Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written by British author J. K. Rowling. Voldemort made his debut appearence in the first novel of the series, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" which was released in 1997. Voldemort appeared in all the following installments of the series, with the exception of the third installment "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban". Lord Voldemort has also appeared in all the corresponding film adaptations as of present date.

Voldemort's primary enemy in the series is the main protagonist named Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy, is Voldemort's equal. Even though Voldemort had fallen twice in the series, the wizarding community still feared him so much that they refused to refer to him by the name Lord Voldemort. Most of the wizarding community instead refer to him only as "You-Know-Who" or "He Who Must Not Be Named." Even his followers (called Death Eaters) fear him so much that they refer to him simply as "The Dark Lord". In the seventh and final installment, he is called the "Chief Death Eater" by presenters of a radio show called "Potterwatch". Also in that installment, a magical taboo is placed on his name that causes its utterance to be immediately detectable by Death Eaters and Snatchers, as those unafraid to speak his name are typically Voldemort's greatest enemies.

Several people have portrayed Voldemort in the films, but the most referenced actor is British actor Ralph Fiennes, who has portrayed him in the film adaptations of the fourth and fifth novels.

In a 2006 BigBadRead poll, British students voted Lord Voldemort their favourite literary villain of all time.

Biography

Background

Most details of Lord Voldemort's origin story are revealed in several chapters of the second book Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (1998), which shed light on his teenage years as Tom Marvolo Riddle, and of the sixth book Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2005), which fleshed out his birth, childhood and his transformation from the charming, gifted Tom Marvolo Riddle into the bloodthirsty Dark Lord Voldemort. Rowling frequently uses long conversations between Harry Potter and either Albus Dumbledore or Voldemort himself as exposition to establish his biography.

Birth and adolescence

Born Tom Marvolo Riddle on December 31st, 1926, Lord Voldemort was the son of the Muggle (non-magical) Tom Riddle Sr and the witch Merope Gaunt. Through his mother, he is the last descendant of the powerful wizard Salazar Slytherin. Through his father, he is a descendant of the Riddles of Little Hangleton, a Muggle family. His mother, Merope, had used a love potion means to persuade the elder Riddle to marry her. Later on when Merope stopped feeding the potion to Riddle, she and her unborn child were abandoned by Riddle.

One New Year's Eve night, Merope wandered into an orphanage in London when she suspected she was about to enter labour. After giving birth, Merope asked the matron to name her son Tom, after his father, and Marvolo, after his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, and died within the hour.

Riddle was raised at the orphanage. From an early age, he showed great magical abilities — primarily psychokinesis — and extraordinary insensitivity. At school, he was very gifted and showed a great thirst for knowledge, and he was previously known as a bully who tortured other children in his orphanage largely for fun.

It was Dumbledore's duty to visit Riddle when he reached the age of 11 and invite him to study at Hogwarts. By that time he already showed great potential as a magic-user; he could move things with his mind, make animals do his bidding, speak with snakes, cause people pain, and, in his own words, "make bad things happen to people who annoy[ed him]." However, he also displayed cruelty, a disregard for others, a need for absolute and total control and a lack of moral judgment.

In his first meeting with Dumbledore, Riddle was seen to be a sharply intelligent and calculating boy with a cold, smoothly expressionless face intended to prevent others guessing what he was thinking. He was sure that he was born to be different, and detested his name "Tom," which he deemed to be too common. He also demonstrated a hunger for power when Dumbledore proved that magic was real to him, by setting his wardrobe on fire and then extinguishing the flames, without any harm done.

His magic wand was made of yew, a wood associated with death and rebirth, which has innate destructive workings and is well suited for use in transfiguration. It is 13½ inches long and has the feather of a phoenix at its core. The wand's maker, Mr Ollivander, got this feather from Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes. Fawkes gave just one other feather to be used in a wand, and coincidentally this wand "chose" to belong to Harry Potter.

Riddle attended Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945 and was sorted into Slytherin house. He was an extremely handsome and gifted student, and became a staff favourite. He was made a Prefect and eventually the Head Boy. He was described by Albus Dumbledore as "the most marvelous student ever to pass through Hogwarts". However, Dumbledore never forgot the enjoyment in cruelty that Riddle had confessed to him on their first meeting, and never fully trusted him. During holidays he was obliged to return to the orphanage, which he hated. He quickly gathered a group of followers, particularly fellow Slytherin students, whom he referred to as "friends", but for whom he is said to have felt little or no compassion. Many of these people, and later on, their sons, were to become what he termed Death Eaters; he is shown to have at least a two generation influence over the Avery and Lestrange families. Riddle and his friends started their trouble-making while at Hogwarts; Dumbledore states that during the time they were at school, a series of incidents occurred to which the answers were never satisfactorily linked. It was around this time that Riddle began using the name "Lord Voldemort" among his followers; "I am Lord Voldemort" is an anagram of his full name, Tom Marvolo Riddle (see Anagram).

