Any 'psychoanalysis' of Voldemort is meaningless if it doesn't include his relationship with Bellatrix.
You cannot dissect his psychology, his motivations, his emotional landscape, or his capacity for attachment while pretending the one person he demonstrably cares about doesn't exist. Even if you refuse to acknowledge the sexual dimension of their relationship, which would itself be a misreading given the canon evidence and Rowling's explicit confirmation, you cannot deny the emotional attachment without rendering everything else you say unsound. She is woven into the narrative itself and Voldemort's attachment to her is so significant to the plot that it bookends the second Wizarding War, and to remove her is to collapse the entire edifice of how Rowling wrote Voldemort.
It's one thing to be invested solely in your fanon ship and to treat canon as optional, which is perfectly valid, but you cannot claim allegiance to canon or pretend to be conducting a faithful reading of it if you deny what is plainly, repeatedly, lexically, syntactically, literally and figuratively and symbolically, structurally embedded in the text itself. Canon is not a buffet from which you may discreetly remove the elements that agitate you. If you want to crate a fanon universe where Voldemort is emotionally inert and Bellatrix is irrelevant, by all means do so, but own it as fanon and do not pretend it is an honest reading. Intellectual honesty requires accepting every aspect of the narrative, not cherry-picking the moments that support your preferred interpretation while conveniently ignoring the rest.
None of this is about shipping preferences or personal taste but whether you are capable of reading the text as it was written or whether your interpretation is so compromised by what you want to be true that you can no longer see what is actually there, which are the moments that reveal who he actually is, rather than what Dumbledore wants Harry to think. To ignore them is to wilfully blind yourself to half of his psychology and any analysis built on that foundation is worthless.
You are doing Voldemort a profound disservice as a character when you flatten him this way. He is not a simple villain motivated purely by power and immortality with no emotional attachments whatsoever. That version of Voldemort is a cartoon, a caricature that exists only because you need him to be emotionally unavailable for the person you've decided should have him instead. The actual Voldemort, the one Rowling wrote, is far more complex and far more human than you're allowing him to be. He is someone whose entire life has been organised around the trauma of abandonment and the desperate need to never be vulnerable again, someone who built walls so high and so thick that almost nothing could penetrate them, and yet Bellatrix did penetrate them.
The only reason to refuse this reading is because it threatens your preferred ship, but canon Bellamort does not actually hurt a fanon ship in any way! A fanon ship by definition exists outside canon. It operates in a space where the rules are whatever you decide they are and the dynamics are whatever you want them to be. Canon Bellamort cannot 'invalidate' a fanon ship because fanon operates by different rules entirely.
The only way a canon dynamic threatens a fanon one is if the fanon shipper is projecting their own insecurity onto the source material because they cannot emotionally tolerate it and then attempting to rearrange canon to soothe themselves. Their judgement becomes clouded, their logic buckles, and their supposed 'analysis' collapses into jealous revisionism. They cannot tolerate Bellatrix having a claim on Voldemort, emotional, sexual, and psychological, that eclipses their chosen partner for him, so instead of adjusting their fanon to coexist with canon the way every healthy fanon ship does or ignoring canon altogether, they amputate parts of Voldemort's character. They flatten him to make room for themselves and their fantasy, and then they have the audacity to present this mutilated version as analysis.
If you refuse to look at his attachment to Bellatrix, you are not analysing Voldemort at all but creating an OC who happens to share his name and backstory. You are amputating half his psychology because it threatens your preferred image of him because jealousy has made you selectively blind, because you cannot be intellectually honest when your emotions are this deeply invested in an alternate version of events. This misreading is not because the text is ambiguous but because jealousy prevents you from seeing what's plainly there. You cannot tolerate Bellatrix having this unique position in his life, so you minimise it, dismiss it, pretend it doesn't exist or doesn't matter, and then you call this denial analysis. You're just protecting your own emotions and it's painfully transparent to anyone not equally compromised by their own shipping preferences.
You don't have to like Bellatrix or be interested in her or Bellamort. You can find the dynamic uncomfortable or uninteresting or morally repugnant if you want, but if you erase the one person Voldemort is canonically shown to care about, any analysis you write of Voldemort will be structurally unsound because it's built on a foundation of denial and anything you construct on top of that foundation will be equally unstable.
Canon Bellamort exists and influences Voldemort's psychology in ways that are unmistakable if you're willing to actually read the text. It shapes his decisions at the most critical moments in the series. It reveals aspects of his character that exist nowhere else. It provides the only window we get into his capacity for attachment, his vulnerability, his need for acceptance, and yes, his sexuality. A fanon ship remains entirely untouched by this unless its shipper refuses to tolerate complexity because they need canon to validate their fantasy rather than letting it exist independently as fanon is meant to do.
Stop this self-inflicted ignorance. Stop flattening Voldemort and taking away his complexity for your ship's sake. Stop pretending that your emotional discomfort with canon is the same thing as critical analysis. If you want to retreat into fanon, do so openly and honestly, but if you claim to be discussing canon Voldemort, then you must reckon with the character as he is written, not as you wish he were. Otherwise you are misrepresenting him and nothing undermines your credibility faster than treating your emotional avoidance as literary insight. You cannot claim to care about canon while simultaneously rejecting the parts of it that inconvenience you.
The text is there. The evidence is overwhelming. Your refusal to engage with it says everything about your priorities and nothing about the actual character. Canon is not obligated to conform to your preferences and Voldemort is not obligated to be the person you need him to be for your ship to work. He is who Rowling wrote him to be, and she wrote him as someone fundamentally shaped by his attachment to Bellatrix Lestrange whether you can bear to acknowledge it or not.
Do you think that Voldemort/Tom Riddle could be redeemed or find redemption “through” anyone else but Harry? Obviously we are going with a very broad & loose canon divergence scenario here, but, assuming we try to follow canon as closely as possible, do you think that anyone else aside Harry might lend any amount of support for redemption? (I’m referring to the last scene of them with that remorse part)
Omph, okay, so, first of all, I don't think redemption is something that could be found "through" anyone. Redemption and remorse are processes Tom should go through. It's not Harry (or anyone) that leads him through it but Tom actively looking in and choosing to examine himself and his actions — something I don't really see him doing.
Like remorse requires a combination of two things:
A sense of guilt over your actions
Regret of said actions due to the aforementioned guilt.
Now, Tom, I think, does have his regrets. I think he regrets going after Harry, he regrets killing Myrtle to a degree as well, but not because of the effects on others, but because of how these events effected himself. He regrets going to kill Harry on Halloween 1981 because it killed him. He regretted killing Myrtle (at one point) because it ruined his chances to stay at Hogwarts during the summer, but he did not regret her death, or creating a Horcrux. So, Tom does experience regret, so that's no problem.
The guilt is a more interesting aspect. Guilt is defined as a feeling of blame, the sense that you are to blame. Now, I think Tom is definitely aware he is to blame for each and every death he caused, I think he just doesn't particularly care about most people. Not enough to feel anything about it. But, I think he does feel guilt for some things. I think him killing his father and grandparents was in a moment of passion and I think he does feel some remorse over it. Over killing them, not over making their deaths into a Horcrux or making the Horcrux.
The reason I keep mentioning the Horcruxes is because in the quote you brought up, Harry mentioned "remorse" as a means of destroying Horcruxes. I mentioned here and here how remorse could destroy a Horcrux: by regretting the creation of said Horcrux you'll break the oath that binds the Horcrux's magic. So, this specific brand of remorse would only happen if Tom decides he wishes to die (either now or eventually) but the moment he accepts his own death, he breaks the Horcruxes.
Now, I think that the final one is something Tom could eventually do. I mentioned here how Tom's behavior indicates he suspects he would wish to die, eventually, or that he at least wants that option open to him. Another person could help point the journey out to him, but it would still be a decision Tom would have to make. Otherwise, it won't really mean anything.
As for who, well, I mean, there is a reason Harry is the person we see asking Tom to try for some remorse. Harry isn't offering to lead Tom in his redemption, but he offers that path to him. He tells him he could try it, that he has another choice, which Tom, as we know, declines. But I think Harry is the only character in canon (definitely around book 7) who could or would offer Tom this alternative.
Ron mentioned in DH it's scary how well Harry understands Tom:
When Harry had finished speaking, Ron shook his head.
“You really understand him.”
“Bits of him,” said Harry. “Bits . . . I just wish I’d understood Dumbledore as much. But we’ll see. Come on—Ollivander now.”
(DH, 420)
Now, I don't think Harry understands Tom as well as I do, but he definitely understands Tom better than Dumbledore. I think it's striking how Harry feels he knows Voldemort better than he does Dumbledore, but I digress.
the point is, that Harry always showed sympathy towards Tom Riddle. When Dumbledore showed him Tom Riddle's memories, Harry didn't see a psychopath who was born evil, but a child, an orphan, not so dissimilar to himself, who ended up evil. Harry and Tom both remark on how similar their circumstances were:
Because there are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike. . . .
