   #copyright

Lord Voldemort

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Films

   Harry Potter character
   Lord Voldemort
   Ralph Fiennes as Lord Voldemort, in Harry Potter and the Goblet of
   Fire.
   Lord Voldemort
   Gender Male
   Hair colour None
   Eye colour Red
   House Slytherin
   Parentage Half-blood
   Allegiance Himself
   Film portrayer Ian Hart ^[HP1]
   Richard Bremmer (voice) ^[HP1]
   Christian Coulson (Tom Marvolo Riddle) ^[HP2]
   Ralph Fiennes ^[HP4] ^[HP5]
   First appearance Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

   Lord Voldemort is the fictional arch-villain of the Harry Potter
   series. He is a Dark wizard bent on securing unmatched power and
   achieving immortality through the practice of the Dark Arts. The name
   "Voldemort", roughly translated, means "flight of death" in Latin,
   French and Catalan, or "steal death" in French.

   Voldemort is so feared in the Wizarding world that his name is
   considered to be ineffable. Most characters in the novels refer to him
   as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than saying his
   name aloud; although the protagonist, Harry Potter, who was not
   conditioned to fear his name, speaks the name freely except when
   attempting to be sensitive to others' fears. Some other young
   characters, like Hermione Granger and Ginny Weasley, after some
   hesitancy, begin to follow Harry's lead; Remus Lupin, Sirius Black and
   Albus Dumbledore never hesitate to speak his name. Again others, such
   as Rubeus Hagrid and Minerva McGonagall have at least once spoken the
   name, when urged to by others. His followers, the Death Eaters, do not
   use his name but instead refer to him as the "Dark Lord", and address
   him as "My Lord" or "Master". Most in the Wizarding world flinch or
   protest when they hear his name spoken openly. The Death Eaters also
   take offense when others refer to their master in his ineffable name.

   Within the series, Voldemort is considered one of the most powerful
   wizards alive. It has been said that the only wizard he ever feared was
   Albus Dumbledore, former Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft
   and Wizardry, though Voldemort has repeatedly denied it.

History

   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   Voldemort was born Tom Marvolo Riddle on December 31, 1926. "I am Lord
   Voldemort" is an anagram of "Tom Marvolo Riddle". (See "name and
   anagram" below.) He began to assume the identity of 'Lord Voldemort'
   during his latter years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,
   using the title amongst his close "friends". More information on him
   during this period can be found under the article for the Riddle
   family.

Rise to power

   Lord Voldemort rose to power in the late 1960s or early 1970s;
   Cornelius Fudge claimed to the Muggle Prime Minister in 1996 that the
   Ministry of Magic had been trying to capture Voldemort 'for nearly
   thirty years'. When Voldemort first appeared, he persuaded his
   followers that his campaign was based upon the idea of "purifying" the
   Wizarding race by purging people with Muggle blood (notably despite, or
   perhaps partly because of, his own " half-blood" heritage), which
   appealed to some of the old Wizarding families. Later he showed more of
   "his true colours" and lost support from some of those old magical
   families who supported him when they realised that they, as much as
   Muggles or Muggle-borns, were targets. There have only been hints at
   the full horror and violence of his attempt at control. Fear spread as
   many of Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, became infamous for
   using Unforgivable Curses against those who stood against them, and
   through the Dark Mark, used to "mark" a site after committing a murder.
   Voldemort himself used brutal punishments to ensure that the Death
   Eaters remained loyal to him.

   Prior to his open reemergence, Voldemort briefly resurfaced to contact
   Dumbledore, then the Hogwarts Headmaster, again asking to teach Defence
   Against the Dark Arts. Ten or so years had passed since he had left the
   school; thus it was about 1957. Voldemort was appearing much less
   human, and asked to be called by his assumed title rather than his
   given name, which Dumbledore would not do. Instead, Dumbledore
   confronted Voldemort with his actions since leaving Hogwarts. He
   believed that a wizard with Voldemort's excellent abilities would not
   repeatedly apply for a teaching job unless he had ulterior motives, and
   refused to grant Voldemort the job. From that time on, no person has
   held that post for more than one consecutive year, due, or so it is
   said, to a jinx placed upon it by Voldemort. Ironically, this curse has
   at times worked to Voldemort's disadvantage, as two of the teachers it
   interfered with, Professor Quirrell and Barty Crouch Jr., were in his
   service; Quirrell died and Crouch Jr. received the Dementor's Kiss.