In 1942, the summer before his fifth year at Hogwarts (or, as Dumbledore phrased it, in the summer of his sixteenth year), Riddle returned to Little Hangleton, hoping to meet his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, and confirm that he was a descendant of the Gaunts, and, through them, Slytherin. Instead, he met his uncle Morfin, learning of his grandfather's death and his father's non-magical nature. He stole an heirloom ring from Morfin, and, upon learning that his father was still alive and had abandoned his mother, murdered him as well as his father's Muggle parents. He framed Morfin for the murders by modifying his memory so that Morfin believed he was the murderer. Morfin confessed this to the Ministry of Magic, and was eventually found responsible by trial. Frank Bryce, the Riddles' gardener, fell under suspicion from the muggle police, as the door to the Riddle House had not been forced and Bryce was the only person with keys to the house. The cause of death could not be determined, however, due to the fact that the Killing Curse leaves the victim lifeless with no signs of any struggle, wound, or medical problem, and Bryce was released, though he was regarded with suspicion by the other villagers until his death in 1994 at the hand of Voldemort. In this way, two men were blamed for the Riddle murders and Riddle kept the Gaunts' ring and returned to Hogwarts for his fifth year.

During Riddle's fifth year at Hogwarts, in 1942–1943, he opened the Chamber of Secrets, created by his ancestor Salazar Slytherin, which led to the death of a muggle-born student named Myrtle. Only Dumbledore ever suspected him,Template:HP2 as Riddle had exercised his considerable charm over most of the other staff, including Potions Master Horace Slughorn.Template:HP6 Instead, he used Rubeus Hagrid's possession of an acromantula to frame him for the crime, and got the boy expelled.

In his fifth to seventh years at Hogwarts he became even more obsessed with immortality. Some time in either his fifth year, or the first term of his sixth year, Riddle questioned Slughorn about Horcruxes. Riddle successfully fooled the professor into thinking that it was only for school work or for "further knowledge", and Slughorn explained why and how Horcruxes were created.

Pursuit and creation of horcruxes

File:Riddle's Diary.jpg

Tom Riddle's diary, a Horcrux.

Following his graduation, Riddle applies to headmaster Armando Dippet for the teaching post of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Dippet turns Riddle down, but invites him to reapply in several years. Riddle subsequently seeks employment at Borgin and Burkes, a shop renowned for its inventory of Dark Arts relics, even though his teachers thought that he could have done much better. Shortly before disappearing from this post, Riddle murders an old woman by the name of Hepzibah Smith, in order to disguise the theft of two priceless wizarding relics from her: a locket belonging to Salazar Slytherin and a cup once belonging to Helga Hufflepuff. As with his murder of his Muggle family, Riddle modifies the memory of a nearby innocent to make them take credit for the death — in this case, Hepzibah's decrepit house elf Hokey.

Riddle then mysteriously disappears and immerses himself totally in the Dark Arts. Decades later, he re-emerges as the horrifyingly mutated Lord Voldemort, having literally split his soul into seven pieces, before securing six of these pieces inside items called Horcruxes, in order to make him immortal. His school diary is one of them, along with Marvolo Gaunt's ring, Salazar Slytherin's locket, Helga Hufflepuff's cup, the snake Nagini and Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. He returns to Hogwarts and once again asks to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. He is turned down again, this time by Albus Dumbledore (who had become Headmaster in the interim). Dumbledore suspects that Voldemort wants to return to Hogwarts to establish his power over a new generation of students, as he had done during his own school years, and to search for more relics of the Hogwarts founders.

First war

In the year 1970, Voldemort begins to terrorise the entire Wizarding World, obsessed with purifying the wizard race and removing "Muggle-born" wizards. He finally turns on every wizard who tries to oppose him, using murder, torture and intimidation. He finds a small group of like-minded wizards, whom he calls the Death Eaters, to do his bidding. He forces multiple Ministry of Magic personnel under the Imperius Curse, in order to infiltrate the Wizarding governing body. Panic and fear spreads throughout the entire Wizarding community, and Dumbledore forms the Order of the Phoenix to combat this new threat. The Order is composed of some of the greatest aurors in Great Britain. They work tirelessly against Voldemort, whose followers in return capture, torture, and kill many of them.

Up to 1980, seemingly unstoppable against the forces of the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort nearly achieves total domination of the Wizarding community, before making a mistake that causes him to lose it all.

First downfall

One night, in the Hog's Head in Hogsmeade, Dumbledore interviews Sybill Trelawney for the post of Divination teacher at Hogwarts. At first, Dumbledore is unimpressed, until Trelawney makes a genuine prophecy concerning Voldemort:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies...

Young Death Eater Severus Snape overhears the first part of the prophecy, but does not hear from "'and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal'", onwards. When Dumbledore discovers Snape, the latter flees with flawed knowledge of Voldemort's fate.

