Tom Marvolo Riddle

> You see? It was a name I was already using at Hogwarts, to my most intimate friends only, of course. You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father's name forever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother's side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!
>
> Tom Riddle's transformation into Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

**Tom Marvolo Riddle** (***31 December*** ***1926*** – ***2 May*** ***1998***), later known as **Lord Voldemort** or, alternatively as the **Dark Lord**, **You-Know-Who**, or **He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named** was an ***English*** ***half-blood*** wizard considered to have been the most powerful and dangerous Dark wizard of all time.

## Tom Marvolo Riddle

### Occupation

Shop assistant at Borgin and Burkes (formerly)

## Biographical information

### Date of birth

31 December 1926
Wool's Orphanage, London, England, Great Britain

## Physical description

### Eye color

Scarlet (originally dark brown)

 He was amongst the greatest wizards to have ever lived, often considered equal or more powerful to Albus Dumbledore. Tom Riddle was conceived whilst his father, Tom Riddle Senior, was under the effects of a ***love potion*** supplied by his mother, Merope Riddle. When the enchantment was lifted, Tom's father abandoned his pregnant wife and returned to Little Hangleton. His mother died moments after giving birth to and naming him. She named him after his father (Tom) and maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt. Tom was raised in the Muggle-run Wool's Orphanage.
Tom began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1938 and was sorted into Slytherin house. During this time, Tom opened the Chamber of Secrets and used its monster, the Basilisk, to attack ***Muggle-born*** students, resulting in Myrtle Warren's death. He also spent several months as a purchasing agent for the Dark artefacts shop Borgin and Burkes. He began his quest to attain immortality between the years of 1943 and 1998, creating his first Horcrux at the age of sixteen. While attending Hogwarts, Tom Riddle was made a prefect in 1942 until his graduation in 1945.
Splitting his own spirit into a total of eight fragments, Tom created an unprecedented seven Horcruxes, with one made later in his life, unintentionally and without his knowledge — Harry Potter. Abandoning his 'Muggle' name, he became the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort, which is an anagram of his birth name. In the First and ***Second*** Wizarding Wars, he commanded ***a veritable army of wizards and Dark creatures***; committed countless murders and atrocities; and eventually ***succeeded*** in taking over the ***Ministry of Magic***.
Voldemort was ripped from his body in 1981 after attempting to kill Harry Potter. Although unable to die, he was not able to ***regain a permanent and physical body*** until ***1995***, thus spending the intervening fourteen years as '*a shell, less than the meanest ghost*'. He was finally ***killed*** by his own backfiring curse after Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore succeeded in destroying all of his Horcruxes.
Unknown to most, however, Voldemort's legacy and bloodline would live on through his daughter ***Delphini***, whom he conceived with his loyal follower ***Bellatrix Lestrange***. The conception is thought to have occurred sometime after the ***Battle of the Department of Mysteries*** in ***1996*** and before Voldemort's death at the hands of Harry in 1998 .
Riddle's broken and mutilated soul was then trapped in Limbo for eternity, unable to move on to the afterlife or even return as a disembodied spirit.

## Biography

### Family lineage

> The Gaunts, a very ancient wizarding family noted for a vein of instability and violence that flourished through the generations due to their habit of marrying their own cousins.
>
> Description of the House of Gaunt, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

By Harry Potter's time, Tom's family on his mother ***Merope'***s side were the last known members of the ***House of Gaunt***. The Gaunts were an ancient, and formerly wealthy, wizarding family, noted for producing individuals with violent and unstable personalities due to generations of ***inbreeding***.
Some notable members of the Gaunt family include:

* ***Corvinus Gaunt***, Tom's maternal ancestor, and a Parselmouth who hid the Chamber of Secrets entrance in a girls' restroom at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry;
* ***Rionach Gaunt***, the mother of ***Ilvermorny*** founder ***Isolt Sayre***; and
* ***Gormlaith Gaunt***, the sister of Rionach; maternal aunt of Sayre; maternal great-aunt of ***Rionach Steward*** and ***Martha Steward***; and, it is believed, the 'last of the Irish branch of the Gaunt family'.

Because of the Gaunt family's love for grandeur, along with little sensibility at their indulgences, the family gold was gambled away and gone long before the last known heirs of the lineage were born. Likewise, a tendency to 'marry their own cousins' to 'keep their bloodline pure', following the beliefs of their ancestor Salazar Slytherin, caused the heirs to the Gaunt name to suffer the ill-effects of generations of inbreeding and incest.
In ***North America***, in what would later become the state of ***Massachusetts*** in the ***United States***, the descendants of the Irish branch of the Gaunt family, through the Sayre's line, were thought to have died out sometime in the 17th or 18th century. Rionach Steward, Sayre's ***Half-blood*** daughter and the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Ilvermorny, was also rumoured to have inherited the ability to speak Parseltongue from her mother. Unwilling to further Slytherin's bloodline, since she viewed him as a Dark wizard, Rionach never married or had children, and she later died without heirs.
However, Rionach was unaware that another branch of the Gaunt family was still present, alive and well, across the ocean in ***England***. It was from this line of Gaunts from which, centuries later, another Half-blood descendant, Tom Marvolo Riddle, would be born.
Rionach's sister Martha, unlike her sibling, married a ***No-maj*** (Muggle) friend of the nearby ***Pocumtuc Native American tribe***. Born a ***Squib***, without any magical powers, Martha felt ostracised within the growing American wizarding community, despite being the child of an important family. In the end, due to the emotional pain caused by being unable to perform magic, and the stigma of being the the only Squib to grow up at Ilvermorny, Martha decided to live her life henceforth as a Muggle.
Tom's maternal grandfather, ***Marvolo Gaunt***, and his maternal uncle, ***Morfin Gaunt***, claimed to be the last known male, ***pure-blood*** descendants of Slytherin by the early 20th century. As such, they regarded themselves as 'royalty' for their ancestry, despite their poverty, squalor, lack of education, and mental and physical disorders from centuries of familial inbreeding.
Tom's father, ***Tom Riddle Senior***, was a wealthy Muggle living in the village of ***Little Hangleton***, near the Gaunt shack, who was forced into a relationship with ***Merope Gaunt*** through the suspected use of the ***Imperius Curse*** or a ***love potion***. After some time, it is speculated by Albus Dumbledore that Merope discontinued her bewitchment of Tom, in the hopes that he had really fallen in love with her, or would at least stay for their child's sake. To Merope's great sorrow, Tom Snr fled from her after he came to his senses and regained his free will and never wanted to see her again.

### Early life Template:C

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 File:Tom Orphanage.JPG
Tom Marvolo Riddle was born on ***31 December*** ***1926*** at ***Wool's Orphanage*** in ***London***. His mother Merope staggered to the door of the orphanage, gave birth to Tom there, and died shortly after. Riddle grew up in the dingy orphanage, completely unaware of his wizarding heritage. Since the Muggle orphanage staff did not know anything about his mother, they did not know about his magical background. Instead, they believed that Merope was a circus worker, as ***Mrs Cole*** told Dumbledore shortly before his first meeting with Riddle. It is unknown whether or not the staff relayed this to Riddle before his first encounter with Dumbledore.
Despite his ignorance of his mother's true background, Riddle did have some grasp on his abilities beyond that of normal magical children of his same age, and an unusually high degree of control over them. He could move objects with his mind and cause them to float wherever he wished, manipulate animals and creatures as he wished, speak Parseltongue, and use his power to inflict harm on other orphans. After getting into a fight with fellow orphan ***Billy Stubbs***, he used his powers to hang the boy's rabbit from the rafters. On one occasion, he took two other orphans, ***Dennis Bishop*** and ***Amy Benson***, into a cave, where he performed an act, likely with his powers, so horrifying that the two orphans were traumatised into silence. Afterwards, he may have told them, in some means, not to tell anyone what happened in the cave. Riddle also stole from other orphans and hid their things in his cupboard like trophies.

#### Discovery of being a wizard

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 File:Child Tom.png
When Riddle was eleven, Dumbledore, who at the time was the Transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts, talked to Mrs Cole, who informed him of how unusual the boy was, sharing tales of his extraordinary influence over the other children. When Dumbledore was at last introduced to the boy, Riddle at first believed him to be a doctor or psychiatrist of some sort, coming to take him to an asylum because of what the staff had seen. He was convinced after Dumbledore demonstrated his power by using a Flame-Freezing Charm on Riddle's cupboard and revealed that Hogwarts was a school for people with magic, whereupon Riddle realised that was what his abilities were.
Tom also mentioned his proficiency for Parseltongue in this same meeting, asking if it was a common gift amongst wizards, to which Dumbledore gave no reply. Dumbledore also admonished Riddle for stealing from others and made him return the items with his apologies. He also warned Riddle to stop his misbehaviour, as Hogwarts had an honour code whereupon lying, cheating and stealing were not tolerated.
At a very early age, it was clear that Riddle displayed a desire to be different and set apart from others (as it was hinted when he mentioned his dislike of his own name, because it was such a common name).

 File:Young riddle orphanage.gif
Riddle was not surprised upon being informed by Dumbledore that he was a wizard — he was, in fact, eager to believe that he had special gifts that no normal person had. Riddle also showed an eminent fear of death, considering it a human weakness. He claimed that his mother could not have been a witch, because if she was magical, then she would have been able to avoid dying, and thought his father was a wizard. He asked if his father was an alumnus of Hogwarts, to which Dumbledore said he did not know offhand.

Riddle's abuse of his wizarding powers alarmed Albus. He resolved to keep a close eye on him, something he should have done in any case, seeing as he was '*alone and friendless*'. Dumbledore also warned Riddle that at Hogwarts he would be introduced to the laws that controlled the usage of magic in the wizarding world, and that law-breakers were punished with severity not by Hogwarts but the Ministry of Magic. Riddle's demeanour changed after Dumbledore reprimanded him; he became more guarded and shielded his real reactions to things, adopting a kinder persona. Dumbledore provided Riddle with enough information to find Diagon Alley and Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. He also provided Riddle with a stipend from school funds so that he could purchase his books and equipment.
Travelling on his own to Diagon Alley, Riddle bought some second-hand robes and spell books for himself, along with his wand, which was thirteen-and-a-half inches, made of yew with a phoenix feather core from Ollivanders. Little did Riddle know that very wand would, in the future, share the same wand core as Harry Potter. Garrick Ollivander later said that the wand was very powerful; Voldemort was very pleased with it until the wand failed him during his confrontation with Harry Potter in the Little Hangleton Little Hangleton graveyard.

### Hogwarts years Template:C

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Riddle was educated at Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945, and was sorted into Slytherin House, a nod to his ancestor Salazar Slytherin. During summer breaks, he was forced to return to the Muggle orphanage, which he despised and dreaded more than any other place on earth.

 File:Young Death Eaters.jpg
Riddle described the way he was seen as '*poor, but brilliant, parent-less, but so brave, a school prefect, a model student*'*.* Due to his exceptional acting abilities and handsome looks, he was able to convince virtually all of the Hogwarts staff and instructors that his kinder façade was his true personality. The sole exception to this was Dumbledore, who, though not necessarily suspicious of Riddle, never forgot about his misdeeds at the orphanage, nor his unsettling behaviour during their first meeting. In turn, Riddle realised that he had been careless in showing Dumbledore his true character upon their first meeting, and never attempted to win him over as he had with his other instructors. In time, he came to fear and despise Dumbledore.

 File:Riddle-Moaning-Myrtle.JPG
Over time, Riddle gathered to himself a gang of Slytherin thugs, a motley composition of '*the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty*'*,* most of which would become the first ***Death Eaters***. Riddle claimed they were his friends, and made it appear so in public, but in truth, they amounted to little more than servants, and he cared almost nothing for them. He often manipulated them into committing petty crimes and other misdeeds, but none of these incidents were reliably traced back to the group.

#### Opening the Chamber of Secrets

Main article: Plot To Open at The Chamber-Of Secrets

> The last time the chamber was opened, a Mudblood died.
>
> Draco Malfoy, regarding the first opening of the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Upon arriving at Hogwarts, Riddle became obsessed with his heritage and began researching it with an insatiable hunger. He focussed solely on the identity of his father, still thinking him to be the magical parent, as he had held onto his beliefs that death was a Muggle consequence and a weakness. He searched for his father's name in the school trophy room, in the records of Hogwarts prefects and in records of wizarding history, but found nothing to suggest his father had even attended Hogwarts. He was eventually forced to accept that his father was the Muggle parent, and that his mother was the magical one. It was around this time that Riddle gave himself the alias 'Lord Voldemort', to spare himself of the reminder of his '*filthy Muggle father*', who he later learned had abandoned his wife after learning she was a witch (although in reality he left her after she stopped controlling him with a love potion).
Using his middle name, Marvolo, which was taken from his maternal grandfather, Riddle discovered his mother's heritage and the Gaunts' bloodline connection with Salazar Slytherin. Once Riddle learned of his ancestry, it was not long before he discovered the existence of the Chamber of Secrets under Hogwarts, during his fifth year, and tamed the Basilisk which dwelt within. As the Heir of Slytherin through his mother's family, Tom was able to open the Chamber Slytherin had left behind in order to '*purge the school of all those who [were] unworthy to study magic*' — in Riddle's and Slytherin's eyes, Muggle-borns.

Around ***13 June*** 1943, the Basilisk petrified many at Hogwarts, with its last victim being a student named Myrtle Warren, who was killed in the girls' bathroom when she saw the Basilisk's yellow eyes. In light of this incident, the Hogwarts Board of Governors decided that Hogwarts was to be closed. During that year, Riddle made a special request that Headmaster Armando Dippet would allow him to stay at school over the summer break. However, Dippet informed him of the governors' decision, and denied his request.
Realising that the Chamber would need to be closed and the culprit caught in order to keep the school open (and not have to return permanently to the orphanage), Riddle framed fellow student Rubeus Hagrid and his pet ***Acromantula***, Aragog. He convinced Dippet that Aragog was the monster that had terrorised the school. He also noted that Hagrid was keeping a dangerous pet, though this was shallow hypocrisy considering the monster he commanded. Hagrid was expelled, and Riddle ironically received an engraved trophy for Special Services to the School.

Dumbledore, who did not believe that Hagrid was responsible for the killing, managed to arrange for him to be kept on as Hogwarts's groundskeeper. Distrusting Riddle, Dumbledore kept an 'annoyingly close' watch on him after that. Due to this, Riddle realised that he would not be able to risk opening the Chamber while still a student. As such, he would use this murder to eventually preserve a part of his soul within his own school diary, the very first of his seven Horcruxes, hoping it would one day lead someone to finish Salazar Slytherin's 'noble work'.

#### Murder of the Riddle family

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 File:HBP chapter 17 BW.jpg
Around August 1943, Riddle went to Little Hangleton to learn about his mother's family. While at the ***Gaunt Shack***, he met his uncle Morfin Gaunt, with whom he was far from impressed. Morfin mentioned offhandedly at one point during this meeting that he thought that Tom looked '*mighty like that Muggle*', Merope's husband, Tom Riddle Snr. Riddle immediately demanded the identity of the Muggle in question, and Morfin told Riddle the full story of his Muggle father, which infuriated Tom to the point of seeking revenge. Riddle stunned Morfin and took his wand, went over to the Riddle House and, using his uncle's wand, murdered his father, grandfather, and grandmother with the Killing Curse.
Riddle covered up his crimes by altering Morfin's memory, causing him to believe that he was the killer. When the Ministry of Magic investigated the crime, Morfin, who had previously served three years in ***Azkaban*** for using magic in front of and against Muggles, freely admitted to the deed and was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. Tom took the ***Gaunt family's signet ring*** from Morfin and later on would preserve another part of his soul within it to make his second Horcrux, wearing it like a trophy at Hogwarts.

#### Learning about Horcruxes

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 File:Slughorn and Riddle.jpeg
During his sixth year, Riddle questioned ***Professor Slughorn***, who was taken in by Riddle's charisma, about the possibility of creating more than one Horcrux, something Slughorn felt deeply ashamed of in later years. In his mid-teen years, Riddle already sought to make himself immortal; being unable to find any recorded information on creating multiple Horcruxes. He wanted to split his soul into seven, as this is the most powerful magical number, and asked the experienced and knowledgeable Slughorn for an opinion before attempting this unknown feat. Slughorn answered all of Riddle's questions under the belief it was merely academic curiosity but was deeply horrified at the thought of creating multiple Horcruxes.

 File:First time.jpg

Riddle succeeded in doing so at some point during this year, creating his first Horcrux in the form of the aforementioned diary and his second in the form of the inherited ring. During Riddle's seventh year at Hogwarts, he was made Head Boy, earned outstanding marks in every examination he took, and received a Medal for Magical Merit. Riddle was regarded as one of the most brilliant students ever to attend Hogwarts, a fact admitted by Dumbledore himself.
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### After Hogwarts Template:C

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 File:B2C4M2 Borgin and Burkes.jpg
After graduating, Riddle immediately approached Dippet and asked him for a chance to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, and to remain at Hogwarts, for reasons that he did not confide with the then-headmaster — Hogwarts being his true home at heart, using the influential position as a teacher to recruit students into his future army, and to continue to learn the castle's magical secrets. Dippet rejected this offer, deeming the boy too young, but invited Riddle to reapply in a few years, if he was still interested in the post, something that Dumbledore heavily advised against.
Shortly before leaving Hogwarts, however, Riddle charmed ***Helena Ravenclaw***, the daughter of Rowena Ravenclaw and the ghost of Ravenclaw House, into telling him the location of her mother's diadem, which she revealed as a hollow tree deep within a far-flung forest in ***Albania***. He presumably travelled there at her instruction, murdering an ***Albanian peasant*** along the way before retrieving the diadem, which he later preserved a third part of his soul within to make his third Horcrux.
Upon his return to Britain, Riddle was offered several positions in the Ministry of Magic, but ended up working at ***Borgin and Burkes***, to the disappointment and surprise of many. Riddle set to persuading witches and wizards to part with their valuable magical heirlooms — a job at which he was very good.

### The rise of the Dark Lord Template:C

#### Murdering Hepzibah Smith

> But before they were sure beyond doubt that the cup and the locket were both gone, the assistant who had worked at ***Borgin and Burkes***, the young man who had visited Hepzibah so regularly and charmed her so well, had resigned his post and vanished. His superiors had no idea where he had gone; they were as surprised as anyone at his disappearance. And that was the last that was seen or heard of Tom Riddle for a very long time.
>
> Tom disappearing after murdering Hepzibah Smith, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 File:Riddle Hepzibah.png
While working at Borgin and Burkes, Riddle befriended Hepzibah Smith, a wealthy but elderly descendant of Helga Hufflepuff. Between ***1955*** and ***1961***, Hepzibah showed Riddle her two most valuable treasures: ***his ancestor's locket*** and ***her ancestor's cup***. Tom's eyes flashed red with avarice upon seeing these objects, seeing the locket to be rightfully his as Slytherin's heir and the cup as a reminder of Hogwarts, as well as a priceless artefact.
Riddle murdered Hepzibah, by using a '***little known poison'***, to steal these coveted objects and vanished without a trace. He again covered his tracks well by implanting another false memory into an innocent bystander — ***Hokey***, Hepzibah's ***house-elf***. Hokey admitted to accidentally putting ***poison*** into Hepzibah's cocoa, which was believed, as Hokey was elderly herself and thus believed to be senile. Meanwhile, Riddle immediately resigned his post at Borgin and Burkes and fled with the cup and locket, subsequently turning them into two more Horcruxes using the murders of Hepzibah and an unidentified ***Muggle tramp***.

#### Lord Voldemort's request

> I have experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than they have ever been pushed —
>
> Tom regarding the magical experimentation he did while abroad, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Riddle disappeared for ten long years. He slipped deeper into the Dark Arts, travelled extensively, consorted with disreputable people, began to become distorted in appearance and lose his handsomeness due to splitting his soul so many times, and began to use the alias 'Lord Voldemort' openly. He also severed contact with Slughorn, who became upset for not living up to the Potions Master's employment offers.
Ten years after Hepzibah Smith's murder, Riddle appealed once more to the Headmaster of Hogwarts, now Albus Dumbledore, for the position of Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts. After a short, superficially amiable chat, Dumbledore directly confronted Riddle regarding why he had requested the position, as he knew full well that Riddle had no desire whatsoever to teach. Riddle, unable to make an open request of Dumbledore due to the malicious nature of his true intentions, simply left after a final, gentle rebuke from his former teacher. From that day on, Hogwarts was never able to keep a Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher for more than a year, which was attributed by Dumbledore to a ***curse*** by Riddle. The visit to Hogwarts was not fruitless, however, for Riddle used the opportunity to hide the diadem in the ***Room of Requirement***, where he believed it would never be found.
Voldemort, as Riddle was now exclusively called, spent the next few years before the First Wizarding War gathering followers in witches and wizards who called themselves, collectively, Death Eaters. Some were supportive of his cause to dominate Muggles and Muggle-borns; while others were greedy for domination, wealth and fame; and yet others joined the Dark Lord out of fear. Voldemort considered them more like servants than friends or family. According to Sirius Black, Voldemort also used tricks, jinxes, and blackmail to get people to willingly join him.
At some point around this time, Voldemort greatly enhanced his skills in Legilimency, to the point that Snape claimed he was the most accomplished Legilimens the world had ever seen. Voldemort could read, control and unhinge the minds of others, and could almost always tell when he was being lied to. According to Severus Snape, Voldemort often enjoyed telepathically invading the minds of others, creating visions designed to torture them into madness. Only after extracting the last exquisite ounce of agony, only when he had them literally begging for death, would he finally kill them.

