Dark Creations: Artifacts & Potions
Welcome back to class. Please settle down quickly, as we have a lot to cover today! We’ll be talking about dark artifacts and potions.
The details behind creating dark artifacts varies from object to object and, truthfully, much of the information is passed through mouth rather than actually written down, making it awfully difficult to track and fact-check. But from what we do know, the principles are basically the same as producing dark magic (having malicious intent and drawing power from the damaging of the soul to some extent). This magic is linked to an object through bewitchment, and thus becomes a dark artifact. Let’s discuss some examples.
We know of quite a few cursed books. They are excellent choices for dark artifacts because they are very inconspicuous. Books can be bewitched to cause harm to passers-by or those who read them; for example, Sonnets of a Sorcerer is a fairly infamous book which causes the reader to speak in rhymes. Another known bewitchment for a book is to make the reader unable to stop reading it. Can you think of other bewitchments fit for a book?
Some other examples of dark artifacts we know of:
The details behind creating dark artifacts varies from object to object and, truthfully, much of the information is passed through mouth rather than actually written down, making it awfully difficult to track and fact-check. But from what we do know, the principles are basically the same as producing dark magic (having malicious intent and drawing power from the damaging of the soul to some extent). This magic is linked to an object through bewitchment, and thus becomes a dark artifact. Let’s discuss some examples.
We know of quite a few cursed books. They are excellent choices for dark artifacts because they are very inconspicuous. Books can be bewitched to cause harm to passers-by or those who read them; for example, Sonnets of a Sorcerer is a fairly infamous book which causes the reader to speak in rhymes. Another known bewitchment for a book is to make the reader unable to stop reading it. Can you think of other bewitchments fit for a book?
Some other examples of dark artifacts we know of:
- The Hand of Glory; A severed human hand which will hold a candle that is placed within it. This combination is able to penetrate any darkness, even that of Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder. However, it will only provide light for the holder; as such, it is a popular tool for thieves. It is said that a hand of glory can only come from the dried and pickled hand of someone who was hanged, and is typically the left hand. Some sources say the hand is also capable of unlocking any door it comes across.
- Opal Necklace; A necklace with a very malicious curse that tortures and then kills the wearer. It has claimed 19 lives that we know of, and the exact mechanics of its curse (e.g., how it tortures and kills people) is still unknown. Interestingly, the necklace does not even have to be worn to harm someone; mere touch is enough to activate the curse. We know this because when Draco Malfoy was attempting to assassinate Albus Dumbledore and placed Katie Bell under an Imperius curse to deliver the opal necklace, the package it was in ripped during a scuffle with her friend, and Katie made contact with the necklace through a tiny hole in her glove… but this was enough for the curse to begin taking it’s toll on Katie. It is believed that the effects would’ve been quicker and more violent had greater skin contact been made. If a person manages to survive the curse, it can take up to six months to recover fully from its effects.
- Blood Quill: Another rather infamous dark artifact, the blood quill is a bewitched quill which does not require ink. Instead, it writes with the blood of the user. Whatever the person writes will be painfully carved into the back of their hand, and the resulting blood will be magically siphoned and used as ink. Its primary use is as a torture device. It was invented by a British Ministry of Magic employee, Dolores Umbridge.
Of course, the most well-known and powerful dark artifact of them all is the horcrux. A horcrux is a dark artifact which hides a part of a witch or wizard's soul. The purpose of horcrux creation is, essentially, to cheat death - it anchors the fragment of the witch or wizard's soul to earth, even if the person's body is destroyed. While the creation of a horcrux does not make one completely immortal - as horcruxes can be destroyed - it does allow the creator to approach immortality. In theory, the more horcruxes one creates, the closer one is to being immortal. The power of a horcrux comes at a terrible price, however. The creation of a horcrux involves committing the darkest act - murder - in order to literally tear the soul. The tearing of the soul is known to diminish a person's humanity and possibly physically disfigure them, as we discussed in the first lesson. Due to the nature of dark magic as we have discussed so far, it's also theoretically possible that horcrux creation might diminish one's magical ability; having a "smaller" or less powerful soul, as one might have after tearing it, leaves less for magic (dark or otherwise) to draw from. However, this doesn't appear to be the case: "Lord Voldemort", who created the highest amount of horcruxes known to date (seven!), still remained an extremely powerful wizard. The final step of horcrux creation is that of finding a host for the soul fragment. The soul can be anchored to any object and has even, in some cases, successfully anchored to living things. But if the original creator's body is destroyed (or even if it isn't, and they are simply dead), getting the soul fragment that is stored in the horcrux reunited with the lifeless body or finding it a new body is quite the task, and not one the non-corporeal soul could likely do on its own.
