Aching For The Sea

Talking about Tom Riddle, Roland Flambeau and perhaps the Count of Monte Christo and atla

[morsima]

IT’S ROLANDS ACTIVATION DAY

HE LOOKS SO HANDSOME TALKING WITH THE BIRD MY GLORIOUS CLOWN

To honour his bday, here some pictures from my Roland pinboard for him

Roland’s dream being once about reuniting with his family aint talked about enough. THE FACT HE STILL CALLS HIMSELF ROLMO WHEN PRETENDING ALL THESE YEARS LATER. KURO, HOW DOES HE FEEL ABOUT THAT?

I have around 140+ pins on there for him

[morsima]

Tom despised his mother... She was a descendant of Slytherin, but ended up in an orphanage for the poor, and if the Riddles had found out that Tom had come to them from the orphanage, they would have shown snobbery. I think Tom didn't tell the Riddles so that they wouldn't reject him a second time... It's easier to strike first so that you won't be rejected.

THANK U FOR THE ASK, ANON :D

I do admit my wording was off and projected a false image, I tweaked some phrasings now. I agree he dislikes his mother for reasons such as her “common Muggle” death and possibly leaving him at the orphanage BUT I also think he perserves and defends what she represents which includes, as you said, lineage. To leave it at that”he disliked his mother” would flatten the nuance I tried to argue for.

How Riddle’s visit to his family went is fun to explore in headcanons. They definitely would have shown snobbery as they are described like that in canon, especially Tom Senior. There could be also fear involved from his father’s part towards Tom as he is magical and Senior was a victim of magical coercion.

I can see it going how u said, but I can also see Tom articulating his grievances but it’s loaded. And perhaps a brief expression of how much he resents his father and to make sure he knows who killed him. I like the way u think, anon ٩(◕‿◕)۶

[morsima]

Tom has daddy and mommy issues, right? In your view

MY FIRST ASK AND I REPLY SO LATE. SORRY, ANON. I took my time to get some quotes this time because #professionalism or whatnot

I think anon his referring to this post

I don’t like to use the word “mommy” and “daddy issues” as I personally only know them as terms i acquired by the media, and I have a general distaste towards the usage of buzz words. What I will say tho is I do think Tom harbours complex feelings towards both his mother and father. For the sake of avoiding repition, I will cut some explanations short.

Tom does project his own life experience towards both his father and mother. While his mother is treated with a certain defensiveness, his father gets all his hatred. I don’t think he particiluarly mourns his mother as he has no memory of her. However, what I think is more likely is that he mourns the idea of her. He percieves his mother’s fate mirroring his own meaning any insult directed at her becomes a direct insult to him to an extend. Supported by his reaction on one of Hepzibah’s comments:

“[...] Burke bought it, apparently, from a ragged-looking woman who seemed to have stolen it, but had no idea of its true value —” There was no mistaking it this time: Voldemort’s eyes flashed scarlet at the words, and Harry saw his knuckles whiten on the locket’s chain” - HBP Chapter 23

Although the narrator does not explicitly state Voldemorts reasoning for his visceral reaction at his mother’s description, it is plausible to interpret his anger as stemming from an emphasis on Merope's poor background. Given Tom's own similar impoverished upbringing, he may have perceived this description as reflecting on himself, turning it into a personal insult, mirroring the perceived insult to his mother. The protection of the locket is another interesting thing. The locket is Merope’s heritage as much as it is Tom’s, and is notably, if i remember correctly, one of the most protected , so much that in the process to get the locket u have to drink that water that makes u relieve your worst memories. It functions to frighten people away from the locket which aligns with Tom’s own use of fear as a defensive mechanism:

Apparently she decided she could, because she said in a sudden rush, “He scares the other children.” HBP Chapter 13

It is interesting that fear and intimidation become attached to objects tied to his mother’s legacy. This ability to instill fear serves as a defense mechanism against harm. This fear to ensure one’s protection associated with his mother’s heritage stands in contrast to his treatment of his father whom Tom activly victimizes though fear:

“[...]that each of the Riddles had a look of terror upon his or her face — but as the frustrated police said, whoever heard of three people being frightened to death?” GOF Chapter 1

He does not extend this kind of defensive preservation to his father. He is a lot more violent and destructive with him. His father’s heritage, just like his mothers heritage, frightened people away, but is more about tarnishing his fathers heritage then protecting which is the case for his mother:

“ [...] for neither family stayed long. Perhaps it was partly because of Frank that the new owners said there was a nasty feeling about the place, which, in the absence of inhabitants, started to fall into disrepair.” GOF chapter 1

This is after Tom murders his fathers side of the family. While Frank is A reason, he isn’t the SOLE reason. There is just something eerie about that place that Tom left behind and in consequence lead to the house being neglected, broken, old, and not wanted. All things Tom attributes to his father’s abandonment which he then recreates and imposes in return.

