Tom Riddle

***“An absolute certainty that out of the entire human race, your life is the only one with any value.”***

- *Lucius Malfoy to Harry Potter on the Horcrux mindset.*

**Tom Marvolo Riddle**, better known as **Lord Voldemort**, is a Dark Lord who was believed to have been killed on Halloween of 1981 at the hands of Jim Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived.

## Biography

### Family Lineage

Tom Riddle is descended from The Ancient and Noble House of Gaunt through his mother, Merope Gaunt, the squib daughter of Marvolo Gaunt, the last Lord Gaunt. House Gaunt was an Ancient and Noble House that came to England in 473, along with 16 other notable Roman wizarding families of the time. One of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the Gaunt family held a Wizengamot seat since its founding, until Lord Marvolo Gaunt was expelled from it in 1921 after showing up drunk to a legislative session and firing a Bludgeoning Curse at Lady Sapphira Doge, the resulting fines bankrupting House Gaunt. They are also known for their affinity for Dark Magic, an absolute hate for muggles and strict adherence to Pure-Blood traditions.

As House Gaunt was descended from Salazar Slytherin Tom could naturally speak Parseltongue from a young age.

Tom was born from affair between the Squib Merope Gaunt and the Muggle Tom Riddle Junior, which was facilitated by Merope through Amortentia. Riddle was already engaged when he suddenly eloped with Merope, only to return not long after, aged beyond his years and claiming that Merope had "hoodwinked" him and that the marriage had been anulled. He returned to his parents' house and remained there for most of the rest of his life, never remarrying. Severus Snape later speculated that Riddle was suffering from aftereffects of drinking Amortentia, which often damages the mental health of Muggles.

### Early Life

Raised in an orphanage, Tom began attending Hogwarts in 1938, where he was sorted into Slytherin and presumed to be Muggle-born. He was ruthlessly bullied by Abraxas Malfoy as a result of presuming him to be a muggleborn. In response Tom became adamant that the Muggleborns should stand together against Pure-blood bigotry, Tom formed study groups for Muggle-born and Muggle-raised students. Tom befriended many other Muggle-born students, inluding Nobby Leach, Myrtle Warren, and Rubeus Hagrid. At some point Tom read Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, which he liked and mentioned to Myrtle, prompting her to gift him *The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde* as a combined Christmas and birthday gift.

In late 1942 Nobby and Tom began plotting ways to improve their standing as Muggle-born students. Nobby suggested staging attacks on Muggle-born students which they would frame on Pure-blood students. Tom planned to take control of the Great Basilisk through his descent from Salazar Slytherin, but only revealed to Nobby and Myrtle Warren that he had a way of petrifying students. Nobby's petrification in early 1943 was succesful, but when Tom tried to petrifry Myrtle she fell and hit her head, killing her. Overcome with grief and unable to deal with the flood of emotions, Tom impulsively used his Occlumency to shut down his emotions, accidentally burning them away and leaving him unable to empathise with or feel affection for anyone.

This new lack of empathy allowed Tom to start creating Horcruxes, placing a piece of his soul inside of his diary. He was later able to use his Diary Horcrux as a Secret Keeper for a Fidelius Charm which kept his identity as Lord Voldemort hidden. Tom also used his knowledge that Rubeus Hagrid had been raising an Acromantula in the castle to frame him for the petrificiations and death of Myrtle, leading Hagrid to be expelled.

During the summer between his fifth and sixth years, Tom came into the possession of the Gaunt Family Ring, a fact that was wasn't lost on some of his professors. Around this time Tom also managed to claim the position of Prince of Slytherin. Tom also formed the beginnings of the Knights of Walpurgis whilst at Hogwarts, The group consisted of his inner circle as a Prince, including Boruslav Lestrange and Augustus Rookwood. He also used the Gaunt Ring to prove ancestry to The Ancient and Noble House of Gaunt, a pedigree that got most of the bigots of Slytherin to start treating him with respect, although others like Walburga Black and Cantankerous Nott. Jr still treated him with disdain.

