timeline: Voldemort's life
physical description
other titles and names:
Lord Voldemort, The Dark Lord, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, You-Know-Who
name pronunciation: VOL-duh-more
(the final 't' is silent, according to JKR in an interview)
(film pronunciation: VOL-de-mort) (SS/f)

Early years
The dark wizard known as “Lord Voldemort” was born in 1927 in Little Hangleton.  His mother, a witch, and, according to Voldemort, a descendent of Salazar Slytherin, had fallen in love with Tom Riddle, a Muggle. Tom Riddle lived in a fine-looking manor that stood on a hill overlooking the village of Little Hangleton. The manor house was one of the largest and grandest buildings for miles around. When Voldemort’s mother told her husband that she was a witch, he abandoned her, returning to his parents' home. As Lord Voldemort told the story, his father “didn’t like magic”. Voldemort’s mother died just after giving birth to him, living just long enough to name him Tom Riddle, after his father and Marvolo, after his grandfather. He was raised in a Muggle orphanage. 

At Hogwarts - 1938 - 1945
Tom Riddle began his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1938 and was sorted into Slytherin, but he had to return to the Muggle orphanage he despised during school holidays. He described himself as “poor but brilliant, parentless but so brave, school prefect, model student…”, observing that there was one teacher who didn’t seem to like him as much as the other teachers did. That teacher was transfiguration teacher Albus Dumbledore. Tom learned of the Chamber of Secrets built by his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin had built the chamber deep in Hogwarts castle and kept it hidden from the other founders. He sealed it so that only his own true heir would be able to unseal the chamber and unleash the horror within to purge the school of  “all who were unworthy to study magic”. During this time Tom had begun using a new name among his most intimate friends at Hogwarts. Contemptuous of the name of his “foul, common Muggle” father, he made an anagram of Tom Marvolo Riddle. The rearranged letters spelled “I AM LORD VOLDEMORT”. It was a name he hoped “wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak”, when he became the “greatest sorcerer in the world”. 

 It took Tom Riddle five years to find out everything he could about the Chamber of Secrets and discover the entrance and the monster it contained. The monster was a basilisk and Tom was able to control it because he was, like Salazar Slytherin, a Parselmouth. Tom sent the basilisk into the school and several students were injured and finally, one was killed. A student named Myrtle was found, dead, in a girls' bathroom. On June thirteenth, 1943, Tom staged the capture of another student, Rubeus Hagrid, and tricked Headmaster Armando Dippet into believing Hagrid and his giant spider Aragog were responsible for the attacks. Tom received an engraved trophy for special services to the school, but he realized that Albus Dumbledore was keeping an “annoyingly close watch” on him and it was not safe to open the Chamber of Secrets again while he was still at school. Tom preserved himself in the pages of a diary with the hope that he would one day be able to lead another in his footsteps and “finish Salazar Slytherin’s noble work”.

Events at Little Hangleton - 1944-1945
During the summer of 1944, Tom M. Riddle took the revenge he had vowed on his hated Muggle father. The Riddle’s gardener, Frank Bryce, later told police that on the day of the Riddle’s deaths he had seen a stranger; a teenage boy, dark-haired and pale, near the manor. The next morning a maid found Tom Riddle and his elderly parents dead in their drawing room, “still in their dinner things”. The Riddles were as cold as ice and each had a look of terror upon their face but had no sign of physical injury. The Riddles were buried in the Little Hangleton churchyard. Tom returned to Hogwarts to begin his seventh year in September. He was Prefect, Head boy and received a Medal for Magical Merit, Albus Dumbledore later said of him, “Brilliant. Of course, he was probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen”. 

Transformation - 1945 - 1970
Tom concluded his education at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in June of 1945 and after leaving school he disappeared for some years. During this time he “traveled far and wide...sank so deeply into the Dark Arts”, he “consorted with the very worst” witches and wizards and “underwent so many dangerous, magical transformations” in his quest for power and immortality, that when he returned, openly calling himself “Lord Voldemort”, few realized he was the same handsome and brilliant boy who had been so accomplished and well liked at Hogwarts. 

First Rise of the Dark Lord - 1970s - 1981
In the 1970’s Voldemort began to gather a following. Many of the witches and wizards who joined him came for a share of the power he offered, but increasingly many joined his following from fear of reprisal. “The years of Voldemort’s ascent to power were marked with disappearances”, and increasing open violence.  Voldemort’s followers called themselves “Death Eaters” and he considered them his “true family”. The Death Eaters freely used the three Unforgivable Curses on any who defied them and many witches and wizards would later claim that the Imperius Curse had been used to force them to commit atrocities and murder, though as many of the Muggle killings by his followers were done for “fun”. The Death Eaters wore a sign, the Dark Mark, a skull with a serpent protruding from its mouth like a tongue, burned into their left inner forearm by their “Dark Lord”, and they would send the same sign into the air, comprised of emerald stars blazing in a haze of greenish smoke, when they had killed, causing terror when it was seen. 