So, what im tyring to say his Toms feelings towards his family are certainly complicated. He reacts defensively to his mother’s image despite holding contempt for her weakness while actively ensuring his father and his legacy are utterly disrepected and a target for his anger. He is this active bigger threat to his father while his mother almost stands on the same pedestal as him. It’s also notable that his father's bone is used in his rebirth ritual AND the ritual is done in front of his grave, which can be interpreted as Tom symbolically forcing his father to witness a “rebirth” of his grotesque self, a manifestation of the child he believes his father rejected and missed. Tom shows a strong aversion to abandonment. He makes it suprsingly clear a lot of times. Unfortunatly, his father triggered that wound and had to pay for it.

Also also:

“[…]My mother, a witch who lived here in this village, fell in love with him. But he abandoned her when she told him what she was. . . . He didn’t like magic, my father . . .He left her and returned to his Muggle parents before I was even born[…]Listen to me, reliving family history . . .” he said quietly, “why, I am growing quite sentimental. . . . But look, Harry! My true family returns. . . .” GOF chapter 33

An interesting diffrence between teeange-Tom who made himself the center of the abandonment and grandpa-Tom who makes himself passive this time. It has been several decades between the two sentences, a lot of time to process the fresh wound that was for teenage-Tom. But he still isn’t over his need for a family, or any close connection, trying to find a replacments for it with his followers if u can trust his words.

[morsima]

EDMONT DANTÈS IS THE PUREST SOUL ON EARTH PLSSS

I’ve only read up to chapter 16 thus far. Just before he enters Abbe’s prison cell AND PLS THE FIRST THING DANTÈS DID WAS HUGGING ABBES. AND HIM SAYING HE WILL BE A FRIEND OR EVEN A SON IF HE IS OLDER THAN HIM DANTÈS U INNOCENT SOUL PLS LOCK IN THIS NOT HOW U GET REVENG ON YOUR ENEMIES😭

I like the contrast between how Dantès deals with his imprisonment vs Abbe. Dantès experience literally every stages of grieve till he looses hope makes a plan to end his life. According to the narrator, this is because Dantès didn’t have the privilege of an education. So, he resorts to practices like praying, hoping for a miracle and putting his trust onto others. Unlike Abbe who is disgustingly educated. He keeps a cool head, studies and plans an escape.

Dantès, in general, is quite naive; his political ignorance is the reason he’s in prison, his nativity caused him to not suspect Villefort or Danglairs (im too lazy to look up how to spell him) of ulterior motivations

I’m assuming Abbes will be the one to educate Dantès, who then will start to become less naive and more politically aware, allowing him to exact revenge on those who imprisoned him? Maybe?? I need to read further but thats my guess for now.

He does already harbor anger at whoever put him there he hasn’t connected the dots yet

Dantés is my precious son now (although he is older than me but whatever THATS MY CHILD)

[gholateg]

As someone who has *devoured* this book, I am so giddy for you to get to read it for the first time.

[morsima]

AYEEEE thats so exciting, i have been quite in a reading slump so i didnt read further than one chapter but this motivated me. I shall read further and update…😼

[morsima]

Now that so many people talk about Aang ever since the movie, i just have to say…

I REMEMBER EVERY SINGLE ONE OF YOU THAT MADE ME GO TO THE FRONTLINES DEFENDING THIS 12 YEAR OLD CHILD JUST BC U HATED HIM FOR SIMPLY BEING ONE BUT NOW YALL SWITCHING UP CUZ HE FINE SHYT

I remember your crimes and the wars i had to fight for him back then ESPECIALLY IN THOSE YOUTUBE COMMENTS BC OF YALL🫵🏻

Aang truther since day ONE

[morsima]

Now, i didnt watch the movie, I only saw the edits and clips WHY IS EVERYONE SO FINE OMG IDK WHERE TO LOOK WHO TO LOOK AT JUST MUSCLES AND BICEPS ALL OVER MY SCREEN IF U DON’T LET ME BITE-

Not that i am complaining…

ON ANOTHER NOTE

AANG THERE IS NO REASON FOR U TO BE LOOKING LIKE THIS IM JUMPING THRU THE SCREEN AS WE SPEAK

[morsima]

EDMONT DANTÈS IS THE PUREST SOUL ON EARTH PLSSS

I’ve only read up to chapter 16 thus far. Just before he enters Abbe’s prison cell AND PLS THE FIRST THING DANTÈS DID WAS HUGGING ABBES. AND HIM SAYING HE WILL BE A FRIEND OR EVEN A SON IF HE IS OLDER THAN HIM DANTÈS U INNOCENT SOUL PLS LOCK IN THIS NOT HOW U GET REVENG ON YOUR ENEMIES😭

I like the contrast between how Dantès deals with his imprisonment vs Abbe. Dantès experience literally every stages of grieve till he looses hope makes a plan to end his life. According to the narrator, this is because Dantès didn’t have the privilege of an education. So, he resorts to practices like praying, hoping for a miracle and putting his trust onto others. Unlike Abbe who is disgustingly educated. He keeps a cool head, studies and plans an escape.

Dantès, in general, is quite naive; his political ignorance is the reason he’s in prison, his nativity caused him to not suspect Villefort or Danglairs (im too lazy to look up how to spell him) of ulterior motivations

I’m assuming Abbes will be the one to educate Dantès, who then will start to become less naive and more politically aware, allowing him to exact revenge on those who imprisoned him? Maybe?? I need to read further but thats my guess for now.

He does already harbor anger at whoever put him there he hasn’t connected the dots yet

Dantés is my precious son now (although he is older than me but whatever THATS MY CHILD)

[hatties-self-hate-journey]

How posting to my blog feels like:

[morsima]

PLEASE THIS SO REAL me after posting my metas

[morsima]

Tom riddle’s linguistic independence and the isolated “I”

This part 2 (sort of) of my last post that will focus on Tom’s psychology (again) through a linguistic analysis. I want to focus on how the isolated “I” in the following linguistically mirrors and thereby reveals Tom’s independent identity, one he actively constructs rooted in power and ambition.

TRUST THE PROCESS bc I’m going to now sound like that one english teacher that yells at their students “WHY IS THE CURTAIN BLUE?” But, really, why IS the curtain blue?

I picked this line because you will notice that his family is ALL IN ONE LINE. His mother, him, and his father. Like a family lineage.

A visual demonstration. Look at it. Pay attention to the markings. You done? ALL RIGHT, LET’S GO

This post focuses on the significance of the isolated pronoun “I” which is grammatically “caged” by a comma and a question mark. This grammatical isolation creates a metaphorical wall around the “I”, visually and structurally separating it from its linguistic context. This suggests that the “I”, representing Tom, actively exists on its own, signifying his belief that “I” doesn't need to be directly connected to anything or anyone else. It’s his own entity. Similar to how Tom thinks he doesn’t need anyone else, he always operated alone. He is independent just like the “I” is in this line. We get proof of his independence as early as orphanage Tom who walks around London by himself, doesn’t need Dumbledore to get him to Diagon Alley, and who we see not engaging in interpersonal relationships later as Voldemort.

The sentence before the “I” was about his mother, it ends with the words “my mother’s side” and a question mark. And then right after the “I” he begins talking about his father, starting after a comma. Here, the punctuation marks (a question mark separating him from his mother, and a comma from his father) function as grammatical barriers. They visually and syntactically isolate the “I”, reinforcing Tom's psychological act of severing these familial connections.

Typically, ones familial identity is rooted in both mother and father. However, Tom dislikes being associated with a witch who could not defy a common Muggle fate, and a father who IS a common Muggle. Such associations would, in his view, tarnish his identity. Therefore, he severs these connections, establishing himself as an independent entity, the isolated “I”

The separation from his mother through the question mark is potentially signifying his questioning of what he is supposed to make of his mother. She still is a descendant of the great Salazar Slytherin and has magic, things Tom views as powerful. Hoewever, she still died a common death which contradicst her powerful nature. Tom is conflicted, he is questioning if he should value or devalue his mother. Therefore, she is seperated by a question mark. His father, however, is being seperated through the comma, suggesting a more immediate, almost dismissive, linguistic break. Here, he is certain of denying his lineage to his father who doesn’t own anything powerful. The comma has a sharp end, as if Tom is aggressively cutting the father from the “I”. (Further supported that he grants his mother a titel of importance (MY mother) while his father gets described as A (not THE, it’s A, it’s just someone) common MUGGLE. He doesn’t get called father in this line specifically. He did call him “Father” earlier, but i’m more focusing of this change to Muggle in the same line as “my mother”)

Tom would rather be an heir (to the powerful Salazar Slytherin, who every one in his house admires, who has a recognized power and status) than a son (to a witch that died and a muggle with no status). An heir is chosen, they have a birthright to power, their future is tied to something great like an heir to the throne, who will eventually be respected by everyone due to his immesne unreachable power. Unreachable by the common. In comparison, a son is a common identity, one that does not inherently grant him any birthright to success. Anyone can be a son or a child of two parents. He doesn't want to be the son. Instead, he chooses the identity of an heir. This profound rejection is precisely why the “I” remains so starkly caged and isolated in his speech, linguistically severing the very connection, the bridge to his parents, that a “son” would have to embrace.

Did R*wling mean all of this? Absolutely NOT, BUT I WILL STILL SAY IT I PROMISE THE GRAMMAR MEANS SOMETHING HERE BELIEVE ME

[morsima]

In pgr whenever they fly from babylonia to the earth idk why it had never occurred me that they are probably floating around in that ship. Now imagine the gray ravens just floating while discussing important mission details

[morsima]

Tom riddles passive vs active victimhood

If u saw me post this before, no u didnt

A unecesarry long analysis of Tom psychology based on one quote (i’m also gonna go into headcanonland a bit, so)

English isn’t my native language and i suck at explaining so FOLLOW ME (pls)

I find this single sentence from teenage Tom Riddle always so interesting. Although his relationship with his mother can be analyzed here as well, I want to focus on his father.

The language he uses is interesting in this scene because he does not say that his mother was abandoned or that his father left his mother. He says that HE was abandoned. His mother is entirely passive. He doesn't connect his father's leaving to his mother, it's HIM who the father chose to leave. While leaving a pregnant wife does suggest abandoning the unborn child as well, Tom Senior fled specifically because of his wife. Tom Senior's action was of Merope, yet Tom bypasses her to frame himself as the primary target, and only target of abandonment.

Tom is twisting this event because it serves as a projection of his own experience. But what is he projecting exactly? He gives a hint at the second part of the sentence: the reason was that she was a witch. This detail is importand, as magic is a significant aspect of Tom’s character and he projects his own experiences onto his mother’s fate. What he believes happened to his mother, who is disliked for possessing magic in his imagination, mirrors his own experience growing up in the Orphanage. Tom’s Magic led the other children and authoritative figures to perceive him as odd, insane, mad and therefore scary and frightening. All descriptions are charged with negative connotations that cause others to distance themselves as he is something dangerous and best avoided. Even if Tom didn’t have a name for it before Dumbledore arrived, he recognized that this thing, this something that set him apart from others, was wrong. Rather than elevating his status, it had the opposite effect. He became less desirable than before he started using magic. People started to distance instead of noticing him.

This created a profound personal wound within Tom, and to cope with this injury, he convinced himself that this "wrongness" made him special (also to challenge the group identity common in these facilities by creating his own individual identity, but that's not relevant for this projection). He could do things only found in fantasy books, stories, and legends. He was something mythical. And if you are something mythical, then the opinions of non-mythical people and the names they call you no longer matter. This coping mechanism sustained him until he was 11 when his uniqueness was confirmed. However, despite this validation, years of internalized shame meant he already ingrained in him that his magic made him “wrong” in the eyes of Muggles, leading to inevitable rejection out of his control and rendering him a passive victim.

He claims this is what his father did and believes it explains what happened to his mother after he discovered her magical heritage. He projects his own experiences of social rejection due to his magic onto his father. His Muggle father is no different from the Muggle children who kept their distance from him. Instead of allowing this internalized shame to surface, he constructs a grand narrative that his and his mother's magic was simply too overwhelming for Tom Senior. He convinces himself that Tom Senior recognized his superiority, leading to his departure. In doing so, Tom reclaims his agency because rather than being a passive victim with no control over being socially rejected, like orphan-Tom, he convinces himself he was an active threat, like Voldemort-Tom, that he himself FORCED the other person to leave. HE was in control in a situation although in reality he was in fact powerless (he does that later too to the other children in the orphanage). He was simply too extraordinary for the common Muggle.

There is another dimension to the word “abandonment”. The word itself is a strong and charged term, especially for something he didn’t personally experience in the literal sense from his father, but which resonates deeply with his subjective experience of neglect. It evokes images of something or someone left behind, forgotten, completely given up, and neglected. Consider an abandoned car, for instance, which begins to decay, corrose, rust, and become dirty due to it’s environment. It mirros Tom’s subjective experience in the Orphanage. He is left to rot in the commoness of Muggles who percieve his magic as a defect. In such surroundings his magical essence is decaying and he himself is starting to wither the longer he remains there.

