Description
A heavy golden locket bearing an ornate, serpentine letter “S” inlaid with glittering green stones on its face. The locket is large and oval, and cannot be opened by ordinary means — it responds only to Parseltongue. Originally belonging to Salazar Slytherin, one of The Hogwarts Founders, the locket is both a priceless historical artefact and, in its corrupted state, a vessel for a fragment of Tom Riddle’s soul.
History
The locket passed through the Slytherin line for centuries before eventually reaching the Gaunt family, descendants of Slytherin himself. Merope Gaunt, Tom Riddle’s mother, sold the locket to Caractacus Burke of Borgin and Burkes for a pittance when she was destitute and pregnant. It later found its way into the collection of Hepzibah Smith.
Like Hufflepuff’s Cup, the locket was stolen by Tom Riddle after he murdered Hepzibah Smith while working at Borgin and Burkes. Riddle used the death of a Muggle tramp to create his fifth Horcrux, sealing a fragment of his soul within the locket.
Voldemort hid the locket in a seaside cave — a place significant to his childhood — protecting it with an array of dark enchantments. The cave’s defences included a basin filled with the Drink Of Despair, a potion that induced unbearable anguish and had to be consumed entirely to reach the locket at the bottom. The underground lake surrounding the basin was infested with Inferi, reanimated corpses that would drag intruders to their deaths.
In 1979, Regulus Black — the younger brother of Sirius Black and a Death Eater who had grown disillusioned with Voldemort — discovered that his master had created a Horcrux. Regulus ordered his house-elf Kreacher to take him to the cave. There, Regulus drank the potion himself, replaced the real locket with a counterfeit containing a defiant note, and entrusted the true Horcrux to Kreacher with instructions to destroy it. Regulus was killed by the Inferi as he tried to drink from the lake, but his sacrifice ensured the locket was removed from the cave.
The locket was eventually destroyed by Ron Weasley using the Sword of Gryffindor, which had been impregnated with basilisk venom.
Properties
- Soul vessel: Contains a fragment of Tom Riddle’s soul, functioning as a Horcrux.
- Parseltongue lock: The locket can only be opened by a speaker of Parseltongue, the language of serpents.
- Corrupting influence: The locket exerts a powerful negative influence on anyone who wears or carries it, amplifying feelings of anger, suspicion, and despair. Prolonged contact erodes the will and magnifies the worst aspects of the bearer’s character.