(CoS, 292)
On how, if Harry's gone on a slightly different path, they could've been even more similar, with how he was almost in Slytherin.
When we see Harry calling Voldemort Tom in the final book, it's in a different tone than when Dumbledore called Voldemort Tom.
Dumbledore called Voldemort "Tom" as a statement of power. To diminish Tom back to the student he was, to diminish his achievements, to remind Tom he is still the same boy and no lord. That he isn't as special as he thinks he is. When Harry calls Tom by his name, Tom is convinced he is doing the same, but I don't think he is.
I think Harry calls him "Tom" because it's his name. Because he's human like everyone else. For Harry, it's from a place of understanding and sympathy and not a taunt. Not really. The taunt is Harry knowing something Voldemort doesn't, Harry is taunting him over magic and information, not about his name.
Harry is the only character in book 7 that can claim to have a resemblance of understanding of Tom Riddle and who he is. More importantly, Harry is the only character we see who feels sympathy towards Tom Riddle. That's why I said Harry is the only one who would offer Tom another option, a chance at redemption because no one else would. The entire wizarding world in the final book, even Death Eaters, Ron and Hermione see Voldemort as a kind of bogyman, a figure of fear more akin to death than a mortal man. Harry calls him Tom Riddle because he sees him as a human being, something which is necessary to be able to offer sympathy and to tell him he could choose remorse — redemption.
I think Harry, who determines how he feels about people not necessarily according to their actions, but according to how much he cares about them (he doesn't mind when Hermione kidnaps Rita Skeeter but is willing to strangle, maybe kill, Mundungus for stealing from Grimmauld Place) and understands Tom too much to not care about him enough to make him this offer at the final moment. And I think Harry is one of the only people, if not the only person, who would look at Lord Voldemort and what he did, and decide that knowing Tom Riddle is enough to offer him a chance at forgiveness. Like, this decision is insane and shows Harry's insane compassion. Yes, his compassion is somewhat selective, but once he decides he cares about you, even the most minuscule amount (like Stan Shunpike) he'll go very far for you. Up to and including giving Voldemort the option to choose redemption. But this isn't something I think anyone else would've offered.
I mean, the Order lost too much to Voldemort in the first war (and the second one). They see him as a monster more than a man. The same goes for Ron and Hermione and everyone else, really. Even Snape doesn't really know Voldemort enough to consider himself his equal, to see Voldemort as just another human. But Harry does: "Mark him as his equal" and all that.
So, basically, I think it could've only been Harry to make that offer because no one else would. But, unless we drastically change the books, no way would Tom have ever said "Yes, I want to try remorse".
(As an aside, I think it could've been hilarious if Voldemort did say: "yeah, sure" and Harry had to explain to everyone Voldemort is alright now, because he's feeling remorse and Harry decided he can forgive him. I can see how well that's going to go)
A large number of his followers believe that pure - bloods are superior to half - bloods, who in turn are superior to Muggle - born wizards. This is at least a view that he propagated or tolerated.
However, he himself is a half - blood and doesn’t seem to mind mentioning it. I remember that he told Harry Potter more than once. He also mentioned his father in front of the Death Eaters to intimidate them.
His valued follower, Snape, is also a half - blood.
His personally chosen arch - enemy, Harry Potter, is also a half - blood. (“Voldemort never understood the power of love, never understood the power of sacrifice... He chose that boy, just as the prophecy said, he chose the boy he thought was most like himself.”)
So, does he think that he himself is the best➡️those who are like him are the best➡️he is a half - blood➡️half - bloods are the best?
I think we are mixing up things here that do not actually belong together.
Voldemort takes advantage of an already established movement —namely, the discontent of the magical elites with the intrusion of Muggle culture through Muggle-borns and half-bloods— in order to radicalise a specific group of people, exploit their resentment, and thus build a following loyal to him. This allows him to pursue his real objective, which is not the extermination of Muggles per se, but the domination of both the magical and the Muggle worlds.
His hatred of Muggles stems from unresolved daddy issues combined with the resentment born from his experience in the orphanage. That is why he focuses his rage on everything associated with them. Ideologically, however, I do not think he aligns —even remotely— with the beliefs of the old pure-blood aristocratic families. He uses those families as a means to an end, but his priority is not the preservation of pure-blood supremacy. His priority is himself, and the attainment of total social control in order to exercise power.
In that sense, he behaves like most dictators or radical political or religious leaders: he exploits a discourse that suits his needs to radicalise a particular sector of the population, even though that discourse means absolutely nothing to him on a personal level.
Then there is the issue of half-bloods. Here, I think it is simply projection. Voldemort chooses Harry precisely because he is a half-blood, just as he elevates Snape — also a half-blood — to one of his highest-ranking positions. In my opinion, he is projecting himself onto both his archenemy and his most trusted lieutenant: yet another manifestation of his unresolved psychological issues.
They might be a minority but obviously a powerful one. Kind of like the oligarchs of our world. Otherwise why would Voldemort target them? I believe it is because they had strong social standing, political standing and wealth. And yes many of Rowlings points don't make sense but we can nitpick and try to make sense of it. I was mostly focusing on what happened after they couped the Ministry in the 2nd war in DH. They made muggleborns secondclass citizens. They kept their enemies in their dungeons, obviously torturing them. Anyone who didn't oblige with their ideology was hunted down. Isn't that a dictatorship? These are obvious fascist beliefs. Or maybe not fascist but something like it. And in the first war they were more terrorists than fascists but their goal was clear no? If they managed to spread such terror in the first war and if we look at their actions in DH it is obvious they aim to oppress muggleborns and blood traitors etc. And if such powerful people held such beliefs it must have existed for a long time and also spread to the general public no? Even if muggleborns were citizens and had rights they were kind of comparable to how women in America or France are treated. With rights, recognized as humans under the law but still disadvantged in the economic and political sphere plus looked down upon or not treated as equal by many. If this universe were real how do you think it/the first war and politics would look like ? Yes not many things make sense but I do think we can compare it to some things that are happening in your world.
Yes, that’s why I emphasized that there was no kind of structural discrimination until Voldemort came to power during the Second Wizarding War. That’s where we can find parallels because it was clearly Rowling’s intention, but the fact that it wasn’t until then that repressive measures were introduced makes it a failed attempt at imitation because, once again—and I insist—there was no active structural discrimination.
You mentioned the case of women, but that is incorrect again. Women haven’t had access to equal pay, positions of power, higher education, or even their own bank accounts. We’re talking about a group that has been structurally treated as second-class citizens. Muggle-borns, on the other hand, have always—ALWAYS, until Voldemort’s rise to power (at least from what we know in the canon)—had access to the same rights as pure-blood wizards: financial independence, studying under the same conditions, access to the same jobs, and the same social and economic opportunities.
The issue with Rowling’s portrayal of blood status as a parallel to real-world political issues is that most of these real-world problems are based on discrimination due to evident traits: one recognizes women, one recognizes racialized individuals. But it’s impossible to recognize a Muggle-born unless they specifically tell you. You might know someone isn’t a pure-blood based on their surname (and not always lol) but that doesn’t mean they’re a Muggle-born; they could be mixed-blood with several generations of wizarding ancestry. That information isn’t common knowledge unless it’s investigated. And once again, pure-bloods are a minority. What predominates in the wizarding world are mostly mixed-bloods, then Muggle-borns, and pure-bloods are the least common.
Voldemort targets an economically privileged minority, which is less typical of fascism and more in line with the conservative right-wing politics of the late 20th and early 21st centuries to ensure that the political leader maintains economic and social power. But honestly, I think Rowling fails spectacularly because, in the end, if I had to draw a parallel with an oppressive structure, I would talk not about racism or fascism but pure classism. Of course, those two systems of oppression are rife with classism—no question about it. But classism can exist independently of them, and given how British society is structured around class issues, Muggle-borns fit better as the typical scholarship kids who attend elite schools and are discriminated against by the snobs.
That said, my main issue with this debate is that, even if we could call it fascism (which, as I’ve said, I don’t agree with), I find it incredibly problematic to categorically label certain characters as fascists or racists when their actions took place under extremely coercive, vulnerable, and violent circumstances. Especially in the case of Snape, where we’re essentially talking about a working-class kid with no family, economic, or social resources, who was actively bullied by the supposed “leftist, progressive” kids who, coincidentally (spoiler: not), were rich aristocratic children from the upper class. Snape was only marginally accepted in an environment full of radicalized adolescents who promised him a future and protection if he joined them. Snape’s case is practically textbook when it comes to how vulnerable youth and at-risk teenagers are the main targets of radicalized groups, which exploit their needs and make all sorts of promises to them. Calling a vulnerable teenager a fascist is to fundamentally misunderstand how fascism works or what mechanisms it uses to attract people.
As I mentioned before, fascism triumphed in 20th-century Europe, and today neo-fascism is again a problem in Europe. And I’m sorry, but I’m old enough to understand that someone who feels seduced by and defends certain political parties isn’t necessarily a fascist. I suppose this is also a matter of gaining years and experience. For instance, I’ve met people who have voted for far-right groups and are genuinely lovely individuals, but these groups have developed a discourse and narrative that successfully convinces certain social majorities. That’s how they operate.
