HBO’s Harry Potter reboot has earned both supporters and detractors — with the latter complaining about the redundancy of adapting a world-famous story ad nauseam. On the other hand, the TV series has promised to stick to the books, including characters and plotlines that were abandoned by the movies. At the same time, there are some notable changes regarding the character of Lord Voldemort. Although the main villain of Harry Potter has already been cast, HBO remains tight-lipped about the actor. Meanwhile, recent set photos suggested that Voldemort might appear in Season 1, in a flashback scene that depicts his murder of Lily and James Potter.
Considering the generally expanded role for most Harry Potter characters, fans are hoping that the show will also delve into the creation of Lord Voldemort. Voldemort has always been fuelled by his grandiose ambitions, with his emotional arc grounded in a single element: pure evil. That said, evil cannot exist all by itself; it must be created from innocence, and the same applies to Tom Riddle Jr. Despite Ralph Fiennes’ phenomenal performance, Voldemort’s comical cackling and cartoonish evil made him seem like an otherworldly antagonist instead of an ordinary man with a heartbreaking backstory. As such, the humanization of Voldemort’s character is a necessary step toward explaining his future behavior, even if it doesn’t excuse his unforgivable crimes.
Voldemort Was Not Responsible for His Inability to Feel Love
Merope Gaunt admiring Tom Riddle Sr from afar in Harry Potter.Image via Pottermore
Like any great villain, Lord Voldemort’s story began in the distant past — even before his birth. He was born to Merope, one of the last surviving members of House Gaunt and a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin. Despite their association with Hogwarts royalty, the Gaunts were treated as general pariahs due to their unstable behavior, as seen through Merope’s violently abusive father, Marvolo, and witless brother Morfin. Merope was desperate to escape the conditions of her family, having been mocked and derided for her apparent lack of magical abilities. However, Morfin and Marvolo’s imprisonment in Azkaban allowed Merope to breathe freely for the first time in years, and her magic soon flourished.
Both her father and brother hated the fact that Merope had fallen in love with a Muggle man who lived nearby, but their absence couldn’t prevent her from ensnaring him. Unable to acquire Tom Riddle Sr.’s attentions through ordinary means, Merope stooped to using magic — Harry wasn’t sure what spell she used, although Dumbledore wisely suggested that it was a love potion. The canon remains ambiguous about the exact nature of Riddle’s magical entrapment, but fans strongly believe in Dumbledore’s explanation because it clearly highlights Voldemort’s inevitable nature.
Having ensorcelled Tom Riddle Sr, Merope even married the Muggle and eloped to London. After she became pregnant with his child, Merope presumably chose to remove the magic keeping her husband bound to her. According to Dumbledore, Merope may have thought that Riddle might have actually fallen for her, or perhaps assumed that he wouldn’t leave his unborn child behind. However, Riddle vanished as soon as the bewitchment was lifted, leaving Merope alone and penniless in the city. It was during this period that she sold Slytherin’s Locket, but the depression continued to haunt her. Left behind by her hateful family and bewitched husband, Merope simply had no more desire to live.
Right before giving birth on December 31, 1926, Merope staggered to a local orphanage. Dumbledore later learned that Merope perished within an hour of delivering her son, whose name she chose herself. Tom Marvolo Riddle never once had a father or mother, but that’s just being an orphan — an experience that Harry also shared. What makes Voldemort different is that he was conceived under the effects of a love potion. J.K. Rowling confirmed that his birth was the result of “a loveless union” rather than the actual love shared between James and Lily Potter. The author also added that “everything would have changed if Merope had survived and raised him herself and loved him.”
Voldemort Never Had the Same Support System as Harry
Young Voldemort sits on a bed in the orphanage in Harry PotterImage via Warner Bros.
