The Harry Potter villain ripped apart his soul into fragments, hiding them in objects throughout the Wizarding World. Lord Voldemort did this to attain immortality and created six of them, not including Harry himself. However, there’s a mystery surrounding their creation that JK Rowling is yet to reveal to fans.
What we do know is that Horcruxes can only be created after committing murder, the supreme act of evil.
But it’s the step after the soul fragmentation as a result of this that is still unknown.
Rowling has previously said it’s a “horrific act”, one that made her editor feel sick, so the author keeps it secret.
Nevertheless, a popular fan theory reckons the final step in creating a Horcrux is cannibalism.
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Reddit user sirlionel13 wrote: “My theory is that in order to make a Horcrux, you must consume the flesh and blood of your victim.
“Cannibalism has, throughout history, been associated with gaining strength, power, or health from the dead.
“Whether it be to gain the strength of a defeated enemy, share the metaphysical power of a deceased member of the community, or a simple medicinal practice to rid the body of ailments, humans have had the idea that eating other humans could aid them in some way.
“This was fairly common up until the arrival of modern medicine throughout the world.”
They continued: “Even when Europeans were criticizing cannibals in the Americas, they were eating dried human tissue as medicine. However, by today’s standards, talking about cannibalism can easily produce a gag reflex in the people listening.
“Necromancy (the more fantastical version of it, at least) is the art of using the dead for power and was one of the reasons witches were so feared in the middle ages. That is essentially what a Horcrux is: killing to gain power. Why not take it a step further and include the actual body?”
“It wouldn’t be much of a stretch to assume that a black magician would kill someone specifically to use their body for necromancy – and this sounds like one of the darkest possible arts to me.
“And this is why this really stands out to me: the creation of a Horcrux is meant to be done by murdering someone, and therefore splitting your soul.”
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On the Harry Potter villain, they theorised: “But Voldemort doesn’t always commit murders himself. Moaning Myrtle was killed by a basilisk, which isn’t really murder even if Riddle had ordered it to kill.
“He might have been to blame for the death, but then Harry would be to blame for a lot of people’s deaths without having a torn-up soul. There shouldn’t be anything to really connect Voldemort’s soul to Myrtle – unless he took it upon himself to connect them physically.
“Plus, the only other way we’ve seen to remove a soul from a body is the killing curse, which is like aiming a tank shell directly at someone’s heart: not the way to cut off just a small portion of it and save it for later.
“But if a recently torn soul fragment is connected to a recently departed soul, the dead might be able to lift the soul fragment out when it goes – but the connection must be made, and sticking your guard dog on the first kid you see doesn’t make much of a connection. A necromantic spell on a piece of flesh you consume, however, that sounds like a way to connect souls.”
Meanwhile, a bizarre Harry Potter theory argues that Albus Dumbledore was a time-travelling Ron Weasley.
The argument goes that both have similar body features including red hair before Dumbledore went grey.
While the Hogwarts headmaster had a scar above his left knee and Ron injured his left leg.
Sadly for advocates of the theory, JK Rowling debunked it as false in a tweet back in 2015 – but it’s still a fun one nonetheless.
