49 Fun Facts About Lord Voldemort

In Deathly Hallows, what does the Taboo placed on Voldemort's name do to anyone who says it?

Reveals where they are: the jinx lets his followers trace anyone who speaks the name aloud. It is how Harry, Ron and Hermione are finally caught, after Harry says it at their campsite.

Which is the only Harry Potter novel in which Voldemort is never seen, even in a memory?

Prisoner of Azkaban: he is talked about throughout but never seen. Even Half-Blood Prince, where he never turns up in person, shows him again and again in Pensieve memories.

Which Hogwarts founder is Voldemort descended from?

Salazar Slytherin: Voldemort's mother came from the last family known to descend from him. As the founder's heir, the teenage Riddle was able to open the hidden Chamber of Secrets.

The name Voldemort reads in French as vol de mort, which can mean what?

Flight of death, though vol can also mean theft. Rowling calls the name an invented word and says its final t is silent, as in the French mort, but the films pronounce it anyway.

What is the name of Voldemort's followers?

The Death Eaters each carry his Dark Mark, a skull with a snake coming out of its mouth, branded on the left arm. It burns whenever Voldemort summons them.

In the first book, on whose body does Voldemort hitch a ride?

Professor Quirrell hides Voldemort's face on the back of his head under a turban. He even drinks unicorn blood in the Forbidden Forest to keep his master alive.

Which object in Chamber of Secrets contains a memory of the teenage Tom Riddle?

A diary: Ginny Weasley confides in it all year, and the Riddle inside feeds on her fears until he can possess her. Harry ends it by stabbing the pages with a venomous fang.

Which Hogwarts ghost was killed when Tom Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets?

Moaning Myrtle still haunts the girls' bathroom where she died as a student. Decades later Harry finds the entrance to the Chamber hidden in that same bathroom.

Which creature does Riddle's memory unleash from the Chamber of Secrets?

A Basilisk kills with a direct gaze, but every living victim that year met its eyes only indirectly, such as in a mirror. That is why they were petrified rather than killed.

Who was the servant a prophecy said would break free and rejoin the Dark Lord?

Peter Pettigrew had hidden for twelve years as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. He got away to rejoin his master only because Harry stopped Sirius and Lupin from killing him that night.

Disguised as which professor did Barty Crouch Jr rig the Triwizard Tournament?

Mad-Eye Moody: Crouch kept the real Auror prisoner all year and drank Polyjuice Potion to wear his face. In that disguise he slipped Harry's name into the Goblet of Fire.

In which village graveyard does Voldemort regain his body in Goblet of Fire?

Little Hangleton is where his Muggle father lies buried. The rite that rebuilds Voldemort's body needs a bone from that grave, along with a servant's hand and Harry's blood.

Which gardener overheard Voldemort's plan and was killed for it?

Frank Bryce, the Muggle caretaker of the old Riddle House, walks in on the plotting and is killed on the spot. Far away, Harry watches the murder happen in a dream.

Why do Harry's and Voldemort's wands lock together in the graveyard duel?

Both have phoenix feather cores, and the two feathers came from the same bird, Fawkes. Forced to fight, the twin wands lock, and echoes of Voldemort's recent victims spill from his.

In Order of the Phoenix, Voldemort lures Harry to the Ministry with a false vision of whom being tortured?

Sirius Black was safe at home the whole time, but Harry raced to London to save him. Sirius then came to rescue Harry and was killed in the battle that followed.

What stops Voldemort from possessing Harry at the end of Order of the Phoenix?

Love, which he cannot bear: Harry is so full of it that Voldemort is forced out of his mind. He flees, but not before the Minister for Magic sees him and has to admit he is back.

Who was Voldemort's mother?

Merope Gaunt stumbled into a London orphanage and died within an hour of giving birth. She lived just long enough to name the boy after his father and hers.

According to Rowling, Voldemort's father was under the influence of what when the Dark Lord was conceived?

A love potion: his witch mother used one to win a wealthy Muggle neighbor. When she seemingly stopped dosing him, hoping he would stay, he walked out before their son was born.

Which Ministry official is Voldemort believed to have murdered in person early in Half-Blood Prince?

Amelia Bones headed Magical Law Enforcement and had presided at Harry's hearing the summer before. Fudge believes Voldemort killed her himself, because she was a gifted witch who put up a real fight.

How do Voldemort's forces get into Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince?

A pair of Vanishing Cabinets: one stood in the Room of Requirement, its twin in the shop Borgin and Burkes. Draco Malfoy spent the year mending the link so attackers could step past the castle's enchantments.

Whom does Voldemort install as puppet Minister for Magic in Deathly Hallows?

Pius Thicknesse is under the Imperius Curse, so Voldemort rules from behind him without taking the job. The new regime starts arresting Muggle-borns for "stealing" magic.

Whose wand does Voldemort borrow to attack Harry during the escape from Privet Drive?

Lucius Malfoy's wand was meant to get round the twin cores that had locked his own against Harry's. It failed: Harry's wand acted by itself, spat golden fire and shattered it.

Which imprisoned dark wizard does Voldemort kill at Nurmengard?

Gellert Grindelwald had spent decades locked in Nurmengard, the prison he himself built to hold his enemies. He dies taunting Voldemort that he will never win.

Which Horcrux do Harry and friends steal from the Lestranges' Gringotts vault?

Hufflepuff's Cup: the trio flee the bank on the back of one of its guard dragons. News of the break-in is what tells Voldemort that someone is hunting his Horcruxes.

Why does Voldemort have Nagini kill Snape?

To become master of the Elder Wand, he thinks he must kill the man who killed its last owner. He is wrong: its loyalty had already passed to Draco Malfoy, who had disarmed that owner first.

