In what order and when were Voldemort's Horcruxes made? I found a list with destruction dates. But not creation date.

  • 6
    So since Voldemort's soul was split in half ever time he made a horcrux, that means Harry had more Voldemort then Voldemort had Voldemort. Cause Nagini was made after Harry. – user41476 Feb 4 '15 at 19:25

Here's what I came up with:

  1. Diary of Tom Riddle - circa September 1943 - Following the death of Myrtle in circa May 1943, when Riddle released the Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets. Tom Riddle's age: 16

    Tom Riddle says that he placed his "sixteen-year-old self" into the diary ([CS17]), so he must have done it in the fall after the summer when he killed the Riddles and before he turned 17 at the end of December. His conversation with Slughorn where he learned about Horcruxes must have taken place after school started that September, so the timeframe for the creation of the diary Horcrux is between September and December, 1943. HP LEXICON

  2. Peverell Ring - circa September - December 1943 - Following the deaths of Tom Riddle Sr. and Tom Riddle's grandparents. Tom Riddle's age: 16 (17 if he committed the murders on his birthday 12.31.1943)

  3. Hufflepuff Cup - circa 1945/1946 - Following the murder of Hepzibah Smith. Tom Riddle's age: 19/20

  4. Slytherin Locket - circa 1945/1946 - Following the murder of a Muggle tramp. Tom Riddle's age: 19/20

    Note: The cup and the locket were stolen together by Voldemort, who then went underground. If a definitive source exists that verifies which Horcrux Voldemort made first - the cup or the locket - let me know.

  5. Ravenclaw Diadem - circa 1956 - Following the murder of an Albanian peasant. After Dumbledore was made headmaster, Voldemort resurfaced and asked Dumbledore for the Defence Against the Dark Arts position, which Dumbledore denied him. It was during this visit that Voldemort was thought to have hidden the diadem in the Room of Requirement. Voldemort's age: ~30

    Although Harry himself is not a Horcrux, the date the Avada Kedavra spell from Voldemort rebounded, latching a piece of Voldemort's soul onto Harry, is 10.31.81. Voldemort's age: ~55

    In circa August 1991, Voldemort inhabits Professor Quirrell's body, using him as a life vessel since Voldemort is still in spirit form. According to J.K. Rowling on Pottermore, Quirrell became "a temporary Horcrux" and is completely subjugated by Voldemort. Voldemort's age: ~65 source: Quirrel's entry by JKR on Pottermore

  6. Nagini - circa 1994 - Following the murder of Ministry of Magic employee Bertha Jorkins in Albania where, presumably, Voldemort and Wormtail have been residing. Voldemort's age: ~68

I make no claims that this timeline is perfect and I did adjust dates when they didn't match what is known from canon.

  • Do you have a reference for the tramp or peasant? I don't recall either of those being mentioned (but maybe just because they weren't named...). Aside from that, +1 for a nice answer. – Windle Oct 26 '12 at 19:51
  • You can find verification of the Muggle tramp/peasant here. Just scroll down to the question asked by Lady Bella. And thank you for the +1 -- much appreciate :) – Slytherincess Oct 26 '12 at 22:25
  • 5
    +1, but I think you need to read up on the +- (plus or minus) operator: I've never heard of someone being negative thirty years old :-) . Perhaps you meant 30 +- 1 (for a range of 29-31)? (Comments don't parse the html entity, it seems.) – Dacio Dec 16 '13 at 17:26
  • 1
    Under 2, I think you mean “if he made the Horcrux on his birthday”. We know that he killed his father and grandparents in summer, so that can't have been on his birthday. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Feb 16 '16 at 20:04
  • 2
    I'm confused where is the info that nagini was made after killing bertha. I could be wrong but I feel like Dumbledore says in the 6th book I believe nagini is a horcrux for she is unordinarilly old. If she was made in the 4th book she would not be that old by the 6th book. – Brian Innes Jan 28 '17 at 12:03

According to Wikipedia the order is:

  1. Marvolo Gaunt's Ring (during the summer before his fifth year)
  2. Tom Riddle's Diary (during his sixth year at Hogwarts)
  3. Helga Hufflepuff's Cup (after he murdered Hepzibah Smith by poisoning her)
  4. Salazar Slytherin's Locket (after Riddle murdered a Muggle tramp)
  5. Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem (after Voldemort murdered an Albanian peasant)
  6. Harry Potter (Just before the start of the HP series)
  7. Quirrell (Just before Harry's first year)*
  8. Nagini (when he was hiding in the forests of Albania)

*not mentioned on Wikipedia but is included in Pottermore.

