Elizabeth Gottlieb

2016
Lord Voldemort: The Boy Who Suffered
This is the story of an orphaned boy who, after finding solace in a new magical
world, gains the inner strength to combat evil and defend what he thinks is right. You
would think that statement is referring to the protagonist and all-around good guy of JK
Rowlings Harry Potter series, but in fact, those words can also be used to describe the
greatest villain in the series. Lord Voldemort is marked down as a stereotypical bad guy
during all 7 books of Rowlings series, but only because of the pro-Harry narrative that is
presented to the reader. What lies underneath, however, is the story of a tortured,
misunderstood soul whose actions, while not forgivable, may be understandable in the
right context.
In the first book of this childrens series, Lord Voldemort himself says, There is
no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it (Rowling). Through
Voldemorts actions, this quote shows true time after time. To begin to understand this
power-hungry mans point of view, however, we need to go back to the beginning. Tom
Marvolo Riddle came into the world as a product of a disingenuous marriage. His mother
used a love potion on his father in order to get him to marry her, and after the effects
wore off once she stopped giving it to him, his father left. She gave birth to Tom and died
while in labor, leaving the boy an orphan. From the beginning, the concept of love was
foreign to Tom because he knew that romantic love was a fallacy after knowing what
happened with his parents. Companionate love was also out of his grasp as he was
isolated in the orphanage he grew up in, unable to understand how to deal with his peers
after never feeling the loving embrace of a parental figure. It was in the orphanage that

Tom learned to fight for himself and became an independent soul. As a young boy, Tom
knew he was different from the other children, but had no idea that these differences were
actually indicative of his magical powers. This narrative, much like Harrys, begins the
same way, but quickly diverges onto a path of misguided curiosity.
Once he entered Hogwarts, Tom found his place in Slytherin house, which boasts
a crew of adolescents who actively seek power and use it for their own gain. Much like
the courageous and noble people in Gryffindor positively influenced Harry, Tom was
shown by his fellow Slytherins that in order to be successful and happy, one must attain
power. This quality made sense to Tom because up until this point in his life, he had no
control over his own circumstances, and now he could forge his own path. The Slytherin
stereotype, that those who are trying to seek their own gain are evil, began to drive Tom,
and this mantra set forth by the corrupt system within Hogwarts began to take hold.
Though this school may seem like an oasis for magical youth, their system in
which a child is sorted into a house with a distinct personality type and then forced to
spend all of their years with these clones is absurd. This system deprives students of their
individuality and forces them to align their thoughts and feelings with those of their
peers. It would make sense why Riddle would run with the idea that power is everything
because Hogwarts, an institution he bought into because he thought it would make him
truly happy for once in his life, taught him that all Slytherins must be this way. It is here
that Riddles fate was sealed as a stereotypical evil Slytherin, and the system that ascribes
horrible qualities to children created its own worst enemy.
Through his schooling, young Tom Riddle was always happy to learn. As a
curious boy, only eager to gain the status that he was deprived of while being pushed

aside as a child, Tom opened the chamber of secrets, learned about horcruxes and
ultimately set goals for himself. One of these goals, to be the most powerful wizard in the
world, makes sense because of this eagerness. Toms curiosity and ultimate acceptance of
his powers, such as his ability to move objects and even speak to snakes, led to him
wanting to polish his skills and be the best at what he knew he was capable of doing.
Being in an orphanage with many other children whose backstories were similar to his, it
is no wonder that Tom would take what was unique about him, his ability to do magic,
and try to be well known for it, because he probably never got individualized attention in
the orphanage. Voldemorts other goal, immortality, may seem selfish and power-crazed
to the untrained eye, but immortality perfectly makes sense when you think of Toms
tragic history. For a young Tom Riddle, who never knew his father, he must have idolized
the image of his mother in his mind because she died in childbirth. From early on in his
life, the idea of death scared this boy because he knew that the possibility of someone on
this earth who would love him was taken away by deaths greedy hand, so he wanted to
evade what ruined his life.
The goals of immortality and to be the most powerful wizard of them all may
seem evil to the good people in this tale, but lets examine who those people are. Our
main character, Harry, used the same unforgivable curses that Lord Voldemort used
during his struggle to become great. And Dumbledore, who is seen as a great wizard, was
the only one to be suspicious of Tom, who was seen to all others as a model prefect and
tragic figure. It was Dumbledores mistrust of Tom that made him cold to the wizarding
world because he was the one who introduced Tom to it. By being suspicious and
questioning Toms true nature, it was indeed Dumbledore, a supposedly noble man, who

made Tom shut himself away from those in power in this community and turn against
them. If Dumbledore had originally been openhearted to Tom and not sent him back to
the orphanage on every school holiday, maybe he would not have turned to seeking
attention in dark places and he would have remained loyal to the good side. It was also
Dumbledore who later denied Riddle of the Defense Against the Dark Arts position, once
again showing that those he originally thought had faith in him were not to be trusted.
A lot of the problems the audience has with Voldemort in order to see him as a
villain stem from their inability to see past the narrative placed before them. Like any
good story, there are always two sides to it. In this case, the story Ms. Rowling sets forth
is one that defends Dumbledores actions, because the narrative is seen through Harrys
eyes. Harry is a wizard who, by contrast to Voldemort, was shown love and kindness by
Dumbledore as this great wizard put his faith in a young boy. Though Harry was not
brought up in the lap of luxury by any means, he did have one advantage over Tom
Riddle: he was given a place in a home of a blood relative. Though there is no doubt the
Dursleys treated him poorly, Petunia Dursley did, deep down, feel some sympathy for her
poor nephew, or else she would have dismissed him completely. By allowing her nephew
to live in her home and by occasionally relating to the boy about wizarding matters, such
as their conversation about Death Eaters, Harry was not raised completely devoid of
familial contact, unlike Voldemort. These minor differences are the thin line that divides a
hero and a villain, and it is this thin line that the reader must dance across in order to see
a villain through different, understanding eyes.
Even though everyone who has ever read the Harry Potter series seems to think
they should empathize with the first orphan they are introduced to, it soon becomes

evident that another orphan deserves our sympathies as well. Though the actions of
murdering tons of innocent people is morally reprehensible, it is clear that some degree of
redemption might have been possible for Tom Marvolo Riddle at the start of his life. Lord
Voldemort is nothing more than a passionate and misunderstood person who, after never
being shown love and being put down by a person he admired most, took matters into
their own hands. For a boy whose story seemed to be carved out for him at the beginning
of his life, Tom Riddle tried his best to make a name for himself in the shadow of despair
he was born into, and in doing so, got lost in the gray area between right and wrong.