   After being rejected from Hogwarts, Voldemort's plans became much more
   ambitious. He used spies, either Death Eaters or people under the
   effect of the Imperius Curse, to infiltrate places of significance,
   particularly the Ministry of Magic. Many Aurors and members of the
   Order of the Phoenix were murdered while trying to organise resistance
   against him. Much fear, chaos and suspicion spread throughout the
   Wizarding world; many people were being questioned as to whether they
   were under the Imperius Curse, or purposely doing Voldemort's bidding.
   Many of these victims were set free after it was discovered they were
   cursed, but it was never entirely clear whether wizards such as Lucius
   Malfoy had acted freely or under a curse.

   It is unclear thus far in canon when exactly Voldemort became an open
   threat known to all, rather than an underground conspirator known only
   to Dumbledore. One would not expect Dumbledore to have simply waited
   for Voldemort to declare himself between 1965 and 1970, several years
   after Dumbledore had already gained evidence, through the jinx and his
   memory research, of Voldemort's ruthlessness. Until the publication of
   the seventh book, the matter is unlikely to receive further
   clarification.

   Until early 1980, despite efforts by both the Ministry of Magic and the
   Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort appeared to be on the verge of victory.
   It was not until his encounter with James, Lily and Harry Potter that
   he fell from this position of power.

Downfall

   In 1979, Sybill Trelawney, great-great-granddaughter of a famous and
   gifted Seer, Cassandra Trelawney, entered into a trance in the presence
   of Dumbledore and uttered a prophecy:


   Lord Voldemort

   The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to
    those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ...
    and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power
     the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the
    other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with
    the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month
                                  dies ...


   Lord Voldemort

   Two boys were found to fit the description of the prophecy: Neville
   Longbottom (born July 30) and Harry Potter (born July 31). Severus
   Snape, then a Death Eater, overheard part of Trelawney's prophecy, but
   his eavesdropping was interrupted by the barman of the Hog's Head Inn
   (Aberforth Dumbledore, Albus Dumbledore's brother). Oddly, Snape was
   not obliviated or neutralised, thus allowing him to pass on the first
   half of the prophecy to Voldemort; however, he did not manage to hear
   the second part of the prophecy, and so Voldemort missed key details
   about his future foe. (Trelawney's recount, however, may suggest
   otherwise) Voldemort saw the infant Harry as a more likely threat than
   Neville, even though Neville was a pure-blood (and thus in Voldemort's
   view a "better" wizard), while Harry was a half-blood like Voldemort
   himself. He thus "mark[ed] him as his equal". As Dumbledore later
   explained, it was this act of Voldemort's that confirmed Harry as the
   one to whom the prophecy referred. Also, it was surmised by Dumbledore
   that Voldemort had considered Harry the one the prophecy referred to
   because he was a half-blood, like himself, and therefore had seen him
   as a bigger threat; Voldemort, who is regarded as one of the most
   powerful wizards ever, most likely realised that because he himself was
   half-blood, Harry might be just as effective and talented in magic as
   he was, and to date still is.

   On October 31, 1981, Voldemort arrived at the home of James and Lily
   Potter, prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix who had defied
   him three times (as stated as a condition of the prophecy), in Godric's
   Hollow. The Potters knew Voldemort was searching for them, and had gone
   into hiding by means of the Fidelius Charm, a very powerful enchantment
   that hides a secret inside a single, living soul ("Secret-Keeper").
   Originally, family friend Sirius Black was to be the Secret-Keeper, but
   he switched roles with another, Peter Pettigrew, to try and throw
   Voldemort off. Pettigrew, however, betrayed the Potters and gave
   Voldemort the knowledge of their whereabouts. James Potter was killed
   in the confrontation, and Lily sacrificed her life attempting to save
   her son. This act of love granted Harry a charm of protection which
   Voldemort had not expected, foiling his attempt to murder the baby.

