Summary
- The Harry Potter movies omitted Lord Voldemort's tragic family history, which explored the damaging effects of pure-blood preference in the wizarding world.
- Dumbledore discovered that Voldemort's grandfather, Marvolo Gaunt, was descended from powerful wizarding families, showcasing the obsession with blood purity.
- Merope Gaunt used a love potion to trick Tom Riddle Sr., resulting in their marriage and the birth of Voldemort. However, she ultimately lost her husband and died, leaving Voldemort to grow up in an orphanage without love.
The Harry Potter books dived into Lord Voldemort's tragic family history, but the movies left this out entirely. Though the story of how Tom Riddle came to be born didn't affect the outcome of his rivalry with Harry Potter, it ed the themes the Dark Lord represented. The villain descended from powerful wizarding families, and this served to demonstrate how the preference for pure blood could be damaging to the wizarding world. This was primarily seen in the tragic life and crimes of Voldemort's mother, Merope Gaunt, who suffered due to her family's pride—something that extended to her son.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore tells Harry all he had deduced about Voldemort's family. Learning this had been no easy task since Riddle had grown up in a Muggle orphanage. However, the heaster had learned through the orphanage's staff that Tom Marvolo Riddle had been given his middle name after his grandfather, and this provided Dumbledore a starting point. He learned that Voldemort's grandfather had been Marvolo Gaunt—father of Morfin and Merope. From there, the details of the Harry Potter villain's family and conception began to unfold.
Voldemort Was Descended From The Gaunt Family
After Dumbledore discovered Marvolo Gaunt, he managed to track down a Ministry of Magic official unfortunate enough to have met the man. Bob Ogden had come to the Gaunt home to confront Morfin, Marvolo's son, about his crime against a Muggle. When he arrived, he was shocked to see an entirely neglected home and a very aggressive Marvolo. Still, nothing was more shocking than Merope, Marvolo's daughter, who was so terribly abused and fearful that she had limited control over her powers.
Despite the disgusting state of his home and family, Marvolo Gaunt was an incredibly proud man. When Ogden accused Morfin of his crime, Marvolo was furious that someone of his ancestry was being threatened by the government. He showed the Ministry official a necklace worn by Merope—Slytherin's locket—proving that he descended from the Hogwarts founder. Additionally, he displayed the ring he wore—the Peverell Ring (which was also secretly Harry Potter's Resurrections Stone)—proving he came from yet another powerful family.
Marvolo's ancestry didn't impress Ogden, and after the Gaunt men became violent, he was forced to return to the home and take them away to Azkaban. Merope Gaunt was left alone for the first time, no longer fearing the abuse of her brother and father. By the time Marvolo was released from prison (it would be some years before Morfin was allowed to return home), Merope had run off with a local Muggle, Tom Riddle, and he was left to care for himself. He had apparently never learned to do so, and he wasted away and died before ever seeing his son again.
Merope Gaunt Used A Love Potion To Trick Tom Riddle Sr.
Merope never saw her brother or father again after they were taken to Azkaban. Finally free of her fear, she developed a renewed ability to control her powers, and this is how she ultimately convinced the Muggle Tom Riddle to run away with her. Though Dumbledore never knew for sure whether she used a potion or enchantment (he suspected the former), the heaster had deduced in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince that Merope used magic to make the handsome Muggle believe that he was desperately in love with the homely witch. Before too long, they were married and expecting a baby.
Dumbledore suspected the Merope had begun to hope that Riddle had genuinely fallen in love with her, and before her son was born, she stopped giving him the potion. Unfortunately, she had been wrong, and Tom Riddle Sr. returned to his home and told the townspeople that he had been hoodwinked and swindled. Merope never saw him again. She traveled to London, where she sold Slytherin's locket at Borgin and Burke and begged for help at a local Muggle orphanage. She had lost all desire to use magic in her grief at losing her husband, and after giving birth and naming the child Tom Marvolo Riddle, she ed away.
Morfin Gaunt Was Framed For Tom Riddle Sr.'s Murder
When Voldemort was still a Hogwarts student, he discovered that his mother's family had been the Gaunts, likely through his middle name, just as Dumbledore had. He hunted down the Gaunt hovel, and while on break from classes, he paid a visit. At this point, Morfin Gaunt was the only one living there, and the place had fallen even more into disarray. When the young and handsome Dark Lord entered, Morfin mistook him for Tom Riddle Sr. This was the first Voldemort had heard of his father, and when Morfin revealed that the man still lived in the nearby village with his parents, he found and murdered all three Riddles.
After killing his family, Voldemort used a spell to alter Morfin's memories. Riddle's uncle became sure that he himself had committed the murders, and since he already had a history of violence against the same Muggles, the Ministry of Magic had no reason to question it. Morfin was again sent to Azkaban, this time for the rest of his life, and Voldemort returned to Hogwarts school. However, he had taken a trophy—the Peverell Ring that Marvolo Gaunt had been so proud of.
How The Gaunt Legacy Influenced Voldemort's Story
Though the Gaunts were despicable in many ways, their story was tragic. Merope had never known love and had, therefore, not known how to truly give it to her infant son. Morfin had been a violent and dangerous man, but he had been innocent of the murders he had spent the rest of his life in prison for. Even Marvolo was pitiful in his own way. He had been born into a family of pure-blood pride, but the wealth that had once made his family great was long gone before his birth. In all, the Gaunts were proof that the pure-blood mania of the wizarding world was dangerous and not sustainable.
Though Merope Gaunt's story made her sympathetic to a point, it can't be denied that what she did to Tom Riddle Sr. was wrong. She had magically tricked him into conceiving a child with her—something that has rightfully been labeled as assault since the conclusion of the Harry Potter series. The point was to demonstrate how, unlike Harry, Voldemort had not been brought into the world through love. Additionally, Merope had not been brave like Lily Potter. She was unwilling to fight for him, and Tom Riddle grew up in an orphanage as a result. It was why Harry Potter and Voldemort were the perfect rivals—one came from pure love, while the other came from only pain and deception.
