Lord Voldemort
Template:Current fiction Template:HP character Lord Voldemort (IPA: [ˈvəʊldəmɔː][1][2]) is a fictional character and the primary antagonist in the Harry Potter novel series written by British author J. K. Rowling. Voldemort made his debut appearance in the first novel of the series, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, which was released in 1997. Also known as Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort appeared in all the following installments of the series, except the third and the sixth. Voldemort has also appeared in all the corresponding film adaptations as of present date, except the third.
In the series, Voldemort is the main enemy of Harry Potter, who according to a prophecy has the power to defeat him. The wizarding community fears him so much that they refuse to refer to him by his name, instead saying "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." Even his followers only refer to him as "The Dark Lord".
Several people have portrayed Voldemort in the films, but the most referenced actor is British actor Ralph Fiennes, who has portrayed him in the film adaptations of the fourth and fifth novels. In a 2006 BigBadRead poll, British students voted Lord Voldemort their favourite literary villain of all time.[3]
Character development
According a 1999 interview with author J. K. Rowling, Voldemort was invented as a literary foil for Harry Potter, the main protagonist of the series, and that she intentionally did not flesh out Voldemort's backstory yet at first. She had the idea that "The basic idea... Harry [...] didn't know he was a wizard [...]and so then I kind of worked backwards from that position to find out how that could be, that he wouldn't know what he was [...] When he was one-year-old, the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years attempted to kill him. He killed Harry's parents, and then he tried to kill Harry - he tried to curse him. [...] Harry has to find out, before we find out. And - so - but for some mysterious reason, the curse didn't work on Harry. So he's left with this lightning bolt shaped scar on his forehead and the curse rebounded upon the evil wizard, who has been in hiding ever since".[4] She also added that his name is invented and has no real life base.[5]
In the course of the second book, Rowling established the paradoxon that Voldemort was a racist who hated non-pure blood wizards, but was a half-blood himself, just like Harry Potter. In a 2000 interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, Rowling fleshed Voldemort out as a prototypical self-hating bully: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does".[6]
In the same year, Rowling became more precise about Voldemort. She began to link him to charismatic real-life tyrants, "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering, and there ARE people like that in the world. But then you have Wormtail [his cowardly, but cruel henchman], who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person".[7] However, according to statements in 2004, Rowling says that Voldemort is not directly based on any historical character.[8]
Finally, in 2006, Rowling established that Voldemort was not only a racist, genocidal psychopath, but at his core a person with a very human fear: the fear of death. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death".[9] This plot point would be essential in the last book, when Voldemort's hunt for immortality is a large plot thread.
Throughout the series, Rowling established that the name "Voldemort" is so feared in the Wizarding world that it is considered dangerous even to speak his name. 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. In Deathly Hallows, a Taboo is placed upon the name, such that anyone who utters it may be traced by Voldemort or his followers. Harry, Ron, and Hermoine are found and captured by "Snatchers" and the werewolf Fenrir Greyback when Harry inadvertently utters the name. Such a Taboo is not mentioned in any of the other books in the series; it is not known if Voldemort used a similar tactic during the First Wizarding War.
According to an interview with J. K. Rowling, "Voldemort" is pronounced (IPA: [ˈvəʊldəmɔː]), with a silent 't' at the end, as is common in French.[10] This was the pronunciation used by Jim Dale in the first four U.S. audiobooks; however, after the release of the film version of Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, in which the characters who dared refer to him by name pronounced it with the "t", Dale altered his pronunciation to that in the films. The pronunciation has since been used in the other films as well.
Voldemort's given name is Tom Marvolo Riddle. In the second book it is established that the appellation "Lord Voldemort" is derived from an anagram of his birth 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. 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.