   Harry was told by Albus Dumbledore that Voldemort had intended to use
   Harry's murder to create a Horcrux. However the Killing Curse backfired
   on Voldemort due to the protection spell, and the one-year-old Harry
   survived the attack. The backfired curse left the lightning bolt-shaped
   scar on Harry's forehead, and created a link between their minds which
   sometimes allows Harry to detect Voldemort's presence and "see"
   Voldemort's thoughts. It also gave Harry Voldemort's ability to speak
   Parseltongue, the language of snakes. The backfired curse caused
   Voldemort to be reduced to a barely-alive shell of his former being,
   and he fled to hide in a forest in Albania. Voldemort only survived the
   backfiring of the curse because of the Horcruxes he had already
   created, protecting portions of his soul in various objects.

   The protective charm bestowed on Harry by his mother's sacrifice -
   importantly, a sacrifice she chose to make but need not have made -
   afforded him a lingering protection against direct attacks by
   Voldemort. This charm was kept active as long as he had a home among
   Lily's blood relatives and only until he came of age (at 17). For this
   reason, Dumbledore took the rescued baby Harry and left him in the
   indifferent and even neglectful care of his aunt and uncle, the Muggles
   Vernon and Petunia Dursley.

   The news of Voldemort's downfall spread fast through the wizarding
   community. Without his personal power to back them up, many of his
   supporters defected or gave themselves up. A few faithful followers
   attempted to find him, but were unsuccessful and were caught and sent
   to Azkaban. The atmosphere of terror that had held sway so long over
   the wizarding community (not just in Britain, but all over the world -
   Voldemort had international followers such as Antonin Dolohov and Igor
   Karkaroff as well) was lifted (though perhaps never truly dispelled).
   Overnight, Harry Potter became a celebrity, popularly called "The Boy
   Who Lived".

Years of exile

   Voldemort led a shadow life in a forest, where even continued existence
   was a struggle for him. His only remaining power was the ability to
   occupy the bodies of others, and he frequently possessed snakes. Animal
   bodies made it difficult for him to perform magic, a crucial obstacle
   to regaining his strength and restoring his physical form.

   In the early 1990s, Professor Quirinus Quirrell, teacher of Defence
   Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, encountered Voldemort in the forests
   of Albania during his travels. Whether tempted by promises of power or
   overcome by trickery, Quirrell submitted to the Dark Lord's service and
   allowed Voldemort to possess him. He travelled to London and attempted,
   with the help of his new master, to steal the Philosopher's Stone,
   which would have allowed Voldemort to regain his former power and to
   become immortal. Voldemort planned on drinking from the Elixir of Life
   enough to restore him to a body, in which he would continue to rely on
   his Horcruxes. Finding that the Stone had been moved from Gringotts to
   Hogwarts, Voldemort/Quirrell set about finding ways to break through
   the many layers of security now around the Philosopher's Stone.
   Voldemort's plans were, however, thwarted by Harry, now a first-year
   student at Hogwarts, and Voldemort was forced to flee his host's body -
   Quirrell had failed to kill Harry due to the pain of Harry's touch, and
   died when Voldemort left his body, pitilessly abandoning him. Voldemort
   returned to hiding, angry that his Death Eaters had forsaken him, and
   afraid that he would not be able to find another wizard to possess. He
   remained in hiding for two years in Albania.


   Lord Voldemort

    The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers.
      His servant has been chained these twelve years. Tonight, before
     midnight ... the Servant will break free and set out to rejoin his
    Master. The Dark Lord will rise again with his servant's aid, greater
   and more terrible that ever he was. Tonight ... before midnight ... the
     servant will set out to rejoin his Master... Sybill Trelawny ^[HP3]


   Lord Voldemort

   Luckily for Voldemort, a series of incidents forced Peter Pettigrew,
   who had betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, to leave hiding and to
   go in search of Voldemort. While seeking his one-time master, he
   kidnapped Bertha Jorkins, from whom Voldemort learned of Barty Crouch
   Jr, a Death Eater who had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was
   privately confined at his father's house. Using Pettigrew's help,
   Voldemort created a rudimentary body, corporeal enough to perform magic
   with. He also formulated a plan to re-create his original physical
   body, albeit stronger than before, a plan to which the kidnapping of
   Harry Potter was vital. His plan, or at least the framework, was
   overheard by Frank Bryce, a Muggle, whom Voldemort then killed.
   According to Albus Dumbledore, Voldemort then created his final, sixth
   Horcrux using the effect of the murder on his soul; as a result, his
   soul would have been left ripped into seven distinct sections (although
   he had committed many, many more murders). The sixth part of the soul
   was believed by Dumbledore to have been housed in Nagini.

   It was later on when Harry and Cedric Diggory entered the graveyard
   that the Dark Lord was reborn. Pettigrew killed Cedric with Avada
   Kedavra using Voldemort's wand and tied Harry to the tombstone of
   Voldemort's father. He then used an ancient ritual of Dark Magic to
   recreate the body he had possessed before his downfall fourteen years
   before. This process required three key ingredients: "Bone of the
   father, unknowingly given", "Flesh of the servant, willingly given" and
   "Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken". Harry's blood formed a part of
   the process of Voldemort's rebirth, preventing the terrible effects
   unleashed by his murder attempt in 1981. Many Harry Potter fans,
   however, suspect that the use of Harry's blood will eventually prove to
   be Voldemort's undoing; when Harry was telling Dumbledore about how
   Voldemort had removed the charm over Harry, Dumbledore had in his eyes
   a look of triumph, seeming to know something unknown by both the reader
   and the majority of magical practitioners (though it has been suggested
   that since Voldemort figuratively shares Harry's blood, and by
   extension that of Lily Potter, he is magically equivalent to the family
   of Harry's mother, along with all the relevant ramifications). After
   being reborn, Voldemort summoned the Death Eaters back to him, and
   attempted to kill Harry — but Harry escaped the Dark Lord yet again
   (see below).

Second War

   The preceedings of the Second War featured the British Ministry of
   Magic refusing to believe that Lord Voldemort had risen again.
   Cornelius Fudge had begun a campaign to discredit both Harry Potter and
   Albus Dumbledore, by playing upon the ambiguities in their statements:
   Fudge claimed that Dumbledore was a senile old fool, and that Harry
   Potter was an unstable teenager obsessed with attention.

   Dumbledore responded by reforming the disbanded Order of the Phoenix,
   setting up headquarters in Sirius Black's family home at Number 12,
   Grimmauld Place, London. He also sent envoys to warn and persuade the
   giants, and other non-human magical beings away from Voldemort's side.
   Unfortunately, some of the giants, Dementors and werewolves had already
   allied with Voldemort.

   Lucius Malfoy, who had returned to Voldemort's service, sought to gain
   influence within the Ministry by bribes and donations, encouraging
   Fudge to believe that the real threat to his authority came from an
   overly-powerful Dumbledore, not a resurgent Voldemort. Meanwhile
   Voldemort was waiting and plotting carefully. Only a handful of wizards
   – the Death Eaters and the members of the Order of the Phoenix – knew
   or believed Voldemort had returned, allowing him a free hand in his
   schemes against both the Ministry, the Order and, most importantly,
   Harry Potter.

   After engineering a plot to secure the break-out of some of the Death
   Eaters from Azkaban, Voldemort embarked on a scheme to retrieve the
   full record of Trelawney's prophecy regarding Harry and Voldemort,
   stored in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. Voldemort, not
   wishing to reveal himself to the Ministry when they so fervently denied
   his existence, sent a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy,
   rather than risk going himself. The plot failed, and the only
   accessible copy of the prophecy was destroyed. All but one of the Death
   Eaters sent to retrieve it fell into the hands of the Order of the
   Phoenix after a battle inside the Ministry building. There was a
   wizarding duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort, who had come upon
   hearing the cries of Bellatrix Lestrange, until finally Voldemort was
   able to escape, taking Bellatrix with him. However, he was seen by the
   Minister of Magic, who finally accepted that Voldemort was back. This
   led to a return of the earlier fear and suspicion among the wizarding
   community, which was fuelled by Voldemort's continuing attacks and
   schemes as he regained strength.
   Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

