Lord Voldemort
Lord Voldemort (born December 31, 1926) is the fictional arch-villain of the Harry Potter series. He is an evil wizard bent on securing unmatched power and achieving immortality through the practice of Dark Magic. Voldemort has appeared in three of the six novels published so far (not in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban save for mentionings of him, or Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the flesh, though he, under his original name, makes appearances in the pensieve of Albus Dumbledore. He appears in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, albeit in disguise and remains so even after his identity is revealed.
Voldemort is so feared in the Wizarding world that his name is considered to be ineffable. Most characters refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud, although Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore do not hesitate to speak his name. Others flinch when they hear his name. His followers, the Death Eaters, do not use his name but instead refer to him as "The Dark Lord" or Master. Voldemort is considered one of the most powerful wizards alive. It has been said that the only wizard he fears is Albus Dumbledore, headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, though Voldemort denied this.
History
Birth and Adolescence
Lord Voldemort was born Tom Marvolo Riddle on New Year's Eve 1926 to Tom Riddle Sr. and Merope Riddle, née Gaunt. Through his mother, he is the last descendant of the famous ancient wizard Salazar Slytherin. Through his father, he is a descendant of the squires of Little Hangleton, an aristocratic Muggle family. Merope had been abandoned by her husband while she was pregnant. After giving birth, the boy's mother lived long enough to name him Tom after his father, and Marvolo after his maternal grandfather Marvolo Gaunt and died soon after.
Riddle is raised at an orphanage in London. It was Dumbledore's task to find Riddle when he reached age eleven and invite him to study at Hogwarts. By that time he already showed great potential as a wizard; he could move things with his mind, make animals do his bidding, talk to snakes, cause people pain, and, in his own words, "make bad things happen to people who annoy[ed him]". However, he also displayed cruelty, a disregard for others, a need for absolute and total control, and a lack of moral judgement.
In his first meeting with Dumbledore, Riddle was seen to be a sharply intelligent and calculating boy with a cold, smoothly expressionless face intended to prevent others guessing what he was thinking. He was sure that he was born to be different, and detested the name "Tom", which he deemed to be too common. At Hogwarts, he was a gifted and exceptional student, and became a staff favourite. He was made a prefect and eventually the Head Boy. However, Dumbledore never forgot what Riddle had confessed to him on their first meeting, and never fully trusted him.
Riddle attended Hogwarts from 1938 to 1945 as a member of Slytherin house. During holidays he was obliged to return to the orphanage, which he hated. He quickly gathered a group of followers, particularly fellow Slytherin students, whom he referred to as friends, but for whom he is said to have felt little or no compassion. Many of these people became Death Eaters, including Avery and Rodolphus Lestrange. Among these he began using the name "Lord Voldemort"; "I am Lord Voldemort" is an anagram of his full name, Tom Marvolo Riddle (see The name - "Voldemort", below). After leaving Hogwarts, he chose to abandon his original name and use his adopted name openly.
During Riddle's sixth year at Hogwarts, he opened the Chamber of Secrets, created by his ancestor Salazar Slytherin, leading to the death of Myrtle, a Muggle-born student. Only Dumbledore ever suspected him Template:HP2, as Riddle had exercised his considerable charm over most of the other staff, including Potions master Horace Slughorn Template:HP6. Instead, fellow student Rubeus Hagrid was framed for the incident by Riddle, and was expelled.
Before Riddle graduated from Hogwarts, he returned to Little Hangleton, hoping to meet his maternal grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, and confirm that he was a descendant of the Gaunts (and, through them, Slytherin.) Instead, he met his uncle Morfin, learning of his grandfather's death and his father's non-magical nature. He stole an heirloom ring from Morfin, murdered his father and Muggle grandparents, and modified his uncle's memory so that Morfin would confess to the murders and be found responsible for the deaths by the wizarding world. Frank Bryce, the Riddles' gardener, fell under suspicion from the Muggle police, as the door had not been forced and Bryce was the only person with keys to the house. The cause of death could not be determined, however, and Bryce was released, although he was regarded with suspicion by the other villagers until his death in 1994 at Voldemort's own hand. (main article:The House of Gaunt) In this way, two men were blamed for the Riddle murders and Voldemort kept the black Gaunt ring and returned to Hogwarts.