After graduating Hogwarts, Tom took a job at Borgin and Burkes where rumours began surrounding the young man, including the company he kept and the magic he pursued.  He was also brought in by the DMLE as a suspect in 3 murder cases and the theft of Hufflepuffs Cup and Slytherin's Locket over the next 7 years before he disappeared entirely in 1953.

In 1957, Tom went to Albus Dumbledore in an attempt to become the new Defence against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts. However, Dumbledore refused Tom the position due to the rumours surrounding him. That was the year the Defence Curse began.

### Rian O'Grady

In 1962, around the time of Nobby Leach's election as Minister for Magic, Tom Riddle vanished. Riddle resurfaced not long afterwards under the name Rian O'Grady, an anagram of Dorian Gray. As O'Grady, Tom claimed to be an Irish Muggle-born and joined the cause of Alexander McAvity, becoming one of his chief lieutenants alongside Martha Bracewell and Timothy Spraggins.

When the Ministry tried to arrest McAvity after Nobby Leach's death in 1968 he fled the country, leaving his movement in the hands of his three lieutenants. Tom organized and helped lead the once peaceful movement in a violent and radicalized direction, being involved in the planning and funding of 2 years of terror at the hands of the enraged muggleborns.

In 1970 O'Grady publicly assassinated Cantankerous Nott Junior, his former schoolmate who was now a Lord of the Wizengamot, before vanishing to take the name Voldemort and take control of the newly invigorated Pure-blood movement. Harry Black later speculated that the assassination was motivated by Nott's intricate knowledge of Pure-blood genealogy and familiarity with Tom Riddle, making him the most likely person to figure out the truth behind Voldemort's identity.

### Lord Voldemort

In the 1960s, while aiding the muggleborns under the Rian O’Grady identity, he began courting the increasingly angered and fearful purebloods under the identity of Lord Voldemort, a powerful and mysterious wizard who’d mastered arcane lore and an heir of Slytherin who’d come to England to form the Knights of Walpurgis, a paramilitary group meant to combat the threat the mudbloods and blood traitors pose to the old ways by force. By 1970, the Knights were a radicalized, well equipped army numbering in the thousands, with many members of its inner circle holding government positions, ready to wage war on Wizarding England on his command.

### First Wizarding War

In the 1970s, he began launching terror attacks against Magical Britain. Due to these attacks, a Daily Prophet writer wrote an editorial decrying the Knights as **Death Eaters**. This name rung with Voldemort, so he eventually changed the name of the Knights to the Death Eaters.

Voldemort often made public use of Parseltongue during the War, using it to enhance his spells to terrifying degress. This caused the common British superstition that lasts well into the 1990s that Parselmouths were somehow inherently evil, and that Parseltongue was the sign of a dark wizard.

The Death Eaters were responsible for the deaths of many wizards, witches, and Muggles. Alastor Moody noted that while Death Eater attacks on Muggles, Muggle-borns, and Half-bloods were often brutal and appeared random, the attacks on Pure-blood "blood traitors" were far more methodical and well planned, leading him to theorize that they were Voldemort's true targets. including the Boneses (who were down to Amelia Bones and her infant niece Susan by the end of the War).

Voldemort often personally dueled Aurors and Hit Wizards from prominent Pure-blood families who had arrested or killed prominent Death Eaters, including members of Houses Bones, Fawley, Shacklebolt, and Abbott. In 1976 he dueled and killed Auror Herbert Burke Junior, leaving his fellow Auror Nancy Kent alive (but blinded) so her Pensieve memory of Burke's violent death could be preserved.

At some point, Voldemort hid the Gaunt Lord’s Ring in an Oricalchum box of more than 85% purity provided by Boruslav Lestrange with a specific password meant to open it in the Gaunt Shack, surrounding the whole area with poisonous snakes who test one’s loyalty to Voldemort by biting them and placing one of Mr. Toymaker’s rubber ducks in the shack as a guard, and then concealing the whole shack in a Fidelus Charm, snakes and all, and making Erasmus Wilkes the Secret Keeper.