   Voldemort's next step was to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and
   Dumbledore himself. This was accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who managed
   to arrange transportation into Hogwarts by means of a pair of Vanishing
   Cabinets, which bypassed the extensive protective enchantments placed
   around the school. The cabinets allowed Voldemort's Death Eaters to
   enter Hogwarts, yet it was Severus Snape who used the Killing Curse
   against Dumbledore when Draco was unable to do so himself. With
   Dumbledore dead, the scales of battle seem to have tipped in
   Voldemort's favour, with Harry now out to avenge the deaths of his
   parents, his godfather Sirius and finally his mentor Dumbledore.

Attributes

Personality and traits

   Voldemort is described as having very pale skin, a chalk-white,
   skull-like face, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like
   slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body and long, thin hands with
   unnaturally long fingers. Earlier in life, Voldemort was described as
   very handsome. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed
   to have been caused by practising extremely advanced Dark magic, for
   example in creating Horcruxes to split his soul, and as a result of his
   downfall.

   Voldemort, like most Dark-leaning wizards descending from pure-blood
   wizarding families, hated Muggles and non-pure-blood wizards and
   witches, known derisively as " Mudbloods". However, his actions towards
   other Pureblood families during his periods of power (e.g. the
   Prewetts), and his acceptance of wizards such as the halfblooded
   Severus Snape in positions of authority, suggests that his beliefs are
   more complex than those of his followers. Riddle ultimately changed his
   name, by way of an anagram, from "Tom Marvolo Riddle" to "I am Lord
   Voldemort", as a way of removing his own heritage and of exalting
   himself, and he killed the Riddle family, partly because they were
   Muggles, and partly because they abandoned him and his mother.

   Voldemort's knowledge of magic is perhaps more extensive than any
   wizard alive, though in his arrogant belief in his own superiority, he
   has a tendency to forget seemingly unimportant details from the past,
   which has led to his undoing on several occasions. In Harry Potter and
   the Goblet of Fire, he states that he had forgotten about the ancient
   magic which protected Harry as his mother died to save him, the magic
   Voldemort cannot understand because he has no concept of love. In
   particular, his use of Harry's blood to resurrect himself seems to
   involve such a detail, something that is conjectured to play a vital
   part in Book 7. (J.K. Rowling describes a "gleam of triumph" in
   Dumbledore's eyes when Harry describes to him how Voldemort used his
   blood in Goblet of Fire, and while trying to capture a Horcrux in "The
   Half Blood Prince" Dumbledore states that Harry's blood was worth much
   more than his own.)

   After much speculation, J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, revealed
   that Voldemort's greatest fear is " ignominious death," and that his
   boggart would be his own corpse. What Voldemort desires most is to be
   all-powerful and to live forever – which is what he would see if he
   were ever to look in the Mirror of Erised. Dumbledore also stated in
   Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Voldemort secretly
   possesses extreme cases of both necrophobia and nyctophobia. However,
   "it is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness,
   nothing more."^HBP Ch.26 He also fails to understand that there are
   other ways to destroy a man than death.

   In terms of personal ability, he is a suave, cunning and (relatively)
   patient strategist. Additionally, Voldemort's other plots shown in the
   series are highly intricate and byzantine (almost to the point of
   convolution) and display of a high degree of patience. These include
   the plot during Harry's fourth year, which enabled Voldemort to get
   around the (fan-surmised) strictures against unauthorised Portkeys on
   the Hogwarts grounds, and the plot during Harry's fifth year to obtain
   the prophecy, which failed only in its conclusion.

   Voldemort's complete lack of care towards humanity, with particular
   emphasis on relationships, is at the core of his personality. He is
   almost incapable of any type of love or mutual respect, caring only for
   power and considering no-one to be his equal. This probably derives
   from his upbringing.

