He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named: How He Rose To Power
written by Alyssa Diggory
He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named was the most dangerous and powerful dark wizard our world has ever seen. He reined terror on Europe-wizards from 1970-1997. He was finally defeated in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1997, by the "Chosen One" Harry James Potter. To this day, people are still too scared to say his name, in fear that he will rise and reek havoc on the world once again.
Last Updated
05/31/21
Chapters
15
Reads
823
Early Years
Chapter 2
The dark wizard known as "Lord Voldemort" was born in 1928 in an orphanage in London. His mother, a witch, and, according to Voldemort, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, had fallen in love with Tom Riddle, a Muggle. But, he did not share the same feelings. Voldemort's mother eventually slipped him a love potion, and they got married and consummated their love. Tom Riddle lived in a fine-looking manor that stood on a hill overlooking the village of Little Hangleton. The manor house was one of the largest and grandest buildings for miles around. When Voldemort's mother told her husband that she was a witch, he abandoned her, returning to his parents' home. As Lord Voldemort told the story, his father "didn't like magic." Voldemort's mother died just after giving birth to him, living just long enough to name him Tom Riddle, after his father and Marvolo, after his grandfather. He was raised in a Muggle orphanage.
Descended from the line of Salazar Slytherin, Merope Gaunt is a pitiable figure – she fell in unrequited love with a Muggle and was terrorised by her pure-blood father and brother.
Merope might have proven a positive influence on Tom Riddle had she lived to bring him up herself. However, she died soon after his birth without trying to save herself with magic.
The suffering Merope endured at the hands of her cruel father Marvolo and brother Morfin left quite a mark. By the time the two men were locked up in Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic, the damage had been done.
She is described as so bleached of life that she blends into the grey walls around her:
‘Her hair was lank and dull and she had a plain, pale, rather heavy face. Her eyes, like her brother’s, stared in opposite directions. She looked a little cleaner than the two men, but Harry thought he had never seen a more defeated-looking person.’
After being left alone in the Gaunt family hovel, Merope bewitched the Muggle boy she had a crush on, Tom Riddle. But he would return to the village some months later muttering about being ‘hoodwinked’ and ‘taken in’ by the local tramp’s daughter.
Quite how Merope tricked the handsome and wealthy Muggle boy into wedlock is unclear but Dumbledore suspects a love potion rather than the Imperius Curse. Why Riddle Sr. escaped Merope’s enchantment and left her destitute and pregnant is also unclear.
Another of Dumbledore’s highly plausible theories is that Merope was so in love with Riddle that she couldn’t bear to enslave him with magic long-term, and hoped he would learn to return her feelings.
Evidently this didn’t happen and Riddle returned to his family home without ever troubling himself to discover what become of her — to his cost 16 years later, when their son murdered him and the rest of the Riddle family.
Alone and destitute, Merope sold Slytherin’s priceless locket (yes, that one) to Borgin and Burkes for just ten Galleons.
It seems that when Merope lost her husband she also lost the will to live. When she arrived heavily pregnant on the steps of the London orphanage where Tom Riddle Jr. was to spend his early years, she seemed to know she wasn’t going to make it.
Her dying wish that the baby should resemble his father was granted. She couldn’t have known that the second Tom Riddle would go on to inherit his father’s callousness too.
It might be argued that Voldemort grew up devoid of love because his mother died for want of it, and that his father’s love was stolen rather than earned. Perhaps if he’d had any understanding of the difference between genuine love and the kind that you compel, Voldemort might have had a better grasp of its power.
When Tom was eleven, Albus Dumbledore, the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, talked to Mrs Cole first, who informed him of how unusual Tom was, sharing tales of his extraordinary influence over the other children. When Dumbledore was at last introduced to the boy, Tom at first believed him to be a doctor or psychiatrist of some sort, come to take him to an asylum because of what the orphanage staff had seen. He was convinced after Dumbledore demonstrated his power by using a Flame-Freezing Charm on Tom's cupboard, and when he revealed that Hogwarts was a school for people with magic, which Tom realised his abilities were.
At a very early age, it was clear that Tom displayed a desire to be different and set apart from others (as it was hinted when he mentioned his dislike of his own name, because it was such a common name).
Young riddle orphanage
Dumbledore proving to Riddle that he is a wizard
He was not surprised at all upon being informed by Dumbledore that he was a wizard — he was, in fact, eager to believe that he had special gifts that no one else had. Tom also showed an eminent fear of death, considering it a human weakness. He claimed that his mother could not have been a witch, because if she was magical, then she would have been able to avoid dying, and thought his father was a wizard.
Tom's abuse of his wizarding powers alarmed Albus. He resolved to keep a close eye on him, something he should have done in any case, seeing as he was "alone and friendless". Dumbledore also warned Tom that at Hogwarts he would be introduced to the laws that controlled the usage of magic in the wizarding world, and that law-breakers were punished with severity not by Hogwarts but the Ministry of Magic. Riddle's demeanor changed after Dumbledore reprimanded him; he became more guarded and shielded his reactions.