### First Wizarding War Template:C

> He was takin' over. 'Course, some stood up to him — an' he killed 'em.
>
> Voldemort's actions during the First Wizarding War, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In 1970, Voldemort started the First Wizarding War by taking advantage of one of the wizarding world's greatest weaknesses: the beings and creatures that they had outcast. The Dark Lord recruited the giants, who had long ago been driven by Wizardkind into the mountains, and werewolves, who were persecuted by most witches and wizards. Many feared the goblins would also join him, as they were restricted from wand use, but it never happened. In fact, Voldemort murdered a family of goblins near Nottingham at some point during the War, for an unknown reason (possibly anger at the neutrality of the goblins, or no reason at all). Voldemort's army caused widespread destruction and mayhem during the war.
***Bartemius Crouch Snr***, who was the head of the ***Department of Magical Law Enforcement*** at the time and was known for his fanatical hatred of the Dark Arts, issued an edict that gave ***Auror***s authorisation to use Unforgivable Curses on Death Eaters without warning, and suspects were sometimes handed over to the ***Dementor***s without a ***Wizengamot*** trial. Many innocent people were locked away. Due to the atrocities committed by the Death Eaters and Voldemort, and his terrifying persona, people were even afraid to speak his name, and he was referred to as *'You-Know-Who'* or *'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named'.*
Under the staunch protection of Dumbledore, the only person Voldemort truly feared, Hogwarts remained a safe place of learning throughout the entire war. The Order of the Phoenix was created by Dumbledore at this time to fight against Voldemort. The war itself lasted for eleven long years.

#### Visiting the Lee family

Eventually, Lord Voldemort visited the home of the ***father*** of ***Barnaby Lee***. Mr Lee told his son he was capable of anything if he could become as strong as the Dark Lord, showing faith in his master. He later drowned Barnaby's pet ***Kneazle***.

#### Testing his Horcrux's defences

> To the Dark Lord - I know I will be dead long before you read this, but I want you to know it was I who discovered your secret, I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can, I can face death in the hope, that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once again. -R.A.B.
>
> Regulus Black's letter to Voldermort before his untimely death, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

In ***1979***, Voldemort decided to test the defences around his Horcruxes. He placed Slytherin's locket in the crystal cave, and asked ***Regulus Black***, a loyal 18-year-old Death Eater to lend him his house-elf, ***Kreacher***. Voldemort took the elf with him to the cave, forced him to drink the ***Emerald Potion***, and left him to die on the Crystal Cave Island. Kreacher was able to escape using house-elf magic, and told Regulus of what had happened. Over the years, Voldemort created an army of Inferi from the people he had killed to further strengthen his defences. Upon hearing Kreacher's story, Regulus, who had already been somewhat uncomfortable with the reality of being a Death Eater, decided to defect.
From clues left behind by Voldemort, he deduced that his master had created a Horcrux in order to become immortal. He took a duplicate locket and placed a note inside for Voldemort to find, then ordered Kreacher to take him to where the real locket was hidden. Kreacher guided Regulus past the cave's defences. At the island, with the basin of potion containing the locket, Regulus ordered Kreacher to take it once the potion was gone and replace it with the fake one, then escape without him and find a way to destroy the Horcrux. Regulus drank the potion himself, and when he tried to get water from the lake to quench his thirst, he was dragged to his death by the Inferi. Kreacher obeyed his master's orders and switched the lockets before escaping. However, despite his best efforts, he was unable to destroy the Horcrux.
During this time, Voldemort gave his old diary to Lucius Malfoy, one of his most loyal Death Eaters, and ordered him to hide it. Malfoy kept it safe in ***his manor***, but the Dark Lord never told him that the diary contained a fragment of his soul. Voldemort informed him only that the diary was cleverly charmed and smuggling it into Hogwarts will cause the reopening of the legendary Chamber of Secrets and send the Basilisk living inside the chamber to finish Slytherin's idea of cleansing the school of all Muggle-borns, thus proving that Voldemort was Slytherin's true heir.
Voldemort also left the Hufflepuff's cup in the care of ***Bellatrix Lestrange***, another one of his loyal Death Eaters. Bellatrix, much like her brother-in-law Lucius, was ordered to hide it, so she stored it in ***her family vault*** at Gringotts Wizarding Bank, which was considered to be impossible to plunder. She treated the object with extreme priority, although Voldemort hadn't informed her that the cup was a Horcrux. The cup was protected by the bank's extensive security measures, but Lestrange casted some protective curses on it, like a spell which would cause any object to multiply exponentially if touched by anyone other than the vault's owners or to cause the object itself to glow hot as fire and burn the flesh of anyone trying to remove it without authorisation.
Probably during this time he returned Gaunt's ring to the Gaunt shack. He placed the ring inside a golden box and hid it beneath the shack's rotting floorboard, setting up many protective enchantments to deter outsiders from entering the shack and finding the ring. He also placed a powerful curse on the ring as well, one that would quickly lead to the death of the ring's wearer if not stemmed.

#### The prophecy

> The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... And the Dark Lord will mark him as equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...
>
> Sybill Trelawney's first prophecy, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Ten years into the war, when Voldemort was at the height of his dominion, a prophecy was given by Sybill Trelawney to Albus Dumbledore which predicted the fall of the Dark Lord. This prophecy was given in the ***Hog's Head Inn*** during an interview for the position of Professor of ***Divination***. This prophecy was overheard by Death Eater and informant Severus Snape. According to Dumbledore, Snape only heard half of the prophecy and was then thrown out by the barman, ***Aberforth Dumbledore***, Albus' brother. He relayed to Voldemort what he had heard, not realising that he had missed an important part of the message.
Trelawney's description of the night's events was a bit different however, as she stated that after feeling 'ill', Aberforth burst into the room with Snape in tow, whom he had caught eavesdropping at the door. This is in contrast with Dumbledore's description of events. However, this may be due to the fact that Dumbledore had wished to conceal the identity of the spy from Harry, and told him a simplified version of the events. In any case, Voldemort received only the first part of the prophecy. Feeling threatened, he sprang into action to prevent the fulfilment of the prophecy.
There were, at the time, two babies to whom the prophecy could have referred — Harry Potter, the half-blood son of James and Lily Potter; and ***Neville Longbottom***, the pure-blood son of ***Frank*** and ***Alice Longbottom***. Both families had sought to thwart Voldemort three times, and both families were members of the Order of the Phoenix. Both children in question were born at the end of the seventh month, July. Voldemort chose to target Harry instead of Neville; Dumbledore suspected this was because Harry shared a similar family heritage with Voldemort, both of them being half-bloods.

#### First fall from grace

> Lily, take Harry and go! It's him! Go! Run! I'll hold him off!
>
> James Potter moments before his death, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

     Some time after Harry's birth, Peter Pettigrew, member of the Order of the Phoenix and the Potter's Secret Keeper began working as a Death Eater for Voldemort. On 31 October 1981 he told Voldemort of their location. The Dark Lord travelled to the Godric's Hollow and with the Potter's Fidelius Charm broken, he simply walked into their home. Once inside he proceeded to murder James and Lily, who did not have their wands. However, when he used the Killing Curse on Harry, it rebounded and seemingly obliterated his body. This happened because Lily lovingly sacrificed her life to protect her son, creating a powerful defence of ancient magic around Harry which protected him for many years. After eleven years of domination and warfare, Voldemort was defeated for the first time.

It was at this point that Voldemort's next Horcrux was unknowingly created. Years of experimentation, murder, and deliberately ripping apart his soul into so many Horcruxes had rendered the remainder of his soul so unstable that, when his body was destroyed, a small shard of his soul broke apart from the rest and latched onto the only other living being in what remained of the room: Harry Potter himself. The soul shard latched onto Harry's own soul, granting him some of the Dark Lord's own powers and providing him with a latent connection to Voldemort's own mind. Ironically, Harry became the Dark Lord's sixth Horcrux, the desired number Voldemort wanted in order to split his soul into seven pieces. What remained of Voldemort's mangled soul swiftly escaped from the ruins of the house that same night.

### Missing years Template:C

> I was ripped from my body, less than spirit, less than the meanest ghost, but still, I was alive.
>
> Lord Voldemort regarding his fall from power, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:B4C30M1 Wizengamot trial Pensieve memory.png

After Voldemort's first fall from domination, the Death Eaters dispersed and attempted to return to normal life. Many claimed they had been under the Imperius Curse, while others stayed true to their master and continued his work, most notably the ***Lestrange family***, who were eventually taken into custody, convicted at trial, and imprisoned in Azkaban. Most of them however, managed ultimately to remain free and to reintegrate into society.

Voldemort lost his physical form and magical powers, but he remained alive in ghostly form. The Horcruxes he had created kept his spirit bound to the physical world. He retreated to the forests of Albania, where he had previously found his fifth Horcrux, and waited for his faithful Death Eaters to find him, but many of them now believed him dead, and those still faithful to him were either dead or in Azkaban. His one remaining power was possession.
He gained physical form by inhabiting animals, mainly snakes, though he disliked doing so because the bodies of such animals were ill-equipped to perform magic, and because his possession significantly reduced their lifespans; none of his hosts survived for too long and he would be forced back to spirit form. Additionally, any help that he could have potentially rendered himself required the use of a wand, and animals, obviously, could not be used for this purpose. Voldemort did not dare enter the communities to possess humans, as he knew that Aurors were still abroad, looking for any signs of him.

#### Search for the Philosopher's Stone

> Harry Potter... See what I have become? Mere shadow and vapour ... I have form only when I can share another's body... but there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds.... Unicorn blood has strengthened me these past weeks... you saw faithful Quirrell drinking it for me in the forest... and once I have the ***Elixir of Life***, I will be able to create a body of my own.... Now... why don't you give me that Stone in your pocket? Don't be a fool. Better save your own life and join me ... or you'll meet the same end as your parents.... They died begging me for mercy....
>
> Voldemort speaking to Harry Potter through Quirrell, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

In 1991, Voldemort formed a plan to regain his physical body. Hogwarts Professor Quirinus Quirrell had made a voyage to Albania, where his foolish and gullible mind was vulnerable to Voldemort. He latched onto Quirrell's body and came back to England with him.
Somehow, Voldemort learned of the Philosopher's Stone, and how it could somehow return him to his physical form. He ordered Quirrell to steal the stone from a Vault 713 in Gringotts Wizarding Bank so he could make the ***Elixir of Life***. Voldemort discovered the Stone had been removed earlier that same day, and through Quirrell's connections at Hogwarts, learned it was hidden at the school.
The same year that Voldemort set to the task of stealing the Stone, Harry Potter began his first year at Hogwarts. There were many barriers protecting the Stone. Severus Snape, who had switched sides near the end of the war and become a professor of Potions, was suspicious of Quirrell and hounded him relentlessly. On 31 October, Quirrell released a ***troll*** in the Hogwarts dungeons as a distraction and sneaked to the Third Floor Corridor, where the Stone was being hidden. Snape followed him and blocked him off, but he had been bitten on the leg by the three-headed dog ***Fluffy*** in the process. Voldemort was not to be stopped.

Later in the year, during a Quidditch match between Gryffindor and Slytherin, Voldemort ordered Quirrell to kill Harry Potter. Quirrell jinxed Harry's broomstick to throw him off, but Snape tried to save Harry with a counter-curse. Hermione Granger, observing the crowd through binoculars to figure out who was jinxing the broom, saw Snape discreetly uttering the counter-curse incantation but erroneously assumed he was performing the actual curse. Running to Snape's stand and setting fire to his robes to distract him and make him stop, she accidentally knocked Quirrell over. This meant that Quirrell broke the necessary eye contact for performing his spell correctly.

##### Drinking unicorn blood

> The hooded figure raised its head and looked right at Harry -- unicorn blood was dribbling down its front. It got to its feet and came swiftly toward Harry -- he couldn't move for fear.
>
> Voldemort feasting on Unicorn blood, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

 File:Voldemort drinking unicorn blood.jpg
Throughout the year, hosting Voldemort's soul drastically weakened Quirrell's body. Voldemort ordered Quirrell to prey on unicorns in the Forbidden Forest and drink their blood so he could gain strength from the unicorn's healing abilities and keep Quirrell alive. Quirrell met Harry, Draco Malfoy, and Fang there, and was about to attack Harry until the centaur Firenze rescued him. About a week before Harry's exams, Harry overheard a conversation between Voldemort and Quirrell, in which the Dark Lord ordered the Defence teacher to try to get the stone again. Potter mistook the conversation for an argument between Snape and Quirrell, because after the match with Hufflepuff he saw the Potions Master trying to intimidate Quirrell.

 File:Harry-potter1-voldemort forest.jpg  Voldemort, perfectly aware of Hagrid's love for magical creatures from their school days and well knowing that Fluffy belonged to the half-giant, forced Quirrell to trick the Hogwarts groundskeeper into telling him how to get past the three-headed dog. One day at the ***Hog's Head*** in Hogsmeade, a hooded Quirrell met Hagrid and enticed him into a card game with the wager of a dragon egg. Hagrid assumed that the mysterious man was a dragon dealer and fellow dangerous creature enthusiast. Under the influence of a fair amount of mead, Hagrid divulged to Quirrell that playing music for Fluffy would put him to sleep.

##### In the Underground Chambers

On ***4 June*** 1992, Voldemort ordered Quirrell to send a fake letter to Albus Dumbledore, asking him to go to the ***Ministry of Magic***. Voldemort moved forward with his goal, moving through the security barriers to the Mirror of Erised. Quirrell saw himself presenting the stone to his master, but could not figure out how to get it.

 File:Harry Potter touches Quirrel face.gif
It was only when Harry arrived, believing he was protecting the Stone from Snape, that Voldemort saw a way to get it. Dumbledore would later say, *'Only those who wanted to find the stone, but not use it, could get it from the mirror.'* Voldemort figured this out, and Quirrell attacked Harry. When he touched Harry, however, his hands blistered and burned. Harry placed his hands on Quirrell's face, severely injuring him. However, before Quirrell could harm Harry, Dumbledore appeared, and Voldemort's soul fled, killing Quirrell in the process. Voldemort returned to the Albanian forest, weaker than ever. He had to wait yet again for someone to help him.

#### Reopening the Chamber of Secrets

Template:Dialogue a-b-a

 File:Harry-potter2-movie-screencaps.com-12239.jpg
When Voldemort, after an unsuccessful attempt to steal the Philosopher's Stone, was still hiding in Albania, Lucius Malfoy was still in possession of his diary. In the summer of 1992, Arthur Weasley began conducting raids on several wizarding households to confiscate Dark or illegally enchanted objects under his recently proposed Muggle Protection Act. Before Malfoy Manor could be raided, Lucius sold several of his more incriminating possessions at Borgin and Burkes and set in motion the old task that Voldemort assigned him which involved reopening the Chamber of Secrets. At ***Flourish and Blotts*** Malfoy planted the diary on eleven-year-old Ginny Weasley, who brought it to Hogwarts. By doing this, he hoped to kill two birds with one stone: he would rid himself of any ties connecting to the Dark Arts and he would discredit Arthur Weasley.

 File:Ginevra Weasley Writing on the Wall.gif
Ginny began writing in it, and found that a sixteen-year-old Tom Riddle was answering. She found comfort in the diary, confiding it with her worries, not knowing she was being manipulated. Riddle would always have sympathy. The diary slowly drained the life and energy from Ginny, transferring it to itself. Under the diary's control, Ginny re-opened the Chamber of Secrets and released the Basilisk, which petrified several students. While possessed, she also killed Hagrid's roosters and wrote threatening messages on the school corridors in rooster blood. Ginny became upset and confused, knowing that the diary was doing something to her, and tried to flush it down the toilet in Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. Harry and Ginny's brother Ron accidentally stumbled upon it, and Harry began communicating with the diary.

##### Destruction of the diary

 File:B2C17M1 Harry Ginny Tom Chamber of Secrets.jpg
When Ginny saw that Harry had the diary, she stole it back for she did not want Harry to find out all the things she had written in the diary, or what she had done while under its influence. When this piece of Voldemort's soul was ready to take his physical form from Ginny's life, the diary lured her into the Chamber while ignoring her pleas and cries for mercy. Harry found Ginny in time and destroyed the Basilisk with Godric Gryffindor's Sword. Fawkes also arrived, summoned by Harry's profound devotion and loyalty to Dumbledore.
This encounter and Horcrux is what revealed Voldemort's past as 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' to Harry. At first, Harry thought he was an ally, and asked him to help. Then, when revealing his future identity to Harry, Riddle implied that he wanted to kill Harry in revenge for destroying him over even continuing Salazar Slytherin's wish of purging the school of Muggle-borns. Instinctively, Harry used the Basilisk's fang to stab the diary, thinking it would destroy its dark power. Not only was the diary destroyed, but Harry also unknowingly destroyed one of Voldemort's Horcruxes. As Dumbledore surmised, the shard of Voldemort's soul that contained his core identity was still in hiding in Albania and remained unaware of these occurrences for at least another year and a half.

## Physical description

> The thin man stepped out of the cauldron, staring at Harry...and Harry stared back into the face that had haunted his nightmares for three years. Whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was flat as a snake's but with slits for nostrils....
>
> Description of Voldemort after his rebirth, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:Tom Riddle Half-Blood Prince Profile.jpg
During his childhood and early adulthood, Tom Marvolo Riddle was tall and handsome, with pale skin, jet black hair, and dark eyes. When Harry saw him in a memory in the Pensieve, he saw that there was no trace of the Gaunt family in his face, and that he was his father in miniature: '*tall for eleven years old, dark-haired and pale*'. Riddle's good looks continued to increase as he grew older, and he cunningly used them to charm many of the teachers at Hogwarts. While in Wool's Orphanage, he wore the standard grey tunic as with all the other children, and switched over to the Hogwarts uniform when he attended the school, gaining the Prefect and Head Boy badges when he attained those positions. When he worked in Borgin and Burkes, he wore a simple black suit. Despite his façade of kindness and politeness, during ecstatic moments (i.e. discovering himself as a wizard and gaining confirmation that creating multiple Horcrux is possible) he was capable of a smile that did not enhance his handsomeness, but instead made him look less human.

 File:Profile - An Lord Voldemort.jpg
However, as he became more involved in the Dark Arts, his good looks gradually left him. His features became increasingly waxy and reptilian, his skin became bone-white, and the sclera of his eyes took on a perpetually blood-shot appearance. After he regained his body, his features became even more warped. In his final body, Voldemort was described as having pale white skin, a skeletally thin body, and dark scarlet eyes with cat-like slits for pupils. He had a ***chalk***-white face that resembled a skull, snake-like slits for nostrils, and large hands with unnaturally long fingers like spider's legs.
Voldemort also had no hair or lips. He had long, sharp, pale blue fingernails, and took to wearing a black hooded cloak and several sets of elegant black robes and no shoes. Voldemort had a high, cold voice which was sometimes described as being sibilant. The transformation into this monstrous state is believed to have been the result of creating his Horcruxes, becoming less human as he continued to divide his soul. Dumbledore also speculated that Voldemort may have gained his hideous appearance by also undergoing several dangerous magical transformations.

## Personality and traits

> His knowledge remained woefully incomplete, Harry! That which Voldemort does not value, he takes no trouble to comprehend. Of house-elves and children's tales, of love, loyalty and innocence, Voldemort knows and understands nothing. *Nothing*. That they all have a power beyond his own, a power beyond the reach of any magic, is a truth that he has never grasped.
>
> Albus Dumbledore on Voldemort's fundamental limitations, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Voldemort was considered by many to be '*the most evil wizard in hundreds and hundreds of years*'. His evil nature far exceeded that of any common evildoer and Dumbledore stated that he '*went beyond normal evil*' in the extent of his crimes. Hagrid claimed that while all Dark wizards 'go bad', Voldemort went 'worse than worse'. Indeed, Voldemort speedily developed into a power-obsessed megalomaniac of the worst kind and the worst of any known Dark wizard, being considered by all to be far more evil than even Gellert Grindelwald. He was unable and unwilling to express remorse or empathy for the countless crimes he had committed. This was a stark contrast to Grindelwald, who proved to display genuine remorse for his crimes and even before his fall, pity for those abused for their magic and even if only a little, care for his followers, all which Voldemort completely lacked. These anti-social traits were seen in his childhood, from stealing to disturbing incidences with other orphans. Dumbledore stated that the young Riddle had a certain disregard for rules. In his adult life, he performed the darkest forms of magic and had no regard for human life. He was a prolific killer, as seen by his killing so many that he created an army of Inferi. Voldemort also did not believe in the concept of good and evil, as he made clear to Harry in their encounter at the Mirror of Erised, and that only power and 'those too weak to seek it' truly mattered.

 File:Lily murder.gif
He was highly intelligent, as evidenced by his top performance at Hogwarts and his tremendous magical achievements, but his interests were narrowly focussed on the usefulness of people, objects, and powers to his goals. His inability to see the larger picture and inattention to events, powers and human traits that were not immediately useful to him was a serious flaw that led to most of his setbacks and ultimately his downfall.
After his first defeat, many (namely Hagrid, Dumbledore, Neville's grandmother among others) believed that he had yet to be truly vanquished, and would one day return on the grounds that there was not enough humanity left in him to die in the first place. At the same time, due to his excessive evil and brutality, others (namely Cornelius Fudge and a good deal of the wizarding world) would deny he was still alive for a sense of self-comfort, until evidence was given to their very eyes. During his lifetime, including much of his childhood, he was shown to be highly ruthless, cruel, merciless, and sadistic, showing as little mercy to his followers as he did his enemies. According to Dumbledore, he felt no desire or need for human companionship or friendship. The closest he came to caring about another living being was feeling affection for his pet snake, Nagini.
Voldemort thought of everything in terms of power (which he equated to domination through magical ability). He was somewhat wilfully ignorant of people or matters which he considered to have no value. He was dismissive of the unique magic of house-elves due to their social status, and thus was dealt major setbacks by house-elves on two occasions: first Kreacher, who escaped the cave with Slytherin's locket due to the sacrifice of his beloved master, Regulus Black, and Dobby, who bypassed the defences of Voldemort's headquarters (because Voldemort had neglected to render it inaccessible to house elves as he had to wizards) and helped Harry escape right before Voldemort could arrive to kill him.
Voldemort had a need for independence that bordered on pathological, and he preferred to operate in secrecy and solitude whenever possible. Dumbledore claimed that even if he had managed to obtain the Elixir of Life, he would have eventually found his dependency on it intolerable because it would have robbed him of his sense of self-reliance. Instead, he preferred to make Horcruxes, which were magical extensions of himself. Voldemort was a sociopathic narcissist, to the point that he frequently referred to himself in the third person as 'Lord Voldemort'. He detested being common, as when he heard of another person named Tom, he expressed his dislike; Voldemort always considered himself unique and above all others due to his magical powers among an orphanage of Muggles, his rare ability to speak Parseltongue among his schoolmates, and his own esteemed lineage as the Heir of Slytherin. Ironically, Voldemort's actions to ensure his own league of fame made him no different from any tyrant who would come to fear the ones they oppressed. It was said that if Voldemort looked into the Mirror of Erised, he would see himself, all-powerful and eternal.

