Voldemort's Horcrux Dream Could Have Doomed Hogwarts's Best Relic

Summary:

• Lord Voldemort wanted to turn each Hogwarts Founder’s relic into a Horcrux.
• Godric Gryffindor’s Sword was not fit for the purpose, but his Sorting Hat was.
• If Voldemort used the Hat as a Horcrux, it would have turned into a weapon of corruption aimed at the youngest students.

Tom Riddle Jr. was the most deranged sociopath in the Wizarding World, and his plan to tear his soul into seven pieces was the greatest manifestation of his insanity.

Apart from being as monstrous as it gets, Voldemort’s initial Horcrux design could also devoid Hogwarts of its most popular and iconic relic. How, you may ask?

What Was Voldemort’s Initial Plan for Horcruxes?

Tom Riddle Jr. was a textbook narcissist and egomaniac who, unable to create something new, was eager to claim what was made by others. Tearing his own soul apart to achieve immortality was not enough for him; he also wanted each Horcrux to be a crucial part of Magical Britain’s history and a powerful artifact of the past.

According to both Albus Dumbledore and factual evidence, Voldemort sought to make a Horcrux out of each of the Hogwarts Founder’s most precious relics.

He turned Slytherin’s Locket, Hufflepuff’s Cup, and Ravenclaw’s Diadem into Horcruxes, but he never got his hands on anything that belonged to Godric Gryffindor.

Fortunately for Magical Britain, that is. If Voldemort were to corrupt one certain artifact that belonged to Gryffindor, it would have been the end of Hogwarts as we knew it and could have disastrous consequences for its education.

Why Was Gryffindor’s Artifact So Important?

Each Founder’s relic had unique traits, and in the case of Godric Gryffindor, his famous Sword was known to absorb what made it stronger and repel what weakened it. This likely turned Voldemort against the idea of using Gryffindor’s Sword as much as the fact that this artifact appeared and disappeared on its whim.

But despite what Albus Dumbledore said, there was another magical item associated with Godric Gryffindor: the Sorting Hat. According to the Hat itself, it once belonged to the Founder of Gryffindor who used it for the greater good and made it sentient. This makes Gryffindor the only Founder with not one, but two relics to his name.

The Sorting Hat would have been the perfect substitute for the Sword in Voldemort’s eyes: not only was it a Founder’s possession but it was also associated with Hogwarts itself! Furthermore, the Hat had an actual conscience which, after being corrupted with a piece of his soul, could have been altered or…replaced by him.

If Voldemort managed to use the Sorting Hat as a Horcrux, the consequences would have been terrifying. In the best-case scenario, the Hat would have been inoperational, devoiding Hogwarts of its most iconic relic; in the worst-case scenario, it would have still been used, but it would then corrupt new students who wore it.

Fortunately for everyone, especially the kids, Tom Riddle Jr. never got his hands on the Sorting Hat. If he did, it would have been a more efficient and insidious weapon than his Diary could ever be, and one sociopath’s egoistic lust for shiny ancient things would have doomed Hogwarts for, potentially, generations to come.