Tom Marvolo Riddle
| Born | 31st December 1926 |
| Blood Status | Half-blood |
| House | Slytherin |
| Wand | 13½", Yew, phoenix feather core |
| Affiliations | Death Eaters |
Tom Marvolo Riddle, later known as Lord Voldemort, was a half-blood Dark wizard. Widely considered one of the most powerful and dangerous wizards of all time, he was eventually defeated by Harry Potter on 2nd May 1998.
Orphaned an hour after birth, he grew up in Muggle London in Wool's Orphanage during the Second World War, and was terrified by the prospect of death and did everything he could to avoid it. He also became embroilled in the Dark Arts and blood supremacy, particularly after learning of his familial connection to Salazar Slytherin.
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Physical Appearance
In his youth, Tom Riddle was said to be an extremely handsome young man, tall with black hair and dark brown eyes. As he created more horcruxes, he became increasingly reptilian in appearance, and after his resurrection he was described as "monstrous" with bone white skin and red eyes. |
Magical Attributes
Wand: 13½", Yew, phoenix feather core Boggart: His own corpse Patronus: None Amortentia: Unknown |
He was born under the effect of a love potion given by his mother, Merope Gaunt, to his father, Tom Riddle Snr. His mother died shortly after his birth, and he grew up in Wool's Orphanage, London. He attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was a member of Slytherin House. He discovered that he was a descendant of the House of Gaunt, and by extension, Salazar Slytherin himself. From here, he adopted Pure-blood supremacism and fanaticism.
He opened the Chamber of Secrets while at school and used the Basilisk to attack Muggle-born students, which led to the death of Myrtle Warren. At this time, he was also a Prefect, and framed Rubeus Hagrid for the opening of the Chamber. While a student, he began his pursuit of immortality, and created his first horcrux at 16. After graduation, he was employed for a short period by Borgin and Burkes after being denied the Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor post at Hogwarts.
By the beginning of the First Wizarding War in 1970, Lord Voldemort had created five horcruxes: his diary and ring as a student, then Ravenclaw's Diadem in the summer after he graduated. This was followed by Slytherin's Locket and Hufflepuff's Cup, which he stole from Hepzibah Smith before murdering her.
Voldemort's recruitment began with the giants and werewolves, and his army caused significant devastation. The war escalated, as Bartemius Crouch Snr authorised Aurors to use Unforgivable Curses on suspected Death Eaters, and many Death Eaters and innocents alike were locked away in Azkaban without a trial.
After ten years of war, Sybill Trelawney delivered a prophecy to Albus Dumbledore during her job interview for Divination Professor. This was overheard by Severus Snape, who at this time was a Death Eater. The prophecy predicted the birth of a witch or wizard who could defeat Voldemort; at the time, there were two babies this could refer to: Neville Longbottom, or Harry Potter.
Both families went into hiding; Peter Pettigrew was the Secret Keeper for the Potter family, and betrayed them to Lord Voldemort, who arrived on 31st October 1981 and killed James and Lily Potter. When he tried to use the Killing Curse on Harry, it backfired, destroying Voldemort's body and attaching a shard of his own soul to Harry.
Now incorporeal, Voldemort sought a way to return to full strength. Latching onto Professor Quirinus Quirrell, he sought to steal the Philosopher's Stone from Gringotts, but was thwarted. The Stone was brought to Hogwarts and hidden behind many layers of defense. He set about attempting to steal the stone, the final layer of protections being an enchantment on the Mirror of Erised. He was defeated by Harry Potter arriving; when Quirrell touched Harry, his skin burned. Before Quirrell could cause any harm to Harry, Dumbledore arrived and Voldemort's soul shard fled, which killed Professor Quirrell.