Voldemort capitalized on the enmity between the wizarding population and giants, and many giants joined him and were held responsible for some of the worst mass Muggle killings. Overwhelmed by reports of deaths, disappearances and torture in an atmosphere of terror, Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, authorized Aurors to use the Unforgivable Curses against suspects, empowered them to kill rather than capture and some suspects were handed to the dementors without trial. During this time the only safe place was Hogwarts School and many speculated that though The Dark Lord called Headmaster Albus Dumbledore, “that champion of commoners, of Mudbloods and Muggles” he feared to confront him and knew Dumbledore was working tirelessly against him. Lord Voldemort seemed “mightier than any wizard living”, and had achieved his goal; most of the wizarding world avoided saying his name, when they spoke of him at all they referred to him as You-Know-Who, or He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Voldemort had been gaining power for eleven years, when he went, on October 31, 1981 to the home of James, Lily and Harry Potter. He killed James Potter and Lily Potter died attempting to protect her son, who was the next intended victim. When Lord Voldemort, the most powerful Dark Wizard for a century turned the curse that had killed so many witches and wizard on Harry Potter, it rebounded upon Voldemort, ripping him from his body, and his powers gone, barely alive, he fled. 

Missing years - 1981-1994
Voldemort believed he had gone further than any other in his quest for immortality and he found that one or more of his experiments had worked. He had conquered death, he was not killed by the rebounding curse, but he was without a body, powerless because every spell that might help him required the use of a wand. He hid in a forest far from humans and from the Aurors he knew would still be searching for him, using the only power left to him, the ability to possess the bodies of others, he inhabited animals, snakes being his preference. He waited, sleeplessly, forcing himself to exist second by second, expecting his faithful Death Eaters to try to find him and perform the magic that would restore him, but those Death Eaters who were not killed by Aurors or imprisoned in Azkaban were denying they had every been involved with Voldemort or claiming they had been cursed and forced to kill and torture against their will. 

Second defeat - 1991-1992
In 1991 Professor Quirrell wandered into the forest Voldemort had been hiding in for ten years and was too easily bent to Voldemort’s will. Professor Quirrell was young, foolish and gullible, and Voldemort observed, “there have always been those willing to let me into their hearts and minds”. Voldemort had Quirrell bring him back home and he devised a plan to create a new body using Nicolas Flamel’s Sorcerers Stone to make the Elixir of Life. On July 31, Quirrell, under Voldemort’s influence, braved the goblins guarding Gringott’s Bank in Diagon Alley and managed to break in, but found that vault seven hundred and thirteen, the previous location of the Sorcerer’s Stone was empty. The vault had been emptied that very day by Rubeus Hagrid, who had taken the stone to Hogwarts, on the instructions of Albus Dumbledore. By this time Voldemort found it necessary to share Quirrell’s body, hiding beneath a turban, and with him attempted to retrieve the Stone from its secure and enchanted hiding place in Hogwarts School. Quirrell drank the blood of unicorns he killed in the Forbidden Forest to strengthen Voldemort. One night they encountered Harry Potter in the forest, he had been following the trail of a wounded unicorn but Firenze arrived just as Quirrell moved toward Harry and they left quickly. They tricked Hagrid into revealing the method of getting past the fierce three-headed dog guarding the Stone and were able to win their way past the three enchantments to the Mirror of Erised. There they were confronted by Harry Potter, who, with Hermione and Ron, had also faced the challenges of the enchantments believing that Professor Severus Snape was attempting to steal the Stone. Harry gained possession of the stone from the mirror, but Quirrell was not able to take it from him because contact with Harry’s skin caused Quirrell burning agony.  Harry held Quirrell off long enough for Headmaster Dumbedore to arrive and Voldemort fled, leaving Quirrell to die, “showing as much mercy to his followers as his enemies”.  Voldemort had been, once again, thwarted by Harry Potter.

Second Exile - 1992 - 1994
Lord Voldemort returned to his forest in Albania and there faced his darkest hour. He was as weak as he had ever been and thought it would be too much to expect another foolish wizard to happen along, and he had given up hope that his faithful Death Eaters cared what had become of him. But while Voldemort waited without hope, the diary in which he had preserved the “memory” of his “sixteen-year-old self” had been in the possession of Lucius Malfoy, one-time Death Eater, who took an opportunity, in August 1992, to slip the diary into a book purchased for young Ginny Weasley at Flourish and Blotts Bookstore. Ginny opened her heart to the diary and through it to Tom Marvolo Riddle and he became stronger and stronger “on a diet of her deepest fears, her darkest secrets”, and he was soon more powerful than Ginny and able to use her, without her knowledge, to open the Chamber of Secrets and have her act as his agent in Hogwarts. Through her Tom learned of Harry Potter and his victory over Lord Voldemort, who was his “past, present and future”. When Ginny became frightened and attempted to dispose of the diary Tom was delighted that it was found and opened by Harry. Tom was able draw him to the Chamber to attempt to rescue Ginny because he was, by this time, strong enough to leave the diary and wanted to learn from Harry the secret of his surviving Lord Voldemort’s assault on him when he was just an infant, escaping “with nothing but a scar, while Lord Voldemort’s powers were destroyed “. Tom was amused by the similarities between himself and Harry and acknowledged that Lily Potter’s sacrifice was a powerful counter-charm, but concluded that it was “merely lucky chance”, that Harry survived and he proceeded to match his powers against Harry.  Assisted by Fawkes and the Sorting Hat and the sword of Godric Gryffindor, Harry killed the basilisk but he was wounded by a basilisk fang which splintered off in his arm as the snake died. Tom was dismayed when Fawkes healing tears saved Harry, who used the broken fang to defeat him by plunging the fang into the diary. The venomous fang burned a hole through the diary and the memory of Tom Marvolo Riddle passed screaming and writhing into nothingness. Harry Potter, “a skinny boy with no extraordinary magical talent” had again defeated Lord Voldemort. 