Appearances
In the books
First three books
Lord Voldemort makes his debut in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. In this story, Rowling introduces him as the Dark Lord who has murdered the parents of protagonist Harry Potter, and unsuccessfully tries to regain his dissolved body by stealing the eponymous Philosopher's Stone. While writing the book, Rowling established that Harry Potter's parents have been killed by the powerful Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort; but for some reason, baby Harry survives when Voldemort tries to murder him with a Killing Spell. Voldemort is disembodied and Harry since then carries a mysterious scar on his forehead as a result. According to a 1999 interview with The Diane Rehm Show, fleshing out Voldemort's backstory was a case of backwards planning: she decided that the parents of Harry Potter had been killed by a supremely powerful and evil wizard, and that wizard became Voldemort.[11]
In the second installment, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Rowling introduces the character of Tom Marvolo Riddle, a manifestation of Voldemort that resides inside a magical diary found by Ginny Weasley. In this book, Ginny is written as a shy girl with a crush on Harry Potter.[12] Feeling anxious and lonely, she begins to write into the diary and shares her deepest fears with the sympathetic Tom.[13] However, at the climax of the story, it is revealed that Tom Marvolo Riddle is an anagram of "I am Lord Voldemort", and Tom is indeed the magical manifestation of the Dark Lord himself. Riddle states he has grown strong on her fears and eventually possessed Ginny. He then used her as a pawn to unlock the Chamber of Secrets, from where a basilisk was set free which petrified several Hogwarts students. Harry defeats both the Riddle from the diary and the basilisk.[13] In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore reveals to Harry that the diary was one of Voldemort's Horcruxes (an external vessel which contains a part of his torn soul).
In the third book, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Voldemort does not make an appearance, either in person or in the form of a magical manifestation. He is, however, heard when Harry passes out from the effects of a Dementor. The Divination professor, Sybill Trelawney, makes a genuine prophecy: The Dark Lord lies alone and friendless, abandoned by his followers. His servant has been chained these 12 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 than ever before. Tonight... before midnight... the servant... will set out... to rejoin... his master....[14] Towards the end of the book, the servant is revealed to be Peter Pettigrew, who, since the fall of Lord Voldemort, has been disguised as Ron Weasley's pet rat, Scabbers.
Fourth to sixth books
In the fourth installment of the series, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort appears at the climax of the book. Rowling lets many seemingly unrelated plot elements fall into order. It is revealed that Voldemort's minion Barty Crouch Jr, disguised as Hogwarts professor Mad-Eye Moody, has manipulated the events of the Triwizard Tournament. Voldemort's goal is to teleport reluctant participant Harry Potter to the Little Hangleton graveyard, where the Riddle family are buried.[15] Harry is captured and, after Death Eater Peter Pettigrew uses Harry's blood (which would prove to be a major flaw) to fulfill a gruesome magical ritual, Voldemort regains his body and is restored to his full power.[16] For the first time in the series, Rowling describes his appearance: "tall and skeletally thin", with a face "whiter than a skull, with wide, livid scarlet eyes and a nose that was as flat as a snake’s with slits for nostrils".[15] Rowling writes that 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".[15] It was revealed that, while in Albania, Pettigrew had captured the Ministry of Magic official Bertha Jorkins, who was tortured for information about the Ministry.[17] After they learned that Barty Crouch Jr, a faithful Death Eater, had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house, they killed her. With Pettigrew's help, Voldemort created a small, rudimentary body, corporeal enough to travel and perform magic, and formulated a plan to restore his own body by capturing Harry. A portion of the plan had been overheard by Frank Bryce, a gardener, whom Voldemort then killed.[17] Voldemort then completes his plan and returns to life in his full body as a result of the ritual with Harry's blood. He then summons his Death Eaters to the graveyard to witness the death of Harry Potter as he challenges Harry to a duel. However, When Voldemort duels Harry, their wands become magically locked together due to the twin Phoenix feather cores of the wands. Due to a phenomenon later revealed as Priori Incantatem, ghost-like victims of Voldemort's most recent victims (including Harry's parents) then appear and distract Voldemort, allowing Harry just enough time to escape via portkey with the body of fellow-student, Cedric Diggory, who was murdered by Peter Pettigrew on Voldemort's orders.[18]
In the fifth book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort appears at the climax, having again carefully plotted against Harry.[19] In this book, Harry Potter goes through extreme emotional stress, and according to Rowling, it was necessary to prove that Harry is emotionally vulnerable and thus human, in contrast to his nemesis Voldemort, who is emotionally invulnerable and thus inhuman: "[Harry is] a very human hero, and this is, obviously, there’s a contrast, between him, as a very human hero, and Voldemort, who has deliberately dehumanized himself. […a]nd Harry, therefore, did have to reach a point where he did almost break down, and say he didn’t want to play anymore, he didn’t want to be the hero anymore – and he’d lost too much. And he didn’t want to lose anything else. So that – Phoenix was the point at which I decided he would have his breakdown."[20] In this book, Voldemort makes liberal use of the Ministry of Magic's refusal to believe that he has returned.[21] Voldemort engineers a plot to free the Death Eaters from Azkaban and then embarks on a scheme to retrieve the full record of a prophecy regarding Harry and himself which is stored in the Department of Mysteries. He sends a group of Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy, where they are met by the Order of the Phoenix. All but one, Bellatrix Lestrange, are captured, and Voldemort engages in a ferocious duel with Dumbledore. Voldemort attempts to possess Harry Potter but finds that he cannot; Harry is too full of that which Voldemort finds detestable: love. Sensing that Dumbledore could win, Voldemort disapparates, but not before the Minister of Magic sees him in person, making his return to life public knowledge.