After completing his education, Voldemort sought to become a teacher at Hogwarts. Dumbledore speculated that he had ulterior motives in seeking the job, however, and was adverse to it. The Headmaster Armando Dippet turned Voldemort down, as he felt that Voldemort was not old enough. He instead took a job at Borgin and Burkes, purveyors of dark magical objects. He left the store after acquiring, by theft and murder, two more relics of the Hogwarts founders. Salazar Slytherin's locket had once been an heirloom of the Gaunt family, but had been bought by Burke for a tiny sum of ten galleons when Merope Gaunt had been homeless and starving. It was sold to Hepzibah Smith, who now paid for her purchase with her life and the loss of her own family heirloom, a goblet bearing the Hufflepuff badger which had once belonged to Helga HufflepuffTemplate:HP6. Hepzibah Smith was a distant descendant of the Hufflepuff House founder. Riddle again planted false memories so that someone else would admit to the crime, this time Hepzibah’s house-elf, Hokey. Dumbledore later discovered that Riddle intended to use the relics to create Horcruxes, containers for portions of his soul which might protect him from death.
Rise to power
Little more is known about Voldemort until he rose to power in the 1970s. The dark wizard Grindelwald was vanquished while Voldemort was 18 so it is possible that the two met, and that this was one influence upon him. When Voldemort first appeared, he started his campaign with the idea of "purifying" the Wizarding race by purging Muggle-born people (notably despite, or perhaps partly because of, his own "half-blood" heritage), which appealed to the old Wizarding families. Later he showed more of "his true colors," and he lost support from some of the old magical families. There have only been hints at the full horror and violence of his attempt at control. Fear spread as many of Voldemort's followers, the Death Eaters, became infamous for using the Unforgivable Curses against those who stood against them, and through the Dark Mark, Morsmordre, used to "mark" a site after committing a murder. Voldemort himself used brutal punishments to ensure that the Death Eaters remained faithful to him.
Prior to his open reemergence, Voldemort briefly resurfaced to contact Dumbledore, now the Hogwarts Headmaster, asking again to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts. (This was about1970.) Voldemort was appearing much less human, and asked to be called by his assumed title rather than his given name, which Dumbledore would not do. Instead, Dumbledore confronted Voldemort with his actions since leaving Hogwarts. He guessed, and rightly so, that a wizard with Voldemort's abilities would not repeatedly apply for a teaching job unless he had ulterior motives. He refused to grant Voldemort the job. Since that time no person has held the Dark Arts post for more than one year, and it is believed by Dumbledore that this is due to a curse placed by Voldemort.
After being rejected from Hogwarts, Voldemort's plans became much more ambitious. He used spies, either Death Eaters or people under the effect of the Imperius Curse, to infiltrate places of significance, particularly the Ministry of Magic. Many Aurors and members of the Order of the Phoenix were murdered while trying to organize resistance against him. Much fear, chaos and suspicion spread in the wizarding world; many people being questioned as to whether they were under the Imperius Curse, or purposely doing Voldemort's bidding. Many of these victims were set free after it was discovered they were cursed, but it was never entirely clear whether wizards such as Lucius Malfoy had acted freely or under a curse.
Until early 1980, despite efforts by both the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort appeared to be on the verge of victory. It was not until his encounter with James and Lily Potter that he fell from this position of power.
Downfall
In 1979, Sybill Trelawney, great-great-granddaughter of a famous and gifted Seer, Cassandra Trelawney, entered a trance in the presence of Dumbledore and uttered a prophecy:
- "The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..."
Two boys were found to fit the description of the prophecy: Neville Longbottom (born July 30) and Harry Potter (born July 31). Severus Snape, now a Death Eater, overheard part of Trelawney's prophecy, but his eavesdropping was interrupted by Aberforth Dumbledore (the brother of Albus Dumbledore). Snape thus failed to pass on the second part of the prophecy, and so Voldemort missed key details about his future foe. Voldemort saw the infant Harry as a more likely threat than Neville, even though Neville was a pure-blood (and thus in Voldemort's view a "better" wizard), while Harry was a half-blood like Voldemort himself. He thus "mark[ed] him as his equal". As Dumbledore later explained, it was this act of Voldemort's that confirmed Harry as the one to whom the prophecy referred. Although no reason has been given for why Voldemort chose to attempt to kill Harry rather than Neville, it is possible that Voldemort considered Harry the one the prophecy referred to because he was a half-blood, and thus might rise to challenge him because of his desire to purge the wizarding world of half-bloods and muggle-borns. This could be the result of the fact that Voldemort, regarded as one of the most powerful wizards ever, most likely realizes that because he himself was half-blood, Harry might be just as effective and talented in magic as he was, and to date still is.
