In the Harry Potter universe, a Horcrux is an object that houses a piece of someone's soul. Yes, that is as creepy as it sounds.

The "upside" of making one? You're harder to kill.

• First of all, you have to commit murder to make one. So, there's that.
• Also, divvying up your soul like a carrot cake actually weakens it. Mmmmm, cake. What?

From Horace Slughorn, Harry and Dumbledore learn that Lord Voldemort has likely made a whopping seven Horcruxes to protect himself against death. That's how afraid he is of death: he thinks that weakening his soul and killing others (seven times, no less) is totally worth it if he himself can attain immortality.

Egomaniac much?

So, yeah, the Horcruxes are literally vessels for the Dark Lord's soul, but they also represent something deeper, darker, and a lot more disturbing: the Dark Lord thinks there is nothing is more important than avoiding death.

Think about that, Shmoopers: What if your great hope in life was simply to avoid dying? Talk about setting a bar that's both low and impossible, right? Also: kind of depressing, no?

The Horcruxes highlight how dangerous and pathetic Voldemort is all at once. Someone willing to kill and compromise their own soul to that degree is obviously a nut job, but it's also pretty sad that his great life goal is…just to keep living?

Sure, he likes power, but his drive to power is all about mastering death. Hello, his followers are called "Death Eaters"—that's a pretty clear signal of what his "will to power" is all about, no? We would be sad for him…but yeah, no, he's just so terrifyingly evil.