After Voldemort's horcrux diary was placed in Ginny Weasley's cauldron by a vindictive Lucius Malfoy, a former Death Eater, who wanted to rid himself of the connection to the Dark Lord and to incriminate Arthur Weasley, who was conducting raids on potential Dark families. Voldemort's horcrux possessed Ginny Weasley, who released the Basilisk from the Chamber of Secrets. She was then drawn deep into the Chamber, with the horcrux having drained enough energy from Ginny to gain physical form. Harry fought the Basilisk with the Sword of Gryffindor, and the diary was pierced with a Basilisk fang, destroying the soul piece within.
In 1994, Voldemort learned that the Triwizard Tournament was returning, and recruited Bartemmius Crouch Jnr. to pose as Alastor Moody, the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. The tournament was rigged so Harry's name was entered, and during the final task, Harry Potter and Cedric Diggory reached the cup at the same time. However, the cup was a portkey which brought them to the Little Hangleton graveyard. Cedric was killed and Harry's blood used in a ritual to return Voldemort to his physical body once more.
Harry and Voldemort duelled, and when their spells collided, their twin-core wands locked into Priori Incantatem - neither could win. Harry managed to escape with Cedric's body, as the Triwizard Cup was a portkey set to return to Hogwarts.
In 1995, Voldemort relied on the Ministry's denial of his return and the Daily Prophet's ongoing smear campaign to protect his movements. He travelled to Azkaban and freed his most loyal Death Eaters, and recruited the Dementors. Voldemort wanted to steal the prophecy to have the chance to hear it in full, but was unable to - only people mentioned in the prophecy could extract it, and he couldn't risk going into the Ministry. Instead, he manipulated Harry through their mental link to get him to go, thinking Sirius Black was in danger.
Thus ensued the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, where Harry and members of Dumbledore's Army battled the Death Eaters. The prophecy was destroyed in the skirmish, but both Voldemort and Dumbledore arrived and duelled. Voldemort was forced to retreat, but not before Ministry officials arrived and saw he had indeed returned.
With open war declared, attacks on Muggles and political threats increased massively, including the murder of Amelia Bones, the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. At the same time, Draco Malfoy was tasked with repairing the Vanishing Cabinet at Hogwarts School, which connected to one at Borgin and Burkes. He was also tasked with killing Albus Dumbledore; when the Vanishing Cabinet was repaired, and Death Eaters infiltrated the school, Severus Snape killed Dumbledore in his stead during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower.
The Ministry of Magic fell after the murder of Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour, and Death Eaters set out to capture Harry Potter and his allies. A Taboo on Voldemort's name allowed the Death Eaters to find anyone who said his name. When he discovered, on 1st May 1998, that his horcruxes were being hunted and destroyed, he flew into a fit of rage.
He travelled to Hogwarts School himself, and the Battle of Hogwarts began. Voldemort was not directly involved in the early part of the battle; he had the Elder Wand, stolen from Dumbledore's grave, but knew he had failed to master it. Since Severus Snape was the one to kill Dumbledore, he believed killing Snape would make him the Master of the Elder Wand. Once Snape was dead, he instructed Harry Potter to willingly turn himself over to prevent further deaths. Harry did, and was hit by Voldemort's Killing Curse once again.
Due to Harry being a horcrux, he was able to survive once again. Narcissa Malfoy, in exchange for the knowledge that Draco was alive, lied and said he was dead. Voldemort returned to the school with Harry's body to declare his victory.
With the last horcrux, Nagini, killed by Neville Longbottom with the Sword of Gryffindor, Voldemort had no horcruxes left to keep him alive. Voldemort's army forced its way into the castle during the second round of fighting. After Molly Weasley killed Bellatrix Lestrange, Voldemort turned on her, and Harry revealed himself to be alive by casting a Shielf Charm to protect Molly.
Harry was able to goad Voldemort into duelling him. Voldemort cast the Killing Curse, while Harry used the Disarming Charm. The Elder Wand was not loyal to Voldemort, though - it was loyal to Harry: Dumbledore was the original owner, and he was disarmed by Draco, but not killed by him. Harry then disarmed Draco, and became, by technicality, the Elder Wand's master. The Elder Wand refused to kill its master, and the spell rebounded, killing Voldemort for good.