Tom 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

## Biographical information

### Born

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

### Died

2 May 1998
Great Hall, Hogwarts Castle, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain

### Also known as

* Lord Voldemort (self-proclaimed title and chosen name)
* You-Know-Who (by the wizarding community)
* He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (by the wizarding community)
* Heir of Slytherin
* The Dark Lord
* Chief Death Eater (by Lee Jordan)

### Title(s)

* Prefect
* Head Boy
* Heir of Slytherin
* Dark Lord
* Master

## Physical information

### Hair colour

* Black (originally)
* Bald

### Eye colour

* Dark brown (originally)
* Scarlet

### Skin colour

* Pale (originally)
* White

## Relationship information

### Family members

* Tom Riddle Snr (father) †
* Merope Riddle (née Gaunt) (mother) †
* Delphini (daughter)
* Thomas Riddle (paternal grandfather) †
* Mary Riddle (paternal grandmother) †
* Marvolo Gaunt (maternal grandfather) †
* Morfin Gaunt (maternal uncle) †
* Salazar Slytherin (maternal ancestor) †
* Cadmus Peverell (maternal ancestor) †
* Riddle family (paternal relatives)
* House of Gaunt (maternal relatives)

## Magical characteristics

### Wand

* 13½", Yew, phoenix feather core
* Elm, dragon heartstring (temporary)
* Elder, 15", Thestral tail hair core (temporary, never mastered; mastered in an alternate timeline created by Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Potter)

## Affiliation

### Occupation

* Shop assistant at Borgin and Burkes (formerly)

### Loyalty

* House of Gaunt (formerly)
* Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry (formerly)
	+ Slytherin
	+ Slug Club
* Borgin and Burkes
* Death Eaters
* British Ministry of Magic (only under his control)

**Tom Marvolo Riddle** (31 December 1926 – 2 May 1998), later known as **Lord Voldemort** or, alternatively as **You-Know-Who**, the **Dark Lord**, 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. He was amongst the greatest wizards to have ever lived, often considered more powerful or equal to Albus Dumbledore. The only child and son of Tom and Merope Riddle (née Gaunt), Tom was raised in the Muggle-run Wool's Orphanage after his father abandoned his new family on the streets of London when the influence of her magic was lifted, and his mother died moments after giving birth to and naming him after his father and maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt.

Tom began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1938 and was sorted into Slytherin house. Some of his early activities included the opening of Salazar Slytherin's Chamber of Secrets and the use of its monster, the Basilisk, to attack Muggle-born students, which resulted in Myrtle Warren's death, several months' service as a purchasing agent for the Dark artefacts shop Borgin and Burkes, use of the ability to speak Parseltongue, and the attainment of immortality between the years of 1943 and 1998, a process begun upon the creation of his first Horcrux at the age of sixteen. He 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, one unintentionally and without his knowledge — Harry Potter. Abandoning his 'Muggle' name, he became the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort, which was an anagram of his birth name. He commanded a veritable army of wizards and Dark creatures, committed countless murders and atrocities personally and through his followers, and on one occasion nearly succeeded and on a later occasion did succeed in taking over the Ministry of Magic, installing a puppet Minister, Pius Thicknesse, who was controlled with the Imperius Curse.

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*', but alive. He was finally killed by his own backfiring curse after Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter, following Dumbledore's death, 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; 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.