The first ever horcrux was created by Herpo the Foul. Very little is known about them otherwise; most schools ban any lesson or even discussion of them, and only the book Secrets of the Darkest Art discusses them in detail. It is unclear exactly why this is; perhaps it is to discourage the creation of such dark artifacts, perhaps only few people know of it and don't want to share their knowledge, or perhaps the concepts and principles behind it are so terrifying and confusing that it is best left alone.
Let's briefly go over the facts of horcrux creation that we do know about:
It has been implied that there is a limit to the number of horcruxes one can make before the process is too dangerous, but that limit is currently unknown. Again, our best example of this is Lord Voldemort, who Albus Dumbledore claimed had a soul rendered so unstable by his horcrux creations that it broke apart when he attempted to murder Harry Potter on October 31st, 1981 in Godric's Hollow, leading to the unintentional horcrux creation.
Let's finish up our discussion of horcruxes with their destruction. Though difficult to do, horcruxes can indeed be destroyed, because the soul fragment must be anchored to something (i.e., a body or a container/object). Typically, the fragment of the soul will attempt to fight for its life, and of course most creators will put heavy amounts of protection around the object that hides their soul (if they cannot hide it in plain sight). The destruction of a horcrux can only occur when its container is damaged beyond all physical and magical repair. Successful destruction of a horcrux may result in the container "bleeding" and the soul fragment may scream as it fades out of existence.
Known items or substances capable of destroying horcruxes include:
Much like dark magic, it is hard to figure out exactly which potions are "dark" based purely on the definition of dark as something which is used to cause harm. As such, we will skip the discussion of typical potions which could be used to hurt someone, as you would likely learn of those in regular potions class. There are three dark potions that we know enough about to discuss.
Rudimentary Body Potion
The rudimentary body potion creates a strange, small body which can house a soul (such as one previously contained in a horcrux) until a more permanent and appropriate body is found or created. Though we are unsure of all of the ingredients used in it, we know that the one created by Lord Voldemort's servant, Peter Pettigrew, contained snake venom from Nagini and unicorn blood. The drinker must have some of the potion every few hours in order to maintain the fragile form.
Rebirth Potion
This potion can be used on a rudimentary body to restore it to the soul's original body's form. It can also be used to restore a body that has been gravely maimed and disfigured to its true, whole form. It is a very old dark potion which requires a rather large cauldron (enough for a grown person to sit in) and three ingredients:
The first ever horcrux was created by Herpo the Foul. Very little is known about them otherwise; most schools ban any lesson or even discussion of them, and only the book Secrets of the Darkest Art discusses them in detail. It is unclear exactly why this is; perhaps it is to discourage the creation of such dark artifacts, perhaps only few people know of it and don't want to share their knowledge, or perhaps the concepts and principles behind it are so terrifying and confusing that it is best left alone.
Let's briefly go over the facts of horcrux creation that we do know about:
- To create a horcrux, one must perform the most horrific and evil act there is: murder.
- Murder splits the soul; this soul fragment must then be encased into a chosen object or living being with a spell. It is unclear if there is a specific spell to do so or if it is part of the killing curse.
- The part of the soul that is concealed in the horcrux will always remain as it is when the soul was split. For example, the soul fragment trapped in Tom M. Riddle's diary was a teenager.