After Snape informs Voldemort of the prophecy, Voldemort realises that the prophecy must refer to either Neville Longbottom or Harry Potter, as they are "both born at the end of July that year, both of whom had parents in the Order of the Phoenix, both sets of parents having narrowly escaped Lord Voldemort three times." Voldemort decides that the prophecy is about Harry, a half-blood wizard, rather than Neville, the pure-blood, perhaps seeing some of himself in Harry. Upon hearing that Voldemort intends to kill the Potters, Snape regrets having told Voldemort the prophecy, as Snape has been in love with Lily Evans (now Lily Potter) since they were childhood neighbours. Snape flees to Dumbledore to inform him of Voldemort's plans, and Dumbledore acts immediately, telling the Potters to cast a Fidelius Charm to protect the location of their home from Voldemort. James Potter first intends to choose Sirius Black as his Secret Keeper, but Sirius persuades James to switch to Peter Pettigrew at the last minute, saying Voldemort is less likely to come after Pettigrew. Unbeknownst to James, Pettigrew has joined Voldemort's army of Death Eaters, and so delivers the secret location of the Potter house right to the Dark Lord himself.

Voldemort goes to Godric's Hollow to destroy the boy who he believes would be his downfall: Harry Potter. He promptly murders James Potter, but then makes a crucial mistake; he challenges Harry's mother, Lily, to step aside, but she does not, giving Harry the ultimate protection of love. Voldemort had not intended to murder Lily, but after she refuses his offer to stand aside, he kills her. He then turns his wand on Harry and performs the Killing Curse, but due to the protection, the spell rebounds upon him, instantly destroying his body and a portion of the house. The backfired spell leaves him alive, but in a form "less than the meanest ghost", his Horcruxes having prevented his total death. Unknown to even Voldemort himself, and only correctly hypothesised by Dumbledore, Voldemort's soul is so unstable that a piece of it clings to the last living being in the structure, Harry Potter. This inadvertantly makes Harry Voldemort's seventh Horcrux and grants him some of Voldemort's powers, such as the ability to converse with snakes.

His body and power destroyed, Voldemort can only possess the bodies of animals, especially snakes, but his possession drastically shortens their lives. He takes refuge in dark forests in Albania, until he encounters Professor Quirrell, whom he promptly possesses. This enables Voldemort to return to Great Britain, where he begins his plans to regain both a body and his power.

Publication history

Quest for the Philosopher's Stone

Lord Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who murders the parents of protagonist Harry Potter. However, when his mother Lily Potter sacrifices herself, attempting to save her son, this act of love grants Harry an unprecedented charm of protection which Voldemort has not expected; as a result, his Killing Curse backfires and disembodies him. The backfired curse leaves the characteristic lightning bolt-shaped scar on Harry's forehead, and creates a link between their minds which allows Harry to detect Voldemort's presence and periodically "see" his thoughts throughout the course of the first five books. Throughout the book, Rowling establishes that most wizards are unwilling to say Voldemort's name, instead using euphemisms such as You-Know-Who and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Also, the Dark Lord never appears in person, but Rowling drops several hints which indicate that Voldemort is nearby. At the climax, it is revealed he has possessed the body of his minion, Hogwarts teacher Professor Quirrell. Rowling explains, by means of dialogue from Quirrell, that prior to Harry's arrival at Hogwarts, Quirrell had encountered Voldemort in Albania. The Dark Lord survived by taking possession of the bodies of other creatures, and frequently possessed those of snakes. Occasionally, he consumed unicorn blood to sustain himself. Quirrell agrees to serve Voldemort. Via Quirrell's long expository dialogue, Rowling further informs the reader that Voldemort had learned about Nicolas Flamel's Philosopher's Stone, a magical stone that can be used to create gold and the so-called Elixir of Life, a substance which could restore Voldemort's body and give him a measure of immortality. At first, it is stored at in a bank vault at Gringotts by Albus Dumbledore, who then has it brought to Hogwarts. When Quirrell fails to retrieve it from Gringotts, Voldemort possesses him and travels to Hogwarts. He attempts to steal the stone but is thwarted by Harry Potter. The Dark Lord abandons Quirrell and as a result, Quirrell dies.

The second opening of the Chamber of Secrets

In the second installment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces the character of Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry Potter. Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom. However, at the climax of the story, it is revealed that Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram of "I am Lord Voldemort", and Tom is indeed the magical manifestation of the Dark Lord himself. Riddle states he has grown strong on her fears and eventually possessed Ginny. He then used her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, from where a basilisk was set free which petrified several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats both the Riddle from the diary and the basilisk. In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes (an external vessel which contains a part of his torn soul).

The return of the servant

In the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Voldemort does not make an appearance, either in person or in the form of a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the effects of a Dementor. The Divination professor, Sybill Trelawney, makes a genuine prophecy: The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these 12 years. Tonight, before midnight, the servant will break free and set out to rejoin his master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater and more terrible than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master.... Towards the end of the book, the servant is revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, since the fall of Lord Voldemort, has been disguised as Ron Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers.

Rebirth

File:HP5-TL2-0078.jpg

Lord Voldemort returned to power.

In the fourth installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort appears at the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order and establishes Voldemort as a master planner. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort's goal is to teleport reluctant participant Harry Potter to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family are buried. Harry is captured and after Peter Pettigrew uses Harry's blood (which would prove to be a major flaw) to fulfill a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to full power...Lord Voldemort had risen again. For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake’s with slits for nostrils". Rowling writes that his "hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness". It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry . After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort created a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed. Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his death eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry Potter as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, When Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands - a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem. Ghost-like victims of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.

