substantial increase in abilities after the old Riddle House caretaker died. The snake was, after all, an intentional Horcrux, and how many snakes do you know that can possess a dead body? It's safe to assume from the story of Nagini that a living Horcrux, if made while following all the rules of creation, will gain a certain amount of magical skill and awareness beyond what is natural.
One more thing to note about living Horcruxes: besides a connection with their creator, there exists a link between the Horcruxes themselves. Such was first introduced in Order of the Phoenix when Harry dreamed the attack on Arthur Weasely. The inherent connection of the Horcruxes was why Harry felt he was the snake in that nightmare.
"Remorse. You've got to really feel what you've done."
Remorse is surely a one hundred percent method for eliminating* Horcruxes however it is the most painful for the creator. And since forming guilt was beyond Voldemort's comprehension, the trio opted for the other known devices of destruction: the Basilisk fang, the sword of Godric Gryffindor, and FiendFyre.
*A common misconception about the destruction of Horcruxes is that the bit of soul itself is annihilated. According to Jo and a multitude of religions, the soul is quite eternal and rather moves to another realm after its vessel is destroyed. And as Hermione once described in Deathly Hallows, unlike a human body, the soul in a Horcrux is completely dependent on its container. Thus it should be noted that the methods listed above target the highly enchanted vessel - not the soul.
We caught only a glimpse of what really happens to a piece of soul when it's removed from the natural realm - but what we got was disturbing:
Such an eternal, torturous, horror of a life was the fate of each piece of Voldemort's severed soul. Whether Voldemort himself went into the form of a baby too, we can only guess at that. But rest assured, his punishment would be no less than that of the tortured creature Harry saw at "King's Cross."
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