He charged Bellatrix Lestrange, his personal assassin with guarding the Cup of Hufflepuff between 1971 and 1981, ordering her to have Rodolphus Lestrange or any other male wizard to drink a potion out of The Cup if he were to ever disappear unexpectedly for more than a week.

In the summer of 1975 he assasinated Minister of Magic Harold Minchum at the exact moment after Minchum called him “Moldy-Shorts” during a speech addressing the Death Eater insurrection. The precise timing of the assasination led Wizarding Britan to believe that Voldemort was capable of knowing when his name was used disrespectfully and the public took to calling him “You-Know-Who” and “He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named”.

Between 1976 and 1979 he gifted Abraxas and Lucius Malfoy with the Diary Horcrux, without telling them its true nature or his true identity as Tom Riddle. Then he ordered Abraxas (who never gave the instructions to Lucius) being ordered to begin writing in the Diary indefinitely if he were to ever disappear unexpectedly for more than a week.

In 1979 Voldemort ordered the unmarked Death Eater Regulus Black to loan him his House Elf Kreacher in order to test the defences of the cave where he hid Salazar Slytherin’s locket. He had him drink the nightmare potion, and then placed the locket in the bowl where the potion was and refilled the bowl. He also ordered an attack against the Fawleys, who were wiped out in a single night.

In early January of 1980. Severus Snape, a recent unmarked recruit to the Death Eaters reported to Voldemort that Sybill Trelawney had uttered a True Prophecy that foretold the rise of "*The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord*". While Snape believed that the prophecy referred to an adult, Voldemort believed it referred to a child yet to be born. After inducting Snape into the inner circle and branding him with the Dark Mark, he announced that he planned to destroy St. Mungo's Hospital on the morning of August 1st. Snape and two other Death Eaters managed to dissuade Voldemort from this plan, arguing that the deaths of dozens of infant and hundreds of patients and healers might turn the opinion of a still-divided wizarding Britain against him. Snape, who had dismissed the most brutal of his murders as propaganda and slander, truly realized that he just swore fealty to a genuine Dark Lord. Later that year, Voldemort identified Neville Longbottom, Harry Potter, and James Potter. Jr as the three potential candidates of the prophecy and set about to orchestrating their murders.

On New Year's Day of 1981 Voldemort infiltrated the home of Auror Alastor Moody, who had killed one of his most valued subordinates Erasmus Wilkes and arrested his pregnant wife Linnea a few weeks prior and in doing so severely damaged his pursuit of **The Goal**. He took Moody's pregnant lover Victoria Manford, fellow Auror Michael Proctor, brother Aethon, sister-in-law Adrienne, and nephew Nestor Moody hostage, and forced Moody to watch while he tortured them with the Cruciatus Curse, promising to only relent if Moody begged him to kill them. He also sliced off Moody's leg below the knee with a curse that would make the wound cause him intense pain for the rest of his life.

The Potters managed to stay hidden behind a Fidelius until October of 1981, when Peter Pettigrew, their secret keeper, contacted the Death Eaters and revealed their location in exchange for a high position in Voldemort's council. On Halloween, when Voldemort went to kill the Potters, his Killing Curse rebounded and destroyed his body.

### Post-War

Due his Horcruxes, Voldemort didn't die but his spirit wasn't able to interact with the physical world. Thus, he fled to Albania, hiding in a forest there until he could regain a physical body.

He got his chance in the summer of 1991 when he encountered Quirinus Quirrell. Seeing his usefulness as a Hogwarts professor, Voldemort was able to partially possess Quirrell, becoming a face attached to the back of his head. This allowed him access back into Hogwarts for the upcoming school year.

### Book 1 - The Prince of Slytherin

Once at Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore became aware of Voldemort's presence so arranged for a way to destroy Voldemort. He arranged for a replica of the Philosopher's Stone to be placed inside the Mirror of Erised, guarded by several defences created by Hogwarts staff, so that Voldemort's soul might be captured by the artifact. However, the Prophecy's wild magic arranged events so that Harry and Jim Potter would be able to bypass the defences and battle Voldemort.