The Servant of the Dark Lord Returns
In the summer of 1994, Lord Voldemort’s spy, Peter Pettigrew was forced out of hiding and, having nowhere else to go, followed rumors deep into Albania and found Voldemort, but he did not arrive alone. Peter had stopped at an inn and was seen there by Bertha Jorkins, a witch from the Ministry of Magic. It was potentially a very unfortunate event for Peter, but proved even more unfortunate for Bertha and provident for Voldemort. Pettigrew was able to overpower Bertha and brought her to Voldemort, who used a powerful memory charm on her and learned that the Triwizard Tournament would be held at Hogwarts that year and, more importantly, that Death Eater, Bartemius Crouch, Jr. had been rescued from Azkaban by his father and was held from returning to his” master” by an Imperius Curse and hidden by an invisibility cloak in his father’s home. Bertha had stumbled onto the situation but Crouch Sr. used a memory charm to hide the knowledge from her. Though he was a ”poor” wizard, Pettigrew, now known by his nickname Wormtail, was able to follow Voldemort’s instructions and assist him to a rudimentary, weak body with a potion of unicorn blood and snake venom. It gave him an almost human form though repulsive, and the strength to travel and he formulated a new plan to return to his old strength and body using an “old piece of Dark Magic” that required circumventing the protection surrounding Harry Potter. 

Voldemort's Return
Voldemort had reluctant Wormtail carry him first to the Riddle House, where they encountered Frank Bryce and killed him, then to the Crouch home, where Crouch Sr. was placed under an Imperius Curse. Wormtail and Barty Jr. captured Alastor “Mad-Eye” Moody, an ex-Auror, who they knew was going to be teaching DADA at Hogwarts, and held him also under the Imperius Curse to enable Barty Jr. to impersonate him at Hogwarts with the help of Polyjuice Potion. Barty Jr. was able to involve Harry in the Triwizard Tournament and attempted to assist Harry to win the Tournament Cup, which he had turned into a Portkey and it delivered Harry and Cedric Diggory to the churchyard in Little Hangleton and into the power of Lord Voldemort. Using his “old piece of Dark Magic”, a potion requiring his fathers bone, flesh given by a servant and blood from a foe, Lord Voldemort was able to rise again ”more powerful”, than when he had fallen. Though he could have used the blood of any “foe”, Voldemort wanted Harry Potter, who had stripped him of power thirteen years before and he believed “the lingering protection his mother once gave him would reside in my veins too”. His return summoned the Death Eaters, still united under the Dark Mark and he challenged them for not coming to his aid for thirteen years, for feigning innocence and bewitchment and told them “I do not forgive...I want thirteen years’ repayment before I forgive you”, then Voldemort challenged Harry Potter to a wizard’s duel, returning his wand to him, so there would be no doubt which of them was stronger. But Harry was able to defy and then evade Voldemort’s spells, and when the wands, which were “brothers”, each containing a Phoenix tail feather from Fawkes, were forced to “do battle” a rare effect occurred, a Priori Incantatem, the Reverse Spell effect forced the “shadows” of Cedric, Frank Bryce, Bertha Jorkins and then James and Lily Potter from Voldemort’s wand. The “shadows” whispered encouragement to Harry, unheard by Voldemort, whose fear was becoming evident, surrounded by his victims. On a prearranged signal they closed in on Voldemort as Harry broke the golden thread of light that had held the two wands connected, shielding Harry from him as Harry dashed through the churchyard and evaded the Death Eaters to retrieve the Triwizard Cup Portkey and Cedric’s body and escape to Hogwarts. Though Lord Voldemort had achieved his most important objectives, returning to a physical body, and the return of his Death Eaters, Harry Potter had once again thwarted his revenge. 

Voldemort - Physical Description

Second body
eyes: red, with vertical pupils, like a cat's
build: tall and skeletally thin
skin: whiter than a skull
distinguishing features: flat nose with slits for nostrils, hands like large pale spiders with unnaturally long fingers