Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’re going to be discussing the darker side of the wizarding world- diving
DEEP in to the subject of Horcruxes, and discussing a historical figure who created a Horcrux
LONG before Voldemort ever did.
JK Rowling once revealed that, over the course of history, many witches and wizards tried
to create a horcrux, in spite of a severe lack of instruction from evil textbooks.
"...wizards would have been looking for ways to do exactly what Voldemort did for years.
And some of the ways they would have tried would’ve killed them.
So, I imagine it- well, they’re huge parallels- splitting the atom would be a very good parallel
in our world.
. . . I do imagine that other people are going to have tried.
I think it would be naive not to think that people have been trying for a long time, and
thought they succeeded and hadn’t, or else maimed themselves or killed themselves in
the attempt.
It’s such a dangerous thing to do."
What this quote tells me is that maybe, just maybe, there’s a wizard out there that was
able to produce a horcrux before ANYONE else- they just never made it in to the history
books.
After all, if the idea of producing a horcrux is self-preservation, why would you want to
boast about it and bring it to everyone’s attention?
I happen to have one very good guess for WHO this wizard might be, the ORIGINAL Horcrux
creator, but first, let’s look at the other wizards in Harry Potter canon who are credited
as having created Horcruxes AND let’s look at what exactly a Horcrux IS.
A horcrux is a dark object in which a dark witch or wizard has imbued part of their soul.
The ultimate purpose of creating a horcrux is to achieve immortality.
JK Rowling, who coined the term, defines it as follows: “a receptacle prepared by dark
magic in which a Dark wizard has intentionally hidden a fragment of his soul for the purpose
of attaining immortality."
According to Harry Potter canon, Herpo the Foul is the first wizard on record to have
created a Horcrux.
Herpo was an ancient dark wizard that hailed from Greece who happened to have an awful
lot of similarities to Salazar Slytherin.
He was a parselmouth AND he created the first ever basilisk, which could perhaps suggest
that Slytherin was a descendant of Herpo’s.
It’s entirely unknown when Herpo walked the earth, but we do know that it was a long
long time ago, as he is commonly referred to as one of the earliest known dark wizards.
While Herpo is credited as having created the first Horcrux- what’s surprising is
that we actually don’t know much about it.
We don’t know WHEN he made it, WHAT it is, or IF/WHEN it was destroyed.
For all we know HERPO could still be around.
I’ve got a theory surrounding this in another video- ‘The LOST Horcrux’ but go and watch
that afterwards.
The next credited Horcrux creator came along many many centuries later- a young boy by
the name of Tom Riddle..Voldemort.
I would venture to say that Voldemort is the individual most commonly associated with Horcruxes,
NOT Herpo, despite Herpo being the first to create one.
And that’s because Voldemort, whose main objective in life was to achieve immortality,
ultimately created SEVEN of them.
A ring, a diary, a cup, a locket, a diadem, a snake, and a boy.
So if not Herpo and not Voldemort, who is this mysterious wizard that I BELIEVE should
be credited as the FIRST Horcrux creator.
If you’re not up to snuff on your folklore, particularly your Russian folklore, then the
concept of a soul container or soul shard like a Horcrux may have been introduced to
you in the Harry Potter books.
But, as it so happens, this is NOT a novel concept, and was actually introduced many
many centuries ago in folktales.
Now, it’s no secret that JK Rowling tends to draw all kinds of inspiration from all
over the map when doing her storytelling.
There’s Greek influence, Roman influence, historic literary influence- and, well, many
other kinds of influence evident within the Harry Potter story.
And Rowling certainly gives due credit to these sources of inspiration.
However, when questioned specifically about the origin of Horcruxes, JK Rowling claimed
that nothing in particular had inspired the concept.
Could this be the case?
Certainly.
But does the piece of Russian folklore that I’m about to tell you seem quite familiar?
You be the judge and let me know in the comments.
The first folktale containing a horcrux-esque object was called Tsarevich Petr and The Wizard.
In this story, the Tsar’s three sons attempt to rescue Tsar Bel-Belianin’s wife, the
Tzaritza, who has been abducted by a dark wizard- Koschei.
Koschei, who also goes by the epithet ‘The Immortal’ (which bears a striking resemblance
to Voldemort - vol-de-mort, flight of death in French) is an archetypal male antagonist
that has been appearing in Slavic tales since before the 18th century.
In this tale, two of the Tsar’s sons fail in their attempts to rescue the Tzaritza,
but the third son, Petr, discovers the secret to Koschei’s immortality.
Koschei, much like Voldemort, discovered a dark spell that allowed him to separate soul
from body- hiding his soul inside of nested objects to protect it.
The tale of Koschei supports the idea in Harry Potter that ‘soul’ is the most important
part of our lifeforce- and that the physical body is merely a container- a vessel.
In order to prevent himself from being killed, Koschei hides his soul inside of nested objects
in order to protect it.
Like the Russian ‘Matryoshka Doll’ or ‘Nesting Doll’- there are layers and layers
that need to be peeled back in order to get to the base layer- each layer acting as one
more measure of protection.
In Koschei’s tale, his soul is hidden within an egg, within a duck, within a HARE that
nests in a hollow log, that floats on a pond found in a forest on the island of Bouyan.
In some versions, Koschei’s soul is hidden within a needle, within an egg, within a duck-
with the duck flying away whenever anyone tries to catch it.
Ultimately, in the story of Petr and Koschei, Petr is able to find the egg and destroy him.
Some have speculated that Koschei was inspired by a 12th century Polovtsian leader named
Khan Konchak.
Koschei’s epithet ‘the immortal’ could potentially be a reference to Konchak’s
longevity, as Konchak was able to live an unusually long life.
Despite it being the 12th century, Konchak purportedly lived for over 100 years, which,
at the time, would have been the equivalent of many generations.
Though Koschei’s method of soul encasement differs from Harry Potter in some ways, it’s
hard to ignore the parallels between Koschei and Voldemort, and I for one think that Koschei
at least subconsciously (if not consciously) inspired Rowling’s concept of the ‘Horcrux’.
Both men created a multitude of Horcruxes by hiding/encasing soul fragments in to objects,
and both of these men’s objects happened to be very difficult to find.
And, provided that Koschei existed long before Herpo the Foul or Voldemort, it’s entirely
possible that he could be credited as the first Horcrux creator even in the Harry Potter
universe.
For all we know, Koschei could be related to the founders of the Russian magical school
Koldovstoretz.
Koldovstoretz was apparently founded around the time of the Novgorod Republic, which checks
out time wise.
What do you guys think?
Let me know in the comment section below
Until next time
Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies.