5 Things About Tom Riddle
In our fandom, Tom Riddle is a romanticized character. Even in dark and macabre fics, his most unattractive qualities aren’t really showcased, and when they are, they’re usually portrayed pretty favorably. Now obviously there’s nothing wrong with reinventing and redefining characters—imo, you definitely should. But just for a bit of fun, I put together a list of less-than-sexy canonical traits that make him more dynamic, complicated, and interesting to read imo. (Inspired by this post.)
1. He’s a compulsive thief — and not only when he wants something for a specific purpose. His character is constructed around pathological emptiness and longing for esteem (rooted in childhood poverty and neglect). When he steals from the other orphans, it’s not because he has any grand plans for these items—he wants to have these things simply so that they cannot.
As he gets older, this “magpie-like tendency” evolves into the defining flaw of his Horcrux ambition. Had he chosen simple, unassuming objects, he could have been invincible. But the language used to describe him — “hungry” (CoS) and “vacant” with “empty hands” (DH) — shows that there’s something more to this error than mere stupidity or ego or blind ambition. It’s about the conflict between spiritual/emotional needs and material desire, where he is Rowling’s hollow and grandiose foil to Harry’s prevailing moral goodness.
2. He is shamelessly parasitic. There are three strong literal cases of this (1) Quirrell; (2) snakes and critters in Albania ; and (3) Harry himself. But then it doesn’t end there. He physically depends on Wormtail to wean him like an infant using the ‘milk’ of a Maledictus to whom he later knowingly consigned a piece of his soul.
Yes, Dumbledore does say that Tom Riddle is a highly self-sufficient and independent child—this obsession with autonomy, however, is more of a self-delusion than a reality. He is the most dependent character in the series. He rends himself so many times, his soul itself is unstable without reliance on bodies both inanimate and conscience. And he doesn’t mind this because his obsession with self-reliance is about detaching from that which he considers weak—human love and friendship. Coerced servitude and allegiance, on the other hand, are qualities he values immensely.
3. The child Tom Riddle is not sophisticated. This is actually the only fandom habit that does annoy me personally. Really often kid!Riddle is given this rich and colorful vocabulary and aristocratic bearing. This change completely misrepresents his class origins and is pretty inconsistent with his behavior in HBP. Take his line to Dumbledore for example: “I don’t need you. I’m used to doing things for myself, I go round London on my own all the time.” He does not say: “I don’t require your company. I often walk through the city on my own.” And yet I can promise you, you will encounter a lot of that bloated, hyper-mature dialogue in fics.
Now sure, if you change his upbringing, this becomes irrelevant. Just note the subtle and powerful difference between a child who, unrefined, has an advanced grasp of manipulation and coercion – and – a child who mysteriously sounds like the Queen even though he’s a poor orphan raised in working-class 1930s London.
4. He has poor impulse control. I’ve gotten into arguments about this one but hear me out. Riddle is undoubtedly intelligent, strategic, and cautious… However, he is not rational. Dumbledore is rational. He relies on impersonal calculations to plot and ploy. Riddle does not. He acts on desire and satisfaction, and calculates maximum efficiency of these things so that he can achieve his only goal: material immanence and domination.
It was not rational of him to slaughter his family; it was not rational of him to unleash the Basilisk; it was not rational of him to strike Harry with the Elder Wand. He did these things to satisfy an immediate thrill – to get revenge, to acquire the admiration of his thug gang, to kill Harry. He doesn’t anticipate the consequences of his actions and therefore makes foolish errors that even an ordinary and unexceptional person would be capable of avoiding.
(Notably, deficient fear conditioning is one of the defining qualities of criminal psychopathy.)
5. He is kind of funny? Far from being humorless and austere, we can gather from a few moments in the text that Riddle/Voldemort has a subtle and vindictive sense of humor. He tells Wormtail that he’d be used for a task that many of his followers would give their “right hands to perform” (GoF). He mocks the Blacks for having their blood mixed with a werewolf and everyone laughs at them (DH). He also laughs hysterically at his own cruelty at many points, such as during Ginny’s manipulation (CoS).
Point is, you should feel free to write him however you want. Fandom is about fun and creative expression, so go wild. Still, since we can’t ignore canon entirely, it’s worth reflecting. You can have a Riddle who is liquid gold and charming and flawless. You can also consider that, canonically, Riddle really was creepy, selfish, odd, and brutal. (It’s a big part of Rowling’s commentary on the hypocrisy of Britain’s social class and ethics, but that’s a story for another time…)
