Voldemort is one of the most iconic book and movie villains of all time, and it’s safe to say he’s up there in the hall of fame (or in this case, infamy) along with characters such as Darth Vader or the Joker. In some ways, he’s a pretty typical villain: he’s consumed by his ambition, he wants power, he uses dark magic, he’s twisted…The list goes on. In other ways, though, he’s very much his own character. He’s no Vader, consumed by fear which led to hatred, and he’s not as insane as the Joker. In fact, there are a lot of things that you might not know about him!
On top of that, like any good villain, he surrounds himself in an aura of mystery, which means that there are many rumours circulating about him, both in the world of Harry Potter and in our world. And where there are rumours there are misconceptions. Even characters in the books get some things wrong about Voldemort, so it's not much of a surprise that readers would get things wrong too.
So without further ado, here are 25 things that everyone gets wrong about Voldemort. After all, you wouldn't want to be caught spreading lies about the Dark Lord! From the pronunciation of his name to his birthday to his Patronus and what really happened to his family, you'd be surprised at the amount of things people get wrong about He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.
25 You're Probably Saying His Name Wrong
Voldemort is misunderstood in more ways than one—no one can seem to agree on his name, for one. J.K. Rowling, also known as the Queen of Twitter, lifted the mystery once and for all.
If you’re brave enough to utter the Dark Lord’s name out loud, you shouldn’t be saying “Voldemort,” but “Voldemor.”
The “t” is silent—although it looks like Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint and the rest of the Harry Potter film crew didn’t get the memo. This is the French pronunciation, which makes sense, when you think about it. Look up what “mort” means in French!
24 Harry Potter Isn’t The First Person To Say His Name Out Loud
Talking about his name… Potterheads will know you’re not really supposed to say it out loud. Everyone refers to him as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. Harry Potter, being a brave Gryffindor, tends to ignore to ignore this rule, and frequently shocks his fellow wizards by uttering the name out loud. However, he’s not the first person in the saga to say it—the first wizard to actually refer to Voldemort by name is good old Albus Dumbledore. Considering he’s one of the only things some of Voldemort’s followers are actually afraid of, that’s not too surprising.
23 He Was The Heir Of Slytherin
Enemies of the Heir, beware! In The Chamber of Secrets, students are petrified by a mysterious being. Ominous messages mentioning the Heir of Slytherin appear on the walls. Harry Potter starts hearing strange voices, and Hogwarts is plunged into a state of panic. At first, students naturally think that the Heir is Draco Malfoy. Some even suspect Harry himself, which isn’t as far-fetched when you keep in mind that all the ancient wizard families are related in some way. As it turns out though, the heir is none other than Tom Marvolo Riddle—otherwise known as Lord Voldemort.
22 …But Not All Slytherins Follow Him!
Not all Slytherins are bad! It’s easy to dismiss the four Hogwarts houses as brave, evil, smart, and miscellaneous. But really, not all Slytherins are bad, and not all stand behind Voldemort. Yes, many dark wizards were in Slytherin. Yes, important Slytherin families like the Malfoys were notorious Voldemort supporters.
But think about it—would Slytherin be allowed to exist if they were all loyal to Voldemort?
Not to mention, Peter Pettigrew, one of Voldemort’s most loyal supporters, the one who brought him back to life, the one who betrayed Lilly and James Potter, was a Gryffindor. I promise some of us Slytherins are actually quite nice!
21 The Dark Mark Isn’t Just A Tattoo
Most of Voldemort’s followers are easily recognizable, thanks to the creepy tattoo on their inner forearm. The Dark Mark is actually more of a brand, a special mark reserved for the Dark Lord’s inner circle. It writhes and moves and generally speaking, represents absolute evil. But you’d be wrong for thinking that the Dark Mark is just a cool-looking tattoo the Dark Lord gives his followers. In fact, it’s a symbol that can be summoned with the spell Morsmordre. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, its appearance in the night sky marks the return of Lord Voldemort.
20 He’s Not Actually That Old
Voldemort’s ultimate goal, aside from ending Harry Potter, is achieving immortality. That’s why he split his soul into seven parts, creating the Horcruxes.
That’s why he drank unicorn blood, an action which would condemn him to “a half-life, a cursed life”.