So I saw many theories regarding how to make a Horcrux, but none of them really made perfect sense to me, so I decided to give it a crack myself as part of my mission to understand Lord Voldemort/Tom Marvolo Riddle (Which I think I did, big post coming about that at some point, this is but another piece of that puzzle of a man)
So this is my reverse engineering of a ritual to create Horcruxes based on book evidence, my knowledge of real-world alchemy, real-world ancient Greek cults and rituals and linguistic analysis.
How to reverse engineering a dark magical ritual:
The first thing is to define what we know for certain:
The name: "Horcrux"
The creator is an Ancient Greek wizard named Harpo the Foul.
A death is required in the making.
A Horcrux holds a piece of the caster's soul that anchors them to life so they won't die.
I'll actually start with the third point.
How to split a soul?
Both Dumbledore and Slughorn mention murder being required to tear your soul to make a Horcrux, and that never really sat right with me. It magically doesn't make sense and even the canon examples we have for Horcrux murders make this statement iffy.
We have seven examples of murders used to create Horcruxs (thanks to one Tom Riddle being dramatic):
The Diary - Myrtle Warren - killed by a basilisk. Sure, Tom freed the Basilisk, but it hardly seemed targeted at Myrtle specifically and you can argue he didn't actually kill her (more a manslaughter by negligence). He didn't cast the spell, so how come this tore his soul? (I also think Myrtle was an accident and wasn't meant to be killed, but I digress)
The Ring - his father (Tom Riddle Sr) - Avada Kadevra.
The Cup - Hepzibah Smith - she was poisoned by her house elf. Sure, the elf was under the imperious, but it wasn't a first-degree murder, and like with the Basilisk I find it hard to consider this the same as casting a killing curse. Magically those are very different things.
The Locket - Muggle Tramp - Avada Kadevra
The Diadem - Albanian Peasant - Avada Kadevra
Harry Potter - himself - backfired Avada Kadevra
Nagini - Bertha Jorkins - Avada Kadevra
Now, I used the term "magically different" or "magically make sense" what do I mean by that?
Well, besides the fact I'm going to make a full post about how I see magical theory in the Harry Potter Wizarding World, I'll say it takes a lot after occult philosophies from Alchemy that are very old, Slughorn mentions as much in book 6 and there are a few other references to it. I'm just gonna cover the basics required for this theory.
In Alchemy, everything (people, animals, plants, and rocks) is built of three base components:
The Salt - the body - the physical form.
The Sulfur - the soul - the self that holds the divine flame.
The Mercury - the spirit - the life essence that binds the salt and sulfur together.
Now, in Alchemy, the main study is in purifying and combining these different aspects of material. Let's look at a herb, for an example:
If we want to retrieve its salt, we'll dry the herb completely using fire to leave behind a fine light grey ash that represents only the physical form.
If we wanted its mercury we'd distill all liquids from it until we get a purified, clear liquid which in the case of plants would be alcohol (it's why alcohol is referred to as "spirit").
And if we wanted its soul, we would take the remains from the distillation and drying process which would be a kind of oil.
(it can get more complicated with different materials, but this isn't a post about Alchemy)
Now, back to Horcruxs.
So, if we would want to split a soul, Alchemecly, how do we go about it?
Well, we don't. Not really. See a soul can't really be split, as every part of it, every bit of that oil from our random herb represents the entire soul. It's why something like a Horcrux could theoretically work in giving a full life to the diary the way we see in Chamber of Secrets.
Additionally, to work with any material in Alchemy, you are required to purify it first. It means that to get a piece of soul to bind to a diary, you need a pure soul.
Killing someone else won't sever your own soul from the spirit and the body, it's not how this works. Killing someone severs their spirit and therefore splits their body, spirit, and soul. Besides, an Ancient Greek man, like Herpo was, would hardly consider murder as vile as we do today. It wouldn't even cross his mind that any murder (even an indirect one) could harm one's own soul.
No, the only way to "split" a soul is to first sever it from life, disconnecting the bond between soul and body. Essentially, the only way to promise you immortality is to kill yourself.
I know it sounds a little confusing, but, essentially, once the soul is severed from the spirit and body you can split it. Think of the herbal oil, once you have the oil, separate from the rest of the plant parts, you can combine it with new ingredients. You can only work on a specific aspect once you severed it from the other two and as what binds all three together is spirit — life — the only way to do it for a human soul — is death.
But really, how?
Well, here comes the second thing we know about making Horcruxs — that dear Herpo was from Ancient Greece.
In Ancient Greece they had multiple different religious cults, some of which were Chthonic cults. These cults dedicated themselves to death or ditties and heroes associated with death and more importantly — rebirth.
Many of these cults were dedicated to figures like Orpheus, Dionysus, and Persephone, characters in mythology who are known for going through the underworld — through death — and coming back out. These cults were very secretive and not much is known about their practices, but some are.
What is known is that they had rituals where they reenacted a death and then rebirth (usually drinking wine — water of life, was the representation of rebirth).
This created a very clear idea in my head — to split a soul, you'll have to ritualistically, magically kill yourself, severe a piece of your soul, and then revive yourself with a water of life — a potion.
This potion is never mentioned, but I believe it exists due to these Chthonic cult rituals and how they were structured. Not only that, but the Greek underworld did have a river known for being incredibly painful to drink, literally made of fire, but being able to bring the dead back - The Phlegethon River.
Note: Lethe River Water (the river in the Greek Underworld that makes the drinker forget) is a canon ingredient in a Forgetfulness Potion.
So what is the dead body for?
Well, congratulations, you killed yourself to retrieve a sliver of your soul and revived yourself so you won't stay dead. You found an item you can keep secure to tie that sliver of soul, too. Now, how would you bind then? After all, the only thing meant to bind a human soul to a body is a human spirit - a human life... you get where I'm going with this.
This is why Tom didn't have to be the one to do the deed. As long as he had a recently deceased corpse to harvest the life from to use to bind his newly split soul and the item of his choice.
It explains why nothing was missing from the bodies. Myrtle and the Riddles were investigated by the Ministry of Magic. One would assume the Aurors would've noticed if any corpse was missing a hand due to the killer eating it (as other Horcrux theories suggest).
Not only was nothing missing from the body, the soul was intact. Myrtle became a ghost after death, a ghost is quite literally, just the soul, no body, no spirit.
So the only thing that was taken from Tom's victims was their life, quite literally at that.
Is that all? Can we make a Horcrux now?
Not really. See, when analyzing spells in Harry Potter, one thing super important to note is their name.
Avada Kadevra - is a reference to an Aramaic healing spell "Abracadabra" pronounced in Aramaic as: "Avra Kadebra" and meaning "I will create as commanded". Merged with the Latin word "cadaver" meaning "corpse" to create -> "I will create dead bodies as commanded"
Or Wingardium Laviosa - is a cross of the English word "wing", the Latin word "arduus" (meaning "high, tall, lofty, steep, proudly elevated"), or "arduum" (meaning "steep place, the steep" and the Latin word "levo" (meaning to "raise, lift up"). So together the spell means -> "lift high up".
So, it's pretty clear spells, their names, and incantations are very self-explanatory. So a Horcrux should be no different.
I've seen some attempts at translating the name Horcrux. Unfortunately, these attempts treated the name as Latin, modern Greek, or Old English. Herpo, was Ancient Greek, though, so I went and translated a few possible meanings from Ancient Greek (Classical Greek and Homeric Greek are what I looked at):
ὅρκος (orkus, pronounced "hor-kus") - an oath, the object by which one swears, bound by oath (still used in modern Greek).
κρόκες (crukes, pronounced "cru-kes") - saffron-colored (blood red in Greek), crocus flower. The crocus flower symbolizes both death (the saffron that is the spice) and rebirth (the golden crocus which brings renewal and joy) because Demeter wears them when Persephone returns from the underworld in myth.
So what we have is a spell called "binding oath of death and rebirth" which all around sounds fitting.
There might also be a "made in blood" tucked at the end due to the association of κρόκες with the color of blood.
But why does it matter?
Well, now with this name, I expect the binding between the spirit from the victim, the split soul, and the item would be done in a sort of oath - an orkus.
The association with blood gives us another hint. Blood is the part of the human body most representative of life. Therefore, in Alchemy, your blood is your spirit. So it'll make sense that your own blood would be used in the binding process or more correctly in the process of turning another person's spirit into your own. Making the thread to bind the body (item) and the soul piece your own. As it also refers to just a red firey color, it can indicate the Phlagatton potion I hypothesize should be part of the ritual due to how Chthonic rituals usually went, as the Phlagaton river is made of fire.
So we have a general idea of how to make a Horcrux. You need an item of your choice to bind your soul to. You need a life (spirit) harvested from a human that you transformed into being your own using your blood. And you need a piece of your own soul, which you get by killing yourself and then reviving yourself. And you finish it off by binding it all together with an oath.
