Merope Gaunt

Merope Riddle née Gaunt (1907 - 31 December 1926) is a character from the fictional Harry Potter series.

Related Topics:
1907 - 31 December - 1926 - Harry Potter

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Merope was from a pure-blood family, which was directly descended from Salazar Slytherin. She, along with her brother Morfin and father Marvolo, were the last of the Gaunts, the only remaining wizarding house of Slytherin's line. So committed were the Gaunts to the upholding of their pure-blood status that they were not above incest; they frequently married and had children with their own cousins. Though the Gaunts were at one time very wealthy, the family fortune was squandered generations before Merope and Morfin's time, so that they and their father lived in squalid poverty. The two Gaunt men did not treat Merope well, verbally abusing her often and calling her a Squib. Her brother Morfin even referred to her as a thief and a slut. This sorry state of affairs ended when Marvolo and Morfin were arrested for assaulting Muggles and Ministry personnel, and sentenced to Azkaban.

Related Topics:
Pure-blood - Salazar Slytherin - Morfin - Marvolo - Squib

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The imprisonment of her brother and father finally left Merope free to pursue her own agenda. Through a love potion, Merope was able to gain the love of Tom Riddle Sr, an attractive man from her village. They married in December 1925 and she became pregnant within three months of the wedding. At that point she stopped administering the love potion to Tom Riddle Sr. because she grew tired of living a lie. She had hoped that perhaps he would have really fallen in love with her, or even that he would stay for the sake of their unborn child. She was quite wrong, as he left her, going back to his home and rambling about having been bewitched. Driven to desperation and sapped of her powers due to her unrequited love for Tom Sr., she wandered through the streets of London. Merope owned a heavy golden locket which had belonged to Slytherin, which she sold to Caracatus Burke while she was pregnant. She only received a pittance for it (10 galleons), and by the time she was about to give birth she was destitute. She stumbled her way to Stockwell Orphanage and gave birth to Tom Marvolo Riddle, who later became Lord Voldemort. She had come to the orphanage on New Years Eve and within an hour of coming there she gave birth. She told the matron, Mrs. Cole, that her son would be named Tom after his father and Marvolo after her father and that his last name would be Riddle. Merope died an hour after giving birth to Tom.

Related Topics:
Tom Riddle Sr - December - 1925 - London - Tom Marvolo Riddle - Lord Voldemort

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Merope is the fifth brightest star of the Pleiades, a cluster of stars in the constellation of Taurus. According to myth, Merope was a minor goddess who fell in love with a mortal and later regretted her decision, and dimmed herself to hide her shame from her sisters.

Related Topics:
Merope - Pleiades - Taurus - Myth - Goddess - Mortal

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