voldemort

Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr., better known as Lord Voldemort, is one of the two main antagonists (alongside Gellert Grindelwald) of the Wizarding World franchise, serving as the main antagonist of the Harry Potter franchise. A powerful yet incredibly vile Dark Wizard and a believer in the supremacy of pure-blooded Wizards over Muggles, Muggle-borns and half-bloods (though he is a half-blood himself), he developed a fascination with the darkest kinds of magic during his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, with the intent of achieving immortality by splitting his soul into multiple Horcruxes. Taking the name "Lord Voldemort" and becoming horrendously disfigured by his usage of the Dark Arts, Riddle soon established himself as a danger to the magical community at large, founding the Death Eaters, an army of followers who shared his prejudices, and seeking to rule the Muggle and Wizarding Worlds and subjugate them to his will. He is also the heir and last descendant of one of the four original founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Salazar Slytherin, a fellow pure-blood supremacist, before eventually serving as the arch-nemesis of Harry Potter, having directly murdered the latter's parents, James and Lily Potter, when Harry was only an infant child, becoming determined to end the boy’s life after a prophecy foretold only one of them could live, as well as the archenemy of his former teacher Professor Albus Dumbledore, the Headmaster of Hogwarts who is the only long-standing wizard he ever feared. Considered as "the most evil wizard in hundreds and hundreds of years", Lord Voldemort is psychopathy in its purest form, devoid of compassion and remorse, and single-minded in his pursuit of absolute power. He is an extreme egotist who feels nothing for anyone but himself, and considers all others his inferiors. He is also obsessed with achieving immortality, and regards death as a shameful human weakness; his ultimate ambition is to be all-powerful and live eternally, controlling the world and killing those who live in it forever in a way that is unopposed and unchecked. As a young boy, Riddle took sadistic pleasure in using his powers to bully and abuse other children (though the film adaptation tones this down somewhat to only going after other children who were mean to him). He developed sadistic hobbies like killing animals, and hoarded things that he stole from the other orphan children as trophies. This would eventually blossom into his conception of the Horcruxes. He exhibited a need for independence that bordered on pathological, preferring to operate in secrecy and solitude whenever possible. Voldemort preferred to use Horcruxes instead of the Elixir of Life (generated by the power of the Philosopher's Stone) to attain immortality, given he found reliance on the Elixir intolerable. Despite his independent streak, he does rely on assistance from others if necessary. Voldemort often relies on his Death Eaters and an army of versatile beings to do his bidding, from overtaking the Ministry of Magic to trivial matters that he does not think are worth his time. During his reign of terror, he trusts the conquered Ministry of Magic to his army, assigning two of his Horcruxes to his lieutenant Death Eaters Bellatrix Lestrange and Lucius Malfoy, since both have the necessary resources and skills to ensure their safety. Prior to his return to power, he also relies on the cowardly Peter Pettigrew to take care of his crippled form. As revealed in Dumbledore and Harry's investigation on his background in The Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort's inability to feel or understand love is related to the coercive relationship between his parents, Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle Sr.; Merope used a love potion on Tom in order to conceive a child. She died in childbirth and Tom abandoned the child, leaving him to grow up alone and causing Voldemort to grow up not knowing how to form emotional bonds. Without human companionship, he came to see other people as objects existing only to serve and benefit him, and to be discarded once they outlived their usefulness. The only other living creature that he displays any real affection for is his pet snake, Nagini, even entrusting to her a piece of his soul by turning her into a Horcrux. In his youth at Hogwarts, he was a model student and manipulated his teachers—except Dumbledore—into giving him whatever he wanted, especially information about the Dark Arts. He was also a consummate liar, managing to trick Slughorn into revealing his knowledge about Horcruxes and later feigning innocence when confronted by Dumbledore about mistreating his fellow students and, later, opening the Chamber of Secrets. Only two individuals saw through Voldemort at that time: Hepzibah Smith, who saw Voldemort's eyes flash red with avarice when he saw her treasured artifacts; and Albus Dumbledore, who knew from their first meeting that the boy was dangerous. Voldemort is a xenophobe, despising non-magical humans ("Muggles" as they are called in the british side of the Wizarding World) and those who are of mixed magical and Muggle heritage ("Half-Bloods"), even though he is one of the latter himself. In addition to erecting a statue depicting Muggles being crushed following the takeover of the Ministry of Magic, he rebukes the Muggle side of his parentage and welcomes his Death Eaters as his "true family", unleashing the Serpent of Slytherin to continue Salazar's cause in purging Muggle-Borns from Hogwarts. Despite his racism, however, Voldemort is willing to accept Half-Blood wizards into his ranks, such as Severus Snape, whom he sees as useful to him. In spite of his narcissism, Voldemort can acknowledge his mistakes and even displays a degree of calculated humility. He did not hastily announce his return of power as soon as he regained his physical form except to his supporters. Upon his return, he used his candor and charm to win him his followers. He also showed his followers leniency, even though they had not sought to help him after his downfall, realizing he could not afford to mistreat them until returning to full strength. However, as Harry noted, he ultimately did not learn from mistakes he made, especially relating to matters he did not value. While typically presenting a calm, reserved, and sophisticated facade, Voldemort can fly into fits of violent rage when things don't go the way he wants. During his mood swings, he instinctively casts the Killing Curse at whoever happens to be there, even his own allies. For example, when he learns that Harry Potter and his friends manage to steal one of his Horcruxes (the Cup of Helga Hufflepuff) from the Lestrange bank vault, he breaks down and slaughters dozens of Gringotts staff and others present. Voldemort finds it useful to maintain a system of followers drawn from the Slytherin-centric Wizarding aristocracy, disaffected paupers with long-gone noble origins, and petty criminals. With immortality and world domination serving as his main goals, however, Voldemort treats the fight for pure-blood supremacy and purifying the Wizarding race as secondary priorities in his reign. He allows his followers to set up a pure-blood supremacist regime at the Ministry of Magic to control the government, which both compensates them for their service and ensures their continued loyalty to him. He also leaves the matters about wizarding aristocracy in the hands of his followers (matters which he has little to no interest with) while focusing on increasing his own dominion and stamping out opposition, using his Slytherin ancestry and promises to help them achieve their ends. Voldemort also appeals to their shared contempt for Muggles and Muggle-Borns.