But how could you make one accidentally?
So, everyone knows Voldemort succeeded in somehow making a Horcrux accidentally, something a lot of theories I saw don't account for. Becouse whatever process you need to go to to make a Horcrux, Voldemort went through all of it the night he died the first time and marked Harry.
All the steps for my method of making a Horcrux were met that night.
The item in qustion is baby Harry, nothing interesting there.
The soul sliver was split the way it always is — through death. Voldemort died, killed by his own killing curse and that is what splits his soul.
The life or spirit that then binds his soul to Harry isn't Lily's spirit or James'; it's his own spirit that acts as a binder between Harry and Voldemort’s split soul. Because the spirit was already his, there was no need to transform it by blood so the additional ritual wasn't necessary.
Step-by-step guide to making Horcruxes:
I'm not going to actually give the full step-by-step least a budging dark lord is looking for this information. I do have notes about exact incantations and even the full recipe and instructions for the Phlagaton potion I'm going to mention. These instructions won't be here since they are more in the realm of speculation and headcanon. This is just the overview of the ritual based on canon information and the occult philosophy I mentioned above. (edit: the full step-by-step headcanon with my potion recipe and everything does appear in the reblogs)
Step 1 - Life and Blood
Get access to a recently deceased human and extract their Mercury (Spirit or Life Essence).
Submerge the retrieved life essence with your own blood on a new moon (life and vitality). (7 drops of blood will probably do)
Step 2 - Water of Fire
To complete the cycle of death and rebirth you’ll need the Phlegeton Water potion to return you to life at the end of the cycle.
As you brew the potion, it must be brewed in a dark room, preferably underground to remind as much of the underworld as possible.
While brewing the potion one must be in the mindset of the Phlegeton, must be willing to go through agony to achieve eternal life and imbue these thoughts in their potion. (In alchemy, when working, it is believed you imbue your work with your thoughts during the Alchemical process. As an Alchemical process affects both the material being worked and the Alchemist themselves)
Likley Ingrediants:
Saffron spice
Golden crocus flower juice
Pomegranate juice
Step 3 - The Ritual Preparation
Set up your space so none of the components may escape the ritual space and so the ritual will not be interfered with.
Make sure the spirit you retrieved is within reach.
Make sure the item you desire will hold the Horcrux will be within reach as well.
Coax the spirit into the item and prepare it to tie your soul to the next step.
Step 4 - Death and Rebirth
To create a thread of your soul to tie to the ritual, you must die figuratively. Go through death to return stronger from the underworld.
Once you feel like death has reached you and your soul is separated you should heal your soul and finish the cycle, bringing you out of death and back to life by drinking the Phlegeton potion.
After the pain subsides you will feel healthier than before, stronger than before, and you’ll have an additional thread of sulfur (soul) in your chest to be pulled out and placed into the Horcrux.
The split-off soul should, on its own, try to search for life and a body to be bound to. If it doesn't, coax it out yourself and bind it to the Horcrux with the spirit you made in step 1.
Step 5 - Oath of Life
The connection between the body (the item), soul, and spirit is still unstable, if most likely strong enough to hold.
Swear the oath of life to finalize the bond between you, the Horcrux, and the soul thread together to ward off death.
I'll end with this note I made regarding Horcruxes when I started working on this theory:
I don't know what all goes into the process of making a Horcrux but I don't believe a person who truly likes themselves and doesn't want to inflict pain on themselves could make a Horcrux. Tearing up your soul is an act of arrogance above nature, sure, thinking you deserve to change the laws of the world and be the exception is part of it, but it's also an act of self-hatred. You need to hate yourself enough to be willing to kill yourself, hurt yourself, and tear yourself up in the most unnatural ways — hence why so few can do so, let alone more than once.
And Tom Riddle does seem to have that exact mix of arrogance, spite, and low self-esteem that would allow it.
Okay, it took me some time to answer this ask since I needed to spend some time thinking. I didn't really have an answer in mind until your question. It's just something I apparently never thought about. So I was interested in finding the most canon-adjacent answer I can for if Tom Riddle/Voldemort could cast a patronus, what would it be.
So, my approach to finding the right animal was based on a few factors, the first of which:
How exactly is the form your Patronus takes determined?
Because we don't actually get a straight answer in the books. We know Patroni can change with a person, but we don't exactly get an answer on what their form represents and why some couples have matching Patroni.
Basically, I don't know what you expected, Anon, but what you're getting is some rambling about the magical theory behind the Patronus charm followed by why that means Tom gets a certain animal over another.
So, let's start with the basics, the incantation:
"Expecto Patronum"
This is in Latin and literally translates to: "I await/expect a defender"
And Remus Lupin explains what the Patronus charm is as:
“Well, when it works correctly, it conjures up a Patronus,” said Lupin, “which is a kind of anti-dementor — a guardian that acts as a shield between you and the dementor.”
...
“The Patronus is a kind of positive force, a projection of the very things that the dementor feeds upon — hope, happiness, the desire to survive — but it cannot feel despair, as real humans can, so the dementors can’t hurt it. But I must warn you, Harry, that the charm might be too advanced for you. Many qualified wizards have difficulty with it.”
(POA, page 237)
We also know the patronus is cast by thinking of a happy memory — well, not really. The memory isn't really important; the emotion is. The memory is to help you have the right happy feelings that can fuel a Patronus. "You got to mean it" just like with an unforgivable.
So, what does it tell us about the Patronus:
We have a defender made out of happiness, literally.
This already sounds like something Tom Riddle would struggle with. I don't really see canon Tom Riddle/Voldemort being capable of producing one, but let's assume he can in some hypothetical AU. Let's take a look at a few patroni to see how their form is chosen and why.
Obviously, we have Harry's (and James') stag. A stag symbolizes many things in different cultures, but deer (both Stags and Does, like Lily and Snape) in general symbolize:
The cycle of life and death
Agility and grace
Bravery
Nobility
All this fits the Potters quite well. The nobility and bravery of Gryffindor and the cycle between life and death. Stags actually represent regeneration, as in a return from death, which fits with the Potters' connection to the Paverells and death perfectly.
Stags also symbolize authority, strength, leadership, and fatherhood, while does symbolize femininity, grace, intuition, and devotion. All in all, both animals fit James and Lily well. And while the stag does fit Harry (to a degree), I don't think his Patronus represents him.
I think Harry's patronus is a stag because James' patronus was a stag. Harry was actually convinced his father cast the Patronus when he first saw it in POA. And it makes sense.
I don't remember where I saw this theory, but it essentially was that your patrons would represent a person or an idea that you feel will defend you. It's why certain couples have matching Patroni, why a Patronus can change when you or your feelings about people change.
And Harry, when he casts his Patronus, the idea of his father who he never knew but would have protected him is the idea represented in Harry's Patronus. It's a stag like James' not because Harry and James are so similar (they have very different personalities actually) but because Harry's Patronus is James. It's a stag because James was a stag, and Harry is calling the concept of his father to defend him.
Following this logic, Lily's Patronus is a doe, because she is the doe. Lily's defender is herself. Courageous, noble, graceful and devoted. Lily's devotion to her son is what literally sets the series into motion. The reason she and James match is that they always have. He was always represented by the stag and she was always represented by the doe. Their Patroni aren't matching because of their relationship with each other, but because they are so compatible their Patroni matched from the get-go.
Snape's Patronus is a doe because of Lily. Lily is represented by the doe. As she was Snape's first friend and defender, whenever he calls for a protector, it's Lily.
Let's look at a few other Patroni, like Hermione's otter:
Playfulness
Joy
Family and close-knit friendships
Loyalty
All of this doesn't really sound like Hermione. Ron's Jack Russell Terrier on the other hand:
Loyalty
Courage
Playfulness
Cleverness
Protectiveness
Tanasity
Does sound very in line with who Ron is.
But then who does Hermione's otter represent? Well, an otter is from the weasel family and the list of characteristics looks closer to Ron's list of traits than Hermione's. I think Hermione's otter represents Ron who did step in to defend her since the troll incident in their first year multiple times.
So, where does that leave Tom Riddle?
Well, we established the Patronus becomes your defender, and in Tom's case, it'll be himself. Tom is distrustful and sees himself as more capable than anyone else. Not to mention he never had a real connection or person in his life he could call upon to defend him. So, whatever animal his Patronus is would represent himself as his own defender.
So, which animal represents Tom best?
The first animal I thought of, is of course: the serpent. Snakes are heavily associated with Tom (for obvious reasons) and is an animal we know he has a soft spot for. When looking at what snakes represent, you can see why he is associated with them:
Deceit
Transformation
Power
Regeneration and rebirth (shedding their skin)
Healing (Cadcadeus)
For the most part, the list seems to fit him well. Specifically their association with rebirth and the cycle of life and death by shedding their skin. Deceit and power are also right up Tom's alley. And even transformation considering he rewrote his entire identity to become Voldemort.
But, just "snake" wasn't good enough for me, I wanted to know which kind. And as I wanted his Patronus to be as rare as Harry's stag, I went to the list of official Pottermore possible Patroni to find a snake that is as hard to get in the test as the stag while not being magical.