On October 31, 1981, Voldemort arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter, prominent members of the Order of the Phoenix who had defied him three times (as stated as a condition of the prophecy), in Godric's Hollow. The Potters knew Voldemort was searching for them, and had gone into hiding by means of the Fidelius Charm, a very powerful enchantment that hides a secret inside a single, living soul ("Secret-Keeper"). Originally, family friend Sirius Black was to be the Secret-Keeper, but he switched roles with another, Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew betrayed the Potters and gave Voldemort the knowledge of their whereabouts. James Potter was killed in the confrontation, and Lily sacrificed her life attempting to save her son. This act of love granted Harry an unexpected charm of protection, which foiled Voldemort's attempt to use Avada Kedavra, the killing curse, on the baby.
Voldemort is believed to have intended to use Harry's murder as part of the necessary ceremony to create another Horcrux. However, due to the protection spell, the killing curse backfired on Voldemort, and the one-year-old Harry became the first and only known survivor of the Avada Kedavra curse. The curse left the infamous lightning bolt scar on Harry's forehead, created a link between their minds, and granted Voldemort's ability to speak Parseltongue (the language of snakes) to Harry as well. Voldemort was reduced to a barely-alive shell of his former being, and virtually disappeared for over a decade. He only survived the backfiring of the killing curse because he had previously split his soul into six pieces, five of which were already imbued into Horcruxes. He later created the desired sixth Horcrux (which Dumbledore believed to be the snake Nagini) using the murder of Frank Bryce.
The protective charm bestowed on Harry by his mother's sacrifice - importantly, a sacrifice she chose to make but need not have made - afforded him a lingering protection against direct attacks by Voldemort. This charm was kept active as long as he had a home among Lily's blood relatives and only until he came of age (at 17). For this reason, Dumbledore took the rescued baby Harry and left him in the indifferent and even neglectful care of his aunt and uncle, the Muggles Vernon and Petunia Dursley.
The news of Voldemort's downfall spread fast through the wizarding community. Without his personal power to back them up, many of his supporters defected or gave themselves up. A few faithful followers attempted to find him, but were unsuccessful and were caught and sent to Azkaban. The atmosphere of terror that had held sway so long over the wizarding community (not just in Britain, but all over the world - Voldemort had international followers such as Antonin Dolohov and Igor Karkaroff as well) was lifted. Overnight, Harry Potter became a celebrity, popularly called "The Boy Who Lived."
The years of exile
Voldemort led a shadow life in a forest, where even continued existence was a struggle for him. His only remaining power was the ability to occupy the bodies of others, and he frequently possessed snakes. Animal bodies made it difficult for him to perform magic, a crucial obstacle to regaining his strength and restoring his physical form.
In the early 1990s, Professor Quirinus Quirrell, teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, encountered Voldemort in the forests of Albania during his travels. Whether tempted by promises of power or overcome by trickery, Quirrell submitted to the Dark Lord's service and allowed Voldemort to possess him. He travelled to London and attempted, with the help of his new master, to steal the Philosopher's Stone (called the Sorcerer's Stone in the United States version of the book), which would have allowed Voldemort to regain his former power and to become immortal. Voldemort planned on drinking from the Elixir of Life enough to restore him to a body, in which he would continue to rely on his Horcruxes. Finding that the stone had been moved from Gringotts to Hogwarts, Voldemort/Quirrell set about finding ways to break through the many layers of security now around the Philosopher's Stone. Voldemort's plans were, however, thwarted by Harry, now a first-year student at Hogwarts, and Voldemort was forced to flee his host's body, as Harry's touch reduced his host's body to ashes.
