InsaneJournal

Tom Riddle Jr. was the product of trickery. His mother Merope Gaunt, had fell in love with a muggle named Tom Riddle, who was known to be rich and snobbish. She used a love potion to get him to fall in love with her and the two were married. While Merope was pregnant with her only son, she allowed the love potion to wear off, revealing that she was indeed a witch. This scenario sent Tom Riddle Sr. abandoning her along with their unborn son. Merope lived long enough after childbirth to name her son after his father, she then died in London.

The Gaunts were descendants of Salazar Slytherin himself. However, once Tom was motherless, he lived in a muggle orphanage also located in London. The orphanage was meager but clean. It was a large square building, surrounded by high railings with a grim courtyard. Tom lived in the orphanage until Albus Dumebldore came and took him, placing him in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

While at Hogwarts, Tom excelled in his magical studies and was awarded multiple achievements from the school. However, there was a darker side to him that had yet to be noticed. From his first year, he had known that he was the heir of Slytherin and that fueled him to become obsessive with his ancestry. Within those same walls at Hogwarts that had awarded his educational efforts, he was also dabbling in the dark arts with an ulterior motive in mind, to become the most powerful wizard in wizarding history. During his schooling, his full name was rearranged to spell out I am Lord Voldemort. Although it was not publically acknowledged at that time, that is where it originally had started.

Tom tracked down his uncle, Morfin Gaunt during the summer of 1943 where he learned of his mother and the story behind her and his father. He also learned of everything else that he had known little of, but now with every blank filled and every question of his answered, Tom took matters into his own hands and stunned his uncle by returning to the Riddle Manor, murdering his father and paternal grandparents. He then went to the Gaunt shack before leaving Little Hangleton and stole the gold Slytherin ring. It is unknown how, but Tom also bespelled Morfin into confessing to the crime. Morfin was convicted for the murders and sentenced to Azkaban.

After his schooling days were completed, Tom worked in Knockturn Alley for Borgin and Burke's. He left his job and then went on to murder Hepzibah Smith for a gold locket that belonged to Slytherin and a gold cup that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. When he finally returned, he had put his past behind him and began his reign of terror as Lord Voldemort. Then for years after Lord Voldemort along with his followers murdered and tortured countless victims both within the wizarding world and non up until his defeat by Harry Potter, the one person that survived his wrath time and time again.

The Head Matron of the orphanage were Tom was held until he was taken into custody by Albus Dumbledore was Mrs. Cole. She once recalled that Tom was an odd baby