Perhaps he hopes that one day his family comes to rescue him from this place that makes him corrode, rot and decay (or he will find them). It’s not uncommon for orphans to fantasize about their families. Tom likely spent time dreaming that his biological family was as special and unique as he is which ties into his need for external validation of his own uniqness (general concept of a family, then possibly his father's side, then definetly the Gaunts). Little Tom doesn’t have to necesarilly firmly believe he has a living family. He might be aware that his family might not exist due to the lack of evidence, yet he indulges in the fantasy and dreams whenever he sees a family on the street, in the media, or in books, igniting his envy and want of a familial connection. This might occur even when he fails to convince a married couple to adopt him. It's another coping mechanism. It soothes him.

However, the dream of having a family stopped being the source of recognition and validation of his uniqness specifically once he discovered the wizarding world, with Hogwarts taking its place. But that doesn’t mean his longing stopped for a family that could save him from this rotten place. Now, in the wizarding world, he searches for the family he once idealized, assuming his mother was a Muggle and his father was magical. The reality was the opposite, forcing him to confront the fact that his magic doesn't spare him from the common fate of Muggles. And that his father isn’t this powerful wizard (like him), the more u idealize the more painful the disappointment is going to be. And he had this image in his mind for YEARS. He doesn’t have a reason to believe his father can save him, why would a Muggle save him? All Tom experienced from them was the opposite. He must have abandoned him just like every other Muggle ever did.

(Note: someone feeling abandoned / think they got abandoned doesn’t necessarily mean someone else left them physically. A perceived rejection can also be interpreted as being abandoned)

Now that only leaves the gap, why was his father not seen with his mom? He must have left her. What reason do you as a muggle have to leave a witch/wizard? Right, of course, magic! He simply feared the magic.

Another intriguing aspect to observe in this sentence is Tom's shift from his perspective, using "my mother," to adopting his father's viewpoint, referring to "his wife," while talking to Harry. This linguistic maneuver is intended to place Harry in his father's position, forcing him to agree with Tom's view of his father's coldness: not only for abandoning a "mother," but for leaving his own family, his "wife.", his own union. The aim is to elicit empathy and sympathy from Harry, leading him to agree that the father is at fault, not Tom. Tom seeks external validation to affirm that the rejection is not due to Tom’s magic (his “wrongness”) but his father's. A validation he cannot provide for himself internally.

Later, he seizes complete control of the abandonment narrative by killing him and corrupting his appearance with dark magic. By replacing his name with Voldemort and altering his appearance to look distinctly different from his father (and everyone else really), he erases the last evidence of their shared commonness. Now, he can no longer claim to have been abandoned as Tom actively takes measures to reject his father in return.

(Without sounding like a broken record, i just need to address this too because it's fascinating. Notice how Riddle keeps the "I" separated right before he speaks about his father? He creates linguistic distance between himself and his father even in his grammar. It reminds me how royals speak "I, Mr. King, hereby declare". It's formal, elevated and self-important. Next, he is devaluing his father with words like "fool" and "common." Tom communicates he is a powerful while his father is weak and ordinary common, he is showing Harry that he is superior to his father. But then the power shifts suddenly to his father the moment he admits he was abandoned? How does a common man abandon a powerful? It doesn't make sense again. For a short moment, reality threatens his self-concept: "I am special. I am unique. I am powerful." Now he is stressed, its creates a very uncomfortable feeling. He has to correct the slip because he can’t accept the reality yet. And he does by explaining "Well, it was only because I have this very powerful thing called magic! “ All good, he is on the throne and his beliefs about himself are true again!)

Thank you for listening (๑✪ᆺ✪๑)

[morsima]

Tom would occasionally admit to the very morally and ethically questionable things he has done in a sneakily humorous way. The other person would laugh and think this charming young man simply had a dark, eccentric sense of humor.

"He works in Knockturn Alley, no wonder he behaves this way! The cursed artifacts and questionable clients are clearly getting to him, poor fellow”

The things Tom said were too outrageous to be true. Besides, no one goes through their day suspecting the person in front of them might be a murderer. Especially not this gentle, helpful, good natured, intelligent, well spoken young wizard! Tom knew this. He let them laugh and laughed right alongside them at his obviously just twisted sense of humour

HE IS INNOCENT, YOUR HONOR

[morsima]

Some people characterize Dumbledore in such a comically villainous way. I do know Dumbledore has his flaws, he is not my fav character as i don’t particularly like him either, but a lotta times I cant ignore the need to defend this man from his really unecesarry and over the top at times bashings. ITS GETTING OLD. But i am also ranting about a series that ended 19 years ago. Its getting old too, morsimos #hypocite

[inthedepthofsoul]

[morsima]

AMAZING DELICIOUS GIVE ME 14 OF EM RN