Tom Marvolo Riddle

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.

• Dark Arts: An unparalleled master of the Dark Arts, he was known to have invented many dark spells and curses.
• Duelling: A supremely skilled duellist, capable of fighting multiple opponents at once and holding his own against Dumbledore.
• Parseltongue: As the heir of Salazar Slytherin, he was a fluent Parselmouth, an ability he used to control the Basilisk.
• Horcrux Creation: He is the only wizard known to have successfully created multiple Horcruxes, splitting his soul into seven parts to anchor himself to life.
• Legilimency and Occlumency: A highly accomplished Legilimens, able to penetrate minds with ease. His Occlumency skills were also formidable, though Harry Potter and Severus Snape were able to deceive him.
• Unsupported Flight: He mastered the ability to fly without the aid of a broomstick or any other magical support, a feat of magic so advanced that few wizards had ever achieved it.
• Wand: His original wand was thirteen-and-a-half inches, yew, with a phoenix feather core. The feather was from Fawkes, the same phoenix that provided the feather for Harry Potter's wand. He later possessed the Elder Wand.

• Tom Riddle's Diary: His first Horcrux, used to reopen the Chamber of Secrets.
• Marvolo Gaunt's Ring: A family heirloom and his second Horcrux, which also contained the Resurrection Stone.
• Salazar Slytherin's Locket: His third Horcrux, stolen from Hepzibah Smith.
• Helga Hufflepuff's Cup: His fourth Horcrux, also stolen from Hepzibah Smith.
• Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem: His fifth Horcrux, hidden within the Room of Requirement.
• Nagini: His giant pet snake, who became his final intentional Horcrux.
• Harry Potter: Unintentionally made into a Horcrux on the night his parents were murdered.

• Family: Riddle despised his heritage, murdering his Muggle father, Tom Riddle, Sr., and his paternal grandparents. He held his mother, Merope Gaunt, in contempt for succumbing to death and weakness. He framed his uncle, Morfin Gaunt, for the Riddle family murders.
• Harry Potter: His prophesied nemesis. Voldemort's attempt to kill Harry forged a deep magical connection between them, linking them via their wand cores, a mental connection, and the piece of Voldemort's soul lodged in Harry.
• Albus Dumbledore: The only wizard Voldemort ever truly feared. Dumbledore was his teacher, his most powerful adversary, and the leader of the Order of the Phoenix.
• Death Eaters: His loyal followers, whom he commanded through fear rather than affection. His most devoted follower was Bellatrix Lestrange. He never truly trusted any of them, viewing them as disposable servants.
• Severus Snape: A highly valued Death Eater whom Voldemort believed to be his most loyal servant. However, he fundamentally misunderstood Snape's true allegiance to Dumbledore and his love for Lily Potter, a miscalculation that contributed significantly to his ultimate defeat.

• Tom: A common English name he loathed for its “Muggle” simplicity and its connection to his father.
• Marvolo: His middle name came from his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, connecting him to his magical, pure-blood Slytherin lineage.
• Riddle: The surname itself means a puzzle or mystery, reflecting his enigmatic past which Dumbledore and Harry had to unravel.
• Lord Voldemort: The name he created for himself is an anagram of his full birth name (“Tom Marvolo Riddle” = “I am Lord Voldemort”). The name is derived from French, where vol de mort means “flight of death” or “theft of death,” perfectly encapsulating his greatest fear and ambition.

• J.K. Rowling has stated that the 't' at the end of “Voldemort” is silent, as in the French pronunciation (J.K. Rowling interview). However, the film adaptations consistently pronounce the final 't'.
• In the films, the young Tom Riddle is portrayed by Christian Coulson (*Chamber of Secrets*), Hero Fiennes Tiffin (child in *Half-Blood Prince*), and Frank Dillane (teenager in *Half-Blood Prince*). The reborn Lord Voldemort is portrayed by Ralph Fiennes.
• The final duel in the film adaptation of *Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2* is a prolonged, airborne battle across the Hogwarts grounds. In the novel, the confrontation is a tense standoff in the Great Hall surrounded by onlookers, and Voldemort's body falls to the ground upon death, rather than disintegrating into ash (film).
• Voldemort's film appearance, particularly his flat, slit-nostrilled nose, is a more extreme visual interpretation of the serpentine features described in the books.