Once Voldemort found out about the Stone, Voldemort had Quirrell attempt to steal the object, unaware it was fake. He had Quirrell unleash the troll to be used for the Stone's defence, to distract the staff surrounding the Stone. However, Severus Snape prevent Quirrell from accessing the first layer of defences.

This didn't stop Quirrell indefinitely. Eventually, Quirrell found his way past the Cerberus, breezing through most of the other defences with ease, until he came to the Mirror. Voldemort, having read Jim's memories and seen Harry's encounter with the Mirror over Christmas, hatched a plan to force Harry to retrieve the Stone for him. He Confunded Jim Potter, Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, and Neville Longbottom into going through the defences so he could force Harry to rescue them. In response, Harry and his friends, Theodore Nott and Blaise Zabini, traversed the defences as well, though many of them hadn't reset yet.

Soon, Harry confronted Quirrell, who forced to him remove the Stone from the Mirror. Harry complied but, realising the Stone was fake, threatened to destroy the Stone to allow Theo and Blaise time to save the hostages. Voldemort then conversed with the boy, trying to persuade Harry into joining him, whilst Harry probed Voldemort for information regarding his attack on Potter Cottage. However, Voldemort soon learnt the Stone was fake after reading Harry's mind when Harry asked after Sirius Black which confused Voldemort.

Harry, seeing that Voldemort knew, summoned fireworks in Quirrell's face and signalled Theo and Blaise. Although they led most of the Gryffindors to safety, Jim charged Quirrell, breaking his leg and began kicking Quirrell in the face. Harry put Quirrell in a Full Body-Bind, but Voldemort overpowered the Bind. Having learnt he wasted a year on a pointless endeavour, Voldemort killed Quirrell by rotating their shared head so he was on front, thus snapping Quirrell's neck. After separating Jim and Harry from the other students, Voldemort attempted to choke them to death. However, the protection surrounding the Potters kicked in and vapourised Quirrell's body. Without a body, Voldemort was forced to flee again.

### Book 2 - The Secret Enemy

The portion of Tom's soul inside his Diary found his way into the hands of Ron Weasley by way of Lucius Malfoy. Lucius, having been given the Diary by Voldemort, hoped that when the Weasley children were caught with the dark artifact upon entering Hogwarts, it would ruin Arthur Weasley's Muggle Protection Act. However, he was unaware that Albus Dumbledore had deactivated some of Hogwarts' wards the previous year. This not only allowed the Diary to enter Hogwarts but give it plenty of time to possess Ron.

Over the course of the year, the Diary made Ron unleash The Great Basilisk, a living siege engine created by Salazar Slytherin to defend the castle. However, due to his possession of Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, the Diary was able to turn the monster against the staff and student's of Hogwarts. This resulted in many students and the entire staff being petrified by the monster.

The Diary's plan was eventually revealed in the Chamber of Secrets; it was draining the life force of Ron in an attempt to resurrect itself in Ron's body. However, whilst Harry Potter distract the Diary, Jim Potter used the Sword of Gryffindor to kill the Basilisk, imbuing it with Basilisk Venom. This led to Harry Potter being able to destroy the Diary with the Sword, destroying this part of Tom's soul.

### Book 3 - The Death Eater Menace

Having retreated back to Albania after his failure to retrieve the Philosopher's Stone, Voldemort once again waited until he could regain a physical body.

His opportunity came when Narcissa Black and Barty Crouch Junior found him. Together, they arranged for Voldemort to possess a baby, allowing him to regain a physical body. They found Yetta Garshi, a witch who was pushed by her family to give up her out-of-wedlock child, and kidnapped her. Voldemort possessed her child and she was turned into an Inferius.

