Tom Marvolo Riddle is the birth name of Lord Voldemort, the primary antagonist of the *Harry Potter* series. As the heir of Salazar Slytherin and the leader of the Death Eaters, he is considered the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizard of all time. His life's ambitions were to conquer death, achieve immortality, and purify the wizarding race by eliminating Muggle-borns. His destiny is inextricably linked with that of Harry Potter through a prophecy that foretold his downfall, leading to a lifelong conflict between them.
Tom Marvolo Riddle was born on 31 December 1926 at Wool's Orphanage in London. His mother, Merope Gaunt, a pure-blood witch and direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, died an hour after giving birth. She had used a Love Potion to bewitch a wealthy Muggle, Tom Riddle, Sr., who abandoned her upon being released from the enchantment. Riddle grew up in the bleak orphanage, unaware of his magical heritage but conscious of his unusual abilities, which he used to control and torment the other children. In 1938, Albus Dumbledore visited the eleven-year-old Riddle, informing him of his magical nature and offering him a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. During this meeting, Riddle displayed his arrogance, cruelty, and a penchant for collecting “trophies” from his victims.
At Hogwarts, Riddle was sorted into Slytherin House. Outwardly, he was a model student: charming, brilliant, and a talented wizard who became a Prefect and later Head Boy. Secretly, he was exploring his dark lineage, discovering he was the Heir of Slytherin and a Parselmouth. He gathered a group of acolytes who would become the first Death Eaters. In his fifth year, Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets, unleashing the Basilisk within. The creature petrified several students and killed one, Myrtle. To prevent the school from closing, Riddle framed Rubeus Hagrid and his pet Acromantula, Aragog, for the attacks, leading to Hagrid's expulsion. During this time, he learned about Horcruxes from Professor Slughorn and, using Myrtle's murder, created his first Horcrux: his diary.
After graduating from Hogwarts, Riddle briefly worked at the dark magic shop Borgin and Burkes. He used his position to locate two of Slytherin's and Hufflepuff's heirlooms, murdering Hepzibah Smith to acquire Salazar Slytherin's Locket and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup and turning them into Horcruxes. He also murdered his Muggle father and grandparents, framing his maternal uncle, Morfin Gaunt, for the crime. Riddle then vanished for a decade, immersing himself in the Dark Arts, creating more Horcruxes, and altering his physical appearance so drastically that he became unrecognizable. He re-emerged publicly as Lord Voldemort and began the First Wizarding War. He later applied for the Defence Against the Dark Arts teaching post at Hogwarts but was refused by Albus Dumbledore. In retaliation, Voldemort jinxed the position, ensuring no professor could hold it for more than a year.
In 1980, Voldemort learned of a prophecy that foretold the birth of a child with the power to vanquish him. He identified the infant Harry Potter as his target. On Halloween night, 1981, he went to Godric's Hollow and murdered James Potter and Lily Potter. However, when he cast the Killing Curse on Harry, Lily's loving sacrifice created a powerful magical protection that caused the curse to rebound. The curse destroyed Voldemort's body, ripping his soul from it and making Harry an unintentional Horcrux. Reduced to a spectral form, Voldemort fled and spent the next decade in hiding, primarily in the forests of Albania, possessing animals to survive. In 1991, he latched onto a susceptible wizard, Professor Quirrell, and attempted to steal the Philosopher's Stone to regain a body but was thwarted by Harry Potter.
The memory of Tom Riddle's sixteen-year-old self, preserved in his diary, nearly succeeded in returning in 1993 by manipulating Ginny Weasley, but Harry destroyed the diary. Voldemort was eventually restored to a rudimentary physical form by Peter Pettigrew. On 24 June 1995, in the Little Hangleton graveyard, he used an ancient dark ritual involving his father's bone, his servant's flesh, and his enemy's blood to create a new, full body. Thus began the Second Wizarding War. Voldemort's return was initially suppressed by a campaign of disinformation from the Ministry of Magic. He eventually took over the Ministry, installed a puppet government, and continued his hunt for Harry. Believing it would make him invincible, he sought and seized the Elder Wand from Dumbledore's tomb. His downfall came during the Battle of Hogwarts on 2 May 1998. As his Horcruxes were systematically destroyed, he faced Harry for the last time. Because Harry was the true master of the Elder Wand, Voldemort's own Killing Curse rebounded upon him once more, killing him for good.
As a young man, Tom Riddle was described as tall and exceptionally handsome, with jet black hair, dark eyes, and pale skin. His charisma easily charmed his teachers and peers. After his rebirth as Lord Voldemort, his appearance became monstrously inhuman and serpentine. He was skeletally thin, with chalk-white skin, a face whiter than a skull, glowing red eyes with cat-like vertical slits for pupils, and a flat nose with slit-like nostrils. Riddle's personality was defined by his extreme narcissism, sadism, and a complete lack of empathy or capacity for love. He was obsessed with power, terrified of death (which he viewed as a shameful human weakness), and fanatically dedicated to achieving immortality. While exceptionally intelligent and cunning, he was also prone to fits of violent rage, often murdering his own Death Eaters for failure. His arrogance was his greatest flaw, as he consistently underestimated the power of love, loyalty, and self-sacrifice.
Tom Riddle was a wizard of prodigious talent and power, considered by many to be second only to Albus Dumbledore.