In the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Voldemort once again declares war, and begins to rise to power once more. He murders Amelia Bones of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and begins to target members of the Order of the Phoenix, including Emmeline Vance. Rowling uses several chapters as exposition to establish Voldemort's backstory. In a series of flashbacks, using the pensieve as a plot device, she reveals that Voldemort is the son of the witch Merope Gaunt and Tom Riddle, Sr. However, Riddle abandons Merope before their child's birth, soon after which Merope dies. Riddle never comes to find his son.[22] After living in an orphanage, young Tom is picked up by Albus Dumbledore, who takes him to Hogwarts.[23] Riddle is outwardly a model pupil, but is in reality a sadistic monster who enjoys using his powers to harm and control people. He eventually murders his father and grandparents for abandoning him.[24] The book also discusses Riddle's hatred of "Muggles" (non-magical humans), his obsession with Horcruxes, and his desire to split his soul in order to achieve immortality.[25] J.K. Rowling stated that the fact that Voldemort was conceived under a love potion has to do with his non-ability to understand love is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union – but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can’t be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".[26]
In the main plot of the book, Voldemort's next step is to engineer an assault on Hogwarts, and to attack Dumbledore himself. This is accomplished by Draco Malfoy, who arranges transportation into Hogwarts by means of a pair of Vanishing Cabinets, which bypass the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school.[27] The cabinets allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter Hogwarts, where a battle commences and Dumbledore is cornered. Hogwarts professor (and double agent) Severus Snape uses the Killing Curse against Dumbledore when Malfoy is unable to do so himself.[27]
Final book
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, the final book of the Harry Potter series, Rowling establishes two main plot lines with Voldemort. The first concerns the takeover of the Wizarding World, and the second his quest for ultimate power, in both cases pitting him against arch-enemy, Harry Potter. He disposes of the Ministry of Magic, establishes a totalitarian police state and murders many people. In the climax of the book, Voldemort uses the so-called Elder Wand (i.e. the most powerful wand ever created) against Harry and twice tries to murder him with Killing Spells, but the first one merely stuns Harry,[28] and when he tries to strike down Harry a second time, his spell rebounds, subsequently killing its caster.[29][26]
Portrayals within films
As of 2007, Voldemort appears in four Harry Potter films, namely Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
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. Ian Hart, the actor who played Professor Quirrell in the same film, provided both the voice and the facial source for this character. Voldemort also appears in a scene in the Forbidden Forest where he is seen sucking the blood of a unicorn. As Voldemort's face was altered enough by CG work, and Hart's voice was affected enough, there was no confusion by Hart's playing of the two roles. 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 Richard Bremmer.[30] His next appearance would be in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets as Tom Marvolo Riddle (portrayed by Christian Coulson).
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort is initially only heard, possessing the scratchy, weak voice heard in the first film. By the film's climax, however, he appears in his actual physical form for the first time, played by Ralph Fiennes. Voldemort is shown clad in dark black robes, being tall and emaciated, 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 green, because producer David Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear (his eyes do briefly take on a snake-like appearance when he opens them after turning human, but quickly turn normal). Instead, the film version of Voldemort has no nose and has snake-like slit nostrils.