At some point, Voldemort contacted Lord Selwyn who sent his granddaughter Cassilda Selwyn and sister Camilla Selwyn to aid the Dark Lord. Together, they started work on designing the perfect familiar for Voldemort, a snake created by fusing several different breeds together through a formula of the Dark Lord's making. The breeds were also hand chosen by Voldemort and gathered by House Selwyn. On the 21st of June, 1994, Voldemort summoned Peter Pettigrew and Augustus Rookwood to his Estate in Albania. Upon arrival, Pettigrew returned his wand, which he had kept safe since the night in Godric's Hollow.

## Personality & Traits

Before Myrtle's death Tom was friendly and outgoing, organizing several study-groups and apparently being the face of resistance against Pure-blood supremacy at Hogwarts.

After her death he lost all compassion and empathy, to the point where he was able to create Horcruxes, which require one to maintain the mindset that out of the entire human race, your life is the only one with any value.

## Magical Abilities & Skills

### Mental Magics

Tom Riddle was a natural Occlumens, having been self taught whilst still at Hogwarts. However, during his reign as Lord Voldemort, he became known for his skill with Legilimency, being able to easily look into the minds of his victims and servants alike, often with little regard to the well-being.

### Nonverbal Magic

During his duel with Herbert Burke in 1976 Voldemort cast a nonverbal Protego strong enough to block Burke's Bombarda Maxima.

### Parselmagic

Voldemort, like all male decendants of Salazar Slytherin was born with parseltounge. He evantuall discovered and became well versed in parselmagic, using it during the first wizarding war to cause spectacles of mass destruction, including summoning a horde of cobras that can obey comlex commands.

### Biothaumaturgy

Voldemort had knowledge of the obscure field of Biothaumaturgy that even House Selwyn did not have access to, which he used in his and Camilla Selwyn's creation of Nagini.

### Horcruxes

Tom Riddle is the only known modern wizard to employ the use of Horcruxes, a forbidden magic found within the Anathema Codex. Horcruxes are magical objects converted by dark wizards to become soul jars, so in the event of the wizard's death, their soul won't pass on and can even be resurrected if given a proper body. In addition, the wizard also gains the original magical properties of the object used, possibly even after the object's destruction.

The Horcruxes have some degree of sentience and intelligence, as Helga Hufflepuff's Cup was able to subtly influence members of the Azkabal into arguing for the Cup to be saved from destruction, and his Diary possessed Ron Weasley in the 1992-1993 school year.

At the moment, there are several Horcruxes attributed to Voldemort:

* **Tom Riddle's Diary**, which enhanced his mental organisation and acted as a Secret Keeper. **Destroyed** by Harry Black in the Chamber of Secrets with the Sword of Gryffindor on 9 May 1993.
* **The Gaunt Ring**, which enhanced his Parseltongue. **Destroyed** by Harry Black at Malfoy Manor with Basilisk venom on 25 October 1994.
* **Salazar Slytherin's Locket**, which enhanced his skills with Legilimency. **Destroyed** by Harry Black at 12 Grimmauld Place with a Basilisk Fang on 4 August 1993.
* **Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem**, which enhances the wielder's wisdom and allows control over the Great Basilisk. Current location unknown.
* **Helga Hufflepuff's Cup**, which extended the life of anyone who drank it. **Destroyed** by Harry Black at 12 Grimmauld Place with a Basilisk Fang on 1 January 1994.

## Canon Divergence

In JKR's Harry Potter series, Tom Riddle is a born psychopath, being unable to feel love due to being born under the effects of a love potion. This led to him being cruel to his fellow orphans before learning to hide these traits during his time at Hogwarts.

In TSM's Prince of Slytherin series, Tom Riddle was a completely normal child with an excellence for mental magical. However, after the death of Moaning Myrtle, Tom used his Occlumency to burn away his capacity to empathise or feel affection to anyone, thus leading to his current personality.

