It’s been more than 20 years since J.K. Rowling first stole our imaginations with the tales of Harry Potter. His greatest adversary, Lord Voldemort, remains to this day as one of the evilest characters in all of cinema.
Much is known about He Who Must Not Be Named but the bulk of this dark wizard’s power remains a mystery.
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Get better acquainted while you check out these 10+ little details about Voldemort that Harry Potter fans may not know!
His real name is Tom Marvolo Riddle.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , we learn that Voldemort was once a student attending Hogwarts. Tom Marvolo Riddle is also an anagram!
If you rearrange the letters, they spell “I Am Lord Voldemort .”
Voldemort’s dad walked-out on him.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince , we watch as Harry relives Voldemort’s memories through a Pensieve. We learn that his mother, Merope, “tricked” Tom’s father into falling in love with her by using a love potion.
After she became pregnant, Merope stopped administering it. Free of his disillusion, Tom Riddle Sr. left Merope and his unborn child.
We’re all pronouncing his name wrong.
According to a tweet sent out by the book’s author, J.K. Rowling, the “T” in Voldemort is supposed to be silent!
I seriously never knew that…and I will keep pronouncing it with a “T”.
He may or may not have cursed the Hogwarts Defense Against the Dark Arts job.
You’ve probably noticed in the Harry Potter movies that there’s been no Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher who’s lasted longer than one school year.
In The Half-Blood Prince , we learned that Voldemort interviewed for the job with Dumbledore and was refused. Could he have cursed the position out of spite?
Voldemort isn’t a pure-blood wizard.
He is the daughter of the witch, Merope Gaunt , and the muggle, Tom Riddle. This is ironic because Voldemort hated “mud-bloods” above all else, yet that’s precisely what he is.
Thus proving that even dark wizards can have daddy issues.
There’s only one wizard who Voldemort ever feared:
This is mentioned multiple times throughout the franchise, but most prominently in The Sorcerer’s Stone and The Chamber of Secrets .
Albus Dumbledore sees right through Lord Voldemort, revealing the scared child within who is Tom Riddle.
He has a wicked tongue.
As we learned in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets , Voldemort is a Parseltongue. This means he has a very unique and special ability to communicate with snakes.
A trait that he and Harry Potter share.
Voldemort was a teacher’s pet.
Tom Riddle was known for his charm and his ability to manipulate people. He became a quick favorite of Professor Slughorn and was even invited to join the prestigious ” Slug Club .”
This was of course a guise to get Slughorn to teach him about Horcruxes.
There’s a reason why they call him “You Know Who.”
Another popular alias (and my personal favorite) is He Who Must Not Be Named. It sounds so sinister!
It was revealed in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows that Voldemort and his Death Eaters can “track” anyone who says his name out loud .
Voldemort is the direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin.
Salazar Slytherin was one of the greatest wizards of his age. He, along with Godric Gryffindor, Helena Hufflepuff, and Rowena Ravenclaw founded Hogwarts.
Voldemort is related to Slytherin on his mother’s side , which explains how he was able to open The Chamber of Secrets.
Voldemort was one of Hogwart’s most brilliant students.
Of course, this was when he was still going by the name Tom Riddle .
He was made Head Boy in his seventh year and was on good terms with most of the Hogwarts staff. All except Dumbledore.
He can possess animals and other living creatures.
We see this in The Chamber of Secrets as well as in The Order of the Phonenix . Voldemort is able to possess/control the Basilisk as well as his own snake, Nagini.
This is an incredibly uncommon ability in the wizarding world.
Voldemort made his first Horcrux when he was only 16-years-old.
The act of creating a Horcrux , in layman’s terms, is a splitting of the soul. Voldemort did this a total of seven different times.
The fact that he was able to create the first Horcrux at such a young age is a testament to his ambition as well as his power.
He’s a father!
Believe it or not, Voldemort is a dad! I know what you’re thinking: “wasn’t Voldemort incapable of love for 8 movies and 7 books?!” Yes — he was.
Yet somehow, he still managed to conceive with one of his fellow Death Eaters, Bellatrix Lestrange in Harry Potter and the Cursed Child .
Voldemort and Harry Potter are technically cousins!
This is revealed in The Deathly Hallows . Harry and Voldemort are both related to the ancient Peverell bloodline.
Harry is a descendent of Ignotus and Voldemort’s bloodline is tied to Cadmus.
