| POTENTIAL MASSIVE SPOILERS,
READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!
As everyone who has read the Half Blood
Prince will know, the only way Harry
will be able to possibly destroy Voldemort
is by locating and destroying his six
Horcruxes (with the seventh part of
his soul residing in Voldemort himself).
This editorial will cover the facts
known about these Horcruxes, speculate
on what we don’t, and come to
a conclusion as to what will happen
in the final duel, combining all of
the knowledge I have obtained.
- The first Horcrux Harry has encountered
is Tom Riddle’s diary. Dumbledore
has deducted that this must have been
a Horcrux due to the fact that it
had the power to control Ginny Weasley,
and also because it was important
to Tom Riddle. This was destroyed,
however, by the basilisk fang in Chamber
of Secrets.
- The second Horcrux is Marvolo Gaunt’s
ring, which once belonged to Salazar
Slytherin. Again, this Horcrux has
been destroyed, but this time by Dumbledore.
This also had value towards Voldemort,
and so would be a desired object to
contain a part of his soul.
Now this is where the guesswork begins.
But before looking at the other Horcruxes,
we need to run over some facts. We know:
- Voldemort uses objects that are
of importance to him, mainly possessions
that link himself to the four founders
of Hogwarts, as it is stated in the
HBP that it was the only place Tom
Riddle felt as home.
- There are a maximum of FOUR Horcruxes
MISSING, but not necessarily four
Horcruxes remaining to be destroyed,
as I will explain later.
- All the encountered Horcruxes have
been surrounded by strong magical
protection, which will no doubt cause
Harry some trouble along the way.
The diary had the power to manipulate
the person who opened up to it, the
ring seems to have injured Dumbledore’s
hand, and could have been a lot worse
(i.e. death). The locket was protected
by an unknown potion that seemed to
make the drinker reluctant to drink
more, and see things that aren’t
there.
- Voldemort also seems to hide his
Horcruxes in important places to him.
There is only one example of this,
however – the cave where he
‘tortured’ some children
from his orphanage.
Now I will explain about the other
Horcruxes. Please appreciate that these
are only educated guesses, and I have
no objection to criticism that anyone
may have:
- The third Horcrux is the locket,
which also belonged to Slytherin,
but was also worn by Tom Riddle’s
mother, the only parent he was ever
proud of. In the HBP, it seems that
a person with the initials R.A.B.
had possession of it. Many people
have deducted this R.A.B. is Regulus
Black, brother of Sirius, who was
once a Death Eater, but was killed
for trying to back out, which shows
it could well be possible that he
took the Horcrux. There is also a
theory as to how he took it, which
I have gathered from multiple sources.
As Dumbledore has said, only one person
is meant to cross the lake and attempt
the challenge, which is secured by
the boat, but it only seems to register
overage magic (as it didn’t
account for Harry in the HBP). I came
to the conclusion that Regulus, a
member of the Black family, would
have the liberty of using Kreacher
(or one of the previous house-elves)
to help him. Even if Kreacher knew
what was going on and didn’t
like the idea (as I am sure he didn’t
– he supported Dark magic),
he would have to obey his family.
Also, he would most likely not be
accounted for on the boat. When it
came down to drinking the potion,
Regulus could easily have ordered
Kreacher to drink it, and would force-feed
it to him if the potion took effect
and he refused. This idea leads onto
the fact that the Horcrux is in number
twelve, Grimmauld Place, or even in
the possession of Kreacher. In the
OOTP, a locket was briefly mentioned
when they were cleaning the house.
It also mentions several times that
Kreacher tried to salvage items at
this time. For easiness of plot, I
believe that Kreacher has this Horcrux.
Easy enough to find – Harry
can just demand that Kreacher hand
over the locket. Simple.
- Horcrux number four is Helga Hufflepuff’s
cup. We don’t know much about
the cup at the moment. The location
is a complete mystery, however, as
I have mentioned, it will no doubt
reside in a place Voldemort is ‘fond’
of. Some possible speculations include
the Chamber of Secrets and Godric’s
Hollow. I don’t believe it is
in either place – Voldemort
never got back into Hogwarts after
he left, and because he made this
Horcrux after he left, it would be
impossible to be in the Chamber. And
why would it be in Godric’s
Hollow??? Anyway, maybe they get a
book about ancient artefacts, and
find out where it is. Whatever.
- Horcrux six (five is explained after
this) is Nagini, Voldemort’s
lovely snake. Dumbledore concluded
that the snake is a Horcrux because
of the special link between them,
that he has great control over her,
even for a Parselmouth. The location
is easy in theory – she will
be wherever Voldemort will be, but
the problem is getting to the place,
because of the fact that we don’t
know where it is.
- Horcrux five is thought to be a
possession of Gryffindor’s and
Ravenclaw’s. I don’t think
so… I think the last Horcrux
is… Harry. Or at least, Harry’s
scar. Dumbledore has stated that Voldemort
was to make his final Horcrux with
his death, but I think he accidentally
made Harry his final Horcrux. As with
Nagini, they have a special connection,
sharing emotions and sometimes can
see through the eyes of the other.
Some people may challenge this idea
– If Voldemort didn’t
know he made Harry a Horcrux, wouldn’t
that mean he’d go ahead and
eventually make a seventh, thinking
he only had five beforehand? And why
would he want to destroy Harry if
he knew he was a Horcrux? Firstly,
I believe Voldemort knows Harry is
his Horcrux, and he would still want
to destroy him because, as Dumbledore
said, he didn’t think losing
just one Horcrux would matter, as
with the diary. He would think, OK,
Harry and the diary are gone, so what?
I’ve still got four more Horcruxes!
Yippee! Or something like that.
And that’s the Horcruxes. Now
for my prediction of the final duel.
I’ll start with the Horcrux Quest
(hey, catchy title, possibly a title
for the seventh book?! Probably not.)
and end with the deaths…
- Firstly, I think Harry, Ron and
Hermione (who vowed to go with him)
will not return to school and will
instead go out and destroy two more
Horcruxes, making a total of four.
- Harry would then somehow find out
where Voldemort is (through a vision/dream,
maybe?) and apparate there or create
an unauthorised portkey, which would
be convenient. The Ministry would
track them down and find them after
the fight with Voldemort, giving them
living proof of what happens.
- Harry orders Ron and/or Hermione
to blow up Nagini or something, while
Harry distracts Voldemort, maybe by
Priori Incantatem (when they link
wands).
- Voldemort then targets Ron and/or
Hermione with Avada Kedavra and Harry
jumps in the way of it, sacrificing
himself to save them. NOOOOOOOO!!!
- Ron and/or Hermione will then be
protected with Harry’s love
(Lily Potter style!) and Voldemort,
once again overlooking the magic he
despises the most, aims a killing
curse at them, which backfires and
kills him. Hoorah!
Some people may argue with this –
the prophecy in OOTP says that only
Harry can kill Harry. Well, in a way,
Harry has. Voldemort was as good as
dead when Harry destroyed all his Horcruxes
and sacrificed himself to save his friend(s).
He uses ‘the power the dark lord
knows not’ – love. He used
this power to destroy Voldemort by using
it to protect the people who would finish
Voldemort off. I know it’s incredibly
trivial, but so is JK Rowling. It’s
her style.
So that’s it. Thanks for reading.
If you’ve got any questions or
complaints, please tell me. |