The prophecy

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Lord Voldemort at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries.

In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort appears at the climax of the book, having again carefully plotted against Harry. In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that Voldemort has returned. Instead, they chose to portray Harry and Dumbledore as liars, and ignored the return of Voldemort. Voldemort engineered a plot to free the Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarked on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy regarding Harry and himself which is stored in the Department of Mysteries. Not wishing to reveal himself to the Ministry when they so fervently deny his existence, he sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where they are met by the Order of the Phoenix. All but one, Bellatrix Lestrange, are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Albus Dumbledore. Voldemort attempts to possess Harry Potter but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds detestable: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister of Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge.

The Second War and the History of the Horcruxes

In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. Straight away, Voldemort murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance.

In this book, Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort is the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle, Sr. However, Riddle abandons Merope before Tom Riddle, Jr.'s birth, soon after which Merope dies. Riddle never comes to find his son. After living in an orphanage, young Tom is picked up by Albus Dumbledore, who takes him to Hogwarts. Riddle establishes himself as a brilliant and ruthless student, who is outwardly a model pupil, but in reality a killer who would eventually murder his Muggle father and grandparents for abandoning him. The book also discusses Riddle's obsession with Horcruxes and his desire to split his soul in order to achieve immortality..

In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step was to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore himself. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who managed to arrange transportation into Hogwarts by means of a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where a battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered, yet it is Severus Snape who uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Draco is unable to do so himself. (In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, it is revealed that Snape and Dumbledore knew that Draco would be unable to kill his headmaster; with Dumbledore dying from the effects of the curse placed on Gaunt's ring, Dumbledore asked Snape to kill him painlessly with Avada Kedavra when the opportunity presented itself.) With Dumbledore dead, the scales of battle seem to have tipped in Voldemort's favour, with Harry now out to avenge the deaths of his parents, his godfather Sirius, his friend Cedric, and finally his mentor Dumbledore.

Final battle

Further information: [[:Deathly Hallows (objects)]]

Further information: [[:Wandlore (Harry Potter)]]

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Voldemort makes Malfoy Manor his headquarters. During the summer of 1997, he captures the Muggle Studies teacher at Hogwarts, Charity Burbage, and kills her with Avada Kedavra before he feeds her to Nagini. He also questions the kidnapped wand maker, Ollivander, as to why his wand reacted with Harry Potter's. Olivander explains that it was Priori Incantatem and that to overcome this, Voldemort merely needs to take another's wand. This leads Voldemort to take the wand of Lucius Malfoy. As Harry is escorted under guard from the home of the Dursley family at Number Four, Privet Drive, Voldemort arrives on the scene where his Death Eaters are locked in an airborne battle with Harry and the Order of the Phoenix, separated in seven pairs of one guard and one other person impersonating Harry with polyjuice potion. Voldemort kills Mad-Eye Moody, believing that the strongest guard would be protecting the real Harry, but Moody's charge, Mundungus Fletcher, disapparates out of fear. Voldemort then heads for the real Harry, having identified himself through use of the Expelliarmus spell. As Voldemort closes in for the kill, Harry's wand reacts in a surprising way, releasing a spurt of golden fire which destroys Lucius' wand even as Voldemort wielded it. Before Voldemort could react, Potter reached the protection of Nymphadora Tonks' parents' home and Voldemort was forced to retreat.

Angrily, he returned to Malfoy Manor and demanded that Ollivander answer why Harry's wand yet again reacted towards him, even with a completely different wand. Ollivander tells him truthfully that never in wand lore has he ever heard of such a thing happening. Infuriated, Voldemort tortures him and demands him to tell him everything that he knows about the legendary wand known as the Deathstick, The Wand of Destiny, or the Elder Wand, not knowing that it is one of the Deathly Hallows). Believing that he needs this wand to defeat Harry Potter, he sets out to assume mastery of the Elder Wand, knowing that it is more powerful than any other wand.

During the wedding of Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour, Kingsley Shacklebolt announced that the Minister of Magic was dead and that the Ministry of Magic had fallen to Voldemort, giving him control over the entire Wizarding World (or, at least, the Great Britain area).

Voldemort travels to Bulgaria, where he goes in search of another wand maker, Gregorovich. Eventually, after murdering many people who "got in his way", Voldemort finally finds Gregorovich, who informs Voldemort that the Wand was stolen from him. Voldemort then performs Legilimency on him and sees a blonde young man perched on the windowsill of Gregorovich's workshop who steals the Wand and disappears in the darkness. Voldemort demands Gregorovich to reveal the identity of the thief and when he can't, Voldemort kills him.

When Harry Potter and Hermione Granger go to Godric's Hollow, Nagini manages to delay Harry, and calls Voldemort. Harry manages to escapes shortly before Voldemort arrives, but at the scene, Voldemort discovers an old picture of the mysterious person Gregorovich revealed to be the thief of the Elder Wand.

