The Harry Potter saga introduced the concept of horcruxes and the dangers that come when one person decides to create one or many, as Lord Voldemort did. Harry and company ultimately managed to destroy all of Voldemort’s horcruxes, but one of them broke an interesting pattern. One of the most popular and beloved universes in the realm of sci-fi and fantasy is that of the Wizarding World, created by J.K. Rowling and introduced in her debut novel, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone. The Wizarding World kept expanding in the subsequent novels and supplementary material, making way for a franchise of books, movies, theme-park attractions, and more.
The Harry Potter saga tells the story of “the boy who lived” and his quest to defeat Lord Voldemort, the darkest wizard of all who had some truly dangerous plans for both the Wizarding and Muggle worlds and who had a personal vendetta against Harry, as he failed to kill the young wizard when he was a baby. Through Harry’s journey, readers and viewers got to know the Wizarding World, its most important events, people, spells, objects, and more, and among the most notable objects in the saga are the horcruxes, of which Voldemort made not one but seven, all as part of his quest for immortality.
A horcrux is an object in which a wizard or witch hides a fragment of their soul so they can, essentially, become immortal. The process of creating a horcrux is a mystery, as Rowling hasn’t revealed all the steps, arguing that it includes a “horrific act” that is so terrible she won’t reveal it, adding that it made her editor sick. What’s known about the process is that it requires a spell and a murder, as this act fragments the soul. Of course, Voldemort had no issue with that and went on to create a total of seven horcruxes (though some argue that Harry is more of a “pseudo horcrux” as it was unintentional), of which all but one followed a pattern: being destroyed in Hogwarts’ territory, except for Salazar Slytherin’s locket.
All of Voldemort’s horcruxes, including the part of his soul kept in Harry Potter, were destroyed somewhere within Hogwarts’ territory, except for the locket. The first horcrux introduced in Harry Potter was Tom Riddle’s diary, destroyed by Harry at the Chamber of Secrets, located inside Hogwarts Castle, and for which he used one of the Basilisk’s fangs. Then was Marvolo Gaunt’s Ring, destroyed by Albus Dumbledore at his office within Hogwarts Castle and with Godric Gryffindor’s sword; Helga Hufflepuff’s cup was destroyed by Hermione with a Basilisk fang also at the Chamber of Secrets; Rowena Ravenclaw’s diadem was unintentionally destroyed by Crabbe through the fiendfyre curse at the Room of Requirement, also inside the castle; Nagini was killed by Neville Longbottom with Gryffindor’s sword at the front steps of Hogwarts; and Harry was killed by Voldemort at the Forbidden Forest, which is part of Hogwarts’ territory, but he came back to life. The destruction of Slytherin’s locket breaks this pattern, as it was destroyed at the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, and it was thanks to Ron Weasley and Gryffindor’s sword.
Harry, Ron, and Hermione got their hands on the locket after a long search for it, as it was originally stolen by Mundungus Fletcher and a fake one was placed by him, and in order to retrieve the real one, they had to infiltrate the Ministry of Magic. As their hideout was compromised, the trio had to run away and spent months in the forest, where they had to keep the locket until they found a way to destroy it. Harry eventually found the sword at the bottom of a frozen pond, and Ron used it to destroy the locket that had brought them a bunch of problems. The destruction of Slytherin’s locket broke a horcrux tradition as the circumstances of its retrieval were very different from the rest of the horcruxes, and it was the one that had the strongest and most negative effects on Harry Potter and friends.