## References

Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 77 - The Chamber of Secrets,

Harry and Jim confront the Diary Horcrux in the Chamber of Secrets.
 - Chapter not added yet,

Revealed in Supplemental Readings: The History of Magic, Bagshot, Chapter 12.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 87 - Prelude (Ron),

Ron Weasley meets Sardeth.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 145 - Little Hangleton,

Harry, Lucius, Regulus, and Snape visit Little Hangleton.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 41 - Countdown to a Birthday,

Hagrid tells Harry and Hermione about his days at Hogwarts.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 122 - The Hunting of Sirius Black (Pt 1),

Luna gives Harry a book she found in the Hogwarts Library.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 76 - Revelations in a Disused Lavatory,

Myrtle reveals Tom and Nobby's plot.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 78 - The Riddle of the Diary,

Dumbledore realises how Voldemort kept his identity hidden for all these years.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 74 - Endgame (Pt 1),

Jim enters the Diary Horcrux and meets Tom Riddle.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 68 - A New Year Begins,

Slughorn tells Dumbledore that Tom has the Gaunt Ring.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 80 - Three Princes,

"Tom Riddle was Prince from 1943 to 1945.".
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 114 - The Blackest Day (Pt 3),

Harry reveals Voldemort's true identity to Walburga Black's portrait.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 68 - A New Year Begins,

Dumbledore tells Harry about Tom Riddle.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 78 - The Riddle of the Diary,

Talks about Riddle's history undertake once the Fidelius is broken.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 118 - Secrets Revealed,

Daphne gives a speech on Muggleborn extremism and McAvity's lieutenants.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 137 - The Future All Around Us, Waiting to Be Born (Pt 1),

Harry reveals his findings about Rian O'Grady in the Prince's Lair..
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Ch. 151 - The Quidditch World Cup (Pt 6),

Harry reveals the truth behind Cantankerous Nott's murder to his son Tiberius.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 32 - The Death Eater Snape,

Snape reveals why he joined the Death Eaters.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 108 - Dreamscapes, Memories and Nightmares (Pt 1),

Moody shows Harry a Pensieve memory of Voldemort's duel with Herbert Burke Junior.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 65 - Aftershocks,

Padma Patil explains the true nature of Parseltongue to her housemates.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 24 - Pairings.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Chapter not added yet,

Percy travels to Crouch Manor to deliver a report.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 111 - Dreamscapes, Memories and Nightmares (Finale),

Harry watches Moody's memory of his encounter with Voldemort.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 2 - Halloween 1981,

Peter arrives at the destroyed cottage in Godric's Hollow.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 54 - Pranks & Other Diversions (Pt 1),

Harry, Neville and Snape discuss the defences surrounding the Stone.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 14 - Halloween 1991 (Finale),

Harry reveals his deduction skills to Snape, regarding Quirrell.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 22 - The Mirror of Erised,

Harry and Theo confront the Mirror whilst Jim watches.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 29 - Final Exam (Pt 1),

Quirrell reveals his plan to Harry, via Switching Spell.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 29 - Final Exam (Pt 1),

Harry and co. breach the Stone's defences.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 30 - Final Exam (Pt 2),

Harry interogates Voldemort and Quirrell.
Book 1 - HP&PoS - Ch. 30 - Final Exam (Pt 2),

Harry and Jim fight Quirrelmort.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 80 - Three Princes,

Lucius explains his plan using the Diary.
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 77 - The Chamber of Secrets,

Harry talks with the Diary Horcrux before destroying it.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 117 - The Month of January,

Yetta Garshi meets with Narcissa and Barty and is never seen again.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 138 - The Future All Around Us, Waiting to Be Born (Pt 2),

Voldemort is being held by the Inferius of Yetta Garshi.

Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; name "Circle Reforged" defined multiple times with different content
Book 2 - HP&TSE - Ch. 80 - Three Princes,

Regulus explains Horcruxes to Harry.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 116 - Families at Christmas,

Harry destroys the Cup after witnessing it manipulate the people present.
Book 4 - HP&TRG - Chapter not added yet,

Harry destroys the ring.
Book 3 - HP&DEM - Ch. 92 - Reactions & Overreactions (Pt 3),

Harry talks with the Locket Horcrux before destroying it with Regulus.