Editing Magic in Harry Potter (section)

===Horcrux===
{{See also|Magical objects in Harry Potter#Horcruxes}}
A Horcrux is an object created using dark magic to attain a type of immortality. The concept is first introduced in the sixth novel, ''[[Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince]]'', although Horcruxes are present in earlier novels without being explained or identified as such.

To create a Horcrux, a witch or wizard must first prepare the chosen object<ref>{{cite podcast |title=The one with J.K. Rowling |series=PotterCast |date=17 December 2007 |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/2NYzGwi0Hye4qHwOUwDcgX?si=43_yp50yQD-Ch-5KAEUHsQ}}</ref> in a ritual which Rowling described only as "too horrible to go into detail about". Following the preparation of the object, the witch or wizard must then take a life, an act which splits the soul. Following that, further dark rituals are required in order to remove the soul shard from the maker and place it into the prepared object. Once this is done, the Horcrux becomes magically protected from almost all forms of destruction, requiring extremely powerful magic or especially destructive substances to do so.

Ordinarily, when one's body is killed, the soul departs for the next world. If, however, the body of a Horcrux maker is killed, that portion of his soul which was still in his body will not pass on to the next world, but will rather exist in a non-corporeal form capable of being resurrected by another wizard. If all of someone's Horcruxes are destroyed, then his soul's only anchor in the material world would be his body, the destruction of which would then cause his final death. To destroy the Horcrux, the destroyer must destroy it in such a way that it is put beyond magical repair.