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Died. 2 May 1998. Lord Voldemort (/ ˈvoʊldəmɔːr / VOHL-də-mor, /- mɔːrt / -mort in the films) [j] is a fictional character and the main antagonist in the Harry Potter series of novels by J. K. Rowling. He first appears in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (1997) and returns either in person or in flashbacks in each novel in ...
- Overview
- Biography
- Physical description
- Personality and traits
- Magical abilities and skills
- Name
- Relationships
- Etymology
"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
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. He was amongst the greatest wizards to have ever lived, rivalled only by Albus Dumbledore. Descended from Salazar Slytherin on his mother's side through the House of Gaunt, Tom Riddle was conceived whilst his father, Tom Riddle Senior, was under the effects of a love potion supplied by his mother, Merope Gaunt. When the enchantment was lifted, Tom's father abandoned his pregnant wife and returned to Little Hangleton. His mother gave birth to him, before dying an hour after she has given birth. Her only wishes were that he'd look like his father, and that he was named Tom after his father, his middle name Marvolo after her father, and that Riddle would be his last name. And with that, Tom Marvolo Riddle was born and raised in the Muggle-run Wool's Orphanage.
Tom began attending Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1938 and was immediately sorted into Slytherin house. During this time, Tom discovered his heritage and adopted pure-blood supremacist ideals. Tom opened the Chamber of Secrets and used its monster, the Basilisk, to attack Muggle-born students, resulting in the death of Myrtle Warren. 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.
Tom spent several months as a purchasing agent for the Dark artefacts shop Borgin and Burkes before disappearing. 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. Tom re-emerged several decades later having abandoned his 'Muggle' name and becoming the self-proclaimed Lord Voldemort, 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 British Ministry of Magic.
Voldemort was ripped from his body in 1981 after attempting to kill Harry Potter. Although unable to die, he was unable 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 backfired Killing Curse after Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore succeeded in destroying all of his Horcruxes.
Early life (1926–1938)
Mrs Cole: "He scares the other children." Albus Dumbledore: "You mean he is a bully?" Mrs Cole: "I think he must be, but it's very hard to catch him at it. There have been incidents... Nasty things... Billy Stubbs's rabbit... well, Tom said he didn't do it and I don't see how he could have done, but even so, it didn't hang itself from the rafters, did it?" — Mrs Cole informing Albus Dumbledore of Tom Riddle's life at Wool's Orphanage 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.
Hogwarts years (1938–1945)
Tom Riddle: "Sir, I wondered what you know about…about Horcruxes?" Horace Slughorn: "Project for Defence Against the Dark Arts, is it?" Tom Riddle: "Not exactly, sir, I came across the term while reading and I didn't fully understand it." — Tom Riddle inquiring about Horcruxes 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. 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. 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
After Hogwarts (1945–1949)
Albus Dumbledore: "Rumours of your doings have reached your old school, Tom. I should be sorry to believe half of them." Riddle: "Greatness inspires envy, envy engenders spite, spite spawns lies. You must know this, Dumbledore." — A business intercourse between a headmaster and his old student 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 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
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.
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.
"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
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.
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.
"Did I know that I had just met the most dangerous Dark wizard of all time?"
— Albus Dumbledore on Lord Voldemort
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 as 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
•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 than 55 years old, whereas Dumbledore was more than twice that age at 115 years old, two months before his 116th birthday.
: "They do not call me 'Tom' any more. These days, I am known as—"
Albus Dumbledore: "I know what you are known as. But to me, I'm afraid, you will always be Tom Riddle. It is one of the irritating things about old teachers. I am afraid that they never quite forget their charges' youthful beginnings."
— Albus Dumbledore talking to Voldemort when Voldemort returned to ask for a job at Hogwarts
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.
Family 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 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.
Albus Dumbledore
"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" — Voldemort expressing his anger towards Dumbledore 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. Voldemort: "But nothing I have seen in the world has supported your famous pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, Dumbledore." Albus Dumbledore: "Perhaps you have been looking in the wrong places...," Voldemort: "Well, then, what better place to start my fresh researches than here, at Hogwarts? Will you let me return? Will you let me share my knowledge with your students?" — Voldemort to Albus Dumbledore requesting for the Defence Against the Dark Arts post 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.
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 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 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 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. Voldemort: "Potter doesn't mean that. Who else are you going to use as a shield today, Potter?" Harry Potter: "No one. There are no more Horcruxes. It's just you and me. One of us is going to leave for good." — The final confrontation between Voldemort and Harry at the Battle of Hogwarts 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.
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 diminutive 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.
A few things to consider: Voldemort may have been defeated, but he still had a following of loyal Death Eaters, including a number of witches and wizards that were almost as evil and powerful as he was (that's paraphrased from one of the later books, though I can't recall exactly which, and don't have the books on hand to even begin searching for an exact quote).
Note that this category includes those who do not speak understandably, or at all, as a Running Gag. But it does not include characters who have a legitimate reason not to speak (e.g., most babies, people in comas, mute). This character may be a Silent Partner. Compare with He Who Must Not Be Seen. Has nothing to do with He Who Must Not Be Named.
Mar 28, 2022 · J.K. Rowling has often taken inspiration from the French language to come up with Harry Potter character names. Voldemort is one of those characters. When pieced apart, “ vol ” means “ flight,” “ de ” means “ of ” or “ from,” and “ mort ” means " death." So all together, his name means either “ flight of death ” or ...
Hermione also reads a lot and has probably come across references to He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named in texts. He's actively scary to her (understandably so). Being scared of his name isn't especially rational (until DH) but she's still young. There are really far fewer opportunities for her to have heard the word mudblood before CoS.
HARRY POTTER SPEAKS OUT AT LAST: THE TRUTH ABOUT HE-WHO-MUST-NOT-BE-NAMED AND THE NIGHT I SAW HIM RETURN was an article regarding an interview granted to Rita Skeeter from Harry Potter on 14 February 1996 during a Hogsmeade weekend. The main topic of the interview was the story that Harry had to tell the world about the return of Lord Voldemort.[1] After the return of Lord Voldemort in 1995 ...
