Arka’s blog

How the Dark Lord came to being:

An analysis of Lord Voldemort’s character and history

So 1945 is a year everyone knows. Yes, when World War II ended. This is very important because World War II was obviously a big conflict of the Nazi ideology and power with the rest of the world. At the same time, 1945 was the year Dumbledore defeated Grindelwald. And if we look further into this, we can see that 1945 was the year Tom Marvolo Riddle, sometimes known as Voldemort, left Hogwarts. I am not implying that all three of these events are directly related, but they have some connections that could be considered essential to Voldemort’s character.

As it is, World War II and the rise of Grindelwald do have obvious parallels that can be seen in great detail in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, as do Gellert Grindelwald and Adolf Hitler. Hitler was a Nazi, which means that he thought that the government should be very powerful and should control how other people live, and that the German people were better than other groups of people. In the Holocaust, Hitler took most of the Jewish people, whom he thought to be beneath him, and killed them. In a similar manner, Grindelwald had originally teamed up with Dumbledore, and the two planned to establish a new world order, where wizards would rule over Muggles for the greater good. Grindelwald’s work was later continued by the Voldemort Regime. While both Hitler and Grindelwald spread evil under these excuses, they both had basic power-hungry motives in the end. They had great influence over the people, as they were feared and respected when not hated and fought against. It is speculated that Grindelwald may have been influenced himself by Hitler, as it is a great coincidence that they both rose to power at the same time. This was the setting of Tom Riddle’s wizarding childhood.

Tom Riddle came to Hogwarts in September of 1938, Hitler was becoming more powerful, and it can be assumed that grindelwald already held the wizarding world in fear. Since the wizarding world was acutely aware of Grindelwald’s deeds and ascension to power, Riddle himself must have also observed it. Riddle was already predisposed against Muggles and Muggle-borns or Half-bloods, as displayed by his behavior while at the orphanage. Now it has come to his attention that there is a powerful leader who shares his hatred of those whose blood is tainted by lack of pure magical ability*. It could not have gone unnoticed by Riddle that Grindelwald was great, powerful, and successful in his cause, and that he managed to nearly achieve his goal of ridding the world of such people. Riddle himself had the ability to naturally be in a position of power, and despised having any authority above him; he also managed to get people to easily follow him and support his cause, and he could do so very discreetly.

While at Hogwarts, Riddle made quite a name of himself, well-known for his intelligence, ability, and character. At the same time, beneath the surface, he was spreading his and Grindelwald’s beliefs on the genocide taking place, and trying to put those beliefs to practice. When he discovered his geneology, namely his status as one of the last living descendant of Salazar Slytherin, he must have been extremely excited at the prospect of being so great, and he might have even thought of it as a standard to which he must rise- most powerful wizard in the world. At some point here, he went to Little Hangleton to seek out his remaining family, if any. He discovered his uncle, Morfin, from whom he extracted knowledge of his mother, grandfather, and paternal relatives. He proceeded to kill his father and paternal grandparents, and placed blame on his uncle. This was presumalby the first horrific act of evil which split his soul, the effects of which may be evident in his later actions. 

Along with his ancestral history, he discovered that he was, as the Heir of Slytherin, able to open the Chamber of Secrets and unleash the monster within. This act wreaked chaos onto the school, and caused one known fatal incident. While he acted as Heir of Slytherin anonymously, at the same time he withheld his memories in part of his soul, which he encased in the diary, by the process of making a Horcrux. The evil of such acts slowly fed on his soul, making him less human. Sometime around Riddle’s seventh year, or after he left Hogwarts, Dumbledore (the Transfiguration teacher) took action against Grindelwald, fought in the legendary duel, and won the allegiance of the Elder Wand; Grindelwald, Dumbledore’s old friend, was locked up in his own prison. Riddle must have been disappointed, but he probably attributed Grindelwald’s fall to some flaw on his part, a bad judgement.

Riddle may have sought to revive Grindelwald’s policies by “taking his place” as the most powerful figure in the wizarding world. Meanwhile, Riddle was attempting to elongate his life, and thus in his mind increase his power, by making Horcruxes to achieve creating a seven-part soul, ignoring the drastic side effects of splitting the soul. Soon, after a brief duration of occupationally collecting rare and mysterious objects, partly for his own personal purpose of keeping the fragments of his soul in objects he believed had value to him. After decades of seclusion, becoming more powerful and learned in the Dark Arts, Voldemort eventually came out of “hiding” to take Grindelwald’s place as the opressor of Muggle-borns and Half-Bloods, and the absolute authoritative dictator of the wizarding world.

*See my soon-to-be-released theory on Magic