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Nobody knew about his Horcruxes (even Slughorn wasn't 100% sure). But still, there was a small probability that someone could discover his secret. So, he hid his Horcruxes very well. But, there was always a way to get to those Horcruxes.

Why didn't he hide his Horcruxes in a place which was out reach of anyone? Some examples: His own stomach, Center of Sun/Earth/Black Hole etc. He could also had simply made Voyager-1 a Horcrux..

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    "His own stomach" I see a flaw in that plan...
    – user8252
    Sep 1, 2012 at 23:01
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    A cave only one or two others knew existed, and a bank run by goblins that (at the time) had not been broken into since its creation weren't good enough?
    – Izkata
    Sep 1, 2012 at 23:18
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    @SachinShekhar I'm not sure what you mean by that. Does that mean if the trio had managed to retrieve a Horcrux from the center of the sun, you'd still be asking why Voldemort didn't choose a more secure location?
    – Izkata
    Sep 2, 2012 at 0:05
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    You might want to look at the Fan Fic 'Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality' for an example of a REALLY hard to reach one.
    – K-H-W
    Sep 2, 2012 at 0:07
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    @SachinShekhar Most wizards don't know, or care, about anything that happens in the Muggle world. Voldemort, who viewed Muggles as worthless, pitiful creatures to be subjugated and murdered, isn't about to go researching anything about that world, nor is he going to hide a Horcrux inside something created by a Muggle (or anybody else, in fact).
    – Anthony Grist
    Sep 23, 2013 at 12:03

4 Answers 4

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Harry himself asked this question, and Dumbledore explained that it was Voldemort's titanic ego and flair for the dramatic that made him chose well-known items or locations.

The book implies that a person who was mentally all-together would have made that choice, but Voldemort, by the very fact that he'd make Horcruxes in the first place, wasn't all there, literally or figuratively.

I mean, digging a mile-deep hole in a random place in the ground, dropping the Horcrux in, and then filling the hole would be much more secure. Not nearly as dramatic, though, and certainly harder to regenerate from.

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39

Probably the simplest explanation:

If they were impossible to reach, he couldn't put them there in the first place.

As it is, most of the Horcruxes were actually very well-hidden in a great variety of places. It was unlikely for them to be run across by accident, and less likely that anyone would know of more than one unless they'd gone digging into Voldemort's past - something that was probably very likely to get you killed, given how he's tried to distance himself from certain aspects of his past.

  • Tom Riddle's Diary - Lucius Malfoy was among Voldemot's most trusted (and least insane) followers. He didn't know it was a Horcrux.
  • Marvolo Gaunt's Ring - Under the floorboards in an abandoned house that everyone avoided, enchanted to make it more likely it would be avoided, and with the powerful curse on it so that whoever found it was unlikely to live much longer.
  • Slytherin's Locket - That particular cave was only one of many along that cliff, and if I recall correctly, only known to Voldemort/Riddle and those he tormented during his younger years.
  • Helga Hufflepuff's Cup - Hidden at Gringott's bank, there have only been 2 break-ins in its entire history: Quirrdemort and the main trio. Both after the Horcrux was hidden there. It is one of the most secure places in the world, one of the reasons the Stone of the first book was being stored there.
  • Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem - "The best place to hide a tree is in a forest", known on TVTropes as "Needle in a Stack of Needles". The Room of Hidden Things held a ton of random junk, making a small, single item very difficult to find, not to mention that Hogwarts school was considered among the most secure places in the world, hence the Stone being moved there in the first book.
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    If they were impossible to reach, he couldn't put them there in the first place. ~> Illogical. You can drop something in the middle of Volcano even if nobody knows how to go inside it.
    – user931
    Sep 2, 2012 at 6:06
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    @SachinShekhar Still reachable for wizards, by way of wingardium leviosa
    – Izkata
    Sep 2, 2012 at 6:26
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    Hermione had never seen the books about horcruxes but she was able to wingardium leviosa them to her
    – user13267
    Sep 23, 2013 at 9:54
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    @user13267 Didn't Hermione use Accio (i.e. the Summoning Charm) rather than Wingardium Leviosa (the Levitation Charm) to retrieve the books from Dumbledore's office?
    – Anthony Grist
    Sep 23, 2013 at 10:48
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    Presumably Accio would not work, either due to external enchantments or the Horcruxes being proof against them. Harry tries accio on Hufflepuffs cup in the vault, on the fake locket in the cave and on the diadem. I believe it also failed when trying to get the Sword of Gryffindor which would suggest magical goblin artifacts are not summonable either.
    – JohnP
    Sep 23, 2013 at 17:28
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Erm...They WERE almost-impossible to reach places!

  • Diary: Voldemort entrusted Lucius, one of his most trusted supporters. Lucius most likely hid it in Malfoy Manor, and I doubt the Malfoys would let just ANYONE inside their home.
  • Gaunt Ring: It was hidden in a place where hardly anyone would have known to look. Plus it was under the floorboards. I don't know about you, but I find floorboards to be PRETTY impenetrable places to hide things. :3
  • Locket: It was hind in a cave where hardly anyone visited, plus there were Inferius, and the poison in the cup was kinda impossible to drink without a partner to help you.
  • Cup: Okay this is GRINGOTTS we're talking about here. Only ever been broken into once before Harry and co.
  • Diadem: The Room of Requirement was scarcely known to anybody, and e Room of Hidden Things was massive and full of junk. There was probably more than one tiara in there.
  • Nagini: Okay, not a hard to reach PLACE, but I'm sure Voldemort would've protected her well.
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    "I don't know about you, but I find floorboards to be PRETTY impenetrable places to hide things." Floorboards aren't that difficult to tear up with the correct tools, I imagine that's even easier when you have magic available. The key point with the ring is that Voldemort didn't expect anybody else - even Dumbledore - to discover his links to the Gaunts.
    – Anthony Grist
    Sep 23, 2013 at 10:48
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The way I always interpreted it, it was because the horcruxes had to be accessible for him to be resurrected (such as how Tom Riddle attempts to come back through a ritual involving the diary in the Chamber of Secrets).

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