> Voldemort doesn't march up to people's houses and bang on their front doors, Harry. He tricks, jinxes, and blackmails them. He's well-practised at operating in secrecy.
>
> Sirius Black regarding Voldemort's skill for subtle secrecy, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

Despite his independent streak, it is not to say Voldemort would completely reject all assistance, if only he was forced into a desperate measure. When he lost his physical form at the Potters' cottage, he placed his hopes for his faithful Death Eaters to find him and help restore his body, to the point that he even feared that they all abandoned him, and when Peter Pettigrew finally came back to him, he relied on his cowardly servant to brew the potion in order to maintain the rudimentary body as well as carry that body around for transport. In between the time of his first defeat and rebirth, Voldemort came to rely on Quirinus Quirrell to seize the Philosopher's Stone for him, while using the young wizard's body as a temporary way to regain a grip on the physical world. Although Voldemort rejected the use of the Elixir of Life for immortality, he would be prepared to drink it to create a new body for himself, but nothing more.
Aside from his desperate times, Voldemort would also rely on his Death Eaters and army of versatile beings to do his bidding, knowing that he could not overtake the Ministry all by himself (or with only a small handful of Death Eaters), or depend on them to handle the more trivial matters that he did not think was worth his effort. He even trusted the conquered Ministry of Magic to his army while he would focus on other matters personally. He entrusted two of his precious Horcruxes to his lieutenant Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy, knowing they have the resources and skills to provide satisfactory security, but did not tell them the truth of these unholy artefacts, furthering his reliance on their skills over any genuine trust. Overall, Voldemort's need for solitude and independence is not so much as doing absolutely everything himself, but to make use of everyone around him to the fullest without ever gaining any sentimental attachment to them, as he was easily prepared to discard anyone or anything once they fulfilled their purpose.
Voldemort had very little attachment to anything that did not amplify his fame or existence, as he viewed his followers as nothing more than disposable pawns to carry out his tasks while only valuing their usefulness and physical abilities. Despite doting on pure-bloods, he was willing to execute any of them (or anyone else) if it suited him, even if they were completely loyal to him. Even his wand, which served him powerfully and faithfully for nearly six decades, was disposable when he discovered the even more powerful Elder Wand. The reason he valued his Horcruxes was because they were an extension of himself, thereby giving him independence, which was a reason why he carefully chose objects of extreme fame or importance to become worthy hosts to his precious soul.

 File:VoldemortHarryAnimation.gif
Voldemort did not believe in anyone but himself, nor did he value his fellow human beings except to the extent that they were useful to him. He often described his followers as 'friends' and his Death Eaters even as 'family', but in no way treated them like an ordinary person does with their friends or family. He demanded his followers' unswerving loyalty and obedience, spitefully took revenge for their mistakes or even bad luck by torture or going after family members, and mistreated or even killed them at the slightest provocation. His cold-blooded murder of the man he believed to be one of his most powerful and useful followers, Severus Snape, just to be sure he was the true master of the Elder Wand and his callous attempt to sacrifice Draco Malfoy by ordering him to assassinate Dumbledore as punishment for Lucius Malfoy's blunders, are evidence of this. He was, however, capable of rewarding his followers should they aid him, as he, when otherwise admonishing Wormtail for having fear act as his motivating factor in returning to Voldemort instead of genuine loyalty to him, nevertheless supplied him with a silver hand to replace the one he lost when restoring Voldemort to life, specifically citing that Wormtail had nevertheless proved his usefulness in the past few months.

> If he could only have understood the precise and terrible power of that sacrifice, he would not, perhaps, have dared to touch your blood... but then, if he had been able to understand, he could not have been Lord Voldemort, and might never have murdered at all.
>
> Albus Dumbledore talking about Voldemort's inability to understand or comprehend love when talking about the sacrificial protection Harry received from his mother, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

The fact that Voldemort was conceived through coerced 'love' (theorised to be a love potion by Dumbledore or to be the Imperius Curse by Harry)—administered/used by witch ***Merope Gaunt*** to ***Muggle*** ***Tom Riddle Snr*** - was related to his inability to understand love: it was a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union - but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had chosen to live for the sake of raising her son with love. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can't be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union.

As a child at Hogwarts, and in the early years of his adult life, Riddle was considered an intelligent, polite young man who showed an enthusiasm to learn and was able to use his superficial charm to make many do his bidding, thereby showing his skill at being an exceptional master manipulator. He described himself being viewed by others as poor, but brilliant, parent-less, but so brave, a school prefect and a model student. His reputation as a model pupil had earned him the trust and respect of his teachers and of the customers he was sent to deal with at Borgin and Burkes. However, this was all a ruse, as he was very manipulative, with Dumbledore claiming that there were a number of 'nasty incidents' that happened throughout his time at Hogwarts that the authorities were never completely able to link to him. In his youth, Voldemort was capable of charming everyone at Hogwarts except Albus Dumbledore and surrounded himself with a group of 'friends' which would eventually become his Death Eaters. This was in direct contrast to his behaviour in the orphanage, where he terrorised his fellow residents, openly enough to leave a negative reputation among the children and staff, but discreet enough to avoid prosecution.

 File:Lord voldemort emily.jpg
Voldemort's arrogance inevitably led to his major downfall. He suffered from thanatophobia, a pathological fear of death, which he regarded as a shameful and ignominious human weakness. He equated death with being defeated or loss of domination, the ultimate humiliation. His Boggart would be his own corpse, which shows his extreme fear of death. The biggest difference between Harry and Voldemort was that Harry, as the true ***Master of Death***, accepted mortality, which ultimately made him a stronger person than his nemesis. His fear of death and obsession with immortality led him to create seven Horcruxes, a feat unheard of.
Voldemort had an extremely obsessive nature. When Harry glimpsed into his mind, he often saw repetitive imagery, symptomatic of Voldemort's inability to let go of thoughts or diversify his interests. In his fifth year, he travelled with Voldemort down the locked corridor in the ***Department of Mysteries*** for many nights. During the second war, he followed Voldemort's unfolding obsession with the 'merry-faced thief', Grindelwald, and the Elder Wand. He was able to use Voldemort's compulsive mental check of his Horcruxes to uncover the location of the one he had not yet found: ***Ravenclaw's Diadem***, hidden at Hogwarts

> Have you any idea how much tyrants fear the people they oppress. All of them realise that, one day, amongst their many victims, there is sure to be one who rises against them and strikes back!
>
> Albus Dumbledore regarding Voldemort to Harry Potter, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Voldemort's main obsessions were immortality, pure-blood supremacy, the attempts on Harry Potter's life, and the search for the Elder Wand. This was reflected in his daily habits as well: he had a magpie-like tendency to collect lots of small objects and hold onto them. As a child, he is shown hoarding things that he stole from the other orphans, which eventually blossomed into his conception of the Horcruxes. This could also have been seen as trophy taking, a trait seen in serial killers. This was especially seen after a particularly cruel act, such as the incident at the Cave, and creating Horcruxes after killing. Dumbledore said to Harry in the Limbo King's Cross that his obsession with the Elder Wand was to rival his obsession with Harry himself. The Dark Lord stopped at nothing in his many attempts to kill Harry Potter.
The search for the Elder Wand was an extension of his obsession with murdering Harry, which, in turn, was an extension of his preoccupation with immortality (which he felt that Harry's very existence threatened). Ironically, his obsession of eliminating Harry in person, an obsession seemingly multiplied by every single failed attempt, is what led to his own death. Dumbledore noted that Voldemort was no different from any other tyrant in paranoid fear of an individual rising against him *because* of his own obsessive actions. This trait could be traced back to his childhood when he was convinced at first that Dumbledore had come to take him to an asylum. In another ironic twist, this indicates that Voldemort failed to make himself unique as he had the flaw of any evil tyrant.
Few ever saw anything troubling about the young Tom Riddle, but Albus Dumbledore observed psychological issues and their potential dark implications from their very first meeting. Dumbledore described a 'magpie-like tendency' to collect trophies, as well as a need to obsess over his collection, that led him to make a correct guess at what was behind the secret of his immortality: multiple Horcruxes. Dumbledore noted a similarity between Voldemort and other famous tyrants, in that obsessive actions driven by paranoia can *bring about* the thing most feared. Tom Riddle remained charming and well-liked as a young adult, and at first seemed to be aiming lower on the scale of ambition than his talents would have supported. He used his stint at Borgin and Burkes to develop his knowledge of the Dark Arts, and to track and collect powerful magical objects. Only a few people ever had an ominous feeling about his imminent rise as a powerful dark wizard: ***Hepzibah Smith***, who saw his eyes flash red with avarice when he saw her treasured artefacts, and, again, Albus Dumbledore, who refused to give him a job teaching at Hogwarts. realising he would use his influence as a teacher to recruit students and do evil.
Gradually taking more and more power, eliminating rivals and those who stood up to him, and transforming his appearance and his social image into a serpentine persona that inspired a level of fear so profound that wizards avoided mentioning his name even after they thought him dead, Voldemort reached the peak of his powers in 1980.

> I miscalculated, my friends, I admit it. My curse was deflected by the woman's foolish sacrifice, and it rebounded upon myself. Aaah... pain beyond pain, my friends; nothing could have prepared me for it....
>
> Voldemort explaining how he though the destruction of his body was his own fault, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Despite his narcissistic nature, Voldemort could acknowledge his mistakes, as shown when he accepted the fact that the destruction of his body was more his fault then Harry's, even going so far to openly admit this to his Death Eaters. However, though Voldemort was capable of admitting his mistakes, Harry asserted that he didn't *learn* from them, especially relating to matters he did not value such as love. When he was angry, Voldemort was unpredictable: he was capable of being cold and calm, but could also explode with rage and when he lost his temper he never hesitated to slay even his own loyal followers. He expected complete respect from his Death Eaters but did not truly care for any of them in return. He did rescue ***Bellatrix Lestrange*** after his duel with Albus Dumbledore, and also screamed and attempted to avenge her after she was killed by Molly Weasley. It is likely, though, that he was furious about the loss of a very powerful and talented servant as well as the mother of his daughter ***Delphini***, rather than truly missing Bellatrix as a person. Bellatrix herself was obsessively in love with him (incidentally, this somewhat mirrored the fascination that Voldemort's mother had with his father), but he never returned the romantic feelings due to his lack of understanding and desire for love, despite having engaged in a purely physical relationship with Bellatrix which resulted in the birth of their daughter.
One flaw that Voldemort did not possess, despite his egomania, was thinking himself infallible. He acknowledged his mistakes on several occasions, and with the candour and charm that had won him followers in the first place, he sought to make hay of his missteps, openly revealing such unflattering information to his followers and using it to illustrate how he could use his wits to further enhance his powers.
Upon his return, Voldemort showed a degree of calculated humility. He did not announce his rebirth to anyone besides supporters, realising he was not yet strong enough to take on the Ministry. He also showed his followers leniency, even though they had not sought to help him after his downfall, realising he could not afford to mistreat them until returning to full strength.
His first downfall was brought about by his greatest flaw: disregarding that which he could not understand. He did not realise that trying to cast a Killing Curse on a victim after killing a protector who had voluntarily sacrificed themselves would result in the curse rebounding off due to the magic of love.
Voldemort's talents for sowing discord and mistrust showed during the Second War, as did his violent temper. As he neared the last days of his life, he made error after error, alienating his followers with a grisly display of mass murder in the aftermath of the Gringotts robbery, tipping Harry off to the location of the last unknown Horcrux due to a compulsive mental check of their location accompanied by fear, which he should have known would make the thoughts readable on his and Harry's soul fragment connection, and neglecting to notice the signs of Harry's closeness to defeating him, Snape's duplicity and Dumbledore's last plan.
Deep under his terrifying demeanour, Voldemort was capable of fear whenever he didn't feel that things were completely in his control. On some occasions, such as when he tried to murder Harry while he was a defenceless baby, Voldemort displayed cowardice. He was also furious, yet terrified, when he found out that Helga Hufflepuff's Cup was stolen. Voldemort was also more afraid than Harry was when their wands underwent *Priori Incantatem*, although he refused assistance from his followers due to his desire to kill Harry unaided. Nevertheless, Voldemort was capable of suppressing and concealing his fears, and confronting the things that threatened him. When he entered Morfin Gaunt's home as a teenager and confronted his deranged uncle, even Harry could not help but admire Riddle's complete lack of fear when witnessing the event in Dumbledore's Pensieve. Gaunt was drunk, unstable and showed murderous inhumanity whilst wielding a knife in teenage Riddle's face, all of which nonplussed him. Voldemort was even bold enough to engage Albus Dumbledore in a duel, despite Dumbledore being the only wizard Voldemort was ever said to have feared.
Voldemort was also a pathological liar and a hypocrite, even when he was a child. He was sadistic to other children in the orphanage where he grew up and opened the Chamber of Secrets while at Hogwarts, resulting in the death of a fellow student. When confronted by Dumbledore on both occasions he denied any involvement. He also lied to Slughorn about his reasons for wanting to gain knowledge on Horcruxes. A further example of this is how Voldemort deemed himself a 'Merciful Lord' with respect for his enemies, when in fact he considered everyone he had killed to be 'worthless (as he held no regard for them) and nameless' (he had killed so many that they became vague figures and not people with names to him) and used the words 'The more the better' regarding how many people died fighting his army. Despite this, he had an intense hatred of being lied to or anyone trying to deceive him or withhold the truth. As a child, he demanded that Dumbledore tell him the truth in such a forceful way that Dumbledore was deeply unsettled by the young wizard's demeanour. Upon mastery of Legilimency, he was able to easily tell whether he is being lied to from most people, and would warn them rather menacingly, as he snarled at Pettigrew for trying to deny his fear of the Dark Lord's mangled temporary body, and told ***Frank Bryce*** 'do not lie to Lord Voldemort'.
Voldemort also announced to Hogwarts after Harry's supposed demise that he had died whilst trying to run away for fear of his own life, despite knowing full well that Harry had willingly walked to what he believed was his death in the hopes of saving his friends. However, Voldemort did have moments in his life where he was willing to keep his word: after his discussion on Horcruxes with Professor Slughorn he promised not to tell anyone about the subject (though this was mainly for Voldemort's own safety) and gave Hogwarts a chance to turn Harry Potter over to him and leave the school untouched (however this was only keeping with his 'Merciful Lord' façade). He also denied his blood purity having been a half-blood himself.
Despite the fact that he usually maintained a calm, reserved and sophisticated persona, Lord Voldemort was capable of phenomenally explosive and violent fits of rage. His rage would often get the better of him, as shown when he duelled Harry Potter in Little Hangleton, casting curses violently and screaming with fury whilst attacking Harry. He also roared with anger whilst duelling Dumbledore. When he experiences these mood swings, he would instinctively cast Killing Curses at whomever he saw first. The most famous display of fury was when he discovered that Gringotts Bank had been infiltrated, specifically his vault, and he murdered every survivor of the incident simply out of wrath, further supporting his fear of dying.

> If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed.
>
> Voldemort explaining his charismatic ability to manipulate people for his own gain., Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Voldemort was shown to be highly intelligent and charismatic, able to inspire many powerful and influential wizards to follow him as his loyal Death Eaters. He could not care less what happened to anyone else, as long as he got what he wanted or avoided discovery for his crimes, shown as how he framed Hagrid, his uncle Morfin, and the House Elf Hokey for murders he had committed himself. He was never concerned with the consequences of his actions, only if they either benefited him or got him into trouble with the law. A prime example of how selfish Voldemort was, is how he killed Severus Snape, arguably the man who had (as far as he knew) served him more faithfully and helpfully than anyone, simply to unlock the full power of the Elder Wand.
However, despite Voldemort's general malicious ways, he had proven that he was capable of acknowledging the desires of others, but only if those desires did not interfere with his ambitions and were presented by someone whom he deemed a worthy servant. The only time this was ever really seen was when he agreed to Severus Snape's plea for Lily Evans' life. Although he did not agree to spare Lily unconditionally, he said he would offer her the chance to live if she did not attempt to stop him from murdering her son. Uncharacteristically, Voldemort followed through on his promise to Snape and gave Lily several chances to step aside. Doing this was what caused Lily's death to be a willing sacrifice, and in turn, is what protected Harry from Voldemort in the first place.
One odd incident in Voldemort's life, discovered by Harry through an inadvertent mind-reading, occurred on the night he murdered Lily and James. As he walked down a Godric's Hollow lane on his way to their house, on his way to kill the infant Harry Potter, in a most unusual act of mercy, he decided to spare the life of a Muggle child who had complimented the impressiveness of his 'Hallowe'en costume', not realising that Voldemort was not in costume, but a black-robed wizard with a pale, snakelike face. Killing him was an act Voldemort had deemed 'unnecessary'. Voldemort's reasoning for this was not made clear, though it can be surmised that Voldemort had chosen not to use magic until he had arrived at the Potters' house in case his presence was detected by any spies. Another possibility is that Voldemort simply thought the child was not worth his time or effort.
He also seemed to have respected, and sometimes even admired, bravery and skill, even when displayed by some of his enemies. After ***his return in 1995***, he remarked to Harry that Harry's father had died 'straight-backed and proud'. Previously, at the end of Harry's first year at Hogwarts, he had referred to the Potters as 'brave' and said that James Potter 'put up a courageous fight'. During the ***Battle of Hogwarts***, he appreciated ***Neville Longbottom'***s 'spirit and bravery' and wanted him to become a Death Eater, though this was also partially due to Neville being a pureblood. Although not caring for his Death Eaters, he did appreciate loyalty. When he learned that the Lestranges went to Azkaban rather than denounce him, Voldemort was so moved that he promised to reward them beyond their dreams. Similarly, when Harry seemed to take too long to arrive to offer himself to be killed to save the Hogwarts students and staff, he expressed some disappointment at Harry apparently abandoning the school to save himself, as he had hoped his ultimatum would ultimately drive Harry to be killed by him.
Voldemort apparently had a small degree of honour, as just before his duel with Harry in the graveyard and Harry tried to flee, Voldemort deliberately missed his Avada Kedavra and scolded Harry for turning his back on him, insisting that he refuses to kill Harry while the latter's back was turned and preferred to have Harry facing him when being killed, and during the Priori Incantatem event, he repeatedly insists that none of the Death Eaters interfere even on his behalf. However, it should be noted that he only did this because he was obsessed with wanting to kill Harry himself, and more importantly, he wanted to make sure he saw Harry's life leave his eyes before him.

 File:Dumbledore and Voldemort duelling OOTP.gif
Typical for a Slytherin and unlike his ***blood traitor*** ***mother***, especially as the Heir of Salazar Slytherin, Voldemort greatly believed in blood purity. In fact, his beliefs were far more extreme than an average ***pure-blood*** supremacist. At the age of 16, Voldemort released Salazar Slytherin's Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets in order to purge the school of Mudbloods, thus showing his murderous hatred towards them, and kept a diary Horcrux in order to continue his actions, putting at risk a precious piece of his soul for his ideals. However, he was too much of a coward to give his life for his "cause".
Voldemort's obsession with blood purity also bred a strong disgust and hatred for the Muggle world. There are several indications — such as the statue Voldemort erected in the Ministry of Magic depicting Muggles being crushed — that Voldemort planned to manipulate and take over the Muggle government of Britain had he been successful. In addition, Voldemort, shortly after his ***return to physical form***, told Harry about his Muggle family, only later to rebuke their memory and herald the return of his ***'true family'***.
In his later life, Voldemort claimed that ***Muggle-born***s were actually ***Muggles*** who stole magic from real wizards and witches, rather than actually inheriting it rightfully, and so deserved to be severely punished for it. Whether he knowingly made this theory up or truly believed it (or if he was the first proponent of it) is unknown. He ruthlessly murdered ***Charity Burbage*** for supporting Muggle-borns. Despite his racist beliefs, however, he allowed the ***werewolf*** ***Fenrir Greyback*** to join his cause, though he did not consider him an official Death Eater. It is also interesting to note that he was willing to allow Lily Potter to join him, despite the fact that she was Muggle-born. This showed that if the wizard or witch was exceptionally talented, Voldemort was capable of suppressing his hatred towards Muggle-borns and half-bloods, as long as they were willing to serve him.
Despite his hatred towards non-pure-bloods, Voldemort himself was a half-blood. Under his rule for a year, he allowed half-bloods to continue to attend Hogwarts, albeit with less respect. Voldemort was ashamed of his Muggle-sided parentage so much that he denied it, left misleading hints that he was a pure-blood and proudly presented his ancestry from Salazar Slytherin. However, ***Bartemius Crouch Jnr*** appeared to be aware that Voldemort was a half-blood, telling Harry that he and Voldemort both had very disappointing fathers (though it was more likely that Voldemort simply relayed the disappointing father part while ignoring his blood status).
Voldemort's origins were extremely humble, even by Muggle standards: he grew up in an ***orphanage*** and his parents were the ***daughter*** of the ***Gaunts***, the last decrepit, incest-ridden branch of the Slytherin family, and the ***son*** of a haughty, rich ***Muggle family***, who was ***forced to marry*** and have a child with Merope. These humble origins made him an unlikely lightning rod for the wizarding aristocracy's pure-blood supremacist values, but due to his power, ability to trace his lineage directly to Salazar Slytherin, and willingness to give their cause a platform and an apparently sympathetic ally, he gained their support, and, in time, put them into a state of impressed terror that rendered their support unwavering.
Voldemort found it useful to maintain a system of followers drawn from the Slytherin-centric Wizarding aristocracy, disaffected paupers with long-gone noble origins, as well as criminal elements, and in their company spoke like one of them, lecturing on themes of blood purity, Muggle inferiority, and the proper order of society. On one occasion, he even tortured and murdered a witch considered to be a blood traitor, ***Charity Burbage***, for their pleasure. But Voldemort did not truly work for their cause, and only allowed them to set up a pure-blood supremacist regime at the Ministry of Magic for his own reasons: to control the government, to compensate them for their service and to ensure their continued loyalty. Voldemort's preoccupations were increasing his own dominion and stamping out opposition: the wizarding aristocracy's concerns were of no real interest to him. The alliance between Voldemort and the Death Eaters was a natural result of Voldemort's ancestry, of having been raised in Slytherin house, and of promises to help them achieve their ends, but there should be no mistake — Voldemort was merely using them.
Despite claiming his actions were for the 'noble work' of purifying the wizarding race, there is evidence that Voldemort treated this with lesser importance than his preoccupations with immortality and domination. During his time studying at Hogwarts, while he used Slytherin's Basilisk to attack Muggle-born students, ultimately using the Basilisk to murder Myrtle, he didn't take credit for the crimes at the time, as doing so would result in getting him into trouble with the legal authorities of the magical community. He framed Rubeus Hagrid to both get away with his actions and to keep Hogwarts from closing down, which were both in his interests at the time. Knowing it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber of Secrets again with Dumbledore keeping a close eye on him, while he was still at school, he decided to create his Horcrux diary, with the intention of eventually repeating his actions through someone else. It was only after creating his identity of Lord Voldemort, that he began to openly acknowledge himself as the Heir of Slytherin, long after most people would have been able to link him to being both Tom Riddle and the one responsible for opening the Chamber of Secrets the first time round. This shows that while he does not full-heartedly support the pure-blood supremacy ideology (if only using it to enter the elite social circles), he does indeed hold Muggles and Muggle-borns with contempt for their alleged inferiority.
He was more concerned about eliminating threats to his planned eternal domination of the world than ensuring pure-blood supremacy: as demonstrated by his efforts to destroy Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, the Order of the Phoenix and any other opposition to his rule. He even went so far as to cast a Taboo on his own name, knowing that the only people who'd dared to speak it were those with the will to oppose him.
Voldemort was also extremely possessive, even toward objects that weren't of any use to him, such as when he discovered the twin cores of his and Harry's wands could not kill each other, so he asked for Lucius Malfoy's wand, but refused to give Lucius his old one, which also complements how egotistical Voldemort was. He also had a tendency to hoard trophies or other oddities from his childhood and transform them into Horcruxes.
Voldemort suffered from delusions of godhood. From an early age, he believed himself to be unique and different to others, telling Albus Dumbledore that he had always believed himself to be special. He frequently referred to himself in third person to further emphasise his own importance, and told Frank Bryce that he was 'much, much more than a man'. His inner thought processes showed that he perceived himself as 'most important and precious', showing the extent of delusions.
Although there was no questioning Voldemort's intellect, which was vastly beyond genius level, he nevertheless displayed symptoms of the mental instability that had pervaded the Gaunt bloodline from which he was descended. He was known for frequent and violent mood swings, being willing to attack anyone within his line of sight when angered. The Dark Lord's temper was so feared that even his most loyal supporters would flee to avoid being on the receiving end of his wrath. He also displayed poor impulse control, such as when he chose to fire a Killing Curse at Harry Potter even after being informed that the Elder Wand was loyal to Harry himself.
Furthermore, due to his immense evil and lack of a human soul, he was completely unable to cast the Patronus Charm, an incredibly powerful and benevolent protective charm that is a manifestation of positive energy, which Voldemort lacked.

