Lord Voldemort: Quick facts
Birth name: Tom Marvolo Riddle.
Birthdate: c.1926.
Name source: Tom's mother lived long enough to name him "Tom after my father, Marvolo after my grandfather [not yet known if this means Tom's muggle grandfather or his wizard grandfather]".
Other names: 'Lord Voldemort,' 'You-Know-Who,' 'He Who Must Not Be Named,' 'The Dark Lord,' 'Tom.'
Other name meaning: 'Voldemort'= flight from death (French).
Name pronunciation: VOL-duh-more (the final 't' is silent, according to JKR in an interview). Film pronunciation: VOL-de-mort.
FAMILY
Ancestry: Half-blood; descendent of Salazar Slytherin.
Mother: an unnamed witch who died giving birth; she was a descendent of Salazar Slytherin.
Father: Tom Riddle, a muggle from the village of Little Hangleton who abandoned his pregnant wife because he discovered she was a witch; described as anti-magic, rich, snobbish & rude. Tom Marvolo Riddle's grandfather was also named Tom Riddle.
Childhood: Raised in a muggle orphanage.
Grandparents: Tom Riddle, also of Little Hangleton.
Aunts, Uncles: ?
Cousins: ?
Siblings: None.
Children: None.
Pet: Large snake named 'Nagini'
APPEARANCE
As a 16-year-old Tom Riddle: described as having jet black hair; "tall, black-haired boy"; "handsome"; eye color not mentioned.
Distinguishing features: long fingers; high-pitched, cold laugh.
First Rise to Power: nothing known yet.
Before Wormtail’s rebirthing potion ("baby" form): "had the shape of a crouched human child, except that Harry had never seen anything less like a child. It was hairless and scaly-looking, a dark, raw, reddish black. Its arms and legs were thin and feeble, and its face – no child alive ever had a face like that – flat and snakelike, with gleaming red eyes".
After Wormtail’s rebirthing potion: described as "a man, tall and skeletally thin." His face was "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake’s with slits for nostrils".
"Voldemort looked away from Harry and began examining his own body. His hands were like large, pale spiders; his long white fingers caressed his own chest, his arms, his face; the red eyes, whose pupils were slits, like a cat's, gleamed still more brightly through the darkness".
"Unnaturally long fingers".
At Battle of the Dept. of Mysteries: "Tall, thin, and black-hooded, his terrible snake-like face white and gaunt, his scarlet, slit-pupiled eyes staring".
HOGWARTS
First year: 1938.
House: Slytherin.
Artifacts: Diary.
Awards, etc.: Prefect; Head Boy; Medal for Magical Merit; gold shield-shaped award for "Special Services to Hogwarts" in the trophy room.
Excelled in studies: According to Dumbledore, "He was one of the most brilliant students Hogwarts has ever seen".
Notes: "It had taken me five whole years to find out everything I could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the secret entrance". [Editor's note: Since Tom was at the end of his 5th year (June) when he says this, somehow he must have found out shortly after he entered Hogwarts that he was the Heir of Slytherin.]
WAND, EQUIPMENT, AFFILIATIONS, ETC.
Wand: yew wood, 13 ½" long, core consists of one of Fawkes’ [phoenix] feathers.
Organizations & affiliations: Death Eaters and other followers: Peter Pettigrew (aka Wormtail), Avery, Lucius Malfoy, Igor Karkaroff, Barty Crouch, Jr., Walden McNair, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, Antonin Dolohov, Travers, Mulciber, Augustus Rookwood, Ludo Bagman, Bellatrix Lestrange, Rudolphus Lestrange, Rabastan Lestrange, Evan Rosier (d), Wilkes (d), Regulus Black (d) Jugson. [(d)=deceased]
Skills: Parselmouth, Legilimens.
Boggart: ?
Major magic: The "dark magic" rebirthing potion that Wormtail concocted consisted of unicorn blood, Nagini’s snake venom, "bone of the father, unknowingly given; flesh of the servant, willingly given; blood of the enemy, forcibly taken". Voldemort deliberately uses Harry’s blood because he wants Lily’s "lingering protection" magic in his blood too.
PROPHECIES
"It Will Happen Tonight."
"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..." (Sybil Trelawney)
VOLDEMORT in the MOVIES
In "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," Tom Riddle is played by Christian Coulson.
In "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Voldemort is played by Ralph Fiennes.
~PORT KEY!~