(Magical Patroni are incredibly rare and to have yourself represented by a magical creature in your Patronus you need to be incredibly unique or incredibly full of yourself. At least, that's how I see it)
And low and behold, there was one on the aforementioned list:
The King Cobra
So I looked up if this snake has any interesting additional unique symbolism that would fit Tom. And, well, there was:
Authority and Leadership
Aggression and Fearlessness
Destruction and Creation
Intelligence and Cunning
Which all in all sounds fitting for Tom Riddle.
I also continued reading and apparently, snakes are associated with lightning by some Native American tribes. And when I saw that I was sold on the idea. Considering how the killing curse is represented by lightning (Harry's scar and the lightning-struck tower being the name of the chapter Dumbledore dies in). It feels appropriate with Tom's connection with snakes.
The King Cobra is actually not really a Cobra and is considered a unique breed of snake, which Tom would approve of. It's also the longest venomous snake and its venom can result in a rapid fatality, as soon as 30 minutes following a bite. It's also a cannibal snake that eats other snakes, including its own kind.
Overall it just fits perfectly, both in traits, symbolism, and how rare and dangerous it is. So, for your question, I think Tom Riddle's Patronus, if he could cast one, would be a King Cobra.
The Rise and Fall of Lord Voldemort (the second coming)
The final installment will explain some of Voldemort's odd behavior in the books themselves — from the ludicrous plan that was Goblet of Fire, to why he wasn't involved in the war and what he actually was trying to accomplish.
Alongside that, I want to make note of a few other interesting facets of Voldemort's character by the time we meet him in the books.
What the Hell was he Planning in GOF?
So, a lot of fans poke fun at Tom for the over-convoluted mess that was GOF. Because, really, there are so many moving parts here and so many failure points... and there's literally no reason to wait the whole year when Barty (Moody) could just pluck Harry whenever. I mean, it would've been better to just kidnap him on one of the chances Barty had access to Harry alone throughout the year, why the wait?
Well, I believe the plan in book 4, was not Voldemort's plan, but Barty's. And I have some evidence of what Voldemort had planned:
There was a pause, and then the man called Wormtail spoke again. “My Lord, may I ask how long we are going to stay here?”
“A week,” said the cold voice. “Perhaps longer…
(Goblet of Fire, page 23)
Early on in the book, before Barty returns to his service, Tom makes the above comment. He isn't planning on staying in Riddle Manor for long. He's talking about a week, maybe a month, not a whole year. Whatever plan he had to retrieve Harry was not a year-long plan at the beginning of the book.
“Because, fool, at this very moment wizards are pouring into the country from all over the world, and every meddler from the Ministry of Magic will be on duty, on the watch for signs of unusual activity, checking and double-checking identities. They will be obsessed with security, lest the Muggles notice anything. So we wait.”
(Goblet of Fire, page 24)
And the reason for this few weeks' wait is the World Cup. Voldemort planned on waiting until the Quidditch World Cup was over and then had Pettigrew kidnap Harry somehow before Hogwarts (this conversation is in early August).
“I have my reasons for using the boy, as I have already explained to you, and I will use no other. I have waited thirteen years. A few more months will make no difference. As for the protection surrounding the boy, I believe my plan will be effective.
(Goblet of Fire, page 26)
And he makes it clear the plan is to use Harry for the ritual, but he's still talking about a few months max of delay, not a whole year. So what changed?
Barty did. Barty came along after the Quidditch World Cup and changed the plan to retrieve Harry. And why would Barty take this long?
Well, I have a post in the works about Barty Crouch Jr. that would explain just that and more. But for now, what I can say, is that the GOF plan was more Barty's than Voldemort's.
As for Voldemort's reasons for using Harry in the ritual, well, there are two reasons here:
Lily's blood protection - which Voldemort wishes to circumvent
His unhealthy obsession with Harry Potter that I talk about more in this post.
Objective in the War
So, as I covered here, Voldemort wasn't really taking an active part in the Second Wizarding World (if he was Umbridge wouldn't have been able to strut around with Slytherin's locket). So if he isn't involved in the war, what is he doing? Why did he start the war?
Well, in the first war, Voldemort's objective was magical experimentation and discovery, in the second his goals are quite different. It's seen in how much more chaotic the war is. Voldemort's goal is so much more personal and emotional to him, that he doesn't care how much collateral damage his Death Eaters cause in the second war. Because of the second war, Tom is less mentally stable than the first one. But not due to some Dark Magic bullshit, but due to his actual psychological state.
As I already covered in the past posts in this series, Tom is a perfectionist. Tom Marvolo Riddle doesn't do failure. He had 12 NWETS, all Os, he was prefect and head boy. Saying he doesn't like failing is an understatement. Honestly, I'd say failure is the one thing this man fears and hates more than death.
And what is his one failure in his perfect track record of Os and victories?
It's Harry Potter.
Harry Potter, whose very moniker: "The Boy Who Lived" mocks this very failure. Failing to kill Harry Potter.
This leads us to what Voldemort is doing in the second war: Attempting to kill Harry Potter like nothing else exists. Which leads us to the next section:
Obsession With Harry Potter
I don't feel like people realize just how obsessed Voldemort is with Harry. How much Harry is literally the only thing Voldemort cares about in the second war. More than his Death Eaters, more than the ministry, even more than his life.
Throughout his resurrection scene, we have a few interesting moments, I'm not going to cover all of them, but I wanna talk about these two:
“A little break,” said Voldemort, the slit-like nostrils dilating with excitement, “a little pause . . . That hurt, didn’t it, Harry? You don’t want me to do that again, do you?”
(Goblet of Fire, page 661)
“We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry,” said Voldemort’s soft, cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Death Eaters laughed. “You cannot hide from me. Does this mean you are tired of our duel? Does this mean that you would prefer me to finish it now, Harry? Come out, Harry . . . come out and play, then . . . it will be quick . . . it might even be painless . . . I would not know . . . I have never died. . . .
(Goblet of Fire, page 662)
Both of these are moments I call: "playing with his food". He's playing with Harry, toying with him, and actually seems to honestly enjoy himself playing around and torturing and terrifying Harry. This is interesting because Voldemort doesn't toy around with his enemies, like, ever. He tortures and gloats in front of his Death Eaters, but not in front of enemies, with enemies he does the logical thing — try to kill them as quickly as possible.
Except with Harry. Why?
Because Harry is different. He's a whole different category for Voldemort.
Voldemort doesn't really see Harry as a person, not really, he sees him as a failure. His own failure. Harry Potter, to Voldemort, is that one slightly wrong answer in an exam that lost him the two points he needed for that perfect O. Harry is a stain on his perfect record, and therefore Voldemort treats him as such, and not as an actual person.
“Do nothing!” Voldemort shrieked to the Death Eaters, and Harry saw his red eyes wide with astonishment at what was happening, saw him fighting to break the thread of light still connecting his wand with Harry’s; Harry held onto his wand more tightly, with both hands, and the golden thread remained unbroken. “Do nothing unless I command you!” Voldemort shouted to the Death Eaters.
….
Voldemort who looked astonished, and almost fearful. . . .
(Goblet of Fire, page 664)
This is when Voldemort starts taking Harry seriously. I mentioned he didn't really believe the prophecy, well, he didn't until the graveyard when his and Harry's wands met. That fear, that's real, this is when Harry becomes a threat and not only a failure.
Additionally, we see here something Voldemort will continue doing throughout the war. Harry — well, killing Harry — is the only thing Voldemort cares about in the Second War, but it's more than that. because Harry is his failure only he is allowed to kill Harry. He doesn't care who kills Dumbledore, but only he is allowed to kill Harry even in the later books.
In OOTP, what is Voldemort doing? He's sending Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy. Why? Because now he knows it and Harry is a real threat. It's not about the war, it's all about Harry and the prophecy connecting them. He hopes it'll tell him how to kill Harry.
In HBP, Voldemort isn't really present either. He doesn't care what his Death Eaters do, he isn't expecting Malfoy to succeed in killing Dumbledore. He only cares about figuring out what happened with his and Harry's wands because Voldemort needs to be the one to kill Harry Potter with his own wand, otherwise, he wouldn't really be rectifying his failure. In his mind.
“My Lord, the Order of the Phoenix intends to move Harry Potter from his current place of safety on Saturday next, at nightfall.”
The interest around the table sharpened palpably; Some stiffened, others fidgeted, all gazing at Snape and Voldemort.
“Saturday . . . at nightfall,” repeated Voldemort. His red eyes fastened upon Snape’s black ones with such intensity that some of the watchers looked away, apparently fearful that they themselves would be scorched by the ferocity of the gaze.
(Deathly Hollows, page 9)
Even when the war is in full swing by Deathly Hollows, Voldemort doesn't care for the war. He wasn't even in Britain for most of it. But when it comes to Harry Potter, a chance to kill Harry potter, for that Voldemort would grace his followers with his presence. But if it has nothing to do with Harry, he just won't be interested.