   It is difficult to know how much "nature" rather than "nurture"
   contributed to Voldemort's personality. His maternal ancestors, the
   Gaunt family, were described by Dumbledore as having "a vein of
   instability and violence which flourished through the ages" ^HBP
   Ch.10through inbreeding. His paternal forebears, the Riddles, were
   noted in passing in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as being
   disliked in their home village of Little Hangleton for their arrogance
   and snobbery. However, Rowling once claimed that Voldemort's motives
   and actions were his own and chosen; this would not be the case if he
   were simply doomed by his family.

Magic and skill

   Voldemort is a Parselmouth; something he inherited from Slytherin (it
   seems that most of his Gaunt ancestors have inherited this highly
   unusual trait: such traits are commonly passed down through families
   through inbreeding, a practice employed by the Gaunt Family) and passed
   on to Harry Potter through the backfired curse that forged a lifelong
   connection between them. He is also known as one of, if not the
   greatest, Legilimens in the world and a highly accomplished Occlumens -
   being able to read minds, as well as shield his own from penetration.

   He is attributed as being one of few wizards ever able to create and
   comprehend Horcruxes (not only that, he is believed to be the first
   wizard in history to ever succeed in creating more than one Horcrux) to
   such an extent that he attempts to gain immortality through them. This
   is similar to those used by fantasy creatures known as liches, although
   the liches' phylacteries require neither the user to "split" his/her
   soul, nor does it require a portion of said practitioner's soul to
   remain in his/her body.

   Voldemort's magic wand is made from yew, a wood associated with death
   and rebirth, has innate destructive workings and is well suited for use
   in transfiguration. It is 13½ inches long, has the feather of a phoenix
   at its core. The wand's maker, Mr Ollivander, got this feather from
   Dumbledore's pet Phoenix, Fawkes. Fawkes gave just one other feather to
   be used in a wand, and ironically this wand "chose" to belong to Harry.
   Because the two wands have a core coming from the same source, they
   tend to work improperly when used against each other. If they are
   forced into battle, a Priori Incantatem or "reverse-spell" effect
   occurs, where one wand forces the other to regurgitate echoes of
   previous spells it has cast, in reverse chronological order. All of
   this plays an important part in Harry's escape from Voldemort at the
   end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It is unknown how Voldemort
   recovered his wand between his downfall and his discovery by Wormtail.

   The wand connection is yet another symbolic connection between Harry
   and Voldemort; their minds are also connected: in The Goblet of Fire
   Harry first discovered that he could access Voldemort's thoughts and
   emotions, and from then on whenever Voldemort was extremely angry,
   happy or in pain, Harry's scar would burn painfully. Similarly,
   Voldemort also discovered their connection in The Order of the Phoenix
   and used it to lure Harry into the Department of Mysteries to recover
   Sybill Trelawney's prophecy. It seems that, in many ways, Harry's and
   Voldemort's lives are tied to each other's.

   Voldemort's duelling skills are formidable, conjuring spells,
   counter-spells and Apparating/Disapparating in a matter of seconds. It
   is widely believed his skills are matched only by Albus Dumbledore.
   Dumbledore even stated that his most complex spells would be useless if
   Voldemort came back to power, although this may be attributed,
   according to Minerva McGonagall, that Dumbledore is "too noble" to use
   these powers.

Representation in film

   Characters seem more comfortable hearing Voldemort's name in the films
   than in the books. Hermione speaks his name three and a half years
   before she does in canon in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone,
   and only Hagrid flinches at the sound of the name, early on in the
   first film.

   In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone he is merely a face on the
   back of Quirrell's head. This was achieved by computer generated
   imagery voiced by Richard Bremmer. In that film, he was also shown in a
   flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter
   to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Ian Hart, the actor
   who played Professor Quirrell in the same film. As Voldemort's face was
   not shown in the flashback, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of
   the two roles. Voldemort's appearance is also slightly different than
   described in the book; he is shown with red eyes with normal pupils and
   an almost normal looking nose.

   Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
   book or film.