You get the picture. All in all, it’d be easy to think that Lord Voldemort is very, very old—and his general appearance doesn’t help. In reality, however, Voldemort only lived to be 73 years old—which isn’t much compared to, you know, eternity.
19 He Wanted To Work At Hogwarts
Voldemort repeatedly attacked Hogwarts (though he was nice enough to wait until Harry and the rest of his wizard friends were done with their school work and exams each time). He loathed Dumbledore and wanted nothing more than to Avada Kedavra Harry Potter. No one would blame you for thinking that he wanted absolutely nothing to do with Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but really, he applied to work there—twice. That’s why none of Harry’s Defense against the Dark Art teachers lasted more than a year: the post was cursed by Lord Voldemort himself, after he got rejected!
18 His Nemesis Wasn’t Always Meant To Be Harry Potter
It’s an easy mistake to make if you’ve only watched the movies—but the books tell a different story. Turns out there’s more to Neville Longbottom than Matthew Lewis’ physical transformation! The Lost Prophecy, referring to a boy born in July, 1980 who would have the power to end the Dark Lord, could have been about either Harry or Neville.
Voldemort attacked Harry because he thought the prophecy was about him.
Lilly met her end trying to protect her son, Harry became The-Boy-Who-Lived, and the rest, as they say, is history. Neville Longbottom and the Order of The Phoenix would have had a nice ring to it though, don’t you think?
17 The Truth About Why People Don’t Say His Name
Earlier on, I mentioned that people never pronounced Lord Voldemort’s name because they were too afraid. That’s correct in the first few books, but later on in the series, as he gains power, Voldemort ultimately places a “taboo” on his own name, meaning anyone who said it out loud could be tracked by his followers. This was significant, as the witches and wizards who were unafraid to say “Voldemort” were mostly people who opposed him. Others were too scared, and his loyal supporters usually reverently referred to him as “the Dark Lord”. There is a real motivation behind the fear.
16 He Wasn’t Salazar Slytherin’s Last Heir
In Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Scorpius Malfoy and Albus Severus Potter meet Delphi, who’s revealed to be Voldemort’s daughter. According to J.K. Rowling, The Cursed Child is canon.
This means that Voldemort and Bellatrix Lestrange had a daughter.
This disproves the widely held belief that Salazar Slytherin’s lineage ended with Voldemort’s demise, as Delphi would be the new Heir of Slytherin. Fans were mostly unhappy about this though, not only because Voldemort fathering a child is a weird image, but also because it’s hard to imagine how Bellatrix could have hidden her pregnancy.
15 He’s Not An Animagus - He Can’t Transform Into A Snake
Nagini is Voldemort’s loyal companion, not his alter ego. It’s an easy mistake to make though, since his symbol has a vicious looking snake coming out of a skull, his pet is a gigantic snake, he’s a Parselmouth (he can speak to snakes) … You get what I’m saying. The guy really likes snakes. There’s no doubt Voldemort would like to have the ability to transform into a snake, and he’s definitely snakelike in many ways, but this isn’t one of his powers. In the latest Fantastic Beasts trailer, however, it was revealed that his snake Nagini once had a human form!
14 He Didn’t Avada Kedavra Cedric Diggory
The Dark Lord is of course, responsible for Cedric’s untimely end, since he gave the order, but he’s not technically the one who cast Avada Kedavra. Peter Pettigrew, James Potter’s ex-friend turned Voldemort supporter, is technically to blame for this deed. Since the Dark Lord was brought back to life shortly after what happened to Cedric, many people think that Voldemort ended Cedric’s life, when really, you can add that crime to the long list of reasons Peter Pettigrew is a despicable person. Wormtail, as he is sometimes known, not only betrayed Harry’s parents, but he’s also the one who ended Cedric Diggory.
13 He Wasn’t A “Pure-Blood” Wizard
Many of the ancient wizarding families who support Voldemort and aided his return were obsessed with what they called being “pure blood”. They use this term to talk about wizards who have an entirely magical lineage, and they despise muggle born witches and wizards like Hermione Granger. These wizards even have a highly insulting derogatory term for muggle-borns: “mudblood”. Because of this, you’d expect their leader to come from a line of “pure blood” witches and wizards, but Tom Marvolo Riddle/Lord Voldemort is actually a half-blood: his mother was a witch, but his father, Tom Riddle, was a muggle.