Voldemort looked up at the slowly revolving body as he went on, “ I shall attend to the boy in person. There have been too many mistakes where Harry Potter is concerned. Some of them have been my own. That Potter lives is due more to my errors than to his triumphs.”
The company around the table watched Voldemort apprehensively, each of them, but his or her expression, afraid that they might be blamed for Harry Potter’s continued existence. Voldemort, however, seemed to be speaking more to himself than to any of them, still addressing the unconscious body above him.
“I have been careless, and so have been thwarted by luck and chance, those wreckers of all but the best-laid plans. But I know better now. I understand those things that I did not understand before. I must be the one to kill Harry Potter, and I shall be.”
(Deathly Hollows, page 11)
here, again, Voldemort explains what I just said. He sees Harry as his failure, his error, his mistake, And Tom Riddle despises nothing more than a mistake.
And he explains why that, the fact Harry is alive is due to his mistakes, that he has to be the one to kill him. Voldemort doesn't care about winning the war, or the ministry, or his followers — he just needs to cast a killing curse at Harry and kill him. To rectify that one mistake.
More, Rowle, or shall we end it and feed you to Nagini? Lord Voldemort is not sure that he will forgive this time. . . . You called me back for this, to tell me that Harry Potter has escaped again? Draco, give Rowle another taste of our displeasure. . . . Do it, or feel my wrath yourself!”
(Deathly Hollows, page 152)
Again, Voldemort isn't in Britain, but when his followers informed him they had Harry Potter, he dropped everything and arrived in Britain. Because killing Harry is literally the only thing that matters to him by this point.
“Give me Harry Potter,” said Voldemort’s voice, “and none shall be harmed. Give me Harry Potter, and I shall leave the school untouched. Give me Harry Potter, and you should be rewarded.
“You have until midnight.”
(Deathly Hollows, page 516)
And we see it again, nothing matters, no victory matters, besides killing Harry Potter.
“My wand of yew did everything of which I asked it, Severus, except to kill Harry Potter. Twice it failed. Ollivander told me under torture of the twin cores, told me to take another’s wand. I did so, but Lucius’s wand shattered upon meeting Potter’s.”
(Deathly Hollows, page 553)
Here he describes what he's been doing for the entirety of books 6 and 7. Trying to find a wand so he could kill Harry with it. Because that's the only thing that mattered to him. It's why he kidnapped and tortured Ollivanders. It's why he traveled to Germany to track down the Elder Wand. It's why he's killing Severus in this above scene.
And here again, there is an emphasis on failure, mistakes, that his wand failed him. Because that's what Harry is to him — a failure.
Because he wants to kill Harry himself with a wand. This obsession is the thing fueling all his actions in the Second War.
And still, Voldemort and Harry looked at each other, and now Voldemort tilted his head a little to the side, considering the boy standing before him, and a singularly mirthless smile curled the lipless mouth.
“Harry Potter,” he said very softly His voice might have been part of the splitting fire. “The Boy Who Lived.”
None of the Death Eaters moved. They were waiting: Everything was waiting. Hagrid was struggling, and Bellatrix was panting, and Harry thought inexplicably of Ginny, and her blazing look, and the feel of her lips on his—
Voldemort had raised his wand. His head was still tilted to one side, like a curious child, wondering what would happen if he proceeded.
(Deathly Hollows, page 593)
And when he finally does get what he wants, he's happy, curious, and warry. He doesn't fully believe Harry would actually die (which he doesn't).
I just love this description, his head a little to the side like a curious child. Because he is childish in a way at this moment. He finally can rectify the one stain on his perfect record and he could barely believe it really is happening.
Unlike in the graveyard, here he isn't gloating. Contrary to his words, about how Harry only survived by luck, he does fear Harry. Well, his survival. Voldemort actually does believe the prophecy by this point, that there's something more than his own failure stopping him from killing Harry — and keeping him dead.
Because it's easy to believe, almost comforting even, that it's not just his mistakes.
“Yeah, it did,” said Harry. “You’re right. But before you try to kill me, I’d advise you to think about what you’ve done. . . . Think, and try for some remorse, Riddle. . . .”
“What is this?”
Of all the things that Harry had said to him, beyond any revelation or taunt, nothing had shocked Voldemort like this. Harry saw his pupils contact to thin slits, saw the skin around his eyes whiten.
“It’s your one last chance,” said Harry, “it’s all you’ve got left. . . . I’ve seen what you’ll be otherwise. . . . Be a man . . . try . . . Try for some remorse. . . .”
“You dare—?” said Voldemort again.
“Yes, I dare,” said Harry, “because Dumbledore’s last plan hasn’t backfired on me at all. It’s backfired on you, Riddle.”
Voldemort’s hand was trembling on the Elder Wand, and Harry gripped Draco’s very tightly. The moment, he knew, was seconds away.
(Deathly Hollows, page 625)
Right before his death, Harry gloats at him about his mistakes, and how wrong he got it all.
And there is nothing Tom Riddle hates more.
Other Notes
Now, I want to cover a few other smaller notes about Voldemort's character that just didn't really fit anywhere else:
Voldemort in the books almost never shouts. He is described as speaking: "softly" because he doesn't need to be loud. He's intimidating just by his presence alone, when he speaks, everyone shuts up and listens:
“We are not playing hide-and-seek, Harry,” said Voldemort’s soft, cold voice, drawing nearer, as the Death Eaters laughed.
(Goblet of Fire, page 662)
2. As I mentioned before in this series, Voldemort is sentimental. His own past and family, even when they hated him, he cares. He cares so much that his father's abandonment still hurts decades later:
“You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father,” he hissed softly. “A Muggle and a fool . . . very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child . . . and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself, in death. . . .”
Voldemort laughed again. Up and down he paced, looking all around him as he walked, and the snake continued to circle in the grass. “You see that house upon the hillside, Potter? My father lived there. 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, Potter, and she died giving birth to me, leaving me to be raised in a Muggle orphanage . . . but I vowed to find him . . . I revenged myself upon him, that fool who gave me his name . . . Tom Riddle. . . .”
Still he paced, his red eyes darting from grave to grave. “Listen to me, reliving family history . . .” he said quietly, “why, I am growing quite sentimental. . . . But look, Harry! My true family returns. . . .”
(Goblet of Fire, page 646)
3. He loves to monologue. I think he just honestly enjoyed hearing himself talk:
“I see you all, whole and healthy, with your powers intact — such prompt appearances! — and I ask myself . . . why did this band of wizards never come to the aid of their master, to whom they swore eternal loyalty?”
No one spoke. No one moved except Wormtail, who was upon the ground, still sobbing over his bleeding arm.
“And I answer myself,” whispered Voldemort, “they must have believed me broken, they thought I was gone. They slipped back among my enemies, and they pleaded innocence, and ignorance, and bewitchment. . . .
“And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death? They, who had seen proofs of the immensity of my power in the times when I was mightier than any wizard living?
“And I answer myself, perhaps they believed a still greater power could exist, one that could vanquish even Lord Voldemort . . . perhaps they now pay allegiance to another . . . perhaps that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles, Albus Dumbledore?”
At the mention of Dumbledore’s name, the members of the circle stirred, and some muttered and shook their heads. Voldemort ignored them.
“It is a disappointment to me . . . I confess myself disappointed. . . .”
(Goblet of Fire, page 648)
Also I can't help but find this scene funny. "And I ask myself" — "and I answer myself", Tom's just having fun toying with his followers and their fear here (pulse being dramatic). He, in general, does have a sense of fun. He even makes stupid puns:
“I knew that to achieve this — it is an old piece of Dark Magic,
the potion that revived me tonight — I would need three powerful
ingredients. Well, one of them was already at hand, was it not,
Wormtail? Flesh given by a servant. . . .
(Goblet of Fire, page 656)
He's way funnier than we give him credit (and dorkier).
4. I mentioned he didn't plan to truly live forever in a past post, after all, if he did, he would've hidden his Horcruxes better. And yet, he despises the very idea of death:
“You do not seek to kill me, Dumbledore?” called Voldemort, his scarlet eyes narrowed over the top of the shield. “Above such brutality, are you?”
“We both know that there are other ways of destroying a man, Tom,” Dumbledore said calmly, continuing to walk toward Voldemort as though he had not a fear in the world, as though nothing had happened to interrupt his stroll up the hall. “Merely taking your life would not satisfy me, I admit —”
“There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!” snarled Voldemort.
(Order of the Pheonix, page 812)
Voldemort is still, at this moment, is still the orphan at the bomb shelters who doesn't want to die. Death is the worst thing to him because death means everything is over, that he had his chance at life and that's it. Death is the end of the road. It's the ultimate failing, the ultimate loss — something to overcome. At least in Voldemort's mind. Because Tom doesn't do failure. His hatred of death is exasperated by his perfectionism and because of how he sees death.
But even so, he made sure to leave an opening, a chance for him to die if he ever desired it.
