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Now I'm not talking about part of Voldemort's soul inside Harry which he never intended to put there. What I am asking is when he went to the Potter's house, was he only intending to destroy Harry because of what he had heard about the prophecy, or did he have some intention to create another horcrux based on this particular killing?

I have a very faint memory of reading somewhere that Voldemort had intended to use Harry's destruction as a means of adding another horcrux, which was the reason why his soul was torn apart and latched onto Harry (being unstable due to the horcruxes he had already made) when his curse backfired, which seemed to make sense (Voldemort had probably killed lots of people after making his horcruxes and before attacking Harry, and even after creating the Nagini horcrux he has done so many times, but his soul did not break apart and latch on to random objects in those cases). Now I cannot find what gave me this idea.

Is this mentioned anywhere in the books, or am I getting confused due to some random information I read somewhere else?

2 Answers 2

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Yes, or at least Professor Dumbledore believed so and his guesses are usually correct. Quoting him from Half-Blood Prince chapter 23.

‘[…] Voldemort was still at least one Horcrux short of his goal of six when he entered your parents' house with the intention of killing you.

‘He seems to have reserved the process of making Horcruxes for particularly significant deaths. You would certainly have been that. He believed that in killing you, he was destroying the danger the prophecy had outlined. He believed he was making himself invincible. I am sure that he was intending to make his final Horcrux with your death.

‘As we know, he failed.

Update: fixed typos in quotation.

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    If Dumbledore thinks so it must be true. However this isn't what gave me the idea about him wanting to create a horcrux at that time. Anyway, I think this is the best answer we have yet. if this is true however, it gives rise to another question: if he was intending to create a horcrux at that time, what magically significant object did he have then, and why didn't he use that object later on instead of Nagini?
    – user13267
    Commented Sep 24, 2013 at 9:41
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    @user13267 Considering it’s possible to use both inanimate objects and living beings as Horcruxes, it’s possible (not sure how likely, but definitely possible) that he had actually planned to use Harry as a Horcrux—but a dead Harry, obviously; not the way it turned out. I’m sure a dead body would work just as well as anything, and the physical proof of his victory over the final obstacle on his path to immortality, the downfall of his most dangerous opponent, would certainly be a meaningful ‘object’ to use. Commented Sep 5, 2015 at 20:37
  • @user13267 I've wondered that for ages. When Voldemort "died" at Godric's Hollow, Pettigrew got there in time to retrieve Voldemort's wand, Hagrid got there pretty fast - "before the Muggles started swarmin’ around" and presumably the Muggles would react fast to an explosion in a residential area - and Sirius arrived shortly thereafter (in time to give Hagrid his bike), but neither Voldemort nor any of those three ever mention retrieving an object that could be the Horcrux-to-be. Does some artifact of significant magic-related history now lie in a Muggle police division's evidence storeroom? Commented Jan 11, 2019 at 16:57
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No, Voldemort didn't intend to create Horcrux when he attacked Harry. It was the prophecy due to which he tried to kill Harry.

"Voldemort tried to kill you when you were a child because of a prophecy made shortly before your birth. He knew the prophecy had been made, though he did not know its full contents. He set out to kill you when you were still a baby, believing he was fulfilling the terms of the prophecy. He discovered, to his cost, that he was mistaken, when the curse intended to kill you backfired. And so, since his return to his body, and particularly since your extraordinary escape from him last year, he has been determined to hear that prophecy in its entirety. This is the weapon he has been seeking so assiduously since his return: the knowledge of how to destroy you."
- Albus Dumbledore (to Harry Potter shortly after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries)

Here's the prophecy:

"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."
- Sybill Trelawney (to Dumbledore)

Severus Snape, who at the time was working for Voldemort, was caught eavesdropping on Trelawney and Dumbledore by the owner of the Hog's Head and was subsequently thrown out of the pub. Snape then returned to Voldemort to tell him what he had heard.

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    I'm not sure that quote's enough to say he didn't intend to create a Horcrux when killing Harry. Considering everything that Dumbledore states about Voldemort during the sixth book I think it's entirely possible that he'd want to both eliminate his greatest threat (Harry) and create his final Horcrux, forever securing his immortality. Commented Sep 21, 2013 at 15:38
  • @AnthonyGrist Its possible. But, after seeing Voldemort's character who is impulsive, I don't think he was thinking about other than killing Harry at that time.. Commented Sep 21, 2013 at 15:49
  • @AnthonyGrist Another thing: Killing someone was a cheap thing for him. For Horcrux creation process, he could easily get a person to kill. So, why would he bothered to attach the process with Harry's killing.. If killing someone was an expensive thing, then it could be the case.. Commented Sep 21, 2013 at 16:54
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    What's the evidence for Voldemort being impulsive? Everything shows him as being brilliant and calculating, though he does have some flaws: notably his inability to understand love and compassion and his temper when things don't go to plan. "why would he bothered to attach the process with Harry's killing" Probably for the same reason he didn't use random items for his horcruxes, he places immense significance on certain things. Commented Sep 21, 2013 at 17:12
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    The items he created the horcruxes out of: the diary, the Peverell/Gaunt family ring, Slytherin's locket, Ravenclaw's diadem, Hufflepuff's Cup, Nagini; these aren't just any old items, they're very specific, very important items in terms of magical history or for Voldemort personally (and, in some cases, both). There was a lot of effort and planning that went in to procuring those items with the specific intention of creating horcruxes from them. He could have chosen literally any item, but he didn't. Commented Sep 22, 2013 at 17:14

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