Voldemort returned to hiding, angry that his Death Eaters had forsaken him, and afraid that he would not be able to find another wizard to possess. He remained in hiding for two years in Albania. In this interim, Death Eater Lucius Malfoy secretly sent one of Voldemort's Horcruxes; the diary kept by the young Tom Riddle – into Hogwarts by passing it secretly into the possession of student Ginny Weasley. By means of this sinister diary, the memory of Riddle managed to manipulate Ginny into opening the Chamber of Secrets once again, nearly killing a number of students. Riddle then tried to drain Ginny's life-force to allow himself to regain physical form outside the book. Harry, however, defeated him once again. It is not known what would have happened had Ginny been destroyed by this past version of Tom Riddle, but author J. K. Rowling has noted it would strengthen the present-day Voldemort. Lucius Malfoy was not aware that the diary was a Horcrux and had no idea that it contained a piece of Voldemort's soul - he simply intended to get rid of a Dark item, have Dumbledore thrown out of Hogwarts and discredit Arthur Weasley by planting it on his daughter.
Luckily for Voldemort, a series of incidents forced Peter Pettigrew, who had betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort, to leave hiding and to go in search of Voldemort. While seeking his one-time master, he kidnapped Bertha Jorkins, from whom Voldemort learned of Barty Crouch Jr., a Death Eater who had been smuggled out of Azkaban and was privately confined at his father's house. Using Pettigrew's help, Voldemort created a rudimentary body, corporeal enough to perform magic with. He also formulated a plan to re-create his original physical body, albeit stronger than before, a plan to which the kidnapping of Harry Potter was vital.
It was later on when Harry and Cedric Diggory entered the graveyard that the Dark Lord was reborn. Pettigrew killed Cedric with Avada Kedavra using Voldemort's wand and tied Harry to the tombstone of the Riddle family. He then used an ancient ritual of Dark Magic to recreate the body he had before his curse rebounded at the beginning of the first book. This process required several key ingredients: "Bone of the father, unknowingly taken", "Flesh of the servant, willfully given", and "Blood of the enemy, forcefully taken." Harry's blood formed a part of this process of rebirth, preventing the effect which caused Voldemort to almost die when he first tried to kill Harry. Many Harry Potter fans suspect that this will eventually prove to be Voldemort's undoing; when Harry was telling Dumbledore about how Voldemort had removed the charm over Harry, Dumbledore had in his eyes a look of triumph, seeming to know something no one else does. After being reborn, Voldemort summoned the Death Eaters back to him, and attempted to kill Harry — but Harry escaped the Dark Lord yet again (see below).
The Second War
At first, the British Ministry of Magic refused to believe that Lord Voldemort had risen again. The Minister for Magic (Minister of Magic in American Editions), Cornelius Fudge, began a process of discrediting both Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore by playing upon their ambiguities; Fudge professing that Dumbledore was somewhat confused and senile, and that Harry Potter was attention seeking and psychologically unstable.
Dumbledore responded by recreating the once disbanded Order of the Phoenix, setting up headquarters in Sirius Black's family home at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London. He also sent envoys to persuade giants, and other non-human magical beings away from Voldemort's side. Unfortunately, the giants, Dementors and werewolves had already allied with Voldemort.
Meanwhile, Malfoy, having returned to Voldemort's service, sought to gain influence within the Ministry, encouraging Fudge to believe that the real threat to his authority came from a powerful Dumbledore, not a resurgent Voldemort. Away from the gaze of the Ministry, Voldemort was waiting and plotting carefully. Only a handful of wizards – the Death Eaters and the members of the Order of the Phoenix – knew or believed he had returned - allowing him a free hand in his schemes against both the Ministry, the Order, and most importantly, Harry Potter.
After engineering a plot to secure the break-out of some of the Death Eaters from Azkaban, Voldemort embarked on a scheme to kill Harry and retrieve the full record of Trelawney's prophecy regarding Harry and Voldemort, stored in the Ministry's Department of Mysteries. His plot failed, and the only accessible copy of the prophecy was destroyed. All but one of the Death Eaters sent to retrieve it fell into the hands of the Order of the Phoenix after a running battle inside the Ministry building.
There followed a wizarding duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort, until finally Voldemort vanished, taking Bellatrix Lestrange with him. He was seen by the Minister for Magic, however, who finally accepted that Voldemort was back. This led to a return of the earlier fear and suspicion among the wizarding community, which was fueled by Voldemort's continuing attacks and schemes as he regained strength.
