Summary
- Voldemort's early life reveals his dark and mysterious origins as Tom Riddle, a riddle that no one could fully solve before it was too late.
- By creating his first Horcrux at age 16, Tom Riddle showed impressive dark magic abilities and a chilling revelation of splitting his soul.
- Despite his charming appearance, young Tom Riddle had a twisted upbringing, from being born from a love potion to his involvement in serial killing.
One of the most impressive things about the Harry Potter villain Voldemort is how effortlessly he became one of the Big Bads of pop culture, but many fans still wonder why Tom Riddle turned evil in the first place. In a landscape dominated by imposing characters such as Darth Vader, Voldemort managed to hold his own among fans. It helped that he looked just as scary as he acted, with a reptilian face that advertised that his blood ran very cold. Over the course of the series, his villainous plan takes shape as he returns from near death to wreak absolute havoc on the Wizarding World once more.
However, as much as the evil of Lord Voldemort is seen and felt throughout the story, his early life when he went by the name Tom Riddle is fascinating. The last name is appropriate, too, as his childhood and teenage years showed him to be a mysterious riddle that no one could fully unravel before it was too late. Throughout the eight Harry Potter movies, young Tom Riddle was shown only a handful of times, meaning there were many details and facts that the movies left out when exploring why Tom Riddle turned evil.
How Voldemort Lost The Second Wizarding War Was Smarter In The Books Than The Movies
Harry Potter and Voldemort's Final Battle decided the fate of the wizarding world in the movies, but the books revealed it was all over long before.
20 He Was Born In 1926
Voldemort Was In His 70s By The End Of Harry Potter
The Fantastic Beasts And Where To Find Them movies showed the Wizarding World in the 1920s. However, Newt Scamander's adventures — even those that included Dumbledore — weren't the most important events in the Harry Potter franchise during this decade. Voldemort, the chief antagonist and greatest Dark Wizard who ever lived, was born in 1926. The Harry Potter books and movies are vague when it comes to specific years, but Harry's story begins in the early 1990s (something made more confusing by the presence of London landmarks like the Millennium Bridge appearing in the movies, despite the fact they didn't exist yet).
The fact he was born in the late 1920s also creates some interesting thematic parallels.
The Battle of Hogwarts takes place in 1998, with Voldemort dying aged 71. The fact he was born in the late 1920s also creates some interesting thematic parallels. It's clear that Voldemort and his ideology were inspired on a creative level by Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party when J.K. Rowling was writing the Harry Potter books. While Voldemort had no interest in the Muggle world beyond wiping it out, he grew up in a Muggle orphanage during Hitler's rise to power, and it's entirely possible this had some influence on him when it came to his own ambitions.
19 He Made His First Horcrux Aged 16
Tom Riddle Had Already Split His Soul Before Leaving Hogwarts
A key way that Voldemort became so powerful was the creation of Horcruxes. He made 7 in total, though inadvertently created an 8th later in life when he tried to kill Harry Potter, since Harry became a Horcrux. Tom Riddle learned of Horcruxes in 1943 when he was in his sixth year at Hogwarts, discovering their potential both through his own research and by interrogating Professor Slughorn. Horcruxe's are an incredibly dark and powerful magic, which makes the fact Voldemort managed to create his first at age 16 considerably impressive.
Creating his first Horcrux at such a young age is also a chilling revelation, since each one made split off a small part of his soul — which is a reason Voldermort's appearance is so inhuman by the time he reaches adulthood. Tom Riddle's first Horcrux was the diary seen in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and his second — a ring — was also created while he was still a student. Given the implied effects creating a Horcrux has on the body and mind of a witch or wizard, it's amazing nobody at Hogwarts noticed any changes in him.
18 He Opened The Chamber Of Secrets In His Fifth Year
Voldemort's First Notorious Act Came Before His OWL's Were Complete
The fifth year at Hogwarts seems to be a significant one for many of the important characters in Harry Potter. It's the year that Harry first joined the Order of the Phoenix and established Dumbledore's Army. It's also the year that his father, James Potter, and his friends Sirius Black and Peter Pettigrew finally managed to become Animagi, so they could better understand their werewolf friend Remus Lupin. The 5th year was also an important one for Tom Riddle, as this is the year he opened the Chamber of Secrets.
Thankfully, Voldemort's first truly dark act only managed to claim one victim — Myrtle Warren, who went on to become the Hogwarts ghost known as Moaning Myrtle.
Despite the fact that few beyond Harry, Dumbledore, and those that they told know Tom Riddle/Voldemort was behind it, the Chamber of Secrets being opened in the 1940s was one of the darkest and most significant events in the history of Hogwarts. While the students in his year should have been studying for their Ordinary Wizarding Level exams, they were instead terrified of the Basilisk roaming free at Hogwarts. Thankfully, Voldemort's first truly dark act only managed to claim one victim — Myrtle Warren, who went on to become the Hogwarts ghost known as Moaning Myrtle.