Now I haven’t read Harry Potter and the Half-Blooded Prince yet, but I stumbled upon the concept of the Horcrux randomly following links. The concept is familiar to any J.R.R. Tolkien fan, and clearly, there is at least one way known to create a Horcrux.

Requirement: active volcano

Outline: using the active volcano as your forge, create a ring that anchors your existence to the material plane. Extra points are awarded for having it linked to the rings that you gave to your enemies.

Now it is well known that the One Ring was created for the purpose of controlling the Seven Rings of the Dwarf Kings and the Nine Rings of Mortal Men Doomed to Die, but it is not often explicitly mentioned that it is the One Ring that anchors Sauron’s soul to Middle Earth.

Since he forged the ring in the Second Age, he was killed at least twice (once during the destruction of Numenor, and once in the Battle of the Last Alliance) and yet his soul would always return. This is in contrast to the passing of other Maiar such as, for example, Saruman, who, being rejected from the Undying Lands, had nowhere else to go. (Of course, besides Sauron and Saruman, the only other Maiar we meet are Gandalf, who physically sails back to the Undying Lands; Radagast, whose fate is, I believe, unknown; Melian, who returns to the Undying Lands after the death of Thingol; and the unnamed Balrog that lived in Moria, whose fate after Gandalf kills him is also unknown.) True, since they are Maiar and hence immortal, it is unclear how necessary a Horcrux is for them. However, it may be necessary to hold on to their physical form, which themself could be slain. (For example, Sauron’s multiple defeats, Gandalf’s death on the mountains of Moria, the death of the Balrog, the slaying of Saruman—of these only Sauron had a known Horcrux, and regarding Gandalf, it is described that he was actually sent back to Middle Earth by the Valar. At least Melian and Saruman never seem to return to Middle Earth in physical form.) But I am losing myself in tangents here.

Anyway, I think that the One Ring allows Sauron to manifest a physical form. Once created, without it, he lives only as a disembodied spirit. This is similar to how Voldemort exists—dead but not dead.

Hmm. I don’t know. Is the Ring a Horcrux or not?

References:

• Rings of Power
• Middle Earth • History
• Encyclopedia of Arda: Melian