Voldemort's next step was to engineer an attack on his most formidable enemy, Dumbledore himself.Template:HP6 This was attempted by Draco Malfoy, who managed to arrange access into Hogwarts by means of two enchanted cabinets, which bypassed the extensive protective enchantments placed around the school. Despite the fact that this allowed Death Eaters the chance they needed to enter Hogwarts, it was Severus Snape who used Avada Kedavra against Dumbledore, after Draco Malfoy refused. With "the only one he ever feared" dead, Voldemort's greatest enemy (bar Harry) is no more, and the scales of the battle have now tipped, it seems, in favour of the Dark Lord.
Personality and Traits
Voldemort is described as having very pale skin, snake-like slits for nostrils, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, a skeletally thin body, and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. In the first movie however, he is shown with red eyes and an almost normal looking nose; and in the fourth movie, he had the slit nostrils and green eyes rather than red. Earlier in life, as Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort was described as very handsome, with black hair. The transformation into his monstrous state is believed to have been caused by practicing extremely advanced Dark magic, for example in creating Horcruxes to split his soul, and as a result of his downfall.
Voldemort, like most Dark-leaning wizards descending from pureblood wizarding families, shows considerable hatred for muggles and non-pure-blood wizards and witches - or mudbloods. This despite the fact that Voldemort himself is a non-pure-blood wizard himself (his father was a Muggle.) Riddle ultimately changed his name, by way of an anagram, from "Tom Marvolo Riddle" to "I am Lord Voldemort", as a way of removing his own heritage, and he killed the Riddle family, partly because they were Muggles, and partly because they abandoned him and his mother.
Voldemort, in his arrogant belief in his own superiority, has a tendency to forget seemingly unimportant details from the past, which has led to his undoing on several occasions. In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he states that he had forgotten about the ancient magic which protected Harry as his mother died to save him, the magic Voldemort cannot understand because he has no concept of love. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets he forgets that the tears of the phoenix have healing powers. In particular, his use of Harry's blood to resurrect himself seems to involve such a detail, something that is conjectured to play a vital part in Book 7.
There are some notable similarities between the young Tom Riddle and Harry Potter - both were half blood orphans, raised in unhappy conditions, until they were admitted into Hogwarts; and there are some physical similarities: both have black hair, and are tall by their mid-teens, both have thin faces, and possess the ability to speak to snakes. Both felt more at home at Hogwarts than anywhere else in the world. In fact, Dumbledore once noted that Voldemort probably had more profound feelings of attachment for Hogwarts than he ever had for anyone or any thing.
After much speculation, J. K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, revealed that Voldemort's greatest fear is "ignominious death," and that his boggart would be his own corpse. What Voldemort desires most is to be all-powerful and to live forever – which is what he would see if he were ever to look in the Mirror of Erised. Dumbledore also stated in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Voldemort secretly fears both corpses and darkness, though, "it is the unknown we fear when we look upon death and darkness, nothing more," (Chapter 26). He also fails to understand that there are other ways to destroy a man than death.
Magic and skill
Voldemort is a Parselmouth; something he inherited from Salazar Slytherin (it seems that most of his Gaunt ancestors have inherited this highly unusual trait) and passed on to Harry Potter through the backfired curse that forged a lifelong physical connection between them. He is also known as one of the greatest Legilimens and Occlumens in the world - being able to read minds, as well as shield his own from penetration.
He is attributed as being one of few people able to create and comprehend Horcruxes, to such an extent that he attempts to gain immortality through them. - similar to those used by the mythical creatures known as liches, although the liches' phylacteries require neither the user to "split" his/her soul, nor does it require a portion of said practicioner's soul to remain in his/her body.
Voldemort's magic wand is made from yew, a wood associated with immortality and which produces a poisonous sap. It is 13 1/2 inches long, has the feather of a phoenix at its core, and in the movie, what appears to be a bone handle. The wand's maker, Mr Ollivander, got this feather from Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes. Fawkes gave just one other feather to be used in a wand, and ironically this wand "chose" to belong to Harry. Because the two wands have a core coming from the same source, they tend to work improperly when used against each other. If they are forced into battle, a Priori Incantatem or "reverse-spell" effect occurs, where one wand forces the other to regurgitate shadows of previous spells it has cast, in reverse chronological order. All of this plays an important part in Harry's escape from Voldemort at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
The wand connection is yet another symbolic connection between Harry and Voldemort; their minds are also connected. in The Goblet of Fire Harry first discovered that he could access Voldemort's thoughts and emotions, and from then on whenever Voldemort was extremely angry or in pain, Harry's scar would burn painfully. Similarly, Voldemort also discovered their connection in The Order of the Phoenix and used it to attempt to possess Harry and use him as a spy. It seems that, in many ways, Harry's and Voldemort's lives are tied to each other's.