Fiennes himself stated that he had two weeks to shoot the climatic showdown scene where he is gloating at a terrified Harry Potter, played by Daniel Radcliffe. Fiennes said with a chuckle: "I have no doubt children will be afraid of me now if they weren't before." In preparation, he read the novel Goblet of Fire, but jokingly conceded "I was only interested in my scene, and I had to go through thousands and thousands of other scenes which I did, dutifully, until I got to my scene and I read it many, many, many, many, many times and that was my research."[31] Fiennes reprised his role as Voldemort in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.[32]
Attributes
Personality
Voldemort is regarded as highly ruthless and sadistic even to his own henchmen who serve him out of a mixture of fear and respect. Rowling described him as "the most evil wizard for hundreds and hundreds of years"[33] She elaborated that he is a "raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering"[34] who is able to attract cowardly, but cruel minions like "Wormtail, who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person. "[34] What seems to drive him is his megalomaniacal sense of entitlement. He believes he is superior to the point that he will frequently refer to himself in the third-person as "Lord Voldemort." Rowling alluded to this saying that Voldemort is "incredibly power hungry. Racist, really" and holds human life in utter disregard.[35] Rowling has also stated that if Voldemort looked into the "Mirror of Erised" (i.e. the mirror which reflects a person's greatest wish), he would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants."[35]
J.K. Rowling, also stated that the fact that Voldemort was conceived under a love potion have to do with his non-ability to understand love is "a symbolic way of showing that he came from a loveless union – but of course, everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him. The enchantment under which Tom Riddle fathered Voldemort is important because it shows coercion, and there can’t be many more prejudicial ways to enter the world than as the result of such a union".[26]
Rowling established that Voldemort's greatest fear is "ignominious death", and that his boggart would be his own corpse. She said: "Voldemort's fear is death, ignominious death. I mean, he regards death itself as ignominious. He thinks that it's a shameful human weakness, as you know. His worst fear is death".[36] According to Rowling, the difference between Harry and Voldemort is the fact that Harry accepts mortality, and thus Harry is in the end stronger than his nemesis: "[T]he real master of Death [i.e. someone like Harry] accepts that he must die, and that there are much worse things in the world of the living."[26]
Magical abilities
Throughout the series, Rowling establishes Voldemort as a supremely powerful, intelligent, and ruthless Dark Wizard. 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. However, in the seventh book, he loses control, allowing Harry to see through his eyes and hear his thoughts.[37] In addition, Voldemort is a Parselmouth, a trait he has inherited from his ancestor, Salazar 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. When Voldemort attempts to kill Harry, turning him into a Horcrux, his ability to speak Parseltongue is passed to Harry through the small bit of his soul. After that bit of soul was destroyed, Harry loses this ability.[37]
On her homepage, Rowling has written that Voldemort's wand is made of yew, whose sap is poisonous and which symbolises death, according to Rowling.[38] It forms a deliberate contrast to the wand of his nemesis Harry Potter, whose wand is made of holly, which she chose because holly is alleged to repel evil.[38]
Rowling establishes in the books that Voldemort is magically connected to Harry Potter via Harry's forehead scar. He disembodies himself when his Killing Curse targeting Harry Potter rebounds on him, leaving a scar on Harry's forehead. In the books, Harry's scar serves as an indicator of Voldemort's presence: it burns when the Dark Lord is near or whenever Voldemort is feeling particularly murderous or exultant. According to Rowling, by attacking Harry when he was a baby, Voldemort gave him "tools (that) no other wizard possessed – the scar and the ability it conferred, a magical window into Voldemort's mind."[39] Rowling also has established that Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter are distantly related through their ancestors, as most wizards are.[37]
Outward appearance
After he has regained his body in the fourth book, Rowling describes Voldemort has 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.[15] Earlier in life, as seen through flashbacks contained in the second and sixth books, Tom Marvolo Riddle is described as very handsome which is seemingly an inherited trait from his father, for his mother "...was no beauty".[23] The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been caused by practising extremely advanced Dark magic, such as creating Horcruxes to split his soul, or deliberate intent to further separate himself from his father.[40][41]
Family tree
Note: the names 'Thomas' and 'Mary' Riddle are taken from the films.
