Lord Voldemort

image=This fan-made poster for the Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire movie pictures Lord Voldemort (played by Ralph Fiennes) when he has returned to power. It is not yet known what Voldemort will actually look like in the film, although a swedish newspaper recently showed a picture showing Voldemort which they claimed was from the movie. See more here.

Characteristics

Voldemort is described as having chalk-white skin, no hair, red eyes and cat-like slits for pupils, and long, thin hands with unnaturally long fingers. Earlier in life Voldemort was a handsome man with black hair, before his appearance began to transform from his experiments in the Dark Arts. There is a slight resemblance, possibly significantly, to Harry Potter. The transformation into his monstrous state was caused in most part by the division of his soul by advanced dark magic so that he could create Horcruxes.

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Voldemort's attempts to gain immortaility through the Horcruxes are identical to that used by the mythical creatures known as liches.

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One of Voldemort's defining characteristics are his classist "pure-blood" tendencies. He looks down upon Muggles, a hatred which seems to originate from his father's mistreatment of his mother. He hates non-pure-bloods, despite the fact he is one himself. In this respect there is a parallel between the literary figure of Voldemort and the German dictator Adolf Hitler, who did not himself conform to the ideal of racial purity he himself advocated.

Related Topics:
Classist - Pure-blood - Adolf Hitler

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In many ways, Voldemort matches the classic profile of antisocial personality disorder.

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Voldemort is portrayed even from childhood as unsatisfied with what he sees as 'normal' life. He wanted to be "special" and was in fact capable of consciously controlling his wandless magic at a very young age. He came to hate his own name, partly because it links him to a father whom he hated, and also because "Tom" is a fairly common English name and did not grant Riddle the uniqueness he craved. For this reason, he adopted a pseudonym based on an anagram of his given name.

Related Topics:
English - Pseudonym - Based on an anagram

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Voldemort bears a certain physical resemblance to Ian McDiarmid's Emperor Palpatine from the Star Wars films although, as Darth Vader is "more machine than man," Voldemort appears to be "more magic than man." When first describing him to Harry, Hagrid noted that Voldemort might no longer be human enough to die:

Related Topics:
Ian McDiarmid - Emperor Palpatine - Star Wars - Darth Vader

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:"Some say he died. Codswallop in my opinion. Dunno if he had enough human left in him to die."Rubeus Hagrid to Harry, in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

Related Topics:
Rubeus Hagrid - Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone

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Voldemort is also a Parselmouth: a wizard who can speak the language of snakes, Parseltongue. This is an ability he inherited from his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin, of whom he is the last living descendant, and which he unwittingly passed to Harry when he tried to kill him.

Related Topics:
Parselmouth - Parseltongue

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Voldemort has also displayed a tendency to forget seemingly minor details, which has led to his undoing on several occasions. In Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone he states that he had forgotten the ancient magic which protected Harry, after his mother had died to save him; in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets he forgets that the tears of the phoenix have healing powers. The Harry Potter Lexicon suggests that the glint in Dumbledore's eye in the Goblet of Fire when Harry tells him that Voldemort has some of his blood in him refers to Dumbledore's knowledge that this is something else Voldemort has forgotten about.

Related Topics:
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Phoenix - Harry Potter Lexicon - Goblet of Fire

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Many of these characteristics, notably the ability to speak Parseltongue, are shared by Harry, and Dumbledore propounds the theory that, in the attack on the baby Harry, Voldemort transferred some of his powers to his victim unwittingly.

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Voldemort's magic wand is made from yew wood, a wood associated with immortality and which produces a poisonous sap, is thirteen and a half inches long, and has the feather of a phoenix at its core. The feather is from Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes. Unusually enough, Fawkes gave one more feather to be used in a wand: this wand belongs to Harry Potter. Because the two wands have a core coming from the same source, they cannot work properly when used against each other. If they are nevertheless forced to battle, what will happen is Priori Incantatem or the "reverse spell effect," where each wand will try to force the other to regurgitate shadows of the spells it has cast in reverse chronological order. All of this played an important part in Harry Potter's escape from Voldemort at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

Related Topics:
Magic wand - Yew - Phoenix - Fawkes - Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

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After much speculation JK Rowling 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 eternal - which is what he would see if he were ever to look in the Mirror of Erised.

Related Topics:
Boggart - Mirror of Erised

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