Who destroys Voldemort's final Horcrux, his snake?

Neville Longbottom pulls Gryffindor's sword out of the Sorting Hat and beheads Nagini, moments after refusing to Voldemort's face to join him. Her death leaves Voldemort mortal.

Who is forced to carry Harry's apparently dead body out of the Forbidden Forest?

Rubeus Hagrid had been captured earlier in the battle and dragged into the forest. Harry is only pretending, and Narcissa Malfoy has just lied to Voldemort that he is dead.

Which spell does Harry cast against Voldemort's Killing Curse in their final duel?

A Disarming Charm: Harry answers a curse meant to kill with one meant only to disarm. The Elder Wand will not kill its true master, so the curse rebounds on Voldemort.

Which three duel Voldemort all at once in the Great Hall during the Battle of Hogwarts?

McGonagall, Shacklebolt and Slughorn fight him three against one and still cannot finish him. When his last lieutenant falls, his fury blasts all three backward, moments before Harry pulls off his Invisibility Cloak.

Which celebration falls on the night Voldemort was born?

New Year's Eve, 1926, in a London orphanage. Halloween is the tempting guess, but that was the night in 1981 when his curse rebounded off the infant Harry and broke his power.

What wood is Voldemort's wand made of?

Yew has poisonous sap and can symbolise both death and resurrection, Rowling noted. She gave Harry holly as a deliberate contrast, a wood that tradition says repels evil.

According to Rowling, what would Voldemort's Boggart be?

His own corpse: death is the one thing he truly fears, and he treats it as a shameful human weakness. Every Horcrux he made was a bid to escape it.

In Deathly Hallows, what feat does Voldemort show off while chasing Harry from Privet Drive?

Flying without a broom or Thestral was thought impossible, and it amazes everyone who sees it. Snape later escapes Hogwarts the same way, a trick he seems to have learned from his master.

Which wizard is said to be the only one Voldemort ever feared?

Albus Dumbledore taught the young Riddle and was the one teacher his charm never fooled. Even so, he called Riddle probably the most brilliant student Hogwarts had ever seen.

What ability passed from Voldemort to Harry through the soul fragment?

Parseltongue: Harry shocks a school duelling class by talking to a snake, and half of Hogwarts decides he is the one attacking students. Rowling says he lost the gift once the fragment was destroyed.

What is the name of Voldemort's maternal grandfather?

Marvolo Gaunt gave Voldemort his middle name, and the ring he prized became one of his grandson's Horcruxes. He died soon after a short Azkaban term for attacking Ministry officials.

For which murders was Morfin Gaunt wrongly convicted?

Tom Riddle Sr and his parents were killed by the teenage Voldemort using Morfin's wand. He then planted a false memory, so Morfin boasted of the crime and died in Azkaban.

Which heirloom did Voldemort's destitute mother sell in London shortly before he was born?

Slytherin's locket went to the shop Borgin and Burkes for just ten Galleons, a fraction of its worth. Decades later her son took it back by murder and made it a Horcrux.

In the graveyard in Goblet of Fire, which student is murdered on Voldemort's order to "kill the spare"?

Cedric Diggory was there only because Harry insisted they take the Triwizard Cup together, not knowing it was a Portkey. Harry later escapes to Hogwarts with his body.

Which creatures desert the Ministry of Magic to side with Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix?

Dementors had guarded the wizard prison Azkaban for the Ministry. Voldemort offered them more victims and free rein, and with the guards gone his jailed followers broke out.

Who made the prophecy that set Voldemort hunting the infant Harry?

Sybill Trelawney fell into a trance in the middle of a job interview at the Hog's Head inn. She has no memory of making the prophecy that sent Voldemort after a baby.

Which actor first played Voldemort in his full physical form?

Ralph Fiennes had two weeks to shoot the graveyard scene in Goblet of Fire. He admits that in the novel he cared only about his own scene, and read that one many times over.

How was Voldemort's missing nose achieved in the films?

His real nose went uncovered on set; the forked tongue seen in Goblet of Fire was dropped for later films.

The boy who played 11-year-old Tom Riddle in Half-Blood Prince is what relation to the adult Voldemort's actor?

His nephew: the boy's mother is the star's sister. The director called the family likeness useful, but said he chose him mainly for his "wonderful haunted quality".

What job did the brilliant Tom Riddle take after leaving Hogwarts, to everyone's surprise?

Shop assistant, at the Dark objects dealer Borgin and Burkes. He had asked to stay on at Hogwarts as a teacher first, but the headmaster told him that at eighteen he was too young.

In Cursed Child, who is revealed to be the mother of Voldemort's daughter Delphi?

Bellatrix Lestrange gave birth in secret at Malfoy Manor, shortly before the Battle of Hogwarts killed both parents. Delphi grew up an orphan, as her father had, and plots to bring him back.

In The Lego Batman Movie, the actor who plays Voldemort on film voices which character instead?

Alfred Pennyworth, Batman's butler. Voldemort does turn up in the film among the villains the Joker recruits, but it is Eddie Izzard who voices him.

Why is Tom Riddle's middle name Elvis in the French Harry Potter books?

So the anagram still works: Tom Elvis Jedusor rearranges into "Je suis Voldemort", French for "I am Voldemort". Translators into other languages had to rename him too, some swapping out his whole name.

Who defeated the inflatable Voldemort at the 2012 London Olympics opening ceremony?

Over thirty Mary Poppinses floated down on umbrellas and the giant villains deflated, Captain Hook and Cruella de Vil among them. J.K. Rowling had opened the segment by reading from Peter Pan.