References
- ^ "Harry Potter: Pronunciation Guide". Scholastic. Retrieved 2007-08-22.
- ^ "Enchanted with Potter Literature: Fans line up for hours to get their books signed". The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA. 1999-10-26. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ http://www.lse.co.uk/ShowStory.asp?story=CA428672U&news_headline=lord_voldemort_is_favourite_literary_villain
- ^ ""J.K. Rowling on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU Radio Washington, D.C., October 20, 1999"".
- ^ ""Lydon, Christopher. J.K. Rowling interview transcript, The Connection (WBUR Radio), 12 October, 1999"".
- ^ "" "JK Rowling talks about Book Four," cBBC Newsround, July 8, 2000"".
- ^ "" Jensen, Jeff. "'Fire' Storm," Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000"".
- ^ ""JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat,March 4, 2004"".
- ^ ""Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. "The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two," The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005"".
- ^ "Enchanted with Potter Literature: Fans line up for hours to get their books signed". The Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA. 1999-10-26. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
- ^ ""J.K. Rowling on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU Radio Washington, D.C., October 20, 1999"". Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ Template:HP2, chapter 4
- ^ a b Template:HP2, chapter 17
- ^ Template:HP3, chapter 16
- ^ a b c d Template:HP4, chapters 32 to 35
- ^ Template:HP4, chapter 32
- ^ a b Template:HP4, chapter1
- ^ Template:HP4, chapter 34
- ^ Template:HP5, chapters 35-37
- ^ ""Living With Harry Potter"". Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ Template:HP4, chapter 36
- ^ Template:HP6, chapter 10
- ^ a b Template:HP6, chapter 13
- ^ Template:HP6, chapter 17
- ^ Template:HP6, chapter 23
- ^ a b c d ""'J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript"". Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ a b Template:HP6, chapters 36-38 Cite error: The named reference "Template:HP6ch363738" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ In chapter 35 ("Kings Cross"), it is explained that ever since Voldemort has failed to kill baby Harry and gotten disembodied, Harry himself has a part of Voldemort's soul (a horcrux) inside him. So, Voldemort can not kill him.
- ^ In chapter 36 ("The Flaw in the Plan"), there is a longer plot dump which establishes that Harry is the true master of the Elder Wand, not Voldemort, and thus the Elder Wand refuses to obey Voldemort. The spell rebounds upon him and in the absence of his horcruxes he is completely destroyed and condemmed to remain in a "stunted" (Rowling's own word) form in the afterlife.
- ^ "Credit Confusion". MuggleNet. Retrieved 2007-01-07.
- ^ Fischer, Paul. "Ralph Fiennes for "White Countess" and "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"". Retrieved 2007-01-07.
- ^ "Helena Bonham Carter Joins the All-Star Cast and Nicholas Hooper Signs on to Compose the Score of Warner Bros. Pictures' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix". Warner Bros. 2006-08-02. Retrieved 2006-12-23.
- ^ ""J.K. Rowling on The Diane Rehm Show, WAMU Radio Washington, D.C., October 20, 1999"". Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ a b ""Jensen, Jeff. "'Fire' Storm," Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000"". Retrieved 2007-08-15.
- ^ a b ""Grossman, Lev. "J.K. Rowling Hogwarts And All," Time Magazine, 17 July, 2005"". Retrieved 2007-08-15. Cite error: The named reference "Grossmann2005" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ ""Anelli, Melissa and Emerson Spartz. "The Leaky Cauldron and MuggleNet interview Joanne Kathleen Rowling: Part Two," The Leaky Cauldron, 16 July 2005"".
- ^ a b c "J.K. Rowling Web Chat Transcript". The Leaky Cauldron. 2007-07-30. Retrieved 2007-07-30.
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(help) Cite error: The named reference "LeakyCauldron20070730" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page). - ^ a b Section: Extra Stuff WANDS jkrowling.com. Retrieved on August 15, 2007.
- ^ Section: F.A.Q.
- ^ Template:HP2, chapter 23
- ^ Template:HP2, chapter 20