Tom Riddle: The Boy Who Became Voldemort
The boy who became Voldemort
- House
- Slytherin
- Blood
- Half-blood
- Occupation
- Prefect; later Lord Voldemort
- Birthplace
- Wool's Orphanage, London
He was handsome, brilliant and charming, and every teacher adored him. Tom Riddle proves that Voldemort wasn't born a monster: he made himself one, step by step, and the books keep the clues for every one of those steps.
Who he is
Tom Marvolo Riddle is Lord Voldemort's birth name. The son of Merope Gaunt, a witch descended from Slytherin, and a rich Muggle, he grew up in a London orphanage. He is a half-blood, as he admits to Harry himself (Chamber of Secrets, ch. 17). He was in Slytherin, a prefect and a model student, and charmed nearly every adult he met.
He invented the name Voldemort by rearranging the letters of Tom Marvolo Riddle, and he did it while still a student at Hogwarts.
Key moments
- Half-Blood Prince, ch. 13: Dumbledore, visiting the orphanage, sees an eleven-year-old boy who frightens the other children and boasts of being able to make things happen.
- Chamber of Secrets, ch. 13: through the diary, Harry sees a sixteen-year-old Tom accuse Hagrid of opening the Chamber.
- Chamber of Secrets, ch. 17: the memory comes to life, writes his name with the wand, rearranges it and reads out "I am Lord Voldemort."
- Half-Blood Prince, ch. 17: Slughorn shares a memory of teenage Tom, surrounded by admirers.
- Half-Blood Prince, ch. 20: Tom, now an adult, asks Dumbledore for a job as Defense teacher and is turned down.
Relationships
Tom never had real friends. He had followers. With Slughorn he had a favoritism the professor regretted all his life. With Dumbledore there was mutual distrust from the first meeting. With Hagrid, the worst: he accused him of a crime he himself had committed, and Hagrid paid with his expulsion and years of shame. Dumbledore was one of the few who suspected Tom from the start.
What almost nobody notices
When Dumbledore visits him as a child at the orphanage, Tom is neither frightened nor excited. He reacts coldly and asks for proof (Half-Blood Prince, ch. 13). The trait that will stay with him is already there: he doesn't want magic for magic's sake, he wants power and recognition.
As a teenager he starts keeping trophies of his crimes, and they will become Horcruxes.
If you want to know how those objects work, start with Tom Riddle's Diary: Voldemort's First Horcrux Explained.
Content created with AI assistance, reviewed and edited by our editorial team.
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Tom Riddle's Diary: Voldemort's First Horcrux Explained
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