In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort's seven Horcruxes allowed him to return, but they were ultimately destroyed by Harry and his allies.
The mystery of Voldemort's survival after the killing curse was lifted led to his full rebirth in Goblet of Fire. In the sixth installment, Harry is tasked with finding and destroying the Horcruxes—dark magical objects that conceal a wizard's soul—to prevent Voldemort's resurgence.
The movie adaptation of Half-Blood Prince omitted key details from the books, such as why Voldemort coveted Horcruxes, their origins, and their creation process. Horcruxes are malevolent objects in the Wizarding World, requiring a wizard to commit murder to split their soul. Harry and his allies succeeded in destroying all seven of Voldemort's Horcruxes.
1. Tom Riddle's Diary
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort's first Horcrux is introduced as his youth diary, created using Myrtle Warren's death to split his soul. In a cut scene from the films, Lucius Malfoy reveals that Voldemort gave him the Horcrux during the First Wizarding War to open the Chamber of Secrets. Believing Voldemort to be dead, Malfoy intended to free himself and implicate the Weasleys by slipping the diary into Ginny's cauldron.
Harry destroyed the Tom Riddle diary Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets using a basilisk fang, which had been driven into his arm. He recognized that the diary was amplifying Riddle's power and decided to destroy it to stop him. Basilisk venom is a rare substance capable of destroying Horcruxes, with Phoenix tears being the only known antidote. Although Dumbledore was aware of Voldemort's use of Horcruxes when Harry brought the diary back, he did not reveal this until Half-Blood Prince.
2. Salazar Slytherin's Locket
Salazar Slytherin's locket, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes in Harry Potter, was destroyed by Ron Weasley using the Sword of Gryffindor. The locket's backstory is complex and is not fully revealed in the Half-Blood Prince movie. Originally a Gaunt family heirloom, the locket was passed to Voldemort's mother, Merope Gaunt, who sold it to Borgin and Burkes in Knockturn Alley. It was later purchased by Hepzibah Smith, along with Hufflepuff's cup.
Voldemort stole the locket and cup from Hepzibah Smith and used a Muggle vagrant's murder to create the Horcrux. He then terrorized two orphan children in a cave with the help of Kreacher, the Black family house-elf. Regulus Black, who discovered Voldemort's Horcrux and learned about its significance, summoned Kreacher to escape the cave. This Horcrux was first seen by Harry in Order of the Phoenix.
3. Marvolo Gaunt's Ring
Marvolo Gaunt, Voldemort's maternal grandfather, was a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin and held violent anti-Muggle beliefs. While attending Hogwarts, Voldemort learned of his lineage and visited the Gaunt Shack at age 16. There, he found his uncle Morfin wearing Marvolo's ring. After Morfin revealed information about Voldemort's Muggle father, Riddle stunned him, modified his memory, stole the ring, and murdered his Muggle father and grandparents.
Following these murders, Riddle created the Horcrux ring and sought advice from Horace Slughorn about making multiple Horcruxes. He hid the ring in the ruins of the Gaunt shack, where Dumbledore later discovered it. Dumbledore, tempted by the ring's power, fell victim to its curse. However, he was able to destroy the Horcrux using the Sword of Gryffindor, which had absorbed basilisk venom, as the sword's properties were essential for destroying the Horcrux.
4. Rowena Ravenclaw's Lost Diadem
Ravenclaw's lost diadem, the final Horcrux Voldemort created before the killing curse rebounded, was accidentally destroyed by fiendfyre cast by Vincent Crabbe, a friend of Draco Malfoy. The diadem was originally stolen by Ravenclaw's jealous daughter, Helena, and later found in Albania by the Bloody Baron. Helena hid it in a hollow tree before being killed. Tom Riddle, while attending Hogwarts, recovered the diadem and made it one of his seven Horcruxes by committing the murder of an Albanian peasant.
Voldemort hid the diadem Horcrux in the Room of Requirement during a job interview for the Defense Against the Dark Arts position. Harry first encountered the diadem in Half-Blood Prince and recalled it in Deathly Hallows. He confronted Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle in the Room of Requirement, where Crabbe attempted to use fiendfyre—a spell Hermione knew could destroy a Horcrux. However, the spell proved too difficult to control, and Crabbe ended up burning down the room, which led to the destruction of the Horcrux.
5. Helga Hufflepuff's Cup
Hufflepuff's cup, one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, was destroyed by Hermione Granger in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2. The cup was passed down through the Hufflepuff line and eventually came into the possession of Hepzibah Smith, a client of Borgin and Burkes. Voldemort planned to murder Hepzibah and frame her house-elf, Hokey, while stealing the cup and Salazar Slytherin's locket. He used Hepzibah's murder to create the Horcrux, but it is unknown when he left the cup in Bellatrix Lestrange's care.
Bellatrix, unaware of the cup's significance, placed it in her vault at Gringotts. Harry speculated that the Horcrux was hidden due to Bellatrix's reaction during the trio's questioning at Malfoy Manor. After losing the Sword of Gryffindor to Griphook in Deathly Hallows, the trio had to rely on Ron and Hermione to use basilisk fangs from the Chamber of Secrets to destroy the Horcrux during the Battle of Hogwarts.
6. Voldemort's Snake Nagini
Nagini was transformed into a Horcrux by Voldemort during Goblet of Fire. She was decapitated by Neville Longbottom using the Sword of Gryffindor. Nagini's transformation into a snake was due to a blood curse, a detail revealed in Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. The meeting between Voldemort and Nagini likely occurred in Albania, where she helped him recover with a potion.
In Deathly Hallows, Nagini is one of the few Horcruxes that Harry knows about. Due to her close proximity to Voldemort, Harry is unable to kill her himself before his sacrifice. He entrusts this task to Neville Longbottom, who pulls the Sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat at a crucial moment during the Battle of Hogwarts, successfully decapitating her.
7. Harry Potter
Harry Potter, the final Horcrux created by Voldemort, was destroyed by Voldemort himself. Snape's memories reveal that Harry was inadvertently made into a Horcrux the night the killing curse rebounded, which led to the prophecy that neither could live while the other survived. Voldemort's fragmented soul had created five Horcruxes, and when the curse rebounded, a part of his soul attached to Harry, granting him the ability to speak Parseltongue and see Voldemort's thoughts.
In Deathly Hallows - Part 2, Harry willingly entered the Forbidden Forest to sacrifice himself, refraining from raising his wand when Voldemort cast another curse. This act destroyed the Horcrux within him while Harry survived. As the most significant Horcrux, Harry contained a fragment of Voldemort's soul. Additionally, Voldemort used Harry's blood in his rebirth, inadvertently reinforcing Lily Potter's protective charm over Harry.