Conclusions
The only thing Voldemort cared about in the Second War was killing Harry. Killing Harry Potter was the end goal that motivated all his actions.
He's a perfectionist more than anything else. Dumbledore said Tom feared death the most, but I disagree. What he feared most id failure — his own failure — death was an extension of that, in a way.
Voldemort doesn't need to raise his voice, the fact he speaks softly is a testament to how terrifying he is to others.
He's quite sentimental. I mentioned it before and I'll mention it again.
He has a sense of humor and actually loves to talk and hear his own voice.
Continuing with my analysis of Tom Riddle's character, we reach his graduation. Here things start getting a little murkier. You'd expect we'll have more information the more recent it is, but there is very little information about Tom's life between his graduation in 1944 and his return to Britain under the alias Lord Voldemort in 1967.
I want to discuss the continuation of his quest for immortality, his choice of profession, and a little bit about his family's legacy.
Graduation
So from Dumbledore, we know Tom graduated top of his class. Head boy and 12 NEWTs, all Os under his belt:
He reached the seventh year of his schooling with, as you might have expected, top grades in every examination he had taken. All around him, his classmates were deciding which jobs they were to pursue once they had left Hogwarts. Nearly everybody expected spectacular things from Tom Riddle, prefect, Head Boy, winner of the Award for Special Services to the School. I know that several teachers, Professor Slughorn amongst them, suggested that he join the Ministry of Magic, offered to set up appointments, put him in touch with useful contacts. He refused all offers.
(Half-Blood Prince, pages 430-431)
Dumbledore says Tom was offered multiple positions in the ministry and that he refused all of them. We knew he applied for a teaching position at Hogwarts, which I'll discuss in a moment, but I want to talk about his refusing these offers and why.
Now, I made no secret of the fact Dumbledore has an agenda when he's showing Harry these memories, he wants Tom to appear as an irredeemably evil monster that must be destroyed. Now, Tom isn't a good man, not by a long shot, but in his younger years, I don't think he was beyond help.
Regardless, I'm sure Slughorn did help him set up appointments with ministry personnel, it sounds just like the sort of thing Slughorn would do. The thing is, Tom is incredibly ambitious, he is as Slytherin as they come in that regard. Most ministry positions, especially the ones that'd be offered to him aren't anything shiny to brag about. These positions Dumbledore is talking about were probably for a clerk or secretary. We see with Percy Weasley, that the approach in the ministry is that you start from the bottom and climb up. Tom, who got used to thinking of himself at the top would've struggled being ordered around like we see Crouch ordering Percy. Tom would've murdered his boss before running around to someone else's whims.
I think he didn't take a position in the ministry for this exact reason. He's prideful and ambitious and he wanted a position that'll give him more freedom and control.
Tom loves being in control, all his childhood was in a state of lacking — both in food, belongings, clothes, and mostly control. Tom had very little he could control about his life and we see him seek to exert control, not only on his own life, but on others.
but Voldemort first approached Professor Dippet and asked whether he could remain at Hogwarts as a teacher.”
“He wanted to stay here? Why?” asked Harry, more amazed still.
“I believe he had several reasons, though he confided none of them to Professor Dippet,” said Dumbledore. “Firstly, and very importantly, Voldemort was, I believe, more attached to this school than he has ever been to a person. Hogwarts was where he had been happiest; the first and only place he had felt at home.”
Harry felt slightly uncomfortable at these words, for this was exactly how he felt about Hogwarts too.
(Half-Blood Prince, page 431)
Tom's first choice was to be a professor. I think Dumbledore is pretty spot-on on the first reason why Tom wanted to stay at Hogwarts. I already mentioned in my previous post, how Tom loves Hogwarts. Hogwarts is the only place he ever called home. He loved it so much that he attached his soul to items representing the school (the founders' artifacts).
And Harry is right to feel the way he does. Tom is similar to him in this regard.
The other two reasons Dumbledore gives in this scene for Tom's desire to become a teacher are:
2. Tom wants to unravel the mysteries of the ancient magic of Hogwarts that he hasn't resolved yet.
3. As a recruiting ground for future Death Eaters.
I think the second idea has some merit. Tom is definitely an academic, as I mentioned in my previous posts. He'd want to study and learn everything about magic and Hogwarts and would only be satisfied once he knew everything. I think his love of academics and magic is another major reason for his desire to teach. Dumbledore doesn't mention it, but Tom loves magic, as in just magic. It's what made him special, what gave him power and control when he had none. It's what garnered him pride and attention. His magical academic accomplishments are something Tom takes great pride in. "magic is might" in his words, after all.
The third one I believe is completely false. We have nothing but Dumbledore's words to support the existence of the Knights of Walpurgis (proto-Death Eaters followers of Tom when he was in school). We know Tom had people he considered friends and who he (diary Tom) says already called him by the title Voldemort, but we don't really have any other information about them and if there was an actual organization.
Also, from how uninvolved Voldemort was in both wars I find it hard to believe he'd bother applying for a job to raise an army. He didn't take over the ministry when he did have an army, so I don't think this is something he was actually after, at least not at this time. He didn't really make an effort to create an army for himself in these years after graduation, because he could have, even working at Borgin and Burkes, and yet he didn't. Which means this wasn't one of his goals here.
Customer Service
“So Voldemort went off to Borgin and Burkes, and all the staff who had admired him said what a waste it was, a brilliant young wizard like that, working in a shop. However, Voldemort was no mere assistant. Polite and handsome and clever, he was soon given particular jobs of the type that only exist in a place like Borgin and Burkes, which specializes, as you know, Harry, in objects with unusual and powerful properties. Voldemort was sent to persuade people to part with their treasures for sale by the partners, and he was, by all accounts, unusually gifted at doing this.”
(Half-Blood Prince, pages 432-433 )
So, not being able to secure the teaching position Tom goes to Borgin and Burkes. Now, I think Dumbledore isn't accurate on why Tom chose to work there.
First, I mentioned why he turned down the ministry positions, Tom isn't interested in being low on the ministry ladder and climbing it slowly. Dumbledore mentions himself how Tom wasn't a mare assistant. He was in touch with powerful clients and had access to priceless magical books and artifacts he probably found fascinating. I bet all the time he wasn't with clients he was studying the magic he could in the shop and the things in its collection.
This position gave him a lot of freedom in who he talked to and how he got these treasures. His boss clearly didn't care as long as there were results, which is something I think Tom would like, having complete control over his life and work. It's the kind of job that would give him plenty of time to pursue his own studies should he wish to do so as well.
I don't think Tom suffered in this job. I called it Customer Service mostly as a joke, I don't believe Tom often worked retail behind the counter at the shop. Dumbledore mentions he mostly procured treasures (and also studied them, in my opinion) rather than handle the customers at the shop. I think Tom enjoyed it well enough, I don't think he'd have remained there 10 years otherwise.
These 10 years at Borgin and Burkes ended with him going to Hepzibah Smith and I want to talk about this scene a bit:
She opened the lid. Harry edged forward a little to get a better
view and saw what looked like a small golden cup with two finely
wrought handles.
“I wonder whether you know what it is, Tom? Pick it up, have a good look!” whispered Hepzibah, and Voldemort stretched out a long-fingered hand and lifted the cup by one handle out of its snug silken wrappings. Harry thought he saw a red gleam in his dark eyes. His greedy expression was curiously mirrored on Hepzibah’s face, except that her tiny eyes were fixed upon Voldemort’s handsome features.
...
She hooked the cup back off Voldemort’s long forefinger and restored it gently to its box, too intent upon settling it carefully back into position to notice the shadow that crossed Voldemort’s face as the cup was taken away.
(Half-Blood Prince, page 436)
As I mentioned in the past Tom is sentimental, and there is nothing he is more sentimental about than Hogwarts and his family legacy. The first place he called home and something he thought he could be proud of. Both signs of his magic — what always made him special. His sentimentality is very tied in with his ego.
This is Hufflepuff's cup, a remnant from a Hogwarts founder. It's rare, special, and magical and is a symbol of home for Tom, and so he wants it. And Tom likes getting what he wants when he wants it.
She slid back the fine filigree clasp and flipped open the box. There upon the smooth crimson velvet lay a heavy golden locket.
Voldemort reached out his hand, without invitation this time, and held it up to the light, staring at it.
“Slytherin’s mark,” he said quietly, as the light played upon an
ornate, serpentine S.
“That’s right!” said Hepzibah, delighted, apparently, at the sight of Voldemort gazing at her locket, transfixed. “I had to pay an arm and a leg for it, but I couldn’t let it pass, not a real treasure like that, had to have it for my collection. 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.
(Half-Blood Prince, page 437)
With the locket, Tom's reaction is even more obvious. It makes sense, it's not just a symbol of home, but of the family legacy he should've been able to be proud of and yet, couldn't.
You see, Tom and his family is an interesting dynamic. Like, how he feels about them is interesting.
When he found out who his family was he went to look for them. I don't think Tom searched out his relatives to kill them. Harry describes him being disappointed in the state of the Gaunt house and Morfin:
“You speak it?”