Dumbledore provided Riddle with enough information to find Diagon Alley and Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Professor Dumbledore also provided Tom Riddle with a stipend from school funds so that he could purchase his books, equipment and so on. Travelling on his own to Diagon Alley, Riddle bought some second-hand robes and spell books for himself, along with his wand-thirteen and a half inches; yew; phoenix feather core — at Ollivander's. Garrick Ollivander later said that the wand was very powerful; Voldemort was very pleased with it until the wand failed him during his confrontation with Harry Potter in the Little Hangleton graveyard, many years later. Riddle also mentioned that he was a Parselmouth, which surprised Dumbledore.
Descended from the line of Salazar Slytherin, Merope Gaunt is a pitiable figure – she fell in unrequited love with a Muggle and was terrorised by her pure-blood father and brother.
Merope might have proven a positive influence on Tom Riddle had she lived to bring him up herself. However, she died soon after his birth without trying to save herself with magic.
The suffering Merope endured at the hands of her cruel father Marvolo and brother Morfin left quite a mark. By the time the two men were locked up in Azkaban by the Ministry of Magic, the damage had been done.
She is described as so bleached of life that she blends into the grey walls around her:
‘Her hair was lank and dull and she had a plain, pale, rather heavy face. Her eyes, like her brother’s, stared in opposite directions. She looked a little cleaner than the two men, but Harry thought he had never seen a more defeated-looking person.’
After being left alone in the Gaunt family hovel, Merope bewitched the Muggle boy she had a crush on, Tom Riddle. But he would return to the village some months later muttering about being ‘hoodwinked’ and ‘taken in’ by the local tramp’s daughter.
Quite how Merope tricked the handsome and wealthy Muggle boy into wedlock is unclear but Dumbledore suspects a love potion rather than the Imperius Curse. Why Riddle Sr. escaped Merope’s enchantment and left her destitute and pregnant is also unclear.
Another of Dumbledore’s highly plausible theories is that Merope was so in love with Riddle that she couldn’t bear to enslave him with magic long-term, and hoped he would learn to return her feelings.
Evidently this didn’t happen and Riddle returned to his family home without ever troubling himself to discover what become of her — to his cost 16 years later, when their son murdered him and the rest of the Riddle family.
Alone and destitute, Merope sold Slytherin’s priceless locket (yes, that one) to Borgin and Burkes for just ten Galleons.
It seems that when Merope lost her husband she also lost the will to live. When she arrived heavily pregnant on the steps of the London orphanage where Tom Riddle Jr. was to spend his early years, she seemed to know she wasn’t going to make it.
Her dying wish that the baby should resemble his father was granted. She couldn’t have known that the second Tom Riddle would go on to inherit his father’s callousness too.
It might be argued that Voldemort grew up devoid of love because his mother died for want of it, and that his father’s love was stolen rather than earned. Perhaps if he’d had any understanding of the difference between genuine love and the kind that you compel, Voldemort might have had a better grasp of its power.
When Tom was eleven, Albus Dumbledore, the transfiguration teacher at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, talked to Mrs Cole first, who informed him of how unusual Tom was, sharing tales of his extraordinary influence over the other children. When Dumbledore was at last introduced to the boy, Tom at first believed him to be a doctor or psychiatrist of some sort, come to take him to an asylum because of what the orphanage staff had seen. He was convinced after Dumbledore demonstrated his power by using a Flame-Freezing Charm on Tom's cupboard, and when he revealed that Hogwarts was a school for people with magic, which Tom realised his abilities were.
At a very early age, it was clear that Tom displayed a desire to be different and set apart from others (as it was hinted when he mentioned his dislike of his own name, because it was such a common name).
Young riddle orphanage
Dumbledore proving to Riddle that he is a wizard
He was not surprised at all upon being informed by Dumbledore that he was a wizard — he was, in fact, eager to believe that he had special gifts that no one else had. Tom also showed an eminent fear of death, considering it a human weakness. He claimed that his mother could not have been a witch, because if she was magical, then she would have been able to avoid dying, and thought his father was a wizard.
Tom's abuse of his wizarding powers alarmed Albus. He resolved to keep a close eye on him, something he should have done in any case, seeing as he was "alone and friendless". Dumbledore also warned Tom that at Hogwarts he would be introduced to the laws that controlled the usage of magic in the wizarding world, and that law-breakers were punished with severity not by Hogwarts but the Ministry of Magic. Riddle's demeanor changed after Dumbledore reprimanded him; he became more guarded and shielded his reactions.
Dumbledore provided Riddle with enough information to find Diagon Alley and Platform Nine and Three-Quarters. Professor Dumbledore also provided Tom Riddle with a stipend from school funds so that he could purchase his books, equipment and so on. Travelling on his own to Diagon Alley, Riddle bought some second-hand robes and spell books for himself, along with his wand-thirteen and a half inches; yew; phoenix feather core — at Ollivander's. Garrick Ollivander later said that the wand was very powerful; Voldemort was very pleased with it until the wand failed him during his confrontation with Harry Potter in the Little Hangleton graveyard, many years later. Riddle also mentioned that he was a Parselmouth, which surprised Dumbledore.