Voldemort's duelling skills are probably only matched by Albus Dumbledore; being able to conjure spells, counterspells and apparition/desaparition in a matter of seconds makes him a formidable opponent. It would require exceptional skill to defeat a wizard like him.
Representation within Film
In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone he is merely a face on the back of Quirrell's head. This was achieved by computer generated imagery voiced by Richard Bremmer. In that film, he was also shown in a flashback sequence when he arrived at the home of James and Lily Potter to kill them. In this scene Voldemort is played by Ian Hart, the actor who played Quirrell in the same film.
In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort appears as a memory of his younger self, Hogwarts student Tom Riddle, who is played by Christian Coulson.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which is the first time Voldemort is seen in his actual physical form, he is played by Ralph Fiennes. Voldemort is shown robed in dark black robes, tall and skeletal, and no hair. His finger nails are long and pale blue while toe nails appear to be infected. His eye pupils are not snake-like (Heyman felt that his evil would not be able to be seen and would not fill the audience with fear), and he has no nose, but snake-like slits for nostrils. He also has unpredictable mood-swings in the film.
The assumption that his casting will be preserved in the filming of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix has been supported by an interview with Fiennes.
Voldemort does not appear in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.
Characters seem less uncomfortable hearing Voldemort's name in the films than in the books.
Family tree
Name and anagram
Voldemort's given name was Tom Marvolo Riddle. In the second book he explains that the appellation "Lord Voldemort" is derived from an anagram of his name:
- TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE → I AM LORD VOLDEMORT
This is also a play on words, as his name, Tom Marvolo Riddle, is also itself a riddle.
Like a number of other names in the Harry Potter novels, "Voldemort" seems to have French origins. Indeed, Vol de mort can mean, rather appropriately, either "flight of death" or "theft of death". The word de can also translate as "from", giving "flight from death". Given Voldemort's fear of death and quest for immortality, this meaning is also appropriate.
J.K. Rowling personally uses a French pronunciation for his name, i.e. Vol-de-mor (with a silent t).
But Voldemort may also be a form of Valdemar a Germanic form of Vladimir, meaning Wald-mer= a famous ruler.
The only characters in the Harry Potter books to pronounce Voldemort's name regularly are Harry Potter, Dumbledore, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and Hermione Granger (starting in Book 5).
In translated versions of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Voldemort's original name is changed to accommodate the anagram. In the Polish edition, however, translator Andrzej Polkowski decided not to make any changes, presumably because of the difficulty of translating the anagram into a meaningful sentence. In the Portuguese edition (as distinct from the Brazilian edition), the name was similarly left untranslated.
Coincidentally, "Voldemort" sounds very similar to the German word der Völkermord (the German word for "genocide").
| Sprache | True Name | Anagram | Translations/notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bulgarian | ТОМ МЕРСВОЛУКО РИДДЪЛ | ТУК СЪМ И ЛОРД ВОЛДЕМОР | Here I am also Lord Voldemort | |
| Catalan | TOD MORVOSC RODLEL | SÓC LORD VOLDEMORT | I am Lord Voldemort | |
| Czech | TOM ROJVOL RADDLE | JÁ LORD VOLDEMORT | Me, Lord Voldemort | |