## Magical abilities and skills

> Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time?
>
> Albus Dumbledore on Lord Voldemort, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 File:Magic shock wave.gif
Lord Voldemort was the most powerful, skilled and dangerous Dark wizard of all time. He was amongst the greatest wizards to have ever lived, often considered to be the second most powerful wizard in history, his only superior being Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort was extremely talented even while still a student of Hogwarts, with Albus Dumbledore himself saying Voldemort was the most brilliant student to have ever attended Hogwarts. As an adult, Voldemort became a tremendously powerful and accomplished wizard of nearly unrivalled skill, admired and feared by even the most powerful wizards and witches. Combined with his utter megalomania, Voldemort was regarded a***s the most powerful and most dangerous Dark wizard of all time***, being the only Dark wizard to surpass ***Gellert Grindelwald***.

> You think you know more magic than I do? Than I, than Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?
>
> Voldemort's egomaniacal philosophy of magic equating to power, in his last moments, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* **Magical mastery**: Even at a young age, Voldemort proved himself to be a precociously gifted magical prodigy, as he was able to utilise and control magic, without the use of a wand or even knowing the very existence of magic itself, to an unnaturally high level: he had a power to move objects with his mind, to communicate with and control animals, and even inflict harm on those who opposed or annoyed him, which left even Dumbledore astonished. As a student of Hogwarts, Voldemort was acknowledged by Dumbledore to be the most brilliant student in the school's history. As an adult, Voldemort's unimaginable power and skill were so great that he successfully terrorised all of Britain and defeated so many that he quickly earned the reputation as the most powerful and dangerous Dark wizard in history, surpassing even Gellert Grindelwald. He performed feats of magic thought impossible and his magical accomplishments eclipsed and dwarfed those of any dark wizard before him. Between his tremendous magical power and skill and profound capability for evil and destruction, Voldemort was thought to be unbeatable, with the only hope of the wizarding Britain during his reign of terror, up until the arrival of Harry Potter, being Albus Dumbledore. Because of this, Dumbledore was widely known as the only wizard Voldemort ever feared. Despite this, during their Duel in the Ministry Atrium, Voldemort proved capable of standing up to Dumbledore, although he was still ultimately held back by Dumbledore and was forced to flee. Possessing an incredibly deep amount of knowledge and understanding of magic, Voldemort had experimented and pushed the boundaries of magic farther than they had ever been pushed, and if he were to be granted a teaching position, he could teach students things that they could gain from no other wizard. Even Dumbledore himself acknowledged that Voldemort's knowledge of magic was more extensive than any wizard to have ever lived, with presumably only Dumbledore standing as his equal in terms of magical knowledge; additionally, Dumbledore admitted that even his most powerful protective spells and charms, which were further enhanced by the Elder Wand's legendary powers, could not effectively fight off Voldemort if the Dark Lord was ever at his full power. This degree of immense magical power and deadly skill, coupled with his blatant lack of morals, made him an extremely dangerous adversary indeed. Voldemort's magical might and knowledge made him capable of overcoming almost any magical protection in his way, making extremely few safe from him, with not even the combined efforts of all the professors of Hogwarts holding Voldemort off for long. Notably, Dumbledore and Alastor Moody were the only single wizards known to be capable of casting defence charms that could keep Voldemort at bay. In addition, although rarely applying this talent, Voldemort was as equally capable in protecting specific places magically as he was in breaking magical protections, as he set up many powerful wards on both the Horcrux Cave and Gaunt Shack to protect his Horcruxes, which were powerful enough to impress Dumbledore. Even though he managed to overcome them, the last and most powerful enchantments in the Horcrux Cave were powerful enough to block out even Dumbledore's magic. This was made even more impressive by the fact that Voldemort created the defences around the Horcrux cave before 1979, when he was less 55 years old, whereas Dumbledore was more than twice that age at 115 years old, two months before his 116th birthday.
* **Control of underage magic**: Even before being told that he was a wizard, or having any knowledge of magic or the wizarding world at all, the young Voldemort displayed an exceptional degree of control over his usage of underage magic, which he used to torment many of the other children at the orphanage. He was able to move objects with his mind, control animals to do his bidding, and even make bad things happen to those who annoyed him. Even Dumbledore commented that his powers were surprisingly well-developed for his young age, and that his level of control over them had made him uneasy.
* **Dark Arts**: Voldemort was unbelievably talented and phenomenally accomplished in the Dark Arts at all levels, widely considered to be the most powerful practitioner of the Dark Arts the world had ever known during his reign of terror. He had a masterful knowledge of the most arcane and complex magic that wizardkind was capable of and could perform them successfully, such as the ability to create Horcruxes and raise an army of Inferi using necromancy and was also highly masterful in the use of all three Unforgivable Curses. Despite being weakened, Voldemort was still able to cast the Cruciatus Curse with enough strength to force Bertha Jorkins to regain the memories that were suppressed by a powerful Memory Charm cast by Bartemius Crouch Senior and an Imperius Curse strong enough to control the latter for half of a year, and although he eventually resisted, he became delirious from it. He had a particular affinity for the Killing Curse, having murdered enough people to create an entire army of Inferi, and was able to cast this curse effectively while still under-aged and using Morfin Gaunt's wand. Voldemort was also capable of developing extremely powerful dark charms: he placed a jinx on the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher after being refused the post by Dumbledore that would cause something terrible to happen to those who held the post within a year and was powerful enough that not even Dumbledore could lift it, and another on Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, so as to protect it after it had been made into a Horcrux so that it would kill anyone who touched it. The curse was so strong, even Dumbledore could only contain the curse for some time and Snape, a wizard of exceptional knowledge in countering curses, was only able to suppress the curse for a year. Voldemort was also capable of casting an extremely powerful spell that fired a bolt of blinding and explosive energy that could penetrate the extremely powerful defences that shielded Hogwarts, which was strong enough to hold against the relentless attacks of his Death Eaters. Voldemort also unleashed a torrent of dark energy at Dumbledore that he was able to release into a cataclysmic powerful blast that shattered every glass on the Atrium and even overwhelmed the defensive spell that Dumbledore used to hold it at bay, although it proved able to negate much of the force of the attack, leaving Dumbledore and Harry unharmed and only briefly knocked down. He was also very experienced and skilled in performing the very complex Fiendfyre, as he was able to fully control the cursed fire it creates and can even condense the flaming jet into a single colossal snake, using it against Dumbledore in their duel. He was also capable of performing a wide variety of unique and powerful dark magic wards, as he created the defensive measures of The Cave to protect the locket Horcrux, which included a spell that made it so the entrance can only be opened if blood were to be spilled, as well as another which prevents any attempt to magically summon the Horcrux, and finally, an enchantment on the Potion of Despair that not even Dumbledore was able to overcome. Voldemort was also very knowledgeable in the use of dark potions, having been aware of and able to instruct Peter Pettigrew into brewing the potion that resurrected him fully. He could even craft his own potions, having made the Emerald Potion, which could show the drinker their most hated fears, and also the Rudimentary Body Potion, which he taught Peter how to brew in order to allow him to regain a physical form, albeit a very small and weak one. While possessing Quirrell in his weakened state, Voldemort could cast an unknown lethal curse that emitted a wave of energy that he used against Harry, which also gave him the power to collapse a bridge on Harry and lock down the door out of the Dungeons with a pair of four curses.

* **Duelling**: Voldemort was a duellist of immense, nearly unparalleled skill, with his only rival being Dumbledore. His abilities were so great that he was capable of matching Minerva McGonagall, Kingsley Shacklebolt and Horace Slughorn (who were masterful duellists themselves) simultaneously and overpower each of them, despite being incapable of harming them lethally due to Harry's sacrificial protection. He was also able to easily overpower many other prodigious witches and wizards, such as the extremely skilled Amelia Bones, and later also murdered the extremely powerful ex-Auror, Alastor Moody. Voldemort's duelling style was, ironically, much like Dumbledore's in its unpredictability: he could instinctively switch styles in the blink of an eye, and was extremely aggressive, using powerful Dark magic to overwhelm his opponents. Apparently, he only chose to face opponents whom he saw as worthy adversaries. Voldemort's duelling skills were even great enough that he was able to stay in combat and hold his own against the Elder Wand wielding Albus Dumbledore (who wasn't even fighting to kill), although he was steadily being held back and was eventually forced to abandon his effort and flee. He was the only known wizard in history to face Dumbledore and avoid defeat or capture. Although Harry Potter defeated Voldemort, it was only because he had mastered the Elder Wand, and Voldemort was using it at the time against Harry.
* **Potions**: Voldemort was exceptionally knowledgeable of potions, as he was aware of an advanced dark Regeneration potion that could resurrect him to full power and corporeal form, which he successfully guided Pettigrew into brewing, allowing him to regain a corporeal body and full power. He possessed such incredible talents and skills in potions that he was capable of inventing advanced potions, such as the Emerald Potion (or the Drink of Despair), which he used to protect Salazar Slytherin's Locket within the Horcrux cave and would show those who drank it visions of the thing they fear the most and the Rudimentary body potion, which he instructed Peter into brewing to enable him to assume an extremely weak, barely-alive physical form. He utilised poison very effectively, having spilled a little known one into Hepzibah Smith's evening cocoa to kill her, and making it appear as though the house-elf Hokey mistook the poison as sugar instead.

> ... in a second he had cast upon himself a Disillusionment Charm that hid him even from his own eyes.
>
> Voldemort's powerful use of the Disillusionment Charm on himself, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* **Charms**: Voldemort was extremely skilful with charms, as he was able to cast a Disillusionment Charm so powerful that it hid him from his own eyes, a very advanced level of magic. He also easily used the Summoning Charm the Sorting Hat from many floors above to punish Neville for opposing him, and then setting it alight with the Fire-Making Spell, and beforehand effortlessly disarming him with the Disarming Charm. He could effortlessly levitate objects out of the way, blast down doors and break locks. He effortlessly levitated the body of Charity Burbage with the charm *Mobilicorpus* in Malfoy Manor whilst torturing her there. He was capable of performing an incredibly flawless spell to create fabricated memories in his victims, having used the spell twice in his lifetime: first on the House-elf Hokey after having murdered Hepzibah Smith, to falsely implicate her for the crime, and again on his uncle Morfin Gaunt to frame him for the Murder of the Riddle family, both crimes he himself committed. He was effortlessly capable of casting a powerful Shield Charm, allowing him to deflect spells and magical assaults instantly. Before the Battle of Hogwarts, he amplified his own voice to a significant volume so all of Hogwarts could hear him deliver his ultimatum with the Amplifying Charm, that his voice even sounded as if it was coming from the castle walls. He also performed an outstandingly powerful Silencing Charm on the defenders of Hogwarts during the final half of the Battle of Hogwarts to silence all of them, after he had supposedly killed Harry Potter, in a blinding flash of white light, showing his skills in charm-work to be exceptional..
* **Apparition**: Voldemort was exceptionally proficient in Apparition, and could apparate with pinpoint accuracy even when locked in combat, using this ability to dodge and evade spells when duelling Dumbledore. Voldemort was also able to apparate silently, something that only he and Dumbledore were reputed to be able to do.

> Then you will find yourself easy prey for the Dark Lord! Fools who wear their hearts proudly on their sleeves, who cannot control their emotions, who wallow in sad memories and allow themselves to be provoked this easily — weak people, in other words — they stand no chance against his powers! He will penetrate your mind with absurd ease, Potter!
>
> Severus Snape explaining to Harry Potter's exceptional psychic abilities, during their Occlumency lessons, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 File:Tumblr mv0xoiWzPj1qeijvdo1 250.gif
* **Occlumency and Legilimency**: Voldemort was exceptionally adept and gifted in the use of both Occlumency and Legilimency, being able to effectively shield his own mind and penetrate the minds of others. He was particularly talented and skilled in Legilimency, and as an adult, Snape claimed he was the most accomplished Legilimens the world had ever seen. His frighteningly exceptional prowess in Legilimency allowed Voldemort to delve and peer deep into the minds of others without needing to say the incantation or using his wand, seeing their deepest thoughts, and he can even use Legilimency to influence the minds that he invaded. Severus Snape has stated that Voldemort could not only read, but also control and unhinge the minds of others, often enjoying telepathically invading the minds of others, creating incredibly realistic visions designed to torture them into madness (such as the one he sent to Harry Potter in 1996), and only killing them 'after extracting the last exquisite ounce of agony', when he had them literally begging for death. He was also able to use Legilimency to briefly possess Harry, even though he had already regained a physical body, which caused Harry so much pain that he even begged for death. Hence, Voldemort could almost always tell when someone was lying. However, when Narcissa Malfoy lied that Harry Potter was dead, Voldemort notably believed her. The most remarkable part about this skill was that he seemed to have already been able to consciously use it while he was still a child in the orphanage. Extremely few people were skilled enough in Occlumency to shield themselves from him. Severus Snape, Albus Dumbledore, Gellert Grindelwald, and also possibly Narcissa Malfoy were notably the only known ones able to block out Voldemort's Legilimency using Occlumency. Additionally, Harry Potter, despite his link to Voldemort's mind, discovered that he could block Voldemort's intrusions into his mind by feeling love, as direct contact with Harry's mind while he was feeling love was excruciatingly painful for Voldemort with his maimed and diminished soul. Using his mastery of Occlumency, Voldemort was able to block his connection to Harry, preventing him from seeing what he is doing, although it could be broken through when Voldemort was angered enough, which became increasingly so due to Voldemort's volatile temper rising from the exhaustive search for the Elder Wand and the destruction of his Horcruxes. While it's unknown if Severus Snape or Albus Dumbledore ever attempted Legilimency on him, it's likely that neither would be able to penetrate his mind despite being skilled Legilimens themselves.
* **Power of possession**: Voldemort had the power to possess living creatures and gain complete control over their actions by doing so. While in his spectral form, this was the only remaining power he had access to until his body was restored. Since he told his Death Eaters that this was his only *remaining* power, he must have been able to use this power during at least the First Wizarding War. Once the possession is done, the victims will have no knowledge of what happened. This form of possession shortens the lifespan of the small animals he inhabits, and in the terms of wizards, his face would appear on the back of their head. In this case, it would seem that his possession is partial, as Quirrell had some (albeit little) control over his actions. It also shortened the host wizard's life, but he was able to extend it via unicorn blood, and enhanced their magical abilities by combining their own innate powers with his weakened powers. He was also able to possess Harry and presumably others in his physical form. It is unknown if this ability is unique to him, as he is the only one known to use it.

> Voldemort was flying like smoke on the wind, without broomstick or Thestral to hold him, his snakelike face gleaming out of the blackness, his white fingers raising his wand again –
>
> Voldemort flying without support during the Battle of the Seven Potters, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

* **Flying**: Voldemort was able, and invented the ability, to fly without support, defying the law of magic that states objects can only fly through use of a flying charm. He first exhibited this flying ability when in pursuit of Harry Potter over Little Whinging. He frequently used his ability to fly throughout the Second Wizarding War, and was known to have taught Severus Snape how to duplicate the feat.

> I can speak to snakes. I found out when we've been to the country on trips — they find me, they whisper to me. Is that normal for a wizard?
>
> A young Tom Riddle telling Albus Dumbledore about his ability to communicate with snakes, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

* **Parseltongue**: Voldemort was a Parselmouth, a trait he inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, the magical ability to communicate with snakes. It seems that most of his Gaunt ancestors (even his mother, grandfather and uncle) inherited this highly unusual trait; such traits are commonly passed down through families through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt family. This ability was one that he favoured immensely, as he was extremely capable of communicating with the Serpent of Slytherin and his loyal pet snake and Horcrux Nagini, commanding them to commit horrific actions in his various diabolical plots.

> Thereafter, I am convinced, he intended to continue to rely on his Horcruxes. He would need nothing more, if only he could regain a human form. He was already immortal, you see... or as close to immortal as any man can be.
>
> Albus Dumbledore explaining Voldemort's immortality, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

* **Immortality**: Voldemort is the only Dark wizard who was known to have created more than one Horcrux. These Horcruxes were his school diary, the Marvolo Gaunt's Ring, Ravenclaw's Diadem, Hufflepuff's Cup, Slytherin's Locket, Nagini, and Harry Potter himself. As long as these Horcruxes remained active, Voldemort was immortal and undying, even by a magic as powerful as the Killing Curse.
* **Transfiguration**: Voldemort displayed tremendous and near unrivalled skills in Transfiguration. He easily transfigured Dumbledore's fire-rope into a black snake during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He was also skilful in conjuration, as he could craft silver objects of incredible durability, as seen when he produced a silver shield strong enough to repel Dumbledore's curse, which was extremely powerful. He could even conjure artificial limbs that possessed far greater strength and immunity to some spells, as he created an artificial silver forearm and hand for Peter Pettigrew non-verbally.
* **Defence Against the Dark Arts**: As Defence Against the Dark Arts was the subject Voldemort offered to teach when he tried to become a teacher, it can be assumed that despite being far more interested in using dark magic than learning to defend from it, Voldemort had achieved a high score on his O.W.L and N.E.W.T exam and therefore that this was his favourite subject as a student. He was excellently skilled in defending from dark magic in addition to being the most powerful practitioner of the Dark Arts. It can also be assumed that his knowledge of the Dark Arts also made him aware of many advanced defensive spells that few knew of, as he claimed that he could teach students magic they cannot learn from any other should he be the Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts.
* **Spell creation**: Voldemort was also extremely capable of inventing his own magical spells, as evidenced with the spell Morsmordre, which summoned the Dark Mark in the sky, being one of Voldemort's own dark inventions. He and his followers used it to summon a floating, green Dark Mark, usually over the houses of their victims. Voldemort also invented a spell which allowed a witch or wizard to fly without support, something long considered a magical impossibility. He once mentioned to his followers that a few spells of his own invention were used to assist in his rudimentary body. It is also likely that some of the dark spells used to hide and protect his Horcruxes were constructed by him as even Dumbledore had difficulty in overcoming them.

 File:HarryPotterVolFr.gif
* **Wandless and nonverbal magic**: Voldemort was also immensely accomplished at both wandless and nonverbal magic, enough so to be capable of using both effortlessly. He could move objects magically without the incantations to do so normally, using his hand to remove the masks from the Death Eaters who returned to him after his rebirth while he scolded them and easily lifting the grounded Harry Potter up by harshly motioning him and later instantly disarming him with a simple wave of his arm during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He was also capable of pushing a dead giant out of his way with a lazy wave of his hand during the Battle of Hogwarts and also magically moving his cloak to restrain Harry Potter with a mere hand gesture. He was capable of casting spells ranging from simple charms to Dark spells and even the most advanced of magic such as the Unforgivable Curses to their full potency without speaking the incantation.
* **Wand versatility**: Voldemort has shown the ability to use wands other than his own with no handicap. He used his uncle Morfin's wand to kill his father and paternal grandparents as a teenager and in 1997, he used Lucius Malfoy's wand for a period of time, and could effectively cast a Killing Curse on Charity Burbage with it. Later, during the same year, he intended on using Selwyn's wand, though this did not come to be. In the following year, he took ownership of the Elder Wand; despite not unlocking the wand's full power, he was still able to use his usual level of magic (which was described by himself and Snape to be extraordinary), being able to pressure and ultimately defeat three extremely skilled opponents all at once (Minerva McGonagall, Horace Slughorn and Kingsley Shacklebolt).