“Yes, I speak it,” said Riddle. He moved forward into the room, allowing the door to swing shut behind him. Harry could not help but feel a resentful admiration for Voldemort’s complete lack of fear. His face merely expressed disgust and, perhaps, disappointment.
“Where is Marvolo?” he asked.
“Dead,” said the other. “Died years ago, didn’t he?”
Riddle frowned.
(Half-Blood Prince, page 364)
I think, back then, when he was 16, Tom had hoped he'd find a family and a legacy. He only attacked Morfin after he learned his father left his mother when she was pregnant and that no one wanted him. I think he had hope back then, and it was squashed completely.
The thing is, up to that point, he probably took great pride in speaking Parseltongue and being the Heir of Slytherin at Hogwarts. Then he met Morfin and all that pride turned to shame, emberessement, and burning hatred. But the pride, the sentimentality towards a legacy that could've been remained.
By the time we see him with Hepzibah Smith, Tom has complicated feelings about Slytherin's legacy. It's something that won him friends and favors in Slytherin's house, it symbolized how special and powerful he was. But he was also ashamed and disappointed in them, the way none of them seemed to really love him and they all abandoned him. I think he blamed his mother for not surviving. After all, he was sure she couldn't have been the witch between his parents because of how weak she was, because of how she died.
I just find this dichotomy, of Tom wearing her legacy — Slytherin's legacy — proudly as part of the identity he fashioned for himself but being ashamed of the weakness of all his relatives fascinating.
Even in the above scene with the locket, the way he is so desperate to keep hold of it at the age of 29-30 shows this dichotomy. His desperation for a family and a connection he never had, he is still desperate to feel connected to his legacy, even when he hates all of his relatives.
“Hepzibah Smith died two days after that little scene,” said Dumbledore, resuming his seat and indicating that Harry should do the same. “Hokey the house-elf was convicted by the Ministry of poisoning her mistress’s evening cocoa by accident.”
“No way!” said Harry angrily.
“I see we are of one mind,” said Dumbledore. “Certainly, there are many similarities between this death and that of the Riddles. In both cases, somebody else took the blame, someone who had a
clear memory of having caused the death —”
“Hokey confessed?”
“She remembered putting something in her mistress’s cocoa that turned out not to be sugar, but a lethal and little-known poison,” said Dumbledore. “It was concluded that she had not meant to do it, but being old and confused —”
(Half-Blood Prince, page 438)
But before they [Hepzibah’s family] were sure beyond doubt that the cup and the locket were both gone, the assistant who had worked at Borgin and Burkes, the young man who had visited Hepzibah so regularly and charmed her so well, had resigned his post and vanished. His superiors had no idea where he had gone; they were as surprised as anyone at his disappearance. And that was the last that was seen or heard of Tom Riddle for a very long time
(Half-Blood Prince, page 439)
Then, he kills Hepzibah and steals the locket and the cup. The cup was made into a Horcrux using Hepzibah’s death and we know he took it with him (along with the locket) when he went traveling the world for the next 10 years. This is important because, in this next section, I want to note something important I noticed regarding Tom's Horcruxes — or more specifically their hiding locations.
Tom's World Tour
Ten years separates Hokey’s memory and this one, ten years during which we can only guess at what Lord Voldemort was doing. . . .”
Harry got to his feet once more as Dumbledore emptied the last
memory into the Pensieve.
“Whose memory is it?” he asked.
“Mine,” said Dumbledore.
(Half-Blood Prince, page 440)
Like Dumbledore says, we have little to no information regarding these 10 years of Voldemort's life I like to refer to as his world tour. All we know from this period in his life is that he made 2 new Horcruxes — the locket and the diadem.
To the Dark Lord,
I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match, you will be mortal once more.
R.A.B.
(Half-Blood Prince, page 609)
We know he killed a "muggle tramp" to create the locket Horcrux at some point between 1956 and 1966 in an unknown location outside Britain.
“And . . . and the diadem?”
“It remained where I had hidden it when I heard the Baron blundering through the forest toward me. Concealed inside a hollow tree.”
“A hollow tree?” repeated Harry. “What tree? Where was this?”
“A forest in Albania. A lonely place I thought was far beyond my mother’s reach.”
“Albania,” repeated Harry. Sense was emerging miraculously from confusion, and now he understood why she was telling him what she had denied Dumbledore and Flitwick. “You’ve already told someone this story, haven’t you? Another student?”
She closed her eyes and nodded.
“I had . . . no idea. . . . He was . . . flattering. He seemed to . . . to understand . . . to sympathize . . . . ”
(Deathly Hollows, page 522)
The second is the diadem that was made into a Horcrux in a forest in Albania by killing an "Albanian Pheasant" at an unknown time between 1956 and 1966.
What I wanted to note about these Horcruxes and his world tour is actually quite simple. We know from Deathly Hollows all of Voldemort's Horcruxes were hidden in Britain, that's why Harry, Ron, and Hermione could track them down as they did.
"So?" you might be asking.
Well, I just described Voldemort having five Horcruxes (diary, ring, cup, locket, diadem) with him, on his person, when he traveled the world. He made the last two abroad, and the others weren't hidden yet since he didn't meet Lucious Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange to give them the diary and cup yet and he was described wearing the Gaunt ring. So, get this, Tom travels the world, outside Britain, including an Albanian forest where Ravenclaw's diadem remained hidden for centuries without anyone locating it, and he thought, the best place to hide his Horcruxes was in relatively accessible places in Britain that are way less well hidden? Places other people know of and could go to?
No, I'm not convinced.
This is just so weird to me, I mean, he could've made the Diadem Horcrux and then left it where he found it, and no one would've been able to track it down. But no, instead he brought it back to Britain to place it at Hogwarts.
Why?
Well, he is sentimental, about Hogwarts and Britain as a whole. Think about where he hid his Horcruxes:
The Diary - was given to Lucious, the son of Abraxas Malfoy who went to school with Tom. Tom was probably fond enough of Abraxes to hand Lucious the diary, although without telling him what it was.
The Ring - he hid in the Gaunt Shack, in the place his mother grew up, the last place his magical relatives lived. With all his shame and disappointment in them, he still felt a desire for what they represented.
The Cup - he gave to Bellatrix Lestrange to hide. I think he did care about Bellatrix, she seemed to know what the cup was, that it held his soul, and when she died:
Bellatrix’s gloating smile froze, her eyes began to bulge: For the tiniest space of time she knew what had happened, and then she toppled, and the watching crowd roared, and Voldemort screamed
(Deathly Hollows, page 621)
Voldemort clearly cares about her, we see he reacts emotionally to her death in a way he doesn't react to most other deaths.
The Locket - he placed in a cave dedicated to his own magical might. A place he made into an undead experiment, with protections of his design and a potion he invented. And where did he place this cave of wonders? In the same cave he scared two children from the orphanage with his magic. This is a place dedicated to what made him special, what made him better (in his mind).
The Diadem - He placed it at Hogwarts, the first and only place he ever thought of as a home.
Then he didn't really hide Harry or Nagini.
But all these locations reek of sentimentality and emotional attachment, even fondness to people. This is the main reason I call bull on Dumbledore's statement of Tom being incapable of love. I think he is capable of it, it's just very rare for him. He doesn't trust easily and keeps everyone at a distance (even Bellatrix who doesn't know he's a half-blood), so of course he doesn't have anyone close. But it's not that he never wanted a connection. He did, was actually quite desperate for it.
The other thing that's curious about all these hiding locations is that they are all accessible. Not necessarily easy to get to, but the trio showed it was possible to reach all of them. And that's a bizarre choice, because, why wouldn't he drop a Horcrux down the marina trench? Why wouldn't he leave the Diadem where it hadn't been found in centuries?
Because he doesn't want them to be impossible to find.
Tom is smart. He's one of the best students to ever make their way through Hogwarts. I'm sure if he wanted to make his Horcruxes inaccessible, he could have. After all, he made up the spells protecting the locket in the cave, he could've made a ward that wouldn't let anyone but him inside, but no, he made the cave a game. Something solvable, it isn't easy, but it is possible.
This tells me that one of Dumbledore's assumptions about Tom is wrong at its core. Tom didn't want to die when he started making Horcruxes, but I don't think he intended to live forever. Someone who wants to live forever wouldn't make it this easy to access their failsafe to immortality, they would drop the Horcrux down the Mariana Trench, or hide it in a vault under wards that no one could access, not even themselves. But that isn't what Tom did.
Conclusions
Tom is incredibly sentimental and is capable of feeling love and attachment to places, people, and ideas. He does, he loves magic and Hogwarts. He has complicated feelings regarding his family and Slytherin's legacy and he cares about Bellatrix (and Nagini).
He wanted to teach not to raise an army to start a war, but because he truly is an academic who loves magic.
He had no interest in working at the ministry as that would limit his freedom and control. He is prideful and ambitious and isn't willing to be at the bottom of the ladder.
And most interestingly, he never actually wanted to live forever. He just wanted to ensure he'd live as long as he wanted to, but not forever.