   In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is the first time
   Voldemort is seen in his actual physical form, he is played by Ralph
   Fiennes. Voldemort is shown robed in dark black robes, tall and
   skeletal, with no hair and yellowish teeth; his wand has a white tone
   and the handle appears to be made of bone; his finger nails are long
   and pale blue while his toe nails appear to be infected. Unlike in the
   book, his pupils are not snake-like and his eyes are blue (producer
   David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would
   not fill the audience with fear), but he has no nose, and snake-like
   slits for nostrils; "If you leave a good chunk off of human, it would
   seem less scary", said director Mike Newell. He is also a lot more
   energetic in the film, than he is depicted in the book, and he has
   unpredictable, wild mood swings. Fiennes' performance was generally
   praised as terrifying and the highlight of the film. He has said that
   he will reprise his role as Voldemort in the upcoming Harry Potter and
   the Order of the Phoenix.

   Resurrected Lord Voldemort does not make an appearance in Harry Potter
   and the Half-Blood Prince, and pre-production has yet to begin on
   2008's film adaptation.

Family tree









                                             Salazar Slytherin
















              Thomas Riddle

                              Mary Riddle

                                               Marvolo Gaunt





























              Tom Riddle Sr

                              Merope Gaunt

                                                Morfin Gaunt




















                            Tom Marvolo Riddle
                            (Lord Voldemort)






Name and anagram

   Voldemort's given name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. In the second book he
   explains that the appellation "Lord Voldemort" is derived from an
   anagram of his name:

          TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE → I AM LORD VOLDEMORT

   This is also a play on words, as his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is also
   itself a riddle.

   Like a number of other names in the Harry Potter novels, "Voldemort"
   seems to have French origins. Indeed, Vol de mort can mean, rather
   appropriately, either "flight of death" or "theft of death". The word
   de can also translate as "from", giving "flight from death". Given
   Voldemort's fear of death and quest for immortality, this meaning is
   also appropriate.

   J.K. Rowling personally uses a French pronunciation for his name, i.e.
   [ˈvɒldəmɔː]) (with a silent t).

   Alternatively, Voldemort may also be a form of Valdemar, a Germanic
   form of Slavic Vladimir, meaning "Great ruler" or "Ruling with fame".
   Valdemar is also the name of the main character in Edgar Allan Poe's
   short story The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar, about a man equally
   desperate to avoid death who elects to enter a hypnotically-induced
   coma in order to extend his life. "Voldemort" also sounds a bit similar
   to the German word der Völkermord (the German word for " genocide"),
   and to Vortigern, an evil ruler in Arthurian legend.

   The only characters in the Harry Potter books who pronounce Voldemort's
   name regularly are Harry Potter, Albus Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Remus
   Lupin, Mad-Eye Moody, Lord Voldemort himself and Hermione Granger
   (starting in Book 5). Ginny Weasley said his name at the end of Harry
   Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but it is not known if she will
   continue to do so.

