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In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Parts 1 & 2, and all movies, Voldemort is known to have seven horcruxes before he can die...all seven must be destroyed first.

Voldemort should know what his horcruxes are, so if he knew that Harry was one of them, then why did he kill Harry instead of keeping him alive? Assuming Voldemort wanted to live.

So harry survived the second hit, so really the horcrux being Harry should not have lived in order to kill the horcrux.

Why did Voldemort kill Harry if he knew Harry was a Horcrux?

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    Does Voldemort know that Harry is a Horcrux? That is the main question. The answer to it is No.
    – Nog Shine
    Jan 2, 2018 at 8:47
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    Put it as an answer, not comment. I'd really appreciate it.
    – natural
    Jan 2, 2018 at 8:49
  • In one of the later movies he insisted that he had to be the one to kill Harry and needed someone else's wand because theirs resonate with one another. i took this as him knowing Harry was a Horcrux and either a) because to destroy them Harry's group needed Basilisk Venom to destroy them and that he knew of another way or (more likely) b) since Harry is a living person killing him would be murder thus creating an 8th Horcrux but also allowing him to keep the 7th but have it be something else and couldn't let anyone else destroy his 7th Horcrux after one was destroyed and another was with Harry
    – Memor-X
    Jan 2, 2018 at 10:03
  • "Voldemort should know what his horcruxes are .." -- why do you think this? To play devil's advocate, it could be argued that Voldemort doesn't want to know where they are, since it's possible to have one's thoughts/memories read, and him not knowing is added security.
    – Charles
    Jan 2, 2018 at 19:08
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    "You were the seventh Horcrux, Harry, the Horcrux he never meant to make." - Dumbledore to Harry in his "dream" sequence after Voldemort killed Harry. -1 for not doing any digging on your own, at all. The premise of this question is fatally flawed - "...if he knew...."
    – PoloHoleSet
    Jan 5, 2018 at 17:21

3 Answers 3

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After Voldemort split his soul six times, his soul became too unstable. When he tried to kill baby Harry, his mother sacrificed herself to save Harry, creating a shield of love for Harry.

In that situation, he can't be able to kill Harry. Voldermort's curse backfired and hurt him. He also can't be killed because he already tore his soul into six fragments. He just vanished and that unstable soul of him finds his new place in only one living thing in that room that is Harry.

So Harry is the Horcrux created by Voldemort unintentionally. So he didn't know that Harry is also a Horcrux.

Note: When Voldemort tried to kill Harry again, Harry owns the Deathly Hallows, hence he can't be killed that time. Also it affected only Voldemort's soul within Harry Potter's, so this way the last Horcrux is destroyed.

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Whether he knew or not is irrelevant. He knew the prophecy said that Harry would have the power to kill him, and that is the main driving force behind his desire to kill Harry.

He knew there was some connection between him and Harry, and likely the connection was similar to Nagini. He could possess Harry (only did it very briefly at the end of #5) just as he could possess Nagini. Given that, how could he not know? He must have stopped to think about why they have that connection. Dumbledore was able to make that deduction, why can't Voldemort?

I think ultimately, he thinks he can make more Horcruxes if necessary. He doesn't know the fate of the diadem, and he believes he can protect Nagini. He only needs one horcrux, but he chooses to split his soul into 7 thinking it is lucky.

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    I don't think his ability to possess Harry and Nagini was due to them being Horcruxes; it's stated in the first book that Voldemort survived in the forests of Albania by possessing small animals, and he was able to possess Quirrell as well.
    – anaximander
    Apr 8, 2018 at 10:09
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    @anaximander That was prior to him having his own flesh though. That piece of soul that was possessing people and animals now has it's own body. His soul has to be physically there, which in the case of Harry and Nagini, it was already there.
    – rtaft
    Apr 8, 2018 at 13:10
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I am currently rereading the novels after watching The Fantastic Beasts movies and noticed that the first answer is wrong. First of all, Voldemort didn’t kill Harry because he inadvertently made a backup of Harry by taking his blood in Goblet of Fire. That is why Dumbledore told Snape to tell Harry that it is very important that Voldemort, and only Voldemort could “kill” Harry, because the magic that bound them together. Also it is wrong because although Harry is the true owner of the Deathly Hallows at the time Voldemort attempts to kill him, Voldemort is still in possession of the Elder Wand, therefore he has not yet become the Master of Death, evidenced by the fact that he only saw shadows of his family walking up to his sacrifice.

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