| Dänisch | ROMEO G DETLEV JR | JEG ER VOLDEMORT | I am Voldemort; The G. is short for Gåde, i.e. "Riddle" | |
| Dutch | MARTEN ASMODOM VILIJN | MIJN NAAM IS VOLDEMORT | My name is Voldemort; "Vilijn" (Voldemort's last name) and the Dutch word "Vilein" are equally pronounced, while the word "Vilein" means "evil" or "mean". | |
| Estonian | TOM MARVOLON RIDDLE | MINA LORD VOLDEMORT | Me, Lord Voldemort | |
| Finnish | TOM LOMEN VALEDRO | MA OLEN VOLDEMORT | I am Voldemort; "Ma" is an archaic form of "Minä" meaning "I" or "me" | |
| French | TOM ELVIS JEDUSOR | JE SUIS VOLDEMORT | I am Voldemort; "Jedusor" is pronounced the same way as "Jeu du sort", stroke of fate. | |
| German | TOM VORLOST RIDDLE | IST LORD VOLDEMORT | [It] is Lord Voldemort | |
| Greek | ANTON MORVOL HERT | ARCHON VOLDEMORT | Lord Voldemort: "NT" in Greek is equivalent to "D" | |
| Greek spelling | ΑΝΤΩΝ ΜΟΡΒΟΛ ΧΕΡΤ | ΑΡΧΩΝ ΒΟΛΝΤΕΜΟΡΤ | ||
| Hebrew | TOM VANDROLO RIDDLE | ANI LORD VOLDEMORT | ||
| Hebrew spelling | טום ואנדרולו רידל | אני לורד וולדמורט | I am Lord Voldemort: the word lord is transliterated from the English and not translated. | |
| Hungarian | TOM ROWLE DENEM | NEVEM VOLDEMORT | My name is Voldemort | |
| Icelandic | TREVOR DELGOME | ÉG ER VOLDEMORT | I am Voldemort | |
| Italian | TOM ORVOLOSON RIDDLE | SON IO LORD VOLDEMORT | I am Lord Voldemort (a slightly archaic style) | |
| Latvian | TOMS SVERELDO MELSUDORS | ES ESMU LORDS VOLDEMORTS | I am Lord Voldemort | |
| Low German | TOM SOLVOR RIDDLE | IS LORD VOLDEMORT | [It] is Lord Voldemort | |
| Norwegian | TOM DREDOLO VENSTER | VOLDEMORT DEN STORE | Voldemort the great | |
| Polish | TOM MARVOLO RIDDLE | JAM JEST LORD VOLDEMORT | I am Lord Voldemort | |
| Portuguese (Brazilian) | TOM SERVOLO RIDDLE | EIS LORD VOLDEMORT | Behold Lord Voldemort | |
| Romanian | TOMAS DORLENT CRUPLUD | SUNT LORDUL CAP-DE-MORT | I am Lord Voldemort | |
| Russian | TOM NARVOLO REDDL | LORD VOLAN-DE-MORT | ||
| Russian spelling | ТОМ НАРВОЛО РЕДДЛ | ЛОРД ВОЛАН-ДЕ-МОРТ | Lord Volan-de-Mort | |
| Slovak | TOM MARVOLOSO RIDDLE | A SOM I LORD VOLDEMORT | And I am also Lord Voldemort | |
| Slovenian | MARK NEELSTIN | MRLAKENSTEIN | In this case, the name was changed to sound like Frankenstein, while Mrlak should have an allusion to death | |
| Spanish | TOM SORVOLO RYDDLE | SOY LORD VOLDEMORT | I am Lord Voldemort | |
| Swedish | TOM GUS MERVOLO DOLDER | EGO SUM LORD VOLDEMORT | I am Lord Voldemort (in Latin) | |
| Turkish | TOM MARVOLDO RIDDLE | ADIM LORD VOLDEMORT | My name is Lord Voldemort | |
| Ukrainian | TOM YARVOLOD REDL | YA LORD VOLDEMORT | ||
| Ukrainian spelling | ТОМ ЯРВОЛОД РЕДЛ | Я ЛОРД ВОЛДЕМОРТ | I am Lord Voldemort | |
| Мacedonian | ТОМ РЕДЛОВ
(TOM REDLOV) |
ВОЛДЕМОР
(VOLDEMOR) |
Red from Redlov means order |
See also
References
- Lev Grossman, "J.K. Rowling Hogwarts and All". TIME Magazine, July 25, 2005, Vol. 166, No. 4
- Rowling, J. K. (1997). Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747532699.
- Rowling, J. K. (1998). Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747538492.
- Rowling, J. K. (1999). Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747542155.
- Rowling, J. K. (2000). Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Bloomsbury. ISBN 074754624X.
- Rowling, J. K. (2003). Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747551006.
- Rowling, J. K. (2005). Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Bloomsbury. ISBN 0747581088.
- Rowling, J. K. (2007). Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Bloomsbury. ISBN 1551929767.
External links
- Translated names in the Harry Potter World
- Timeline of Lord Voldemort's Life (Harry Potter Lexicon)
- Biography from the Harry Potter Lexicon
- A muggle raised halfblood analysis of Voldemorts background by redhen
- Lord Voldemort's Appeal Analysis of how and why Voldemort gained support by Slytherin Serpent