   In translated versions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,
   Voldemort's original name is changed to accommodate the anagram. In the
   Polish edition, however, translator Andrzej Polkowski decided not to
   make any changes, presumably because of the difficulty of translating
   the anagram into a meaningful sentence. In the Portuguese edition (as
   distinct from the Brazilian edition), the name was similarly left
   untranslated.
   Language True Name Anagram Translations/notes
   Bulgarian ТОМ МЕРСВОЛУКО РИДДЪЛ ТУК СЪМ И ЛОРД ВОЛДЕМОР Here I am also
   Lord Voldemort
   Catalan TOD MORVOSC RODLEL SÓC LORD VOLDEMORT I am Lord Voldemort
   Czech TOM ROJVOL RADDLE JÁ LORD VOLDEMORT Me, Lord Voldemort
   Danish ROMEO G DETLEV JR JEG ER VOLDEMORT I am Voldemort; The G. is
   short for Gåde, i.e. "Riddle"
   Dutch MARTEN ASMODOM VILIJN MIJN NAAM IS VOLDEMORT My name is
   Voldemort; "Vilijn" (Voldemort's last name) and the Dutch word "Vilein"
   are equally pronounced, while the word "Vilein" means "evil" or "mean".
   It resembles the English word villain.
   Estonian TOM MARVOLON RIDDLE MINA LORD VOLDEMORT Me, Lord Voldemort
   Finnish TOM LOMEN VALEDRO MA OLEN VOLDEMORT I am Voldemort; "Ma" is an
   archaic form of "Minä" meaning "I" or "me". Also, "Valedro" begins with
   "vale" which equals to "lie" - or, "riddle".
   French TOM ELVIS JEDUSOR JE SUIS VOLDEMORT I am Voldemort; "Jedusor" is
   pronounced the same way as "Jeu du sort", stroke of fate.
   German TOM VORLOST RIDDLE IST LORD VOLDEMORT is Lord Voldemort
   Greek ANTON MORVOL HERT ARCHON VOLDEMORT Lord Voldemort: "NT" in Greek
   is equivalent to "D"
   Greek spelling ΑΝΤΩΝ ΜΟΡΒΟΛ ΧΕΡΤ ΑΡΧΩΝ ΒΟΛΝΤΕΜΟΡΤ
   Hebrew TOM VANDROLO RIDDLE ANI LORD VOLDEMORT I am Lord Voldemort: the
   word lord is transliterated from the English and not translated.
   Hebrew spelling טום ואנדרולו רידל אני לורד וולדמורט
   Hungarian TOM ROWLE DENEM NEVEM VOLDEMORT My name is Voldemort: The W
   is split to form two Vs in order to make the anagram possible
   Icelandic TREVOR DELGOME ÉG ER VOLDEMORT I am Voldemort
   Italian TOM ORVOLOSON RIDDLE SON IO LORD VOLDEMORT Lord Voldemort is me
   (a slightly archaic style)
   Latvian TOMS SVERELDO MELSUDORS ES ESMU LORDS VOLDEMORTS I am Lord
   Voldemort
   Low German TOM SOLVOR RIDDLE IS LORD VOLDEMORT [It] is Lord Voldemort
   Мacedonian ТОМ РЕДЛОВ

   (TOM REDLOV)
   ВОЛДЕМОР

   (VOLDEMOR)
   Red from Redlov means order
   Norwegian TOM DREDOLO VENSTER VOLDEMORT DEN STORE Voldemort the great
   Polish TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE JAM JEST LORD VOLDEMORT I am Lord Voldemort
   Portuguese (Brazilian) TOM SERVOLO RIDDLE EIS LORD VOLDEMORT Behold
   Lord Voldemort
   Romanian TOMAS DORLENT CRUPLUD SUNT LORDUL CAP-DE-MORT I am Lord
   Cap-de-mort
   Russian TOM NARVOLO REDDL LORD VOLAN-DE-MORT Lord Volan-de-Mort
   Russian spelling ТОМ НАРВОЛО РЕДДЛ ЛОРД ВОЛАН-ДЕ-МОРТ
   Slovak TOM MARVOLOSO RIDDLE A SOM I LORD VOLDEMORT And I am also Lord
   Voldemort
   Slovenian MARK NEELSTIN MRLAKENSTEIN In this case, the name was changed
   to sound like Frankenstein, while Mrlak should have an allusion to
   death
   Spanish TOM SORVOLO RYDDLE SOY LORD VOLDEMORT I am Lord Voldemort
   Swedish TOM GUS MERVOLO DOLDER EGO SUM LORD VOLDEMORT I am Lord
   Voldemort, in latin. "Dolder" is drawn from a somewhat archaic name for
   "someone hidden"
   Turkish TOM MARVOLDO RIDDLE ADIM LORD VOLDEMORT My name is Lord
   Voldemort
   Ukrainian TOM YARVOLOD REDL YA LORD VOLDEMORT I am Lord Voldemort (the
   '-volod' part of the name may be connected to the name Volodimir, where
   'volod' equates to ruler).
   Ukrainian spelling ТОМ ЯРВОЛОД РЕДЛ Я ЛОРД ВОЛДЕМОРТ
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