 File:Voldemort reborn.JPG
* **Intimidation**: Lord Voldemort, due to his virtually unequalled capacity for heinous torture and murder, commanded an extremely intimidating presence, enough to frighten low-level thugs and make them work for him out of sheer fear of how he would react to their refusal. He was able to swiftly intimidate famed wandmakers Garrick Ollivander and Mykew Gregorovitch, both of whom instantly submitted to his malevolent demands, with even the mere sight of him effortlessly terrifying Frank Bryce and likes of the extremely courageous Harry Potter, the latter of whom would become haunted by the crimson eyes and cruel gaze of the Dark Lord for three years. Among the extremely few individuals who did not fear Voldemort included the tremendously fearless Albus Dumbledore (who remained staunch in consistently opposing the Dark Lord), the exceptionally brave Sirius Black and Remus Lupin (who were among the extremely few wizards unafraid to call him by name), along with those who defiantly stood up to Voldemort during his reign of terror and died fighting valiantly against him. He also failed to intimidate Gellert Grindelwald, who mocked him to his face and challenged him to kill him. His inner circle of Death Eaters overwhelmingly feared him and consequentially maintained their fierce loyalty to him at least partly out of fear of what he would do to them otherwise. Indeed, Voldemort's profound experience in intimidation tactics allowed him to instil great fear into the hearts of wizardkind, to the point that almost all feared uttering his name aloud to one another, with Boggarts even commonly appearing as Voldemort since he represented the worst fear of many members of wizardkind.

* **Intellectual genius**: Voldemort was not only a great wizard, but also possessed an incredible, genius intellect, as he was considered to be the most brilliant student ever to attend Hogwarts by Dumbledore. His intellect is evidenced by his strategic cunning in being able to mastermind and orchestrate two of the most destructive wars in British wizarding history, with him overwhelming all of the Britain wizarding community and nearly triumphing in both the First and Second Wizarding War. He also proved himself to be a skilled researcher, having successfully discovered his heritage with his middle name, and, by extension, the location of the Chamber of Secrets and his status as the Heir of Slytherin.
* **Charisma**: Even at a young age, Voldemort displayed remarkable talent for the manipulation of others, being able to manipulate Horace Slughorn into telling him about Horcruxes and gain the trust of every teacher in Hogwarts, with only Albus Dumbledore managing to not be swayed by Voldemort's charisma. He also surrounded himself with a group of friends who would become Death Eaters, though Voldemort felt no affection for any of them. He was considered charming by most people who met him, and was able to inspire others to follow him. As an adult, his skills in manipulation grew even further, successfully convincing many wizards and witches to join his cause, although Sirius Black noted that Voldemort also used tricks, jinxes, and blackmail to get people to join him. Even when his physical body and magical powers were severely weakened, Voldemort was able to use his charisma to manipulate Quirinus Quirrell into serving him, when Quirrell originally intended to be the other way around. He also earned the trust of Ginny Weasley when she discovered his diary.
* **Acting skills**: Besides his formidable magical skills and extensive knowledge of magic, as a teenager, Tom proved to be a consummate actor, being able to hide his true nature from almost everyone in Hogwarts except Dumbledore. He was able to convince virtually all of the Hogwarts staff and instructors that his facade of being a model student was his true personality and was able to avoid discovery of him having opened the Chamber of Secrets.
* **Leadership skills**: Even when he was still only a young student, Riddle was already a very effective leader, as he was able to lead the forerunners of the Death Eaters to effectively sneak past surveillance, being responsible for several nasty incidences that were never connected to them, showing that even at a young age, Riddle was a very competent leader. As he grew older and gained more experience in leading and thus honed leadership skills further, Tom's style of leadership presumably changed from the original charismatic rule of the Hogwarts gang to the tyrannical and completely ruthless - though no less highly effective - command of his Death Eaters demonstrated throughout both the First and Second Wizarding War. The best example of his efficiency as a leader would be the fact that he, with the help of fewer than forty united Death Eaters, completely overwhelmed and came very close to dominating the entire population of magical Britain during the First Wizarding War and eventually conquered the whole magical Britain during the Second Wizarding War.
* **Salesmanship skills:** A largely overlooked talent of Voldemort's was his skills at brokering sales as an assistant at Borgin and Burke's when he was in his late teens. Even Dumbledore was impressed by his skills as a salesman during his time as an employee of Borgin and Burkes. His charisma and knowledge of various magical artefacts helped him in this job and allowed him to acquire a wide variety of magical relics for his employers at the time. This talent and job allowed him to discover the Locket of Slytherin and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup in the possession of Hepizbah Smith. He was often reserved for rather delicate matters that took subtlety and persuasion, but which he also masterfully completed.
* **Teaching skills**: When Voldemort attempted to apply for a position as a teacher at Hogwarts, he expressed full confidence in being able to teach the students things they can gain from no other wizards. Despite his ulterior motives that concludes his lack of desire to genuinely pass down knowledge to the next generation, his years of extensive studies and charisma would have certainly made him a successful instructor; something he intended to take advantage of to influence the students and recruit his future army. It can be assumed that had he been allowed to become the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, he would have been able to convince many of his students to join his cause and, given that he claimed to be able to teach them magic they cannot learn from others, he would have most likely successfully created a powerful army of wizards and witches. He had proven himself to be a powerful mentor; among his known feats are personally training Bellatrix Lestrange in the Dark Arts, instructing Peter Pettigrew how to brew advanced dark potions, and teaching Severus Snape unsupported flight. In general, the Death Eaters knew how to perform some spells of his own making, mainly the *Morsmordre* spell. Even Quirinus Quirrell believed that if he sought out Voldemort's remains, he would be able to learn some powerful magic from the Dark Lord.
* **Alchemy**: Voldemort was learned in the ancient art and science of Alchemy, to the point where he was confident that if he was able to steal the Philosopher's Stone, he would be able to not only use it to produce the Elixir of Life, but also manipulate the process of doing so in a manner that would allow him to '*create a body of* [his] *own*' for his mangled soul to inhabit, thus restoring himself. Dumbledore also seemed to believe that Voldemort would certainly be capable of creating his own Philosopher's Stone, but chose not to because he would find the dependence on the stone to be intolerable.
* **Physical aptitude**: Voldemort was in excellent physical condition despite his skeletal physique, with his strength and agility easily overwhelming Harry Potter when he attacked him violently.
* **Elemental magic mastery**: Voldemort was immensely accomplished in the manipulation of the elements, especially fire. He set Neville and the Sorting Hat aflame with a flick of his wand when he defied him. In addition to fire, Voldemort was extremely proficient with the element of lightning, casting a colossal upsurge of lightning into the sky after acquiring the Elder Wand that could be felt distances away and even blasting through Hogwarts's shields with a single, immensely powerful bolt of lightning.

> Inferi have not been seen for a long time, however, not since Voldemort was last powerful... He killed enough people to make an army of them, of course.
>
> Albus Dumbledore explaining Voldemort's usage of Necromancy in the First Wizarding War, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

* **Necromancy**: Voldemort was the only dark wizard known to have the ability to create and control Inferi using the dark art of necromancy, and an army at that, though it is implied that other Dark wizards had used or intended to use them. Even Gellert Grindelwald sought the Resurrection Stone, believing it could create inferi (though the stone only summons the souls of the dead, not animate dead bodies) whereas Voldemort created them without the stone. Indeed, Voldemort was capable of spawning and unleashing an enormous and overwhelmingly powerful horde of Inferi and manipulate them to do a certain task only. His Inferi were particularly aggressive and could not be harmed by many typical offensive spells, although they were very vulnerable to fire.

## Name

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 File:I am Lord Voldemort.gif
Voldemort was born Tom Marvolo Riddle, a name he hated due to it being a common name. When he later learned that his father and namesake was a Muggle, he decided to forge his own name, 'Voldemort', from an anagram of his full name ('Tom Marvolo Riddle' becomes 'I am Lord Voldemort'). He used his middle name, Marvolo, to track down his magical heritage, due to it being a wizarding name. During this time, Voldemort had adopted the name 'The Heir of Slytherin' after learning about the Chamber of Secrets and his descent from Salazar Slytherin. Using this name, he hoped to create a terrifying legacy of his own. Few people ever knew that Voldemort's true name was 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' to begin with.

At first, this name was used to refer to him or to address him. Later, he became so feared in the wizarding community that nearly everyone referred to him only as '*You-Know-Who*', '*He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named*', or '*The Dark Lord*', the last one used primarily by his Death Eaters and other supporters. Fudge even wrote it to the Muggle Prime Minister rather than saying it. According to Death Eaters, not pronouncing his name is a mark of respect. Saying his name to Death Eaters was akin to blasphemy. On *Potterwatch*, he was called '*Chief Death Eater*'. Most people either flinched, screamed or shuddered when they heard the name spoken.

Albus Dumbledore was one of the few who dared refer to him as 'Voldemort', although he preferred to use the name 'Tom', using the former in conversation, and the latter when addressing Voldemort himself, showing his fearlessness. In ignoring the name *Voldemort,* Dumbledore disallowed him the intimidation he sought while appealing to what little remained of his former student deep within Voldemort. Dumbledore also insists on others to use the name 'Voldemort', rather than 'You-Know-Who', or such varieties, believing that fear in the name would only increase fear of the thing itself. Much later, Harry, despite never fearing *Voldemort* in name, would use the name 'Riddle' in their final confrontation, for the same reasons Dumbledore did. The few other known people who were fearlessly willing to use the name Voldemort aloud were Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and Merula Snyde. Voldemort would hate it when people dared call him by his forsaken name.

After the coup at the Ministry in 1997, the Taboo was placed on the name 'Voldemort'; speaking the name would summon Death Eaters, Ministry officials, or Snatchers via Apparition. This was used to find those who opposed Voldemort's rule, as only they would dare speak the name. This was how Harry, Ron and Hermione were found at Tottenham Court Road and before being brought to Malfoy Manor. Also, Kingsley Shacklebolt barely escaped Death Eaters when he spoke it.

After Voldemort's demise at the Battle of Hogwarts, it would appear that the wizarding world at large would no longer fear in speaking his name aloud, as Draco Malfoy was one of such people. This could be due to the growth of literature and research about his life and heritage, with one book titled *Marvolo: The Truth*. One reason why the author gave the book that title was to reveal to the Wizarding public the connection between 'Lord Voldemort' and his undignified grandfather Marvolo Gaunt, thereby depriving Voldemort of the climate of fear and mystery that he had spent much of his life creating around himself. It could also be that his death was confirmed by thousands of witnesses, unlike his first downfall that only an infant Harry ever witnessed.

## Relationships

### Family

#### Parents, grandparents, and uncle

> You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was.... He didn't like magic, my father ... He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage ... but I vowed to find him ... I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name ... Tom Riddle. ...
>
> Tom Riddle to Harry Potter, expressing his disdain for the Muggle side of his family, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:GauntFamily.jpeg
Tom Riddle grew up in a Muggle orphanage, not knowing any members of his family. His mother, Merope Gaunt, died shortly after giving birth, never attempting to save herself through magical or other means. His father's feelings toward him are unknown, as he fled then-pregnant Merope after she stopped drugging him with a love potion, and didn't track down the whereabouts of their child thereafter. The two met face-to-face in 1943, when Riddle killed his father and paternal grandparents. Riddle was disgusted by his Muggle relatives, and took on the alias 'Lord Voldemort' partly out of a desire to be rid of his 'filthy Muggle father's name'. Tom Riddle Jnr viewed his father as abandoning his mother for being a witch. Whether this was due to a lack of information or Riddle's prejudice against Muggles is unknown.

Despite the maternal side of his family being direct descendants of the great Salazar Slytherin, Tom was unimpressed when he found his deranged uncle Morfin living in squalor at the Gaunt Shack, and was not above framing Morfin for murder and stealing his maternal grandfather's prized heirloom ring. Even as a child, he showed contempt for his mother, and for the weakness of mortality, when he assumed Merope must have been a Muggle if she had been unable to survive. Ironically, it is very possible that Voldemort's more sociopathic and violent tendencies throughout his life could be a result of the 'vein of instability' caused by centuries of inbreeding due to the Gaunts' narcissistic attitudes towards their Slytherin lineage.

Considering Voldemort's loathing towards his heritage and true name, coupled with the rather dysfunctional dynamics of the Gaunt and Riddle families, it raises questions about why Merope chose to name him after his father and maternal grandfather. One possibility is that Merope, even after the abuse she had suffered at the hands of her father and husband, still held enough affection for them to name her only son after them. Alternatively, as Merope was on her deathbed while giving birth to the younger Riddle, she was likely reflecting on her life. Considering her Gaunt childhood of abuse, poverty, and isolation, she likely had very few, if any, friends to socialise with before her marriage to the elder Tom Riddle, leaving Marvolo and Morfin as the only men in her life, and 'Tom' and 'Marvolo' as the few male names that she could think of.

#### Salazar Slytherin

The only pride Voldemort ever took on his family was that he inherited the blood of the famous Salazar Slytherin from his mother, which he consistently flaunted at every opportunity possible, proudly addressing himself as the 'Heir of Salazar Slytherin', while regarding Slytherin as his 'noble ancestor'.

#### Harry Potter

> I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned, Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs. I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be.
>
> Lord Voldemort announcing his intention to murder Harry, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 File:Harry Potter.jpg
Harry Potter became Voldemort's mortal enemy after the Dark Lord heard part of a prophecy that foretold the birth of an individual destined to destroy him; two infants met the criteria, but for the simple reason that Harry was a half-blood like himself, Voldemort considered him more of a threat than Neville Longbottom. In targeting Harry, Voldemort unwittingly *'marked him as his equal*', thus sowing the seeds of his own destruction. Because Harry's mother willingly sacrificed herself for her son, the curse backfired. Voldemort lost his physical body, and unintentionally transferred some of his powers and abilities to Harry, while a piece of his soul embedded itself in a scar on Harry's forehead, inadvertently making the boy a Horcrux.

Trelawney's prophecy stated that 'The Chosen One' would have powers the Dark Lord lacked. That power is love, and Dumbledore realised that it was Harry's abilities, combined with his capacity to love, that would empower him to defeat Voldemort. Unlike Harry, who was mentally, emotionally, and spiritually intact and whose friends supported him out of loyalty and love (platonic affection), Voldemort was psychologically, spiritually, and emotionally shredded, feeling only arrogance, hate, greed, and jealousy; and he controlled his followers through fear, intimidation and coercion. Harry was disturbed to notice many similarities between them — they were both orphans who thought of Hogwarts as their first real homes, and both physically resembled their fathers, and to some degree each other. However, Dumbledore insisted that they differed in one absolutely crucial way — Harry had the ability to love, while Voldemort did not.

> I have nothing more to say to you, Potter, You have irked me too often, for too long. AVADA KEDAVRA!
>
> Voldemort attempting to kill Harry Potter during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

While Harry found it difficult to fathom that something so simple as love is the more powerful force, he understood that, once again, it was also about choices: Voldemort's actions regarding Harry were based on the prophecy, but Harry would choose to fight Voldemort whether or not the prophecy had been made. That choice, and the ability to make that choice, was largely what gave Harry powers that Voldemort lacked and prevented Harry from falling victim to the Dark side. Some years earlier, Dumbledore had stressed to Harry that it is one's choices that makes a person what they truly are, just as it had with Harry's father, James, when he chose to overcome his youthful bad behaviour.

> You won't be killing any of them. You won't be killing anyone ever again.
>
> Harry Potter informing Voldemort of his impending doom, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 File:Harrypossessed.gif
Voldemort became obsessed with Harry Potter after he failed to kill the one-year-old boy — livid that a helpless infant caused his downfall. He later sought revenge on Harry to prove that he, Voldemort, was the most feared and powerful wizard of all time. Voldemort's hatred and desire for revenge was strong enough that, when the Horcrux contained in his diary encountered him in the Chamber of Secrets in 1993, he indicated that even the desire to kill Muggle-borns in the name of Salazar Slytherin as his heir no longer mattered to him compared to trying to target Harry for several months since the start of the school year. Voldemort considered Harry weak in comparison to himself and he always discounted how love's power has aided Harry. But after possessing Harry's mind, Harry's overwhelming emotions for his friends and family were so overpowering and disturbing to Voldemort that they drove him out. As a result, he never attempted to possess Harry again.

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 File:Harry facing Voldemort DHF2.JPG
When the two faced off for the last time, Harry urged Voldemort to feel remorse — the only known means of repairing a fractured soul — but Voldemort reacted with disdain. Harry went on to inform Voldemort that despite wielding the Elder Wand, he was not its master; Draco Malfoy won the wand's allegiance by disarming Dumbledore in the Astronomy Tower, but Harry had disarmed Draco months later. Thus, Harry was the true master of the Elder Wand. In his fury, Voldemort made one last attempt at Harry's life, but the Elder Wand was loyal to Harry, and the Killing Curse once again backfired on Voldemort. Without his Horcruxes to sustain him, this time the curse finally and completely ended Voldemort's life. Voldemort and Harry were also related by blood, however distantly, through their shared descent from the Peverells (Voldemort through the Gaunts and Harry through the Potters). This made them distant cousins.

#### Delphini

It is unknown how Voldemort felt about his daughter Delphini since he died while she was still a baby. However, in the alternative timeline created via a mistake caused by Scorpius and Albus, Voldemort had apparently put Delphini (known as the Augurey) in charge of the Ministry: Dolores Umbridge (Headmistress of Hogwarts in this timeline) constantly informs the Augurey with dispatches about everything that is going on in Hogwarts; the Augurey gives instructions to Draco Malfoy (Head of Magical Law Enforcement of the Ministry of Magic in this timeline), e.g. how to deal with incidents involving wizards killing Muggles and bribing the Muggle Prime Minister with gold in such cases. Some students in Hogwarts openly quote the Augurey's motto that 'the future is ours to make', indicating that the Augurey was probably a famous and respected force as well as an inspiring example in the wizarding world of this timeline.

It is therefore likely that had Voldemort lived, he would have considered her an exceptionally faithful servant, something like his right-hand minion or deputy, and given her more power than he usually allowed his Death Eaters. It's notable that in this alternative timeline Delphi has her own official symbol - the bird emblazoned in a fascistic manner - that is widely used in this world, just like the Dark Mark, the official symbol of Voldemort. In the office of Head of Magical Law Enforcement in the Ministry there are Augurey flags flying down with this symbol while there are flags with the Dark Mark in Hogwarts. None of the Death Eaters ever had their own individual symbols and none of them ever had individual titles or alias due to having just a collective name for their group, while Delphini was operating under her personal and unique alias 'the Augurey' in this timeline, instead of being known just as another top Death Eater.

It is not known why he wanted a child, as he did not feel a need for love and disliked the idea of becoming emotionally attached to anyone, and in addition desired immortality. However, he likely realised that his daughter could become a talented and useful servant as Bellatrix was. It is also likely that he wished to preserve the Slytherin bloodline, on account of Voldemort being the last remaining heir of Slytherin. He kept her birth a secret, most likely because it may have placed her in danger, since Voldemort was considered the most powerful and dangerous Dark wizard of the time.

Delphini was curious about her parents, and wanted to have the chance to know them. She went to great lengths to meet and save her father, even to the point of meddling with time to create a future where he lived, which shows she had some love for him. After she was defeated by her cousin Draco Malfoy, Hermione Granger, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley, she begged for death instead of having to face the fact that she failed her father.

It is rather ironic that Delphini held such strong affection and fascination for her father, a man who felt absolutely no love. The alternative timeline where Voldemort ruled shows that he would have considered Delphini (known as the Augurey in that universe) a faithful servant.

### Bellatrix Lestrange

> The Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban, we will wait!
>
> Bellatrix Lestrange proclaiming her loyalty to Voldemort during her trial, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:Bellatrix Lestrange promo.jpg
Bellatrix Lestrange was among Voldemort's most loyal and trusted Death Eaters. She was entrusted with one of his Horcruxes, even though she was kept unaware of what it really was, and stored it in her Gringotts vault. She was fanatically loyal to her master as, after his first defeat in 1981, she did not join many of her fellow Death Eaters in denying their association with him. Instead, she proudly declared that she remained his most loyal servant and that he would surely return. She considered Azkaban a place where she could wait for him, rather than a prison.

Her obsession extended to her being in love with and sexually attracted to him. On at least one occasion, during a meeting of his Death Eaters at Malfoy Manor, her face flushed and her eyes welled up with tears when he praised her.

He did seem to consider her of greater importance than most of his other servants. He may have had at least a superficial affection for her, as he would call her 'Bella' like other members of her family would. He seemed to be flattered by her unfaltering devotion as he praised her, along with her husband and brother-in-law during his rebirth and promised that she would be rewarded; Snape later mentions that despite this he was more impressed by Snape's many years of useful information than Bellatrix's devotion however. At the conclusion of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he grabbed her and Apparated away with her; she was the sole Death Eater who he bothered to help, though this may have been more due to her closer proximity rather than preferential treatment. When she was killed by Molly Weasley during the Battle of Hogwarts, he was furious, and intended to avenge her death when Harry intervened.

Although Bellatrix was married to one of Voldemort's other loyal Death Eaters, Rodolphus Lestrange, the union seemed to be nothing more than a business-like partnership. It was Voldemort to whom she spoke in a romantic manner. She was outraged by anyone showing him the slightest disrespect. When Harry Potter called him by his name in 1996, she became enraged, due to feeling that he was unworthy of speaking the name.

Unknown to nearly all, it would be revealed years later after their death that Bellatrix and Voldemort had in fact engaged in a sexual relationship, resulting in the birth of their daughter Delphini who, years later, threatened to upset the timeline to be with her father. As Voldemort believed that he could cheat death, through his Horcruxes, he probably did not feel a need to leave a child behind as an heir. It is highly likely that he used the relationship with Bellatrix as a way to reward her for her undying loyalty to him, and for her rather potent and notable successes as his most loyal lieutenant. However, a reward appears to be unlikely considering Bellatrix's failures at the Ministry.

