Morfin Gaunt

Morfin Gaunt was a pure-blood wizard, the son of Marvolo Gaunt, brother of Merope Gaunt, and the maternal uncle of Tom Riddle, who would later become Lord Voldemort. As a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, Morfin was a Parselmouth. He was a violent, unstable man who harboured a deep-seated hatred for Muggles. His life was marked by two imprisonments in Azkaban, the second of which was for the murders of the Riddle family, a crime for which his nephew framed him. Morfin's memory of this event proved crucial for Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter in their quest to understand and destroy Voldemort's Horcruxes.

Morfin lived his entire life in a dilapidated Gaunt shack on a wooded hillside overlooking the village of Little Hangleton. He lived in squalor with his father, Marvolo Gaunt, and his sister, Merope Gaunt. Both Morfin and his father were cruel to Merope, particularly mocking her infatuation with a handsome local Muggle, Tom Riddle Sr.. Morfin often communicated with his father in Parseltongue. Around 1925, Morfin was visited by Bob Ogden, an official from the Ministry of Magic's Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ogden was there to summon Morfin to a hearing for attacking Tom Riddle Sr.. Morfin reacted violently, attacking Ogden before being subdued by his father. When Marvolo also attacked Ministry officials who arrived as backup, both he and Morfin were sentenced to Azkaban; Morfin received a three-year sentence for his assault on a Muggle and his resistance to arrest. After serving his sentence, Morfin returned to the Gaunt shack to live alone, his father having died in Azkaban and his sister having run away and later died in London. Around 1943, a teenage Tom Riddle sought out his maternal family and found Morfin. Speaking in Parseltongue, Riddle learned the story of his parentage. Enraged by the tale of his father abandoning his mother, Riddle proceeded to the Riddle House, where he used Morfin's wand to murder his father, grandfather, and grandmother. He then returned to the shack, modified Morfin's memory to make him believe he had committed the murders himself, and stole Marvolo Gaunt's Ring. Morfin, whose hatred for the local Muggles was well-known, proudly confessed to the killings, providing a detailed account that matched the fabricated memory. He was convicted without question and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. Years later, Albus Dumbledore, who suspected the truth, visited Morfin in prison. Dumbledore successfully extracted the true memory of Tom Riddle's visit before Morfin died. Though Dumbledore presented this evidence to the Ministry of Magic, Morfin passed away before his name could be cleared.

Morfin was described as having small, dark eyes that were set too close together and hair that was matted with filth. Like his father, years of inbreeding in the Gaunt family likely contributed to his unpleasant features and mental instability. His personality was marked by extreme aggression, cruelty, and instability. He was fiercely proud of his pure-blood heritage and his lineage from Salazar Slytherin, frequently boasting about it in Parseltongue. He was deeply prejudiced against Muggles and anyone he deemed inferior, including his own sister, Merope Gaunt. He showed no remorse for his violent actions and seemed to exist in a state of barely controlled rage.

• Parseltongue: As a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, Morfin was a fluent Parselmouth. He used this ability to speak with snakes and to communicate with his father, often to the exclusion of others.
• Dark Arts and Hexes: Morfin was capable of performing non-verbal hexes, as demonstrated when he caused Tom Riddle Sr. to break out in hives. His magical ability seemed to be rudimentary and focused on causing harm. He was, however, easily overpowered by his much more skilled nephew, who stunned him and used a powerful Memory Charm on him.

• Wand: Morfin owned a wand of unknown wood and core material. Tom Riddle stole this wand to murder the Riddle family, thereby framing Morfin for the crime.
• Marvolo Gaunt's Ring: After his father's imprisonment, Morfin wore the family ring, a heavy gold ring set with a black stone bearing the Peverell coat of arms. Tom Riddle stole the ring from him during their only meeting, later turning it into his second Horcrux.

• Marvolo Gaunt (Father): Morfin shared his father's violent temperament and fanatical pure-blood ideology. While Marvolo was dominant and abusive, he also showed pride in Morfin's aggression towards Muggles.
• Merope Gaunt (Sister): Morfin was exceptionally cruel to his sister. He mocked her for her weak magical abilities and her love for a Muggle, taunting her in Parseltongue and physically threatening her.
• Tom Riddle (Nephew): Morfin met his nephew only once. In this encounter, he unwittingly provided Riddle with the history of his parentage before being stunned, framed for triple murder, and having his memory altered. He was a critical but tragic pawn in Lord Voldemort's origin story.

• The name Morfin may be a variant of “Morfran,” a figure from Welsh mythology who was said to be hideously ugly. It could also allude to “Mors,” the Latin word for death, or “morphine,” a drug that alters one's mental state, reflecting his altered memory and unstable mind.
• The surname Gaunt means “lean and haggard, especially because of suffering, hunger, or age,” which accurately describes the impoverished and emaciated state of the family when they are first introduced.

In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Morfin Gaunt appears in a Pensieve memory. The film condenses the narrative; Bob Ogden's visit is omitted, and the memory shown is of Tom Riddle's visit to the Gaunt shack. Morfin is depicted as squalid and aggressive, speaking Parseltongue to Riddle before being magically subdued. The film directly shows Riddle using magic to alter Morfin's memory. (film)