Tom Marvolo Riddle grew up thinking that his mother had coldly abandoned him, which could very well be the truth. The fact that Merope left him in an orphanage could imply two things: she knew that she was going to die, or she just didn’t want to raise the child of a man who cruelly left her. In any case, Voldemort’s inability to feel love extended to his parents. He murdered his father and grandparents in 1943, and though he said little about Merope, it’s clear that he considered her Slytherin lineage far more impressive and valuable. Considering his conception, however, it was effectively destined that Voldemort would never understand the power of human connection.
Riddle discovered his magic during his childhood at the orphanage, performing feats of telekinesis, animal manipulation, and several other displays of power. Unable to love, he found that fear was the greatest motivator and continued to exploit that particular emotion for the rest of his life. It was only when Dumbledore revealed the existence of Hogwarts that Riddle finally understood his abilities. Dumbledore also issued warnings, stating that thievery and cheating were not permitted at Hogwarts, but this only convinced Riddle to undergo a radical personality change. Given his suspicions of the child, however, Dumbledore could have kept a sharper eye on the future Voldemort.
Upon entering Hogwarts, Tom Marvolo Riddle quickly became a popular student, highlighting only the charming aspects of his personality. He was beloved by both peers and professors, with the singular exception of Dumbledore. At the same time, Riddle had no choice but to spend summer vacations at the orphanage, a place he feared and detested deeply. Unlike Harry, whose relationships with Ron and Hermione effectively eased the nightmare of living in the Dursley household, Riddle was forced to reckon with his humble origins over and over again.
Voldemort developed a band of close followers during his time at Hogwarts, which was described as a combination of “the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty.” While the Golden Trio’s friendship was steeped in compassion and respect, Riddle’s school relationships bear more similarities with Draco Malfoy, Vincent Crabbe, and Gregory Goyle than the Golden Trio — in short, he was the divine leader, and his friends were his adoring servants. Without the power of love in action, Voldemort’s descent into villainy was only a matter of time.
Humanizing Voldemort Doesn’t Make Him Less Despicable
A close-up of a smiling Lord Voldemort in the movie Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsImage via Warner Bros.
There’s no doubt that Tom Marvolo Riddle has one of the saddest backstories in Harry Potter. He came from a broken home, suffered the indignities of abandonment, and was literally incapable of feeling love because of a mistake made by his mother. Merope might have even known about the side effects of the love potion, but her own infatuation with Riddle was strong enough to ignore any cautionary measures. To put it plainly, Voldemort’s evil can be traced back to the utter absence of love in his life. Even characters like Bellatrix Lestrange, who professed to worship the Dark Lord and had a baby with him, were drawn to Voldemort’s power and mystique than anything else.
However, that’s no excuse for committing some of the most heinous deeds in the Wizarding World. Over the course of his ascent, Voldemort callously murdered countless people, including many members of the First Order of the Phoenix. He brutally punished his Death Eaters for not being perfectly subservient and even killed some of them for perceived transgressions. It’s easier to relate to a villain who at least treats his own followers with kindness, and Voldemort cared for nobody but himself. He was always self-serving, selfish, greedy, and completely pitiless — and this transformed his movie version into an exaggerated stereotype.
It was truly unfortunate that the Harry Potter films failed to underscore this essential element of Voldemort’s life, painting him as a cartoonish aggressor rather than a flawed villain. Even if the truth is hard to swallow, Voldemort’s evil has justifications that make sense in the overarching context of the narrative. The man who could never feel love would naturally refuse to understand its overwhelming power. It was Lily’s love that saved Harry’s life, Dumbledore’s love that kept Harry going, and Snape’s love finally completed the cycle that resulted in Lord Voldemort’s death. Now, as long as the Harry Potter reboot series promises to contextualize Voldemort’s character arc with the requisite flashbacks, fans will be happy. The Dark Lord will always be despicable, but his past certainly offers a solid rationalization.
The Harry Potter 8 Movie Collector’s Edition poster features the art from all eight movie film posters, all of which prominently feature Harry Potter.
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