Because of his egotistical and self-centred nature, he was likely to have been pleased by Bellatrix's obsessive love for him. Despite believing himself immortal, he may have considered the usefulness of Delphini via the idea of siring a lineage of lieutenants devoutly loyal to him through familial bonds while seeing them as extensions of his own power and authority, much like many kings and tyrants who procreated to expand and solidify their own power through blood ties. He may have also chosen Bellatrix as a mate due to her blood relations and thoroughly proven power as a witch, thus marking her as a potent genetic combination as well as an ideal fit for Voldemort who revelled in his own status and power. A mate of such fortitude and strength would certainly appeal to Voldemort's pathological need to expand his fame and reputation. Voldemort also may have seen Delphini as a way of extending the power of the Slytherin bloodline beyond himself so as to further showcase his as well as his family's might and to further terrorise his enemies with the idea of another Dark Lord ruling alongside him. Voldemort may also have been intellectually enthused or curious at the idea of a student with similar powers and potential as himself, highlighting his vanity and ego even further as he had had no living relatives whose powers he could compare his own to or to have learned from.

It is also possible that the conception of Delphini was unintentional as very little is known about her background.

### Nagini

> I think he is perhaps as fond of her as he can be of anything. He certainly likes to keep her close and has an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth.
>
> Albus Dumbledore about Voldemort's affection for Nagini, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 File:Voldemort nagini.jpeg
Voldemort had a special relationship with Nagini, his pet snake who was also one of his Horcruxes. Nagini was the only living being that Voldemort seemed to genuinely care about; however, due to the fact that Nagini was one of his Horcruxes, he might have cared about the part of his soul inside her rather than Nagini herself. However, Albus Dumbledore speculated that Voldemort cared more about Nagini than any other living creature and that his affection for her had nothing to do with the part of his soul he'd placed inside her; in fact Dumbledore thought that it was *because* of his feelings for the snake (and that she underlines Voldemort's ancestry with Salazar Slytherin) that he made Nagini into a Horcrux in the first place. Voldemort often stroked her head, wore her around his neck, and even used endearments and loving words when he spoke to her. During one meeting he demanded the Death Eaters' silence immediately when he noticed that Nagini was becoming irritated by their jeers and yells.

Nagini never drew the wrath of her master, even when she failed to keep Harry Potter in Godric's Hollow, though Voldemort generally did not react well to failure. Nagini obeyed her master's every order, and the two were able to communicate with each other telepathically. Albus Dumbledore noted that Voldemort had an unusual amount of control over her, even for a Parselmouth. He often used her to dispose of his enemies such as Charity Burbage, and also threatened to feed Peter Pettigrew, Antonin Dolohov, and Thorfinn Rowle to her when they failed him.

In 1994, Peter Pettigrew milked the venom from Nagini's fangs, which he used in a potion that allowed Voldemort to regain a basic physical form. That same year, Voldemort made Nagini a Horcrux with the murder of Bertha Jorkins. Though he had often sent Nagini on personal missions, Voldemort kept her close to him after he discovered Harry was attempting to track down and destroy his Horcruxes. Nagini was beheaded by Neville Longbottom during the Battle of Hogwarts, and Voldemort felt rage and perhaps even grief at the loss of his snake. As Nagini was the last remaining Horcrux, her death allowed for Voldemort's ultimate defeat.

### Albus Dumbledore

> There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!
>
> Voldemort expressing his anger towards Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 File:Albus Dumbledore (HBP promo) 3.jpg
Tom Riddle met Albus Dumbledore at the age of eleven, when the Professor came to invite him to attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Although initially suspicious of Dumbledore, he was at least somewhat impressed by Dumbledore's demonstration of magic. Tom was pleased to discover that he was a wizard, as it confirmed the suspicions he long had about being 'special'. The boy disturbed Dumbledore, however, when he admitted to being able to hurt people who displeased him and being able to talk to snakes. Even as Tom became an extremely popular student among his peers and Professors at Hogwarts, Dumbledore remained wary of him, and kept a very close watch on him.

Riddle (then known as Voldemort) returned to Hogwarts years after graduating to request the Defence Against the Dark Arts position from Dumbledore, who had become the school's Headmaster. Suspecting that Voldemort's true intentions were far more sinister than he let on, Dumbledore refused him the position; the result of Dumbledore's refusal was not only that the position of DADA professor became "cursed", but it affirmed Dumbledore's complete refusal to bend to Voldemort's will.

Template:Dialogue a-b-a
Voldemort despised Dumbledore, not only due to the latter's continued opposition, but also because Dumbledore's belief in the triumphant power of love was something that both confused and disgusted Voldemort. Dumbledore was thought to be the only person Voldemort ever feared and one of the few people Voldemort was unable to intimidate, due to Dumbledore being the only wizard whose powers and skill could rival that of Voldemort's. Dumbledore persisted on referring to him as 'Voldemort' to others and addressing him as 'Tom' in conversation, a subtle but steadfast refusal to allow Voldemort to dictate the terms of their relationship, and a trait that would later be inherited by Harry Potter. Dumbledore led the efforts against Voldemort in the First Wizarding War; over many years, Dumbledore gathered crucial information about Voldemort's past and passed it on to Harry Potter, who would essentially take Dumbledore's place as leader of the opposition in the Second Wizarding War.

In 1996, Dumbledore and Voldemort met face to face in the Ministry of Magic during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, where Dumbledore addressed Voldemort as 'Tom' and said it was foolish of him to come to the Ministry. Voldemort initiated a fierce duel with Dumbledore, during which he tried to murder both Dumbledore and Harry, but was unsuccessful; Dumbledore managed to maintain the offensive in the duel, forcing Voldemort to possess Harry so Dumbledore would kill Harry out of a desire to kill him as well. This too was unsuccessful as Harry was able to exorcise the Dark Lord from his body and mind by focussing on his intense feelings of grief over Sirius' death. Cornelius Fudge arrived at the Ministry just in time to see Voldemort escape with Bellatrix Lestrange, and was finally forced to acknowledge the truth of Voldemort's return.

Following his failure to kill either Dumbledore or Harry at the ministry, Voldemort assigned Draco Malfoy to carry out Dumbledore's assassination. Dumbledore became aware of this plot, and addressed it by arranging his own death with Severus Snape. At the time of his death in 1997, Albus Dumbledore had fully equipped Harry Potter with the physical, mental and emotional tools he needed to defeat Voldemort once and for all in 1998. Later on, during his search for the Elder Wand, Voldemort broke into Dumbledore's tomb.

Both Voldemort and Dumbledore shared similar traits; they both wielded extraordinary power that made them among the most powerful wizards in history, although Dumbledore had proven to be, perhaps, his only superior, and understood love, which Voldemort was completely unable to do, both were half-blood, although Voldemort knew nothing about Hogwarts until he was 11. Both were recognised as two of the best wizards to go to Hogwarts and were both Prefects and Head Boy. Both created and led their own causes (the Order of the Phoenix and the Death Eaters). Both Dumbledore and Voldemort possessed the Elder Wand during their life and both also held trust in Severus Snape.

### Bartemius Crouch Jnr

> He asked me whether I was ready to risk everything for him. I was ready.
>
> Barty's servitude to Voldemort, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:Barty Crouch, Jnr.jpg
Another of Voldemort's most loyal and trusted servants was Barty Crouch Jnr. Barty Crouch was imprisoned in Azkaban with Bellatrix Lestrange and two other Death Eaters. He escaped with the help of his father and dying mother, and the former kept him confined to the Crouch home under the Imperius Curse. When Voldemort learned, by way of torturing Bertha Jorkins, that there was a Death Eater at large who remained loyal to him, Voldemort and Peter Pettigrew overpowered the senior Barty Crouch and freed his son.

In contrast with his real father, Crouch saw Lord Voldemort as a father figure of sorts and, after being disowned by his own father and after his Azkaban year, was fanatically devoted to the Dark Lord. In fact, at that point Crouch was willing to sacrifice and give absolutely everything to serve Voldemort. He also believed that if he finished off Harry Potter, he would be welcomed back, closer to Voldemort than a real son. In essence, Barty's loyalty is only matched by fellow Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange. However, Crouch's loyalty has led him to know many things about Lord Voldemort that even other loyal Death Eaters, such as Bellatrix, do not. Barty knows that Voldemort had a disappointing father, that he suffered the indignity of being named after that father, and that he had the great pleasure of killing said father to ensure the rise of the dark order.

These three common threads helped to fuel Barty's loyalty. This also implies that Barty is aware of Voldemort's blood status as a half-blood, but doesn't care about it, in contradiction to the Death Eaters' belief of pure-blood supremacy. It could very well be that Voldemort told Barty these similarities between the two, and used them as a way to get Barty to join him. Voldemort seems to have acknowledged Barty's worth, something his own father failed to do, referring to Barty as 'his most faithful servant'. However, for all of Voldemort's public claims, he never truly cared for Barty any more than as a useful servant who is as easily disposable as any other, as Voldemort never wanted a friend.

Barty Crouch Jnr helped Voldemort regain a physical body by capturing and imprisoning Alastor Moody, a retired Auror, who was about to accept Dumbledore's offer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts. Disguised as Moody, Barty Crouch entered Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire and helped ensure that he would win the Triwizard Tournament. By turning the Triwizard Cup into a Portkey, Crouch made sure Harry was transported to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where Peter Pettigrew used Harry's blood to concoct a potion that would allow Voldemort to be reborn. After Voldemort failed to kill Harry in the graveyard, Harry returned to Hogwarts, where Barty Crouch attempted to kill him personally, no longer pretending to be Alastor Moody. Harry was saved by Albus Dumbledore, Severus Snape and Minerva McGonagall, and Barty Crouch was given the Dementor's Kiss. It's unknown how Voldemort reacted when he learned Crouch's fate, though he possibly felt some disappointment due to the latter's loyalty and usefulness.

### Severus Snape

> Perhaps you already know it? You are a clever man, after all, Severus. You have been a good and faithful servant, and I regret what must happen… The Elder Wand cannot serve me properly, Severus, because I am not its true master. The Elder Wand belongs to the wizard who killed its last owner. You killed Albus Dumbledore. While you live, Severus, the Elder Wand cannot truly be mine… It cannot be any other way.
>
> Voldemort just before ordering Nagini to kill Snape, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

 File:Severus Snape Profile.jpg
Severus Snape became a Death Eater in the First Wizarding War. He was extremely loyal to Voldemort until he realised that the Dark Lord planned to murder Lily Evans. Snape appealed to Albus Dumbledore, becoming a spy in exchange for her protection. From that point on, Snape used Occlumency to prevent the Dark Lord from discovering his true allegiance.

After Peter Pettigrew broke the Fidelius Charm cast by the Potters, Lily died and Voldemort disappeared; however, while Snape was unable to save Lily herself, his love for her allowed her son, Harry Potter, to survive. It was because Snape asked the Dark Lord to spare her life that Voldemort gave Lily the option to flee, thus making her death a willing sacrifice. Following the death of the Potters, Snape's loyalty did not waver, and he swore to protect Harry from the Dark Lord, honouring Lily's sacrifice.

When Voldemort was reborn and called his Death Eaters to him, Snape did not appear until two hours later. The Dark Lord was suspicious, and feared that Snape had abandoned his service. On Dumbledore's orders, Severus claimed that his delayed return had secured the Headmaster's continued trust. The Dark Lord questioned Snape extensively, and found all his answers satisfactory; Snape was then welcomed back to the inner circle.

Voldemort's trust in Snape was further cemented when the latter murdered Albus Dumbledore; the Dark Lord did not know that Dumbledore had previously arranged the assassination with Snape. Snape became the Dark Lord's most trusted advisor and was given the position of Hogwarts Headmaster after the Fall of the Ministry of Magic. Unbeknownst to Voldemort, Snape continued to undermine him as much as possible, following Dumbledore's instructions.

 File:B7C32M1 Nagini's attack on Snape.png
When Minerva McGonagall began to coordinate the defences of Hogwarts Castle for the impending battle against Voldemort, Snape fled, and was summoned to the Shrieking Shack by his Master soon afterwards. Snape saw that the Dark Lord had cast special protection around Nagini, and attempted to leave the Shack to give Harry a message from Dumbledore (as Dumbledore had instructed Snape that, once Voldemort seemed to fear for the serpent's life, he was to tell Harry that Harry himself was Voldemort's seventh Horcrux, and therefore had to die) on the pretence that he would find Harry and ensure that he was killed by no hand other than Voldemort's own. Dismissing Snape's concerns, Voldemort noted that, since Albus Dumbledore's murder, Snape had become the true master of the Elder Wand. Voldemort ordered Nagini to kill Snape, and although he claimed he regretted the necessity of this action, he showed neither sadness nor concern for the loss of Snape's life. Harry, who had witnessed the scene and entered the room upon Voldemort's departure, approached Snape, who gave him several memories that both revealed his true allegiance and passed on Dumbledore's message. Snape's last words reflected his truest motives: he instructed Harry to look at him, so that he would die looking into the eyes Harry inherited from Lily Evans.

In his final duel against Voldemort, Harry revealed that Snape had been loyal to Dumbledore since Voldemort had targeted the Potters. Rather than express shock or betrayal, Voldemort reacted with indifference to these revelations, as he believed that he was now the master of the Elder Wand. Voldemort also spurned Harry's explanations that killing Snape did not make him (Voldemort) the master of the Elder Wand, and that Draco Malfoy held that position. This mistake soon ended up costing Voldemort his life, thus ensuring that Snape's sacrifice was not in vain.

One of the possible reasons why Voldemort placed so much trust in Snape was due to their rather similar backgrounds. Both men were the only children of Muggle fathers and pure-blood mothers. Both men's fathers had nothing but hatred for their sons and wives—Voldemort's father had abandoned his wife when she was pregnant with their son, while Snape's father was abusive towards his wife Eileen and their young son. Both Riddle and Snape claimed greater identification with their maternal lineage than their paternal ancestry—the Gaunts and Prince family, respectively. Both men grew up in poverty—Voldemort grew up in an orphanage, while Snape lived in Spinner's End. In addition, both Riddle and Snape were sorted into Slytherin, and were known for their intelligence. Both men had a passion for the Dark Arts and blood purity in their childhoods, and bestowed grandiose titles onto themselves (Riddle was known as Lord Voldemort, while Snape adopted the name the Half-Blood Prince). Both saw Hogwarts as sort of a real home as opposed to their default home. Voldemort may have seen him as a trusted Death Eater who shared the same hatred for his father as he had for his own. The only thing that differs between Voldemort and Snape's relationships with their fathers is murder; Voldemort had murdered his own father while Snape did *not* murder his.

However, there were differences between Snape and Voldemort. Snape had a secret love for Lily Evans for all his life, which motivated him to defect from the Death Eaters and protect her son, Harry Potter, after her death at Voldemort's hands. Voldemort, on the other hand, disregarded love as a weakness that was beyond his comprehension, and had an allegiance to only himself. This had coincidentally led to his own undoing. Another difference was that while Voldemort grew up completely unaware of the wizarding world until he was eleven, Snape had apparently already known by the time he was nine (likely due to the fact that his mother was a witch and, unlike Voldemort's mother, was actually present in her son's childhood).

### Peter Pettigrew

> Your devotion is nothing more than cowardice. You would not be here if you had anywhere else to go.
>
> Voldemort's low opinion of Pettigrew, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:Wormtail DH1.jpg
Peter Pettigrew, Lord Voldemort's weakest and most cowardly servant, became a Death Eater during Voldemort's first rise to domination, and betrayed James and Lily Potter to Voldemort in order to save his own life. After Voldemort's first defeat, Pettigrew made no attempt to find his master; he transformed into a rat, and passed into the ownership of Percy Weasley. Voldemort accepted Pettigrew as a helpful servant, though made it clear he thought little of his cowardice and was fully aware that Pettigrew came to him for lack of any other options.

In 1993, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, where he had been detained after Pettigrew framed him for his own crimes, and Black followed Pettigrew to Hogwarts. By chance, after Harry Potter convinced Black not to murder Pettigrew on the spot, he managed to transform back into a rat, and escaped. With nowhere else to go, Pettigrew fled to Albania to seek protection from Black in the service of Lord Voldemort. Pettigrew proved his usefulness by sending Voldemort Bertha Jorkins, who told them where to find Bartemius Crouch Jnr. Pettigrew later played a key role in Voldemort's rebirth by sacrificing his hand to the potion that allowed Voldemort to acquire a new body. Despite all this, Voldemort still reviled Pettigrew for his obvious cowardice and past loyalty issues, and spoke in utter contempt for his servant. During meetings and missions, Wormtail was assigned to the most menial of tasks, such as jailer or dogsbody to Severus Snape, highlighting how unimportant he was in the organisation. Despite this, he forced Garrick Ollivander to construct a new wand for Pettigrew, possibly as a further reward for his service.

In 1998, Pettigrew was killed by the silver hand Voldemort had given him when he hesitated during an attempt to strangle Harry Potter, a fate likely similar to whatever punishment Pettigrew would've received from Voldemort himself for this.

### The Malfoy family

> Lucius, my slippery friend, I am told that you have not renounced the old ways, though to the world you present a respectable face. You are still ready to take the lead in a spot of Muggle-torture, I believe? Yet you never tried to find me, Lucius.... Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay... but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?
>
> Voldemort's disappointment in Lucius' cowardice and disloyalty, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:DH1 The Malfoy Family.png
Voldemort entrusted Lucius Malfoy with a Horcrux: his diary, which made possible the reopening of the Chamber of Secrets. The Dark Lord was enraged to hear, years later, that the diary had been carelessly handed to Ginny Weasley. Lucius appeared not to have known that the object concealed a part of his master's soul, as in all likelihood, Voldemort had only told him that the object was enchanted to reopen the Chamber.

Lucius pretended to have been under the Imperius Curse after the Dark Lord's first downfall, and maintained a position of influence within the Ministry of Magic until the Second Wizarding War began. When Voldemort was reborn, he welcomed Lucius into his inner circle, though he reprimanded Malfoy for running from the Dark Mark conjured at the Quidditch World Cup.

Lucius quickly began to lose favour, however, after Voldemort heard about the diary's destruction. When the Death Eaters under his command lost the Battle of the Department of Mysteries and failed to retrieve the Prophecy, the Dark Lord was extremely displeased; Lucius was sent to prison after the battle and, as punishment for the elder Malfoy's failure, Voldemort gave his son Draco Malfoy the nearly impossible task of murdering Albus Dumbledore, with the expectation that he, too, would fail, and then be punished accordingly by the Dark Lord. Though Draco more or less succeeded in fulfilling his mission, Voldemort continued to distrust the Malfoys' loyalty. He dwelt at Malfoy Manor for a while, and suspected that the family resented him for doing so. During his stay at the Manor, Voldemort used Draco as a pawn, forcing him to torture other Death Eaters, which effectively humiliated the Malfoy pride.

The following year, after Harry Potter managed to escape from the Manor, Voldemort tortured Lucius and began to treat him with complete disdain. Malfoy then focussed on rescuing his son from Hogwarts during the Battle of Hogwarts, fearing only for Draco's life and seemed to abandon all loyalty to the Death Eaters' cause. In addition, Draco's defeat at the hands of Harry won the latter the allegiance of the Elder Wand. Voldemort snubbed Lucius' concerns for Draco and jeered that perhaps the teenager had chosen to ally himself with Harry Potter when he did not leave the school with the other Slytherins.

After Voldemort succeeded in casting the Killing Curse on Harry, Narcissa Malfoy was ordered to confirm the death. Harry was alive, however, and Narcissa, concerned for her son, demanded news of Draco from Harry and, upon learning that Draco was alive and well, lied to the Dark Lord, stating that Harry was dead. She knew that she and Lucius would only be able to return to Hogwarts and reunite with their son if they were part of a victory party. These events allowed Harry to confront Voldemort for the last time. During their final duel, Harry informed Voldemort of Draco's gaining of the Elder Wand's allegiance, which Harry himself had earned after his (Harry's) defeat of Draco a few months earlier. In response, Voldemort stated that these turn of events '[made] no difference' between them and threatened that he would 'attend to (i.e., kill)' Draco after killing Harry, likely as punishment not only for Draco's unintentional interference in Voldemort's plans, but also for Narcissa's deception and Lucius' failures. Fortunately for the Malfoys, this was not to be, as the Dark Lord was killed by a rebounding Killing Curse. Narcissa's instrumental intervention ensured that the Malfoys were not convicted for their crimes.

By 2020, Draco had become so disillusioned from the Death Eater cause due to his experiences with Voldemort that he (Draco) helped the Trio defeat Voldemort's daughter Delphini in her plan to save Voldemort from his first downfall back in 1981. What was rather remarkable about Draco's involvement in this escapade was that Delphini was the illegitimate daughter of Draco's aunt Bellatrix, and therefore Draco's cousin. This defiance of Delphini and Voldemort demonstrated that Draco wanted so little to do with his erstwhile master that even having the Dark Lord's daughter being a blood relative was a repugnant notion to him. Draco also might have been motivated by a desire to redeem himself from his Death Eater past. During this period in his life, Draco also began referring to Voldemort by his name rather than the 'Dark Lord' as he did in his youth, which might have been motivated by his self-redemption.

### Death Eaters

> Welcome, Death Eaters. Thirteen years... thirteen years since last we met. Yet you answer my call as though it were yesterday, we are still united under the Dark Mark, then! Or are we?
>
> Voldemort viciously greeting his Death Eaters in Little Hangleton graveyard following his resurrection, expressing his disappointment., Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:Unidentified Death Eater (II).jpg
Those called Death Eaters were a group of Dark wizards and witches that followed Voldemort, fighting as the upper echelon of his army during both the First and ***Second Wizarding Wars***. However, Voldemort did not take kindly to failure or disloyalty from his servants, and he made sure those who had believed him dead and did not try to find him following his disappearance paid the price upon his return. When he summoned his Death Eaters to the ***Little Hangleton graveyard***, after he regained his body, he tortured and questioned them before forgiving and allowing them back into his service.

