The mysterious Horcruxes, about which you can learn more by reading this article, are at the heart of the Harry Potter story. These artifacts oozing dark magic could only be conceived and designed by a particularly cruel and devious soul, such as Voldemort's. One detail, however, bothers fans regarding the wizard's method for hiding them: why not use the Fidelius Charm? It seems like an inconsistency, but it isn't. Let me explain.
Voldemort: a dark wizard, 7 times more dangerous
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is one of the most iconic villains in literature and cinema, known in detail only to readers of J.K. Rowling's work. Voldemort is a power-hungry wizard, whose main goal is to escape death. While at Hogwarts, he learned about Horcruxes, taboo artifacts that allow one to fragment one's soul into as many pieces as necessary and hide them in objects or people.
The price of this "immortality"? Murders, perpetrated by virtue of which the soul splits and perhaps partially places it in a receptacle, so that it can survive the eventual death of the physical body. Regarding Voldemort, there are 7 Horcruxes: Tom Riddle's diary, Gaunt's ring, Slytherin's locket, Hufflepuff's cup, Ravenclaw's diadem, Nagini the snake, and Harry Potter.
The Fidelius Charm Explained
This spell is very powerful: it creates a bond between the Secret Keeper and the one who needs to hide or conceal something. It is described by J.K. Rowling in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as follows:
[It is] a spell of great complexity. It is a magical process intended to hide a secret within a single being. The information is concealed within the chosen person, who is called the Secret Keeper. The secret then becomes impossible to discover, unless, of course, the Keeper decides to divulge it.
It was because of the Fidelius that Sirius was considered a traitor: everyone was convinced that he was the one James and Lily had chosen to hide their position from Voldemort, when in the hope of covering their tracks, they had actually confided their secret to Peter Pettigrew, alias Wormtail. It was the latter who sold them to the Dark Lord...
Could Voldemort have hidden the Horcruxes with the Fidelius Charm?
Considering how useful the Fidelius Charm could have been in hiding his Horcruxes, why didn't Voldemort choose one of his Death Eaters to become his Secret Keeper? While it's understandable that he wouldn't have wanted to trust a coward like Lucius Malfoy, who can turn his back faster than his shadow, Bellatrix Lestrange is his most loyal Lieutenant. The definition states that no one can extort a secret confided with the Fidelius Charm, and that the Keeper must deliver it willingly.
On her website, J.K. Rowling explains that even "forced to absorb Veritaserum or placed under the influence of the Imperius Curse," the Keeper does not reveal the secret. But here's the thing: Voldemort never revealed the existence of Horcruxes to his Death Eaters (Regulus Black and then Dumbledore discovered this secret by deduction). The spell, by its very name, implies notions of trust and loyalty between the sponsor and the Keeper. However, Voldemort doesn't feel this way about anyone, preferring to instill fear in others, including his followers, rather than trust his life to one of them.
In theory, Voldemort could have used the Fidelius Lock, but that would have been an act that contradicted his personality.
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