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Lord Voldemort (born December 31, 1926) is the fictional arch-villain of the Harry Potter series. He is an evil wizard bent on securing unmatched power and achieving immortality through the practice of Dark Magic. Voldemort has appeared in all the novels except for Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince.

Voldemort is so feared in the Wizarding world that his name is considered to be ineffable. Most characters refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud. His followers, the Death Eaters, do not use his name, but instead refer to him as "The Dark Lord" or Master. Voldemort is considered one of the most powerful wizards alive. It has been said that the only wizard he fears is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, though Voldemort has always denied this.

History

Birth and Adolescence

Lord Voldemort was born Tom Marvolo Riddle on New Year's Eve 1926 to Tom Riddle Sr. and Merope Riddle, née Gaunt. Through his mother, he is the last descendant of the famous ancient wizard Salazar Slytherin. Through his father, he is a descendant of the squires of Little Hangleton, an aristocratic Muggle family. Merope had been abandoned by her husband while she was pregnant. After giving birth, the boy's mother lived long enough to name him Tom after his father, and Marvolo after his maternal grandfather Marvolo Gaunt, and died soon after.

Riddle was raised at an orphanage in London. It was Dumbledore's task to find Riddle when he reached age eleven and invite him to study at Hogwarts. By that time he already showed great potential as a wizard; he could move things with his mind, make animals do his bidding, talk to snakes, cause people pain, and, in his own words, "make bad things happen to people who annoy". However, he also displayed cruelty, a disregard for others, a need for absolute and total control, and a lack of moral judgement. He, in fact, matched the clinical definition of conduct disorder (the childhood predecessor to antisocial personality disorder).

In his first meeting with Dumbledore, Riddle was seen to be a sharply intelligent and calculating boy with a cold, smoothly expressionless face intended to prevent others guessing what he was thinking. He was sure that he was born to be different, and detested the name "Tom", which he deemed to be too common. At Hogwarts, he was a gifted and exceptional student, and became a staff favourite. He was made a prefect and eventually the Head Boy. However, Dumbledore never forgot what Riddle had confessed to him on their first meeting, and never fully trusted him.

Riddle attended Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945 as a member of Slytherin house. During holidays he was obliged to return to the orphanage, which he hated. He quickly gathered a group of followers, particularly fellow Slytherin students, whom he referred to as friends, but for whom he is said to have felt little or no compassion. Many of these people became Death Eaters, including Avery and Rodolphus Lestrange. Among these he began using the name "Lord Voldemort"; "I am Lord Voldemort" is an anagram of his full name, Tom Marvolo Riddle (Vol De Mort also means Flight Of Death in French). After leaving Hogwarts, he chose to abandon his original name and use his adopted name openly.

During Riddle's fifth year at Hogwarts, he opened the Chamber of Secrets, created by his ancestor Salazar Slytherin, leading to the death of Myrtle, a Muggle-born student. Only Dumbledore ever suspected him , as Riddle had exercised his considerable charm over most of the other staff, including Potions master Horace Slughorn . Instead, fellow student Rubeus Hagrid was framed for the incident by Riddle, and was expelled.

Before Riddle graduated from Hogwarts, he returned to Little Hangleton, hoping to meet his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, and confirm that he was a descendant of the Gaunts (and, through them, Slytherin.) Instead, he met his uncle Morfin, learning of his grandfather's death and his father's non-magical nature. He stole an heirloom ring from Morfin, murdered his father and Muggle grandparents, and modified his uncle's memory so that Morfin would confess to the murders and be found responsible for the deaths by the wizarding world. Frank Bryce, the Riddles' gardener, fell under suspicion from the Muggle police, as the door had not been forced and Bryce was the only person with keys to the house. The cause of death could not be determined, however, and Bryce was released, although he was regarded with suspicion by the other villagers until his death in 1994 at Voldemort's own hand. (main article:The House of Gaunt
) In this way, two men were blamed for the Riddle murders and Voldemort kept the black Gaunt ring and returned to Hogwarts.

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