Despite many of the Death Eaters claiming to be close to Voldemort, and Voldemort often referring to them as his 'friends' and his 'true family', the Dark Lord saw them as little more than dispensable servants. The few Death Eaters in whom Voldemort appeared to place any amount of genuine trust were Severus Snape, Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, ***Barty Crouch Jnr***, ***Bellatrix***, ***Rodolphus*** and ***Rabastan Lestrange*** though, as time passed, he lost trust in them due to constant failures or wavering trust.

Some of Lord Voldemort's first Death Eaters were ***Avery Snr***, ***Lestrange***, ***Mulciber Snr***, ***Nott***, ***Rosier*** and ***Antonin Dolohov***. Others were ***Walden Macnair***, ***Corban Yaxley***, ***Augustus Rookwood***, ***Selwyn***, ***Travers***, ***Thorfinn Rowle***, ***Alecto and Amycus Carrow***, ***Gibbon***, ***Crabbe***, ***Goyle***, ***Jugson***, ***Avery Jnr***, ***Mulciber Jnr***, ***Igor Karkaroff***, ***Evan Rosier*** and ***Wilkes***.

Like Voldemort himself, many were not above denying any involvement in actions that could get them into trouble with the legal authorities of the magical community. Many were willing to switch their loyalties to avoid danger or punishment, rather than steadfastly supporting their presented views.

After Voldemort's first downfall: ***Avery, Jnr*** claimed to have been under the ***Imperius Curse*** and avoided ***Azkaban*** but also didn't attempt to find his master. Voldemort never hesitated to punish Avery for his incompetence or simply for annoying him. The ***Carrow*** siblings ***Amycus*** and ***Alecto*** did not attempt to find him. Given Amycus' (at the very least) cowardly nature, it is likely that at the very least he would have done all he could to avoid Azkaban. Other Death Eaters who didn't try to find him were ***Crabbe***, ***Goyle***, and ***Nott***, though Nott claimed to be Voldemort's most faithful servant only to be silenced by his master.

Other individuals who showed disloyalty were ***Igor Karkaroff*** who betrayed many of his former comrades to the Ministry in return for his freedom from ***Azkaban***, and went on to become Headmaster of ***Durmstrang Institute***. Though he was still a ***pure-blood*** supremacist and did not accept ***Muggle-borns*** into his school, Karkaroff fled following Voldemort's return and was consequently killed by ***Death Eaters*** in ***1996***. Peter Pettigrew joined Voldemort out of cowardice, but did not attempt to search for him following his first downfall, so he hid from his fellow Death Eaters in the form of the Weasley family pet rat Scabbers and only rejoined him when he was flushed out by Sirius Black who he framed for his own crimes. ***Walden Macnair*** claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse to avoid Azkaban and did not attempt to find Voldemort after his first downfall.

***Corban Yaxley*** managed to avoid Azkaban and did not attempt to find Voldemort after his downfall, believing him finished. Despite this he was still given a lot of responsibility such as the task of recruiting ***Horace Slughorn***, leading the Death Eater controlled Ministry of Magic, and escorting Harry Potter to his death.

On the other hand, the ***Lestrange family*** remained loyal to Voldemort, with ***Rabastan Lestrange***, his brother ***Rodolphus Lestrange*** and sister-in-law to the former/wife to the latter ***Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black)*** going to Azkaban instead of publicly forsaking him. Voldemort greatly appreciated their loyalty and promised to honour them beyond the dreams of wizards. It's unknown how Rodolphus felt about his wife having feelings for Voldemort, though as he himself was highly devoted to his master, he may have supported it.

The ***Mulciber family*** served him faithfully with both the ***Snr*** and the ***Jnr*** Mulciber fighting for him and the younger even going to Azkaban for him. The ***Rosier family*** served him faithfully, with ***Rosier*** being among his first Death Eaters and ***Evan Rosier*** dying for him during the First War.

Other individuals who served him faithfully were ***Antonin Dolohov***, ***Augustus Rookwood***, ***Travers*** and ***Wilkes***. The first three went to Azkaban for him while the last was killed by Aurors during the First War. Rookwood was instrumental in Voldemort's plan to retrieve the prophecy, and was spared Voldemort's wrath when delivering him bad news (Avery was tortured instead). While Dolohov was one of the more devoted Death Eaters, this did not save him from being brutally tortured when he, along with Rowle, summoned Voldemort before capturing Harry.

Both ***Regulus Black*** II and Severus Snape defected after becoming disillusioned with the Death Eater lifestyle. The later also defected to protect Lily Evans whose husband James Potter I and son Harry Potter were targeted by Lord Voldemort for death, whereas the former defected for the welfare of Kreacher.

***Gibbon***, ***Jugson***, ***Selwyn***, and ***Thorfinn Rowle*** were also amongst those who served Lord Voldemort. Whether they had forsaken him or not is unknown.

Although ***Fenrir Greyback*** was not a true Death Eater, Voldemort offered him the privilege to wear their robes in exchange for his services. While Voldemort saw Greyback as a valuable asset in threatening to set him loose onto people who refused to cooperate, he did not hold the werewolf in the same regard as genuine Death Eaters, and did not brand him with the Dark Mark. Fenrir joined up with Voldemort not for ideologies, but for greater access to victims of ***werewolfry infection***, and did not attempt to find Voldemort after his first downfall. Regardless, the werewolf did resent the fact that he was not being treated with the same level of respect as Voldemort's inner circle (such as not having the Mark), many of whom regarded him with disgust and neglect. Indeed, while it is clear that Voldemort only treated all of his subordinates as tools for his bidding, his low respect for Fenrir made it even more apparent.

### Armando Dippet

Template:Dialogue a-b-a-b-a
While as a student at Hogwarts, Tom Riddle was a polite and intelligent young man who charmed almost all the staff members of Hogwarts. ***Headmaster*** ***Armando Dippet***, in particular, was fond of Riddle. Dippet did not allow Riddle to remain in Hogwarts during the ***summer holidays*** due to the Chamber of Secrets opening at the time (unaware that Riddle was the one who opened it), but would have made special arrangements if the situation was safer. When Tom framed Rubeus Hagrid for the crime, Armando accepted the model student's actions as honest heroism without questioning him, and merited him a Special Award for Services to the School. When Riddle was about to finish his education, he attempted to request Professor Dippet to remain at Hogwarts as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, to which Dippet refused on account that the newly graduated was too inexperienced, but invited him to reapply in a few years if he remain interested.

### Horace Slughorn

> I am not proud… I am ashamed of what — of what that memory shows… I think I may have done great damage that day.
>
> Horace Slughorn talking about Tom Riddle, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

 File:Horace Slughorn (HBP promo) 1-1.jpg
Professor Horace Slughorn was the ***Potions*** ***master*** during Tom Riddle's years at Hogwarts. Tom Riddle was a member of the ***Slug Club***, a 'collection' of Slughorn's favourite students, including students who were well connected, and those who proved to be talented and appeared to have potential for great success. At some point during Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts, he asked Slughorn about Horcruxes. Slughorn initially baulked, but under the influence of Riddle's charm, convinced himself that Tom was asking for 'purely academic' reasons and told him what tearing one's soul would basically entail. Most significantly, Tom asked if it was possible to make more than one Horcrux; while the question shocked and horrified Slughorn, he didn't deny that it was possible.

With the information he received from Slughorn, Tom Riddle affirmed his decision to create six Horcruxes; ultimately, this would tear his soul into a total of seven separate pieces—seven being the 'most powerfully magical number'—and allow him to effectively achieve some degree of immortality. Ashamed of having so badly misjudged Tom Riddle, and for the part he played in providing Riddle with such destructive information, Slughorn modified his own memory.

In ***1996***, Slughorn left retirement and returned to Hogwarts to replace Severus Snape as Potions master. Albus Dumbledore gave Harry Potter the task of being 'collected' by Slughorn and retrieving the original version of the memory. Harry managed to get the memory from Slughorn in 1997, with the help of ***Felix Felicis***, copious amounts of ***mead***, and Slughorn's fondness for Harry's mother, who had been another of Slughorn's favourites. The memory confirmed suspicions Dumbledore had about the steps Voldemort had taken to become immortal, which proved to be of vital importance in Voldemort's ultimate defeat.

During the ***Battle of Hogwarts***, Slughorn, who initially appeared to flee the school, brought reinforcements from ***Hogsmeade*** to join the fight against the ***Death Eaters***, and later duelled directly against Voldemort with ***Minerva McGonagall*** and ***Kingsley Shacklebolt***.

### Ginny Weasley

> ...I was patient. I wrote back. I was sympathetic, I was kind. Ginny simply loved me... No one's ever understood me like you, Tom... I'm so glad I've got this diary to confide in... It's like a friend I can carry around in my pocket... If I say it myself, Harry, I've always been able to charm the people I needed.
>
> Tom Riddle to Harry Potter on his manipulation of Ginny, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 File:COS promo Ginny Weasley T. M. Riddle's Diary.jpg
Although Voldemort had lost his physical body, he managed to approach Ginny Weasley, a first year Gryffindor girl and younger sister of Ron Weasley who had a huge crush on Harry Potter, through one of his Horcruxes: his diary. Tom Riddle's soul communicated with Ginny through his diary, sympathising with her problems and giving her advice, which made her emotionally vulnerable to Riddle's influence. As this fragment of his soul was preserved as his sixteen year old self, prior to the later disfigurements, Tom Riddle was able to use his earlier good looks to make girls swoon as he had done decades earlier, in this case making an insecure girl feel valued that a tall, dark and handsome man took an interest in her problems.

Eventually, Riddle was able to possess Ginny, use her to open the Chamber of Secrets and free the Serpent of Slytherin to petrify several ***Muggle-born*** students (including Hermione Granger). When Ginny figured out what she had been doing, despite having no memory of what happened during the times she was possessed, she attempted to flush the diary down a toilet; however, as the diary was a Horcrux, it remained undamaged and later ended up in the hands of Harry Potter himself.

 File:Ginevra Weasley Writing on the Wall.gif
Ginny, worried the Diary would reveal to Harry things she'd written about her feelings for him, stole the diary back. Riddle possessed Ginny one last time and had her enter the Chamber of Secrets, with every intention of killing her and using her life to restore his own. Harry, however, as a Parselmouth, was able to enter the Chamber, rescue Ginny, and slay the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor. He then used one of the Basilisk's fangs to stab the Diary, effectively making it the first of Voldemort's Horcruxes to be destroyed.

### Rubeus Hagrid

> Monsters don't make good pets, Hagrid.
>
> Riddle before he turned Hagrid in, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

 File:Rubeus Hagrid promo.png
Rubeus Hagrid and Tom Riddle were both students at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in the 1940s, with Hagrid being three years his junior. In 1943, Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets, unleashing a Basilisk on the school's Muggle-born students. Most of the students who were attacked ended up petrified, but when the Basilisk finally succeeded in killing one of them, Hogwarts became in danger of closing—a consequence Riddle hadn't foreseen, which would mean him having to return indefinitely to ***Wool's Orphanage***. Upon realising the school might not have to close if the perpetrator were caught, Riddle stopped attacking students with the Basilisk, closed the Chamber of Secrets, and framed Hagrid, who was known for his love of dangerous Creatures and at the time was raising Aragog, a young ***Acromantula***, for the crime.

Hagrid managed to protect Aragog and even threw Riddle to the ground when he tried to curse him, making Hagrid the only person to challenge Riddle while he was a student. Despite this, Hagrid was expelled from Hogwarts, and the school was allowed to remain open. Believing in Hagrid's innocence, however, Professor Albus Dumbledore convinced Headmaster ***Armando Dippet*** to allow Hagrid to stay on at Hogwarts as ***Gamekeeper***.

Tom Riddle never felt remorse for framing Hagrid and ruining his life. As Riddle went on to become Voldemort, Hagrid joined the ***Order of the Phoenix*** and fought against Lord Voldemort and his ***Death Eaters*** in the First Wizarding War. In 1981, Hagrid was devastated when Voldemort murdered his friends James and Lily Potter, but shared in the relief of the rest of the Wizarding world when Voldemort lost his powers and disappeared after failing to kill young Harry Potter. Although many believed that Voldemort was dead, Hagrid, agreeing with Dumbledore, believed that he would one day return to power. Along with the vast majority of the Wizarding community, Hagrid refused to say Voldemort's name, generally referring to him as 'You-know-who' although he once reluctantly said Voldemort's name when explaining his background to Harry. When Voldemort was searching for the Philosopher's Stone, he took advantage of Hagrid's love and knowledge of magical creatures and through Quirinus Quirrell, gathered the secret of subduing ***Fluffy*** through music from a drunken Hagrid, who was remorseful afterwards. Since Voldemort had a certain respect for Hogwarts professors, it is not known if that included Hagrid, who taught ***Care of Magical Creatures***. This is unlikely considering Hagrid's half-giant status.

### Quirinus Quirrell

> Then ... four years ago ... the means for my return seemed assured. A wizard - young, foolish, and gullible - wandered across my path in the forest I had made my home. Oh, he seemed the very chance I had been dreaming of... for he was a teacher at Dumbledore's school... he was easy to bend to my will... he brought me back to this country, and after a while, I took possession of his body, to supervise him closely as he carried out my orders. But my plan failed. I did not manage to steal the Philosopher's Stone. I was not to be assured immortal life. I was thwarted ... thwarted, once again, by Harry Potter. ...
>
> Voldemort's control and possession of Quirrell, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

 File:Quirinus Quirrel.jpg
Quirinus Quirrell encountered Lord Voldemort's disembodied soul fragment in the Black Forest of Albania, during his world travels. Originally naively trying to capture the Dark Lord's remains, Quirrell overestimated himself thinking he could subjugate Voldemort and learn powerful magic from him. With promises of wealth, domination and possibly immortality, Voldemort convinced Quirrell to become his faithful servant, and even to share his body. Quirrell followed orders with a tint of fear, and at times tried, feebly and futilely, to resist the possession.

On Voldemort's orders, Quirrell returned to ***London*** in 1991 and broke into Vault 713 at Gringotts Wizarding Bank to procure the Philosopher's Stone, only to find that it had been emptied earlier that day and the Stone transferred to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry by Rubeus Hagrid.

Quirrell took the position of Professor of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, with the aim of tracking down the Stone. When he and Voldemort realised Harry Potter was starting at Hogwarts that same year, Quirrell attempted to kill Harry, but was prevented from doing so first by Severus Snape, then, unwittingly, by Hermione Granger.

Template:Dialogue a-b-a
Quirrell once again turned his attention to finding the Philosopher's Stone, and overcame several enchanted obstacles to travel through the Philosopher's Stone Chambers. Harry followed Quirrell through the Chambers, believing he was actually following Severus Snape, and eventually found Quirrell attempting to retrieve the Stone from the Mirror of Erised in the final chamber. Voldemort ordered Quirrell to use Harry to get the stone, and when the Stone appeared in Harry's pocket, Harry attempted to conceal the fact by lying about what he saw in the Mirror. Voldemort, seeing through Harry's lie, Quirrell removes his turban and reveals a weakened Voldemort to be living on the back of his head.Harry tries to escape but Quirrell starts a fire by clicking his fingers to prevent his escape. Voldemort tries to convince Harry to give him the stone by pledging to bring his parents back from the dead, but Harry refuses, Voldemort ordered Quirrell to kill Harry Potter by force, Quirrell then tries to kill him but Harry's touch prevents him from hurting him and causes him to turn into dust and die. When Harry gets up, Voldemort's spirit forms and passes through Harry, knocking him unconscious before fleeing due to his mother's loving sacrifice.

Three years after abandoning Quirrell to his demise, Voldemort expressed to his ***Death Eaters*** that he saw Quirrell as a foolish and gullible man whose only value was his position at Hogwarts.

### Order of the Phoenix

> That's Dorcas Meadowes, Voldemort killed her personally ...
>
> Alastor Moody mentioning Voldemort's murder of Dorcas Meadowes, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

 File:Order of the Phoenix – first generation.jpg
The Order of the Phoenix was a secret organisation founded and led by Albus Dumbledore to oppose Voldemort and his ***Death Eaters***.

Though it was unknown to Voldemort till shortly before his defeat, Severus Snape was a member of the Order who had defected from the Death Eaters and worked for Dumbledore as a spy shortly after Voldemort began hunting Lily Potter.

James and Lily Potter were members of the Order who became prime targets for Voldemort during the First Wizarding War, after Voldemort heard of a prophecy foretelling of a child destined to destroy him. This fit the description of their young son, Harry. On 31 October 1981, Voldemort found the Potters after the Fidelius Charm they had cast was broken by Peter Pettigrew. Voldemort killed an unarmed James mercilessly first and ordered Lily to stand aside (since Severus Snape had requested him to spare her), so he could kill Harry. When Lily refused to stand aside, Voldemort killed her as well, making her murder a sacrifice that caused the Killing Curse Voldemort aimed at Harry to backfire; Voldemort lost his body and fled to Albania.

Nearly all of the Weasley family were active within the Order of the Phoenix. They fought against Voldemort during both the First Wizarding wars. They lost family members such as ***Fabian*** and ***Gideon Prewett***, brothers of Molly Weasley, and ***Fred Weasley***, who was killed in the Battle of Hogwarts. Voldemort had previously tried to manipulate Ginny Weasley in 1992, in an attempt to return to physical form, through one of his Horcruxes. Voldemort was furious when Molly defeated Bellatrix, and would have killed her, had Harry not intervened. Most of the Weasley family watched the final duel between Voldemort and Harry, and were witnesses to Voldemort's death.

All Order members killed either by Voldemort himself or by his ***Death Eaters*** during the First and ***Second Wizarding Wars***.

## Media

Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 2 Voldemort vs Harry Potter Final Battle Full SceneHarry Defeats the Dark Lord
## Etymology

### Lord Voldemort

* Although ***J. K. Rowling*** has never quite explained the origins of the name 'Voldemort', there are some possible theories. 'Mors', or 'mortum' is the Latin word for death (which has evolved in many Romance languages as '*muerte*' or '*morte*', and the English word 'murder' indeed has its origins in the same root word as 'mors'). Therefore, while not necessarily true, the possible meaning of the word 'Voldemort' may be either 'representative of death' or 'ambassador of death'. Yet, the most accurate etymology of Voldemort would be the French sentence 'Vol de mort' which literally means 'flight of death' (accurate considering the murder sprees he committed and his invention of a spell to achieve unsupported flight). It is quite plausible this is the real etymology of his name as J.K. Rowling herself speaks French and had taught it once. 'Vol de mort' can also literally mean 'Theft of death' in French which can also be accurate since Lord Voldemort's search for immortality (which would mean he would have to steal his life from death). The Catalan expression 'vol de mort', also means 'flight of death' or, since 'Vol' may also be from the Latin root 'volo' ('I will, wish, want'), may mean 'death wish'.
* J. K. Rowling has said in an interview that the T in Voldemort is silent. This may be due to the fact that the French word **mort,** meaning death, has a silent T. The silent T was maintained in the earlier editions of the audio book releases of the novels, but was discontinued in those releases following the release of the films, in which the T was used out loud. In 2015, Rowling again confirmed in an interview that her preferred pronunciation of the name was with a silent 'T', though she noted '...but I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who pronounces it that way'.

### Tom Marvolo Riddle

* **Tom** is Template:W of Thomas Θωμᾶς, loaned from Aramaic תאומא taʔuma, meaning 'twin'; cognate with Hebrew תאום təʔōm. This choice can be explained by the fact that, to gain immortality, Tom Riddle divided, twinned in a way, his soul into different pieces so as to survive. Also, τόμος (tomos) is Ancient Greek for 'slice' or 'piece', which could link his name to the Horcruxes. A further evidence for that connection is Rowling's comparison of the making of a Horcrux to the splitting of the atom in terms of significance. The word 'atom' is derived from the same Ancient Greek word with an added negative prefix, ἄτομος ‎(átomos), meaning inseparable.
* His maternal grandfather's name **Marvolo** suggests *marvelous*, from Latin *mirabilis*: consisting of from *mirari* 'to wonder at', from root adjective *mirus* 'wonderful' and suffix *-bilis*, denoting capacity. The name also contains the Latin root *volo* meaning 'I wish, want, will, ordain, suppose, maintain that, be willing, to mean, signify, or denote'. Another homophone, *volo* also means 'I fly, speed, or move rapidly'. Marvolo Gaunt & his grandson Tom can be seen as characters who want to achieve greatness very quickly. It could also derive from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night character Malvolio (a punningly humorous name meaning roughly 'I wish wickedly' or simply 'ill-willing'). He is a Puritan who could not have fun and sought to stop the other servants from enjoying themselves. He is 'sick with self love' and dreams of gaining domination. He thinks he is better than the others because he believes he is 'pure'. He is constantly the subject of practical jokes. The quote 'Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them' comes from here. At the end of the play, he swears revenge on the lot of them.
* A **riddle** is 'a form of word puzzle designed to test someone's ingenuity in arriving at its solution'. Riddles were used as a way to both puzzle the audience and teach them to understand poetic language. Due to Voldemort's past being 'a riddle' until the trio discover he was T. M. Riddle in the second book, it is only logical that he would be named that; moreover, ***J. K. Rowling*** reportedly once saw the grave of one 'Tom Riddell', which is probably the origin of the name. Voldemort created his name from arranging the letters of his full birth name, known as an anagram, another type of puzzle.