12 He Didn’t Get Rid of Severus Snape For The Reason We Thought
Severus Snape, Harry’s least favorite teacher at Hogwarts, was a double agent—a member of the Order of the Phoenix who infiltrated Lord Voldemort’s inner circle. He was, in a dramatic scene that left both readers and viewers shaken, ended by the Dark Lord—but not for the reason you’d think.
Voldemort wasn’t trying to get his revenge for Snape’s betrayal.
He was really trying to obtain the Elder Wand, an incredibly powerful magical artefact, and one of the three Deathly Hallows. The Wand can only be used if you dispatch its previous owner, and that’s why Voldemort Avada Kedavraed Snape.
11 He Was Played By More Than One Actor
When you think about Lord Voldemort in the films, you think about Ralph Fiennes’ iconic performance. The thing is, what most people get wrong is that the Dark Lord was played by more than one actor! As an adult, in his creepy, nose-less form, he’s played by three different actors: Fiennes, obviously, but also Richard Bremmer and Ian Hart (who played Professor Quirrell). Hart’s features were digitally altered to resemble Voldemort! And if you count the actors who played him as a young Tom Marvolo Riddle, he was technically played by six different actors—including Ralph Fiennes’ nephew.
10 He’s Not As Crazy As He Looks In The Movies
A lot of the things people get wrong about Lord Voldemort are due to the differences between book Voldemort and movie Voldemort. In the movies, he’s portrayed as unstable, unpredictable, and overall insane. In the books, Voldemort is cold, silent and composed—which is precisely why he’s so scary. He’s an overbearing presence, but he’s theatrical like he was in the movies. The actor’s performance, though it was undeniably good, added a new side to Lord Voldemort, one that was very reminiscent of typical, unstable movie villains. Book Voldemort would never have done some of the things his movie counterpart did, like hugging Draco.
9 But He Was Meant To Be A Lot Creepier
Don’t get me wrong: Voldemort as played by Ralph Fiennes is definitely unsettling. But there’s something much creepier about Book Voldemort. First of all, he’s meant to be much more snake-like, both physically and in his behaviour—as we’ve seen, Voldemort has a bit of a thing for snakes. I like to think of Book Voldemort as similar to the Basilisk in Chamber of Secrets. He’s everywhere—Harry can hear Voldemort just as he could hear the Basilisk—but he’s a mostly silent, almost invisible threat. When you do come face to face with him though? He’s more dangerous than any snake you could have even dreamed of encountering.
8 That Awkward Hug With Draco? Totally Unscripted.
Remember that odd scene in the film adaptation of the Deathly Hallows where Voldemort asked the students who wanted to join him to come to his side? When Draco finally stepped forward, Voldemort gave him what was perhaps the most awkward hug in history. Seems weird? That’s because not only was this scene not in the books, it was completely unscripted, as Tom Felton, who plays Malfoy, later confirmed. This makes sense, as it seems very out of character for Voldemort, a man who has come to pretty much embody evil, to hug young Draco Malfoy.
7 Harry Didn’t Free His Snake In The Philosopher’s Stone
Just like Voldemort, Harry is a Parselmouth—meaning he can communicate with snakes. He first finds out about this in a memorable scene in the Philosopher’s Stone, where he speaks to one of the snakes while at the zoo with the Dursleys.
It’s a popular fan theory that this snake was actually Nagini, Voldemort’s most trusted companion, but this is actually incorrect.
The snake Harry freed looks nothing like Nagini—it’s definitely not big enough, for one. This theory also poses some continuity errors. How would Nagini, a magical snake, have ended up in a zoo? It’s definitely a cool theory, though, even if turned out to be untrue.
6 He Has Seven Horcruxes, Not Seven Lives
Voldemort isn’t a cat! His seven Horcruxes are seven severed pieces of his soul, not seven lives. This is important, as though the Dark Lord is weakened each time Harry and his friends destroy a Horcrux, he is technically immortal as long as at least one of them is intact. Furthermore, the act of severing his soul not once, but seven times caused him to become more monstrous than he already was and marked the decisive step of Tom Marvolo Riddle’s transformation into Lord Voldemort. Each of the Horcrux was also, unlike a cat’s nine lives, a tangible thing—either an object, or, in the case of Nagini and Harry himself, a living being.