  • 2
    I'm fairly certain Dumbledore thought Voldemort made Nagini a horcrux after killing the old man (Frank) at the beginning of the 4th book. – Kevin Apr 13 '12 at 20:38
  • 2
    A note, Quirrell wasn't mentioned on Wikipedia because he's not an "official" Horcrux. It was depicted as possession, and only revealed as a "temporary Horcrux" in an interview – Izkata Apr 13 '12 at 21:54
  • 4
    A second note, I remember also reading that Harry wasn't technically a Horcrux, but that Dumbledore simplified his explanation to that for Harry. – Izkata Apr 13 '12 at 21:57
  1. Ring (age 15) - death of Tom Riddle Snr
  2. Diary (age 16) - death of Moaning Myrtle
  3. Cup (age mid to late 20s) - death of Hepzibah Smith
  4. Locket - death of a Muggle tramp
  5. Diadem - death of an Albanian peasant
  6. Harry Potter - death of Lily Potter
  7. Nagini - death of Bertha Jorkins

I think Rowling probably intended Myrtle to be the first Horcrux but the facts don’t support this, unless Tom made the ring Horcrux a year after the death which fuelled it.

We do know that there can be a delay between the killing which splits off the soul fragment which will go into a Horcrux and making the Horcrux itself. Tom killed his father, then went back to the Gaunts’ house, then tampered with Morfin’s memory, then stole the ring which he was going to turn into a Horcrux powered by the killing of his father. He killed Myrtle some weeks before the last entry in his diary, because the diary talks about what happened after her death. However, we don’t know of any occasions where the gap was as long as a year, although it’s not impossible I guess.

We know that Tom killed Myrtle in the second or third term of his fifth year (and probably made the diary Horcrux a few weeks later), because he says both “In my fifth year, the Chamber was opened and the monster attacked several students, finally killing one.” and “I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages”, and he turned sixteen during the Christmas/New Year holiday of fifth year.

Dumbledore says of Tom that “In the summer of his sixteenth year, he left the orphanage to which he returned annually and set off to find his Gaunt relatives.” Now, it is quite likely that Rowling thinks that “his sixteenth year” means “the year he was sixteen”, but it isn’t credible that Dumbledore would make a howler like that, so this amounts to a flat statement that Tom killed his father in the summer that he was fifteen, at least six months before he made the diary Horcrux.

Rowling has stated that Voldemort used the death of Bertha Jorkins in 1994 to turn Nagini into a Horcrux.

  • Diary - Moaning Myrtle - 13 June, 1943
  • Marvolo Gaunt's Ring - 1943. Possibly made before the diary
  • Salazar Slytherin's Locket - After 1943, but before the 1970s
  • Helga Hufflepuff's Cup - 1946
  • Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem - After 1946, when Voldemort asked
  • Harry Potter (though he wasn't a real Horcrux) - 31 October, 1981
  • Prof Quirrell - 1990
  • Nagini - 1994
  • Can you really count Quirrell as a horcrux since he was destroyed by Harry's touch? – chcuk Apr 13 '12 at 18:54
  • @chcuk - as per Pottermore, he is a Horcrux. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Apr 13 '12 at 18:56
  • How do you find things on Pottermore? – OghmaOsiris Apr 13 '12 at 19:57
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    @OghmaOsiris - you don't. You randomly bump into them. Or just luck out on Wikia articles citing Pottermore. As a useful source of information (as opposed to interactive game) Pottermore sucks more than Mega-Maid. – DVK-on-Ahch-To Oct 21 '13 at 13:53
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    apparently so @scott (shrug) - take it up with the author ;) – NKCampbell Aug 18 '17 at 19:57
  1. Harry
  2. The Ring
  3. The Diary
  4. The Necklace
  5. The Cup
  6. The Crown
  7. The Snake
  • 3
    How was Harry created first? Can you provide a source for this answer? – Skooba Sep 25 '17 at 18:46

protected by Skooba Sep 25 '17 at 18:44


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