## Behind the scenes

 File:RichardBremmerVoldemortMakeUp.jpg
 File:FullRiddle.jpg
* In the *Harry Potter* films, Voldemort is played by several actors.
	+ Starting from Template:GOF, adult Voldemort is played by ***Ralph Fiennes***, who was born in ***1962*** (being 42 to 49 at the time of filming). Given Voldemort's real age in his last years, and the strenuous duties of the role, it is obvious why Voldemort is cast younger (he is said to be in his seventies at the time of his death). Fiennes' casting, however, makes the screen Voldemort look younger than three of the four Marauders (Sirius, James and Pettigrew), Snape, McGonagall, Molly and Arthur Weasley and Hagrid, characters who are younger than him in the books.
	+ ***Richard Bremmer*** portrayed Voldemort in the flashback scene depicting the murder of Lily and James Potter in Template:PS. His face (gone through prosthetic makeup and altered with visual effects) was also used for the scene in which Voldemort's face is finally revealed, though ***Ian Hart*** (who also played Professor Quirrell) voiced it instead of Bremmer. Archive footage of Richard Bremmer appears in the final film during the *Prince's Tale* scene, although upon close-up on his face, he is played by Ralph Fiennes.
	+ In Template:COS Voldemort is portrayed by Christian Coulson.
	+ All in all, Voldemort is officially played by a total of seven actors: Ralph Fiennes, Ian Hart, Richard Bremmer, Christian Coulson although his scenes were cut. This makes him the character to be played by the most actors in the *Harry Potter* film series. Whether intentional or not, this also rings true for Voldemort's fascination (and J.K Rowling's utilisation of it in the series) with the number seven.
* He is voiced by ***Akira Ishida*** in the Japanese dub of the second video game.
* In the Flemish dub of the films, Voldemort is voiced by actor Dirk Denoyelle, who also voices Hagrid and Sirius Black. The actor claims he got the part because no other actor was willing to talk in a whispery voice during the dubbing of the first film. Though since film four, the actor has been using his normal speaking voice when doing Voldemort.
* Although Harry Potter only realises he's one of Voldemort's Horcruxes in the final book, Dumbledore tells him that Voldemort put a bit of himself in Harry in the end of the second book.

* When Voldemort is seen drinking the Unicorn blood, he is portrayed by ***Theo Kypri***.
* In the ***Harry Potter*** films, the handle of Voldemort's wand resembles a bone.
* In the city of Edinburgh, UK, near the Elephant Café where Rowling is said to have written some of *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, there is a famous cemetery named Greyfriar's Kirkyard. One of the headstones for those buried outside the walls of the graveyard (due to being suicides or enemies of the church) bears the name Tom Riddell. Rowling has stated that she often walked in the Kirkyard, so this may be a possible origin of the name.
* In the film adaptation, Voldemort is shown to have very apparent veins on the top and back of his bald skull. Due to the veins' pattern, this was misinterpreted by some viewers who took it to be a scale-like motif and one of the features of Voldemort that had begun to resemble a snake after he began creating his Horcruxes.
* In French, Vol de Mort can mean 'flight from death', which reflects his obsession with immortality. It can also mean 'Theft of Death', which is reminiscent of the ***Death Eaters***' name.
* Although J.K. Rowling states that Voldemort is pronounced without the 't' in the books, the first character to say the name in the series is Hagrid, whose dialogue is often spelled phonetically (e.g. *'go boil **yer** heads, both of **yeh**'*), and the 't' is printed when he says it as well. The letter *is* also pronounced in the film versions. During a reading of one of her books, Rowling herself pronounced Voldermort with a 't' (but did not at another).
* In Template:COS, Voldemort said that his father abandoned his mother when he found out that she was a witch, when he really left after Merope stopped giving him ***love potion***. Of course, this may have been how *he* saw the events, an attempt to twist them to justify his hatred of Muggles or simply his best guess as he might not have realised Merope used the potion. It could be possible that if not before, then possibly after Merope stopped giving her husband the potion, that her being a witch was stated and proven. Based on the words he speaks to Harry in the Little Hangleton graveyard, he indicates his father was anti-magic 'he didn't like magic, my father', which could have been revealed during a possible conversation between father and son when the young Voldemort confronted his muggle father and grandparents.
* In 2001, Christian Coulson was cast as Tom Riddle in *Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets*, even though he exceeded the age group ***Chris Columbus*** had set for auditions. Before Coulson was cast, ***Eddie Redmayne*** and Joseph Morgan auditioned for the role. When Coulson later expressed interest in returning for *Half-Blood Prince*, ***David Yates*** felt Coulson was 'too old' to play the role again. ***Frank Dillane*** was eventually cast in Coulson's place. Archive footage of Coulson as Tom Riddle was used in Template:DH.

 File:Voldemort destroys the Shield from Hogwarts - Deathly Hallows Part 2.jpg
* However, in Template:GOF and subsequent film adaptations, Voldemort has light blue eyes, so that they would 'show more emotion' than if they were red. Also, young Riddle has dark eyes (as described in the books) in Template:COS but light blue eyes in Template:HBP. Interestingly, Harry's eyes were also changed from their much-emphasised colour in the books to Daniel Radcliffe's natural light blue.
* Voldemort's character draws certain parallels to Adolf Hitler: Hitler claimed that the 'Aryan' (blond haired, blue eyed Germans) race was the superior of all races and wanted to purify the human race of 'non-Aryan' races even though he himself was neither a native German citizen nor representative of the 'ideal Aryan' or 'Nordic' as presented in the National Socialist worldview. Voldemort preached a philosophy of pure-blood superiority despite the fact that he was a half-blood.
* When BBC Newsbeat published an article titled 'Why people are calling American businessman Donald Trump Voldemort' due to his suggestion that all Muslims should be banned from entering the United States of America, J.K. Rowling Tweeted that Voldemort was 'nowhere near as bad'.
* J. K. Rowling explained that Voldemort went after Harry instead of Neville because he identified with the half-blood boy and therefore decided he must be the greater risk.
* Riddle was sixteen when he opened the Chamber of Secrets fifty years before the events of Template:COS, making him sixty-six in that book/film.
* Voldemort is described in the books as having cat-like slits for eyes, which is changed in the film. However, after he emerges from the cauldron in ***Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire***, the slits can be briefly seen.

 File:Grandpre Dueling Wizards.jpg
 File:Battle voldyreturn1.PNG
* Mary GrandPré's illustrations for the American translation of Harry Potter describes him with a **green** skin, rather than the pale skin described in the books, and also with many alien/reptilian-like attributes.
* ***J. K. Rowling*** has said that it is of important symbolic significance that Voldemort, incapable of love himself, was conceived in an act of coercion, rather than genuine love.
* When asked if Voldemort would affect the ***American*** wizarding community, ***J. K. Rowling*** said he affected everyone but his plan was ***European*** domination first.
* In Fantastic Beasts interview Rowling says that even though fans had a sense that Voldemort was a threat to the whole wizarding world, fans never saw how he was affecting people in the rest of the world.
* ***J. K. Rowling*** revealed that after his death, Voldemort had to exist in the Limbo Harry talked to Dumbledore's soul in, as the crouched human childlike form, and was therefore unable to return as a ghost.
* In the film adaptations, despite characters still calling him 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named', 'You-Know-Who', or (in the case of Death Eaters) 'The Dark Lord', more characters call him by his name than in the book. Hermione first says the name in *Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone*, as opposed to ***Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix***, Wormtail and ***Barty Crouch Jnr*** both say the name in ***Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*** (the first time that they conversed with him), and in ***Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince***, Arthur Weasley says the name, despite telling Harry not to say it in ***Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban***. It could be argued (in the film story) that Mr Weasley had become less afraid of Voldemort (while still regarding him as a major threat), enough to speak his name.
* In Template:HBP, When showing Harry the memory of when he first met Voldemort, the memory vials are labelled '**Thomas Marvolo Riddle**'.
* J.K. Rowling said that had Ginny Weasley died and Tom Riddle escaped the diary, Voldemort would have become stronger.

 File:Untitled147.jpg
* J.K. Rowling has described Voldemort as the most evil dark wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years, a self-hating bully, a raging psychopath devoid of empathy, a power-hungry racist, someone who prefers for his henchmen to do his dirty work for him, and that if psychologists were to get Voldemort in a room, pin him down, and take his wand away, he would be classified as a psychopath.
	+ A psychotherapist also speculated that Voldemort may have possessed Antisocial Personality Disorder and/or Narcissistic Personality Disorder, or perhaps even the childhood specific disorder called Reactive Attachment Disorder, from which the former two diagnoses originate.
* ***J. K. Rowling*** has said that if Voldemort's mother, Merope had chosen to live for the sake of raising her son, or even if he had been adopted and raised in a loving environment, he would have turned out to be very different person, probably a better person.
* J.K. Rowling revealed that the inspiration for people referring to Voldemort as *He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named* came from the Kray twins who terrorised London and how she thought it was an impressive demonstration of strength, that you can convince someone not to use your name. Impressive in the sense that demonstrates how deep the level of fear is that you can inspire. It's not something to be admired.
* Aside from his Template:PM page, Voldemort is referred to as the 'greatest dark wizard of all time' in Movie 2,

 File:Deathvol.jpg
* In the novel *Deathly Hallows*, Harry and Voldemort duel in the Great Hall. In the film of *Deathly Hallows*, Voldemort and Harry battle in the Grand Staircase and the ***catwalks by the Quad battlements***, before Harry grabs Voldemort and they fall from a ledge. They Apparate together around the castle before landing at the ***Entrance Courtyard***, where they finish their duel.

 File:Voldemorts Death.gif
* In the book, Voldemort's final words are '*Avada Kedavra!*' In the film, since his Killing Curses during the final battle are nonverbal, the last thing he says is '*I killed Snape!*', when Harry was confronting him about the Elder Wand. However, the game re-adds his last line from the book.
* In the film adaptation, Voldemort disintegrates when he is defeated, while in the novel, he just falls to the ground.

 File:Harry duels Voldemort in the Hogwarts.gif
 File:TDHp2 Textless Poster Voldemort action.jpg
* In the book, it only says that Voldemort's curse rebounded on him and that the Elder Wand flew from his hand to Harry's. In the film, Voldemort dies when his Killing Curse begins filling in the fissures of the Elder Wand, and then his arms begin to turn black, causing him to disintegrate into ashes as he dies. It was, however, intended to be similar to the book, and was also included in late stages of development, although it was changed to the depiction in the final version after the events of Osama bin Laden's death.
	+ This also fits well ***the spectre-like attributes that Death Eaters were given in the films***.
* Tom Riddle is the only named Slytherin Head Boy.
* A 100-foot tall representation of Voldemort was included as part of the opening ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, during a presentation celebrating English children's literature. He was presented as leading fellow villains the Template:W, the Template:W, Template:W, and Template:W, before being defeated by an army of Template:W.
* Oddly enough, despite his obsession with immortality and use of Horcruxes to achieve it, Voldemort died having lived an average ***Muggle*** lifespan of 71 years old.
* In the books, Voldemort's voice is frequently described as being cold and high, but Fiennes uses an occasionally deep voice, particularly when Voldemort is yelling or casting curses.
* Voldemort had been rejected twice when applying for the job as teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts. However, Voldemort shared the body of Quirinus Quirrell, who was from that time a teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts for a year.
	+ It is remarked in the story that the turban Quirrel wears smells foul, and most presume it is to protect him from a vampire he encountered in the Black Forest. It is later revealed that Voldemort was possessing Quirrell, and the smell was possibly owing to him.
	+ Ironically Quirrell's story about a vampire is in some respect true, as Voldemort at the time was in a state between life and death, and himself admits that he is living parasitically off of the weaker man. This even includes making Quirrell drink the blood of ***unicorns***.
* Ralph Fiennes' favourite line in the series is 'I can touch you now' from *Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire*.
* His birth year, 1926, is a year of the Tiger on the Chinese Zodiac sign. He possesses qualities that are often associated with those born under this sign: independence, bravery, ambition, an aggressive attitude, a tendency to be over-confident at times, a short temper, and the ability to charm and seduce others.
* In the practice of numerology, his date of birth gives him the number seven as his 'life path number'. He once mentioned to Horace Slughorn that seven is the most magical number. His personality includes traits that those with this life number are said to have: being aloof, preferring independence, lacking concern for others, and intimidating others.
* Curiously, Riddle began studying at Hogwarts in 1938, one year before World War II struck, and graduated in 1945, the year the war ended and the same year Dumbledore gained mastery of the Elder Wand after defeating Grindelwald.
* In an interview with the *Fantastic Beasts* cast, Zoe Kravitz says she believes, if Voldemort and Grindelwald got into a magical duel, that Voldemort would win. However, Callum Turner was unsure and stated 'But, Harry took him down'.
* When asked by a fan if Voldemort liked cake Rowling say she doesn't see him as a great cake lover and that she suspects he reached a point of inhumanity where he didn't actually need food.
* In the German version, the only canon source that pronounces Voldemort's name canonically (with a silent t) is the first audiobook version read by Rufus Beck. The second audiobook version read by Felix von Manteuffel, as well as all films and video games, pronounce it with a hearable t.
* Ironically, Voldemort's name would later be used for Template:W that was for key-values, similar to Voldemort and his Horcruxes.
* Despite dying at the age of 71, it is likely that he was biologically younger, given that he was left without a body for 13 years, and received a new body in 1995, when he would have been 68. He was 54 two months from 55. So if this is true he would have been roughly 57.
* In *The LEGO Batman Movie*, Voldemort appears as one of the many villains trapped in the Phantom Zone. Curiously, he is not voiced by Ralph Fiennes, even though another major character in the film (Alfred Pennyworth) is; instead he is voiced by Eddie Izzard.
* For Template:DH, director David Yates was unsure how to present Riddle's eventual death. Due to the film being shot in 3D, Yates elected to shoot two different versions of his death. The first version has Riddle collapsing to the ground after the final blow. The other take was shot in a way that would allow the effects to break riddle into many floating pieces. While the latter would make the final cut, a production photo from the film reveals the other take.

### Similarities to real life

Voldemort's character draws certain parallels to three real-life dictators; Template:W, Template:W, and Template:W. However, J.K. Rowling uses Hitler as the bigger influence for Voldemort.

* Adolf Hitler:
	+ Hitler promoted Aryan supremacy, claiming that blond haired and blue eyed Germans were superior to all races and wanted to purify the human race of 'non-Aryan' races even though he himself was neither a native German citizen nor representative of the 'ideal Aryan' or 'Nordic' as presented in the National Socialist worldview but an Austrian. Voldemort preached a similar philosophy of racial superiority, focussing on pureblood supremacy despite the fact that he was a half-blood.
	+ Both men were power-hungry.
	+ Hitler blamed the Jews for taking Germany's income. In a similar way, Voldemort blamed Muggle-borns for stealing magic.
	+ Similarities of their death are evident; Hitler committed suicide to escape from the Allies while Voldemort's killing curse rebounds because the Elder Wand's allegiance didn't lie with him. Both men killed themselves, though Voldemort's case was clearly unplanned.
		- That said, Hitler did have one noticeable difference from Voldemort: Voldemort was afraid of death, to the extent that his boggart would have been his own corpse, while Hitler, even before his demise, had suicidal tendencies, even deeply considering suicide after the failed Beer Hall Putsch while in hiding at Hanfstaengls, and had threatened to commit suicide a few times whenever the Nazi Party lost during various elections, one time being when he and Strassler had a falling out and the latter resigned from the Nazi Party.
	+ Prior to Voldemort and Hitler's reign, persecutions of both Muggle-born and Jews were evident. Salazar Slytherin (Voldemort's ancestor) upheld that Muggle-borns should not attend Hogwarts while early Christians had viewed Jews as people who must never live among them.
	+ It is common sense to never say Hitler greetings. Similarly, it is inappropriate to say 'Voldemort'.
* Joseph Stalin:
	+ Both men had feared names during their reign.
		- On a related note, both men also created their names largely because they hated their pasts.
	+ Both men also had unpleasant upbringings and started off in very modest circumstances (Voldemort was put into an orphanage by his dying mother with his father abandoning them largely thanks to the love potion wearing off, while Stalin, originally living in a Georgian village of what was then-known as the Russian Empire, was raised under an alcoholic and abusive father, and his mother shuffled him off to a monastery partly due to not wanting to deal with him.).
* Benito Mussolini:
	+ Shared fascist ideology.
	+ Both also formed gangs as young boys (Mussolini in particular went as far as to have his gang engage in violent raids throughout the countryside of Italy).

### Translations of the name

Anagram (the reveal)

I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

## Appearances

Template:Imagecat

* Template:PS Template:1st
* Template:COS Template:1st ID
* *The LEGO Batman Movie*

## Notes and references

Template:Reflist
Template:Start-box Template:Succession-box Template:Succession-box Template:Succession-box Template:Succession-box Template:Succession-box Template:Succession-box Template:End-box
Template:Death-Eaters Template:Rare Head Boys and Known Regular Prefects Template:Entire Knockturn Alley Template:Deathly Hallows Owners

cs:Lord Voldemort
pl:Tom Marvolo Riddle
pt-br:Tom Riddle
da:Tom Riddle
et:Tom Riddle
id:Tom Riddle
it:Tom Riddle
tr:Tom Riddle

1. ↑ We know that Chamber of Secrets takes place in 1992-93. Fifty years earlier was 1942-43. In this year, Hagrid was a third year, and Riddle was two above him, meaning he was a fifth year. 15 years before 1942 was 1927. However, Riddle was born on New Year's Eve, making it 1926.
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Template:COS - ''Half-blood, sir,' said Riddle. 'Muggle father, witch mother.''
3. ↑ Template:HBP
4. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)
5. ↑ He was first known as this when he was 16.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 He was known as this when people were scared of the name Voldemort.
7. ↑ Known as this by ***Death Eaters*** and occasionally Albus Dumbledore. He is also referred as such by non-followers when a poetic effect is intended.
8. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)
9. ↑ 9.00 9.01 9.02 9.03 9.04 9.05 9.06 9.07 9.08 9.09 9.10 Template:COS
10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Template:COS
11. ↑ Template:POA
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 Cite error: Invalid `<ref>` tag; no text was provided for refs named `GOF33`
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 13.5 13.6 13.7 Template:PS
14. ↑ Template:CC
15. ↑ 'The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two,' The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005
16. ↑ Albus Dumbledore Fact file at Template:PM (via the Internet Archive) Template:See image
17. ↑ 17.0 17.1 Leaky Cauldron: J.K. Rowling Webchat 30 July 2007
18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film)
19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 Template:PS
20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 Lord Voldemort from Template:PM (via the Internet Archive) Template:See image
21. ↑ Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (film) - ''Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time?' said Dumbledore.'
22. ↑ Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
23. ↑ Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
24. ↑ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 Template:WW
26. ↑ Webchat with J.K. Rowling, 30 July 2007 at ***Bloomsbury Publishing*** (via the Internet Archive)
27. ↑ 27.00 27.01 27.02 27.03 27.04 27.05 27.06 27.07 27.08 27.09 27.10 27.11 27.12 27.13 27.14 27.15 27.16 27.17 27.18 27.19 27.20 27.21 27.22 27.23 27.24 Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
28. ↑ 28.0 28.1 Template:HBP
29. ↑ Template:GOF The opening chapter, which takes place on 16 August 1994, states that the murders took place 'fifty years before, at daybreak on a fine summer's morning', making the year 1944. However, in Template:HBP it says it happened - 'in the summer of his [Tom's] sixteenth year...' Tom was born 31 Dec 1926 so his sixteenth year would be 1942, or the summer of him being sixteen would be 1943. However, before HBP was published, 1943 was suggested by fans, including the ***Harry Potter Lexicon***, as best fitting the evidence and adopted for use in the films.
30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 30.2 30.3 30.4 30.5 30.6 30.7 Template:DH
31. ↑ Template:POA - Hepzibah died ten years before Voldemort met with Dumbledore. Lupin's quote in the PoA tells us Dumbledore became Headmaster between 1965 and 1971, meaning Hepzibah died between 1955 and 1961
32. ↑ J.K. Rowling said in a 2003 interview the she was originally going to name them 'The Knights of Walpurgis'.
33. ↑ 33.0 33.1 33.2 33.3 33.4 33.5 33.6 Template:OOTP
34. ↑ Template:HM
35. ↑ 35.0 35.1 35.2 35.3 35.4 Template:GOF
36. ↑ 36.0 36.1 36.2 'Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. 'The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two,' The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005'.
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 'J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript. Retrieved on August 15, 2007.
38. ↑ Template:LEGO
39. ↑ Template:WW - The hardest wizarding world spells
40. ↑ Template:OOTP
41. ↑ Template:POA
42. ↑ Template:POA
43. ↑ Template:HM
44. ↑ Template:DH
45. ↑ 45.0 45.1 Enchanted with Potter Literature: Fans line up for hours to get their books signed
46. ↑ J.K. Rowling on Twitter - '...but I'm pretty sure...'
47. ↑ Template:Wikilink
48. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDBRHAErPrM
49. ↑ http://www.starwarsautographcollecting.com/Autographs/HarryPotter/TheoKypri.htm
50. ↑ Template:PS
51. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mC\_wGnuc9mo
52. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upNKopjJdQ8
53. ↑ https://www.empireonline.com/movies/news/exclusive-fantastic-beasts-images/
54. ↑ https://twitter.com/josephmorgan/status/224173287914221568
55. ↑ https://www.justjared.com/2015/01/19/joseph-morgan-talks-marriage-singing-in-the-shower-and-serial-exclusive-photos/
56. ↑ https://twitter.com/jk\_rowling/status/674196610683940864
57. ↑ 57.0 57.1 JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat, 4 March 2004
58. ↑ 30 July 2007 Bloomsbury webchat
59. ↑ http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2000/1000-scholastic-chat.htm
60. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YIbIBa5hS4
61. ↑ http://www.accio-quote.org/themes/weasleys.htm
62. ↑ J.K. Rowling on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU Radio Washington, D.C., 20 October 1999
63. ↑ 'JK Rowling talks about Book Four,' cBBC Newsround, 8 July 2000
64. ↑ Jensen, Jeff. ''Fire' Storm,' Entertainment Weekly, 7 September 2000
65. ↑ Time Magazine staff. 'Essay: A Conversation with J.K. Rowling; A Good Scare,' Time Magazine, 30 October 2000
66. ↑ An Evening with Harry, Carrie and Garp: Readings and questions #1, 1 August 2006
67. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eH7a04n-tE
68. ↑ http://www.accio-quote.org/articles/2007/0730-bloomsbury-chat.html
69. ↑ Template:COS
70. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3FP-nmkFL0&feature=relmfu
71. ↑ http://fandom.wikia.com/video/K5tj55Pn/voldemort-vs-grindlewald-fantastic-beasts-cast-reveals-who-s-worse
72. ↑ https://twitter.com/jk\_rowling/status/1258330103001550848
73. ↑ https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/putsch.htm
74. ↑ https://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/riseofhitler/collapse.htm