Marvolo Gaunt's Ring
Marvolo Gaunt's Ring is a gold signet ring set with a cracked black stone engraved with the Peverell coat of arms, passed down through the Gaunt family as a treasured heirloom. It becomes the second Horcrux created by Lord Voldemort, who murders his father and grandparents to produce the soul fragment and then conceals the ring in the ruined Gaunt shack. Albus Dumbledore discovers the ring decades later and destroys the Horcrux, but the deadly curse placed upon it permanently damages his hand and sets in motion the chain of events that leads to his death.
Identity and History
The ring is a heavy gold band set with a large, cracked black stone bearing the Peverell coat of arms. Marvolo Gaunt, the patriarch of the last surviving line of Salazar Slytherin, wears it on his middle finger and treats it as proof of the family's ancient pure-blood lineage. When Bob Ogden, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Squad, visits the Gaunt cottage to summon Morfin Gaunt for attacking a Muggle, Marvolo waves the ring before Ogden's eyes and boasts that centuries of pure-blood history are engraved upon the stone. He claims to have been offered large sums for it, though the family lives in squalor. The ring is one of only two heirlooms Marvolo treasures; the other is Slytherin's locket, which he keeps on a chain around his daughter Merope's neck. After Marvolo and Morfin are sent to Azkaban, Merope sells the locket to Borgin and Burkes for a pittance, but the ring remains in the family's possession.
Transformation into a Horcrux
In the summer of his sixteenth year, Tom Riddle leaves the orphanage and tracks down his Gaunt relatives at the cottage in Little Hangleton. He finds Morfin, now living alone, wearing the ring on his right hand. Speaking in Parseltongue, Riddle questions his uncle about the family and learns that his father, Tom Riddle Sr., abandoned Merope and returned to the manor house across the valley. Riddle then Stupefies Morfin, steals the ring, and proceeds to the Riddle house, where he murders his Muggle father and grandparents with Morfin's wand. He uses the killing to create his second Horcrux, sealing a fragment of his soul inside the ring. He then returns to the cottage, implants a false memory in Morfin's mind, and departs with the ring. Morfin is convicted of the murders and dies in Azkaban, lamenting the loss of his father's ring to the end.
Discovery and Destruction
Dumbledore, who has spent years investigating Voldemort's past, traces the ring to the ruined Gaunt shack. He finds it hidden there, protected by powerful enchantments, and recognizes it as a Horcrux. When he attempts to destroy it, he discovers that Voldemort placed a deadly curse upon the ring as an additional safeguard. Dumbledore manages to break the Horcrux, but the curse strikes his right hand, blackening and shriveling the flesh as though it has been burned away. He returns to Hogwarts in a desperate state, and Severus Snape's timely intervention with counter-curses prevents the damage from spreading further, though the hand never fully heals. Dumbledore keeps the cracked, now-inert ring on a spindle-legged table in his office, and Harry notices it there during their private lessons. When Harry asks about it, Dumbledore confirms it is the same ring Marvolo Gaunt showed Ogden and admits he acquired it only a few days before fetching Harry from the Dursleys.
Consequences and Significance
The destruction of the ring as a Horcrux costs Dumbledore the full use of his right hand and leaves him visibly weakened. The injury becomes a public symbol of his vulnerability: Horace Slughorn comments on his slowed reactions, and Harry notices that Dumbledore's hand remains blackened and dead-looking throughout the year. The curse's lingering effects contribute to Dumbledore's physical decline, making him less able to defend himself when he and Harry retrieve the fake Horcrux from the cave. More profoundly, the ring's destruction confirms Dumbledore's theory that Voldemort created multiple Horcruxes, setting the stage for the quest to find and eliminate the remaining fragments of the Dark Lord's soul. The ring itself, once a symbol of Gaunt pride and pure-blood supremacy, becomes a relic of Voldemort's ambition and a reminder of the price paid to oppose him.