- Horcrux creation can allegedly be reversed if the creator truly feels remorse or repents for their evil deeds. However, the process of the reversal can be so painful that it causes death. It is possible that after a number of horcrux creations, reversal is no longer possible.
It has been implied that there is a limit to the number of horcruxes one can make before the process is too dangerous, but that limit is currently unknown. Again, our best example of this is Lord Voldemort, who Albus Dumbledore claimed had a soul rendered so unstable by his horcrux creations that it broke apart when he attempted to murder Harry Potter on October 31st, 1981 in Godric's Hollow, leading to the unintentional horcrux creation.
Let's finish up our discussion of horcruxes with their destruction. Though difficult to do, horcruxes can indeed be destroyed, because the soul fragment must be anchored to something (i.e., a body or a container/object). Typically, the fragment of the soul will attempt to fight for its life, and of course most creators will put heavy amounts of protection around the object that hides their soul (if they cannot hide it in plain sight). The destruction of a horcrux can only occur when its container is damaged beyond all physical and magical repair. Successful destruction of a horcrux may result in the container "bleeding" and the soul fragment may scream as it fades out of existence.
Known items or substances capable of destroying horcruxes include:
- Basilisk venom (unless the horcrux is a living being, in which case in very rare cases it could be saved by fast administration of phoenix tears)
- Fiendfyre
- Goblin-made weapons imbued with substances like basilisk venom (e.g., Godric Gryffindor's sword), because they absorb the qualities of things that strengthen them and can therefore absorb the destructive power of basilisk venom.
Much like dark magic, it is hard to figure out exactly which potions are "dark" based purely on the definition of dark as something which is used to cause harm. As such, we will skip the discussion of typical potions which could be used to hurt someone, as you would likely learn of those in regular potions class. There are three dark potions that we know enough about to discuss.
Rudimentary Body Potion
The rudimentary body potion creates a strange, small body which can house a soul (such as one previously contained in a horcrux) until a more permanent and appropriate body is found or created. Though we are unsure of all of the ingredients used in it, we know that the one created by Lord Voldemort's servant, Peter Pettigrew, contained snake venom from Nagini and unicorn blood. The drinker must have some of the potion every few hours in order to maintain the fragile form.
Rebirth Potion
This potion can be used on a rudimentary body to restore it to the soul's original body's form. It can also be used to restore a body that has been gravely maimed and disfigured to its true, whole form. It is a very old dark potion which requires a rather large cauldron (enough for a grown person to sit in) and three ingredients:
"Bone of the father, unknowingly given.... Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed.... [and] Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken...." ~ Peter Pettigrew, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
Drink of Despair
This potion was placed in a basin and used to protect one of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes. Again, the exact details of its creation are unknown, but the effects of the potion are. The potion caused the drinker to see terrible things (hallucinations, relive past painful memories, etc.) and overall made the drinker feel hopeless, depressed, and distraught - similar to an encounter with a Dementor. Finally, it caused a feeling of dehydration and a horrible burning sensation on the inside. Lord Voldemort cleverly paired this potion with a basin that would refill with the potion unless it was drank, and a goblet which could not be filled (magically or physically) with water, forcing someone to drink the entire basin full of potion, and likely motivating them to attempt to drink from the lake which surrounded the basin - which would awaken the Inferi sleeping within it.
That's enough for today, I think. Please continue to your homework assignment for this lesson.
This potion was placed in a basin and used to protect one of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes. Again, the exact details of its creation are unknown, but the effects of the potion are. The potion caused the drinker to see terrible things (hallucinations, relive past painful memories, etc.) and overall made the drinker feel hopeless, depressed, and distraught - similar to an encounter with a Dementor. Finally, it caused a feeling of dehydration and a horrible burning sensation on the inside. Lord Voldemort cleverly paired this potion with a basin that would refill with the potion unless it was drank, and a goblet which could not be filled (magically or physically) with water, forcing someone to drink the entire basin full of potion, and likely motivating them to attempt to drink from the lake which surrounded the basin - which would awaken the Inferi sleeping within it.
That's enough for today, I think. Please continue to your homework assignment for this lesson.