Voldemort

Biodata

Background

At Hogwarts, Tom Riddle appeared charming, modest, and polite. He earned excellent marks, won his professors’ trust, and gathered followers. Dumbledore later described that exemplary conduct as a disguise that concealed the person he would become 13.

Voldemort disappeared after his confrontation with Harry Potter. By 1991, he is weakened and operating through Defence Against the Dark Arts professor Quirrell. He seeks the Philosopher’s Stone as part of his plan to return, while Quirrell’s attempts to obtain unicorn blood fail 19 32 33 43.

Personality

Voldemort notices exceptional talent in others as something he might use. He sees Will Behrens as similar to his younger self and imagines recruiting and teaching him after his return. His treatment of Quirrell is coercive: he reprimands him for failures and urges him to kill Harry despite Quirrell’s fear that Voldemort is too weak to act safely 32 33.

Abilities & Dark Magic

Possession

• Controls Quirrell while the professor maintains a timid public persona. In private, Quirrell drops the act when offering Will special instruction 16.
• Can speak within Quirrell’s mind and chooses at one point not to use his body for a while 32 33.

Horcruxes

• Hufflepuff’s Cup, held in a Lestrange family vault, is one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes 44.
• Horcruxes hold fragments of their creator’s soul. Will suspects that making them has affected Voldemort’s thinking, but this is Will’s interpretation rather than a confirmed effect 23.

Magical Knowledge

• Dumbledore acknowledges that Voldemort possesses powers he himself does not have 13.
• While Will suspects Voldemort is controlling Quirrell, the professor gives him detailed instruction on runes used in Transfiguration 16 17.

Relationships

• Albus Dumbledore — Former teacher who remembers Riddle’s convincing student persona and fears failing to recognize similar danger in another gifted pupil 13.
• Quirinus Quirrell — Host and subordinate; Voldemort commands him to pursue Harry, unicorn blood, and the Philosopher’s Stone 16 32 33.
• Harry Potter — The boy associated with Voldemort’s defeat and a target Voldemort urges Quirrell to kill 19 32.
• Will Behrens — A potential recruit whom Voldemort considers much like his younger self; Will suspects the presence behind Quirrell 16 32 33.
• Roy Lestrange’s family — Roy’s branch opposed Voldemort alongside Dumbledore and was hunted by other relatives for doing so 42.