Voldemort realizes that the thief is none other than the Dark Wizard Gellert Grindelwald, the wizard whom Albus Dumbledore defeated. He breaks into the prison where Grindelwald was being held, where Grindelwald proceeds to tell him to kill him, for he welcomed death; but that it would not bring about what Voldemort sought, and that there was so much Voldemort did not understand. Voldemort kills Grindelwald and steals the Elder Wand from the tomb of Albus Dumbledore.

Voldemort now becomes aware that Harry Potter and his friends are seeking his Horcruxes when Hufflepuff's cup was stolen from Gringotts Bank. With fury, he goes to check on the other Horcruxes' locations, finding that the ring and locket have been stolen as well.

Voldemort returned to Hogwarts following these revelations, knowing that two of his other Horcruxes were there (the diary having already been destroyed) and to quell a revolution sparked by the arrival of Harry Potter. He rounds up his entire army of Death Eaters, giants, dementors and acromantulas and commands them to attack the aurors, teachers, and older students who have chosen to defend Hogwarts. Voldemort himself is not present at the battle; he waits in the Shrieking Shack, mulling over why the Elder Wand has not revealed itself to be any more powerful than his old wand. Knowing also that Nagini may be the last of his Horcruxes, he casts a protective enchantment around her. In thinking about the Elder Wand, Voldemort comes to the conclusion that Severus Snape is its true master - as Snape killed Dumbledore - summons him, and orders Nagini to murder him.

Voldemort then calls a one-hour armistice, requesting Harry Potter in exchange for peace and no further bloodshed. Unknown to Voldemort, Harry himself was a seventh Horcrux, formed when Voldemort failed to kill him as an infant all those years ago. Harry then confronts Voldemort, offering no defense as he realizes that to stop Voldemort, he must die to destroy the piece of Voldemort's soul within him. Voldemort hits him with a killing curse almost immediately, but only destroys the Horcrux within. Harry is knocked to the ground and feigns death.

Voldemort then marches to Hogwarts, proclaiming the death of Harry Potter and his victory while displaying Harry's body for the Hogwarts defenders to see. As Voldemort believes the battle to be won, he removes the protective enchantment around Nagini. Seeing his opportunity to kill the snake, which Harry tasked him to do earlier, Neville Longbottom charges Voldemort, and the battle renews.

With additional reinforcements to Hogwarts arriving, Neville uses the distraction to pull the sword of Gryffindor from the Sorting Hat and decapitate Nagini with it, destroying the last of Voldemort's Horcruxes. Enraged, Voldemort attempts to kill Neville, but Harry casts a shield charm between them before Voldemort could curse him. Voldemort now enters the battle himself, attempting to strike down all within his reach. He forces his way into Hogwarts, dueling Minerva McGonagall, Horace Slughorn, and Kingsley Shacklebolt all at once. When he sees Bellatrix Lestrange killed by Molly Weasley, he turns his wand to kill her, but Harry then reveals himself to be alive, and the pair face each other for the final time in the Great Hall.

As Harry and Voldemort prepare to duel, Harry proceeds to tell Voldemort that he has magic that Voldemort knows not and a weapon more powerful than his. Goading him by using his real name, Riddle, Harry tells him that Snape's loyalty was with Dumbledore all along, that Dumbledore's death was planned and that Snape was not the master of the Elder Wand; Draco Malfoy was, having disarmed Dumbledore before his death.

Momentarily shocked, Voldemort tells Harry that it makes no difference, as Draco can be disposed of after he has killed Harry. Harry then states that if the Elder Wand is aware that Harry overpowered Draco in Malfoy Manor, then Harry himself is the true master. Refusing to believe this, Voldemort casts the Killing Curse at Harry, while Harry simultaneously casts the Expelliarmus disarming spell. The killing curse rebounds upon Voldemort, revealing that Harry is indeed the Elder Wand's true owner, as the wand cannot strike its own master. With all his Horcruxes destroyed, and his mortality re-established only minutes earlier, Voldemort dies as he his struck by his own rebounding killing curse.

Voldemort, however, does not move on and is forced to exist in the stunted form Harry saw in his vision of the King's Cross station.

Attributes

Personality and traits

File:Voldemortandharry.jpg

Ralph Fiennes, as Voldemort, nears Harry Potter in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Throughout the whole series, Rowling establishes Voldemort as a cunning, evil mastermind, utterly devoid of humanity. He is shown as someone incapable of any type of love or mutual respect. He cares only for power and considers no one to be his equal, with the exception of Albus Dumbledore, "the only wizard Voldemort has ever feared."

In the seven books, he is portrayed as a powerful wizard who harbours a genocidal hatred against Muggles and wizards and witches born of Muggles, known derisively as "Mudbloods". This is ironic given the fact that Voldemort is a Half-Blood himself, son of the witch Merope Gaunt and the Muggle Tom Riddle Sr. In book two, it is revealed that Riddle ultimately changes his name, by way of an anagram, from "Tom Marvolo Riddle" to "I am Lord Voldemort", as a way to remove his own heritage and to exalt himself. He also kills the Riddle family, partly because they were Muggles, and partly because they abandoned him and his mother; he frames his maternal uncle, Morfin Gaunt, for the murders. In terms of personal ability Voldemort is identified as one of the greatest wizards in history, perhaps wielding powers equal to those of Albus Dumbledore. He is also highly intelligent, but possesses an arrogance which inevitably leads to his downfall. He also exhibits a cynical sarcastic sense of humour. Whilst usually laughing only at the expense of others he is capable of laughing at himself, surprising given his apparent pathalogical narcissism.

After regaining his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort has having very pale skin, a chalk-white, skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle is described as very handsome which is seemingly an inherited trait from his father for his mother "...was no beauty". The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been caused by practising extremely advanced Dark magic, such as creating Horcruxes to split his soul, or deliberate intent to further separate himself from his father.

Magical prowess and skill

Throughout the series, Rowling establishes Voldemort as a supremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless Dark Wizard. He is also known as one of, if not the greatest, Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens; being able to read minds, as well as shield his own from penetration. However, in the seventh book, he loses control, allowing Harry to see through his eyes and hear his thoughts. In the sixth book, it is revealed that he is one of few, if any, wizards ever able to create and comprehend Horcruxes to such an extent that he attempts to gain immortality through them. During scenes in Deathly Hallows, Voldemort is seen by shocked characters physically flying through the air without support. In the fourth and fifth books, where Voldemort engages in magical combat, Rowling depicts him as a formidable wizard, conjouring spells, counter-spells, and Apparating/Disapparating in a matter of seconds. The only wizard he feared was Albus Dumbledore. However, he also inadvertently marked Harry as his equal by his unsuccessful attack on him in the beginning of the first novel.

Magical knowledge

Voldemort's knowledge of magic is said to be more extensive than any wizard alive. In the sixth book, it is revealed through Dumbledore's memory in the Pensieve that a young Voldemort, before acquiring a wand, or even knowing the very existence of magic itself, could use his magical power to achieve something similar to telekinesis, manipulate animals, and "make bad things happen to people who annoy him", in a much more controlled display of magic than Harry's instinctive, fear or anger-driven uses of it. Voldemort's arrogance about his extensive knowledge leads him to forget seemingly unimportant details from the past, which has led to his undoing on several occasions. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets he is unaware that phoenix tears have magical properties, thus allowing Harry to evade the harmful effects of the basilisk's venom (though this was a younger Voldemort, an apparition of Tom Riddle conjured by the diary Horcrux). In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he states that he had forgotten about the ancient magic that protected Harry when his mother died to save him, the magic Voldemort cannot understand because he has no understanding of love. Furthermore, Rowling established that Voldemort's greatest fear is "ignominious death" (necrophobia), and that his boggart would be his own corpse. What Voldemort desires most is to be all-powerful and to live forever – which is what he would see if he were ever to look in the Mirror of Erised. Dumbledore says in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Voldemort secretly possesses an extreme fear of death, dying and the dark. Dumbledore goes on to say "it is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more" and that Voldemort fails to understand that there are worse ways to destroy a man than by simply killing him.

Connections with Harry Potter

Voldemort disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry Potter rebounds on him. Due to his murder of Lily and James Potter just before, the backfire had caused a fragment of his soul to separate and latch onto Harry, making Harry an unintended Horcrux. After this, he and Harry are connected in several ways. Throughout the whole series, Harry's scar burns when he senses Voldemort nearby, or when Voldemort experiences strong thoughts and emotions; in Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire, Harry first discovers this link, and from then on whenever Voldemort was extremely angry, happy or in pain, Harry's scar burns painfully. Voldemort discovers their connection in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and uses it to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries to recover Sybill Trelawney's prophecy. This connection ended when Voldemort used the killing curse in the Forbidden Forest against Harry, destroying the bit of soul within him but sparing Harry's own life, merely knocking him unconscious.

Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter are distantly related through their ancestors, as most wizards are.

Voldemort's wand

Voldemort's magic wand is made from yew, a wood associated with death and rebirth, has innate destructive workings and is well suited for use in transfiguration. It is 13½ inches long and has a phoenix feather at its core. The wand's maker, Mr Ollivander, obtained this feather from Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes. Fawkes gave just one other feather to be used in a wand, and ironically this wand "chose" to belong to Harry. Because the two wands have a core coming from the same source, they tend to work improperly when used against each other. If they are forced into battle, a Priori Incantatem or "reverse-spell" effect occurs, where one wand forces the other to regurgitate echoes of previous spells it has cast, in reverse-chronological order. All of this plays an important part in Harry's escape from Voldemort at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Mr Ollivander says that Voldemort "...Has always been happy with the wand I made him" until he discovered about the wands' connection. He does acquire the legendary Elder Wand, but is unable to assume mastery over it.

Parseltongue

Voldemort is a Parselmouth, a trait he has inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. It seems that most of his Gaunt ancestors have inherited this highly unusual trait: such traits are commonly passed down through families through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry, turning him into a Horcrux, his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of his soul. After that bit of soul was destroyed, Harry loses this ability.

Family tree

Note: the names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films.

Template:Voldemortfamilytree

Comparisons and interpretations to historical figures

Due to Voldemort's prejudices, his genocidal mass murders and lack of many human emotions, he has spawned several comparisons to Nazis and many villains of the Bible and of popular culture. Dr. Nikolaus Wandinger of the University of Innsbruck uses biblical terms, drawing parallels between Voldemort and King Herod, pointing out how both went over dead bodies to kill the Chosen One, respectively Harry Potter and Jesus. He adds Voldemort's Death Eaters are racists, and that comparisons between Nazi terminology such as "half- and quarter-Jews" and the racist Harry Potter swear word "Mudblood" are legitimate. This is backed up by J K Rowling's claim that Lord Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, were based on the Ku Klux Klan; this is most clearly shown in the Death Eater's ceremonial robes in the Goblet of Fire film. (However, these robes are not worn by Death Eaters in the books.) Voldemort is similar to Adolf Hitler in that Voldemort believes in a concept similar to racial supremacy (though he does not fulfil his own racial standards, supposedly like Hitler). Voldemort also bears a resemblance to cult leaders like Charles Manson, in that he has total control over his Death Eaters, and they do whatever he asks without questioning him, much like the Manson Family did towards Manson. The relationship between Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange is also similar to that of Manson and the female members of the Manson family. Prof. Dr. Christoph Dinkel of the University of Kiel compares Voldemort to Darth Vader, stating the fascination of both characters comes from the fact that they try to seduce people to join evil.Also, Vader is "more machine than man" whereas Voldemort is "more magic than man". The strong redemptive side to Vader's personality, however, is missing from Voldemort's makeup, and he is portrayed as irredeemably evil, though Dumbledore wishes he could change him (HBP). Similarly, Christina Petrick-Löhr of the German newspaper Die Welt compares Voldemort to other hallmark villains like Macbeth, Mephistopheles, Captain Hook, the Queen of Hearts, Sauron, Darth Vader and Hannibal Lecter, proclaiming they are the true "Axis of Evil". Furthermore, Birgit Zimmermann and Andrew MacNeille from the University of Cologne state that Voldemort is a deeply racist and fascist tyrant, and a main example of bigots in contemporary pop culture. Ralph Fiennes, who portrayed Voldemort in the Goblet of Fire and Order of the Phoenix films, called him "the distillation of evil".

Portrayals within films

As of 2007, Voldemort appears in four Harry Potter films, namely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone he is merely a face on the back of Quirrell's head. This was achieved by computer generated imagery. Ian Hart, the actor who played Professor Quirrell in the same film, provided both the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen sucking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Richard Bremmer.

His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson). Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban in either book or film.

In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his actual physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and skeletal, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the book, his pupils are not snake-like and his eyes are blue, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). Instead, the film version of Voldemort has no nose and has snake-like slit nostrils; "If you leave a good chunk off of human, it would seem less scary", said director Mike Newell. He is also a lot more energetic in the film than he is depicted in the book, and he has unpredictable, wild mood swings. Fiennes himself stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climatic showdown scene where he is gloating at a terrified Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research."

Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.

Voldemort's name

Throughout the series, Rowling established that the name "Voldemort" is so feared in the Wizarding World that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than saying his name aloud. In Deathly Hallows, a curse is placed upon the name, such that anyone who utters it may be traced by Voldemort or his followers. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine are found and captured by "Snatchers" and the werewolf Fenrir Greyback when Harry inadvertently utters the name. Such a curse is not mentioned in any of the other books in the series; it is not known if Voldemort used a similar tactic during the First Wizarding War.

According to an interview with J. K. Rowling, "Voldemort" is pronounced (IPA: [vəʊl.də.mʊər]), with a silent 't' at the end, as is common in French. This was the pronunciation used by Jim Dale in the first four U.S. audiobooks; however, after the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in which the characters who dared refer to him by name pronounced it with the "t", Dale altered his pronunciation to that in the films.

Because of the French pronunciation of the name, it has been pointed out that the name "Voldemort" is the same as the common French language words "vol de mort." "Vol" is a masculine noun meaning "flight" or "theft." "De" is a preposition meaning "of" or "from." "Mort" is a feminine noun meaning "death," "end," or "ruin" or an adjective meaning "dead" or a masculine noun meaning "dead man." The combination "de mort" also means "deadly" or "deathly."

Anagram

Voldemort's given name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. In the second book it is established that the appellation "Lord Voldemort" is derived from an anagram of his name: TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE ~ I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. This is also a play on words, as his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is also itself a riddle. In translated versions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort's original name is changed to accommodate the anagram. In the Polish edition, however, translator Andrzej Polkowski decided not to make any changes, presumably because of the difficulty of translating the anagram into a meaningful sentence. In the Portuguese edition (as distinct from the Brazilian edition), the name was similarly left untranslated. The following table gives a comprehensive lists of the various translations:

Language	True Name	Anagram	Translations/notes
Bulgarian	ТОМ МЕРСВОЛУКО РИДДЪЛ	ТУК СЪМ И ЛОРД ВОЛДЕМОР	Here I am also Lord Voldemort
Catalan	TOD MORVOSC RODLEL	SÓC LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort
Czech	TOM ROJVOL RADDLE	JÁ LORD VOLDEMORT	Me, Lord Voldemort
Danish	ROMEO G DETLEV JR	JEG ER VOLDEMORT	I am Voldemort; The G. is short for Gåde, i.e. "Riddle"
Dutch	MARTEN ASMODOM VILIJN	MIJN NAAM IS VOLDEMORT	My name is Voldemort; "Vilijn" (Voldemort's last name) and the Dutch word "Vilein" are equally pronounced, while the word "Vilein" means "evil" or "mean". It resembles the English word villain.
Esperanto	TOM VLADES MISTERO	MI ESTAS VOLDEMORT	I am Voldemort; "Mistero" in Esperanto means "mystery"; Note that this is only a proposal since the books have not (yet) been translated.
Estonian	TOM MARVOLON RIDDLE	MINA LORD VOLDEMORT	Me, Lord Voldemort
Finnish	TOM LOMEN VALEDRO	MA OLEN VOLDEMORT	I am Voldemort; "Ma" is an archaic form of "Minä" meaning "I" or "me". Also, "Valedro" begins with "vale" which equals to "lie" - or, "riddle".
French	TOM ELVIS JEDUSOR	JE SUIS VOLDEMORT	I am Voldemort; "Jedusor" is pronounced nearly the same way as "Jeu du sort", stroke of fate.
German	TOM VORLOST RIDDLE	IST LORD VOLDEMORT	is Lord Voldemort
Greek	ANTON MORVOL HERT	ARCHON VOLDEMORT	Lord Voldemort: "NT" in Greek is equivalent to "D"
Greek spelling	ΑΝΤΩΝ ΜΟΡΒΟΛ ΧΕΡΤ	ΑΡΧΩΝ ΒΟΛΝΤΕΜΟΡΤ
Hebrew	TOM VANDROLO RIDDLE	ANI LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort: the word lord is transliterated from the English and not translated.
Hebrew spelling	טום ואנדרולו רידל	אני לורד וולדמורט
Hungarian	TOM ROWLE DENEM	NEVEM VOLDEMORT	My name is Voldemort: The W is split to form two Vs in order to make the anagram possible
Icelandic	TREVOR DELGOME	ÉG ER VOLDEMORT	I am Voldemort
Italian	TOM ORVOLOSON RIDDLE	SON IO LORD VOLDEMORT	Lord Voldemort is me (a slightly archaic style)
Latin	TOM MOSVUX RUDDLE	SUM DUX VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort
Latvian	TOMS SVERELDO MELSUDORS	ES ESMU LORDS VOLDEMORTS	I am Lord Voldemort
Low German	TOM SOLVOR RIDDLE	IS LORD VOLDEMORT	[It] is Lord Voldemort
Мacedonian	ТОМ РЕДЛОВ (TOM REDLOV)	ВОЛДЕМОР (VOLDEMOR)	Red from Redlov means order
Norwegian	TOM DREDOLO VENSTER	VOLDEMORT DEN STORE	Voldemort the great
Polish	TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE	I AM LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort
Portuguese (Brazilian)	TOM SERVOLO RIDDLE	EIS LORD VOLDEMORT	Behold Lord Voldemort
Romanian	TOMAS DORLENT CRUPLUD	SUNT LORDUL CAP-DE-MORT	I am Lord Cap-de-mort (Deaths' Head)
Russian	TOM NARVOLO REDDL	LORD VOLAN-DE-MORT	Lord Volan-de-Mort
Russian spelling	ТОМ НАРВОЛО РЕДДЛ	ЛОРД ВОЛАН-ДЕ-МОРТ
Slovak	TOM MARVOLOSO RIDDLE	A SOM I LORD VOLDEMORT	And I am also Lord Voldemort
Slovenian	MARK NEELSTIN	MRLAKENSTEIN	Mrlakenstein (translation of Voldemort)
Spanish	TOM SORVOLO RYDDLE	SOY LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort
Swedish	TOM GUS MERVOLO DOLDER	EGO SUM LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort, in Latin (ego sum = I am). "Dolder" is drawn from a somewhat archaic name for "someone hidden"
Turkish	TOM MARVOLDO RIDDLE	ADIM LORD VOLDEMORT	My name is Lord Voldemort
Ukrainian	TOM YARVOLOD REDL	YA LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort (the '-volod' part of the name may be connected to the name Volodimir, where 'volod' equates to ruler).
Ukrainian spelling	ТОМ ЯРВОЛОД РЕДЛ	Я ЛОРД ВОЛДЕМОРТ
English	TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE	I AM LORD VOLDEMORT	I am Lord Voldemort

Bibliography

• Lev Grossman, "J.K. Rowling Hogwarts and All". TIME Magazine, July 25, 2005, Vol. 166, No. 4

External links

• Lord Voldemort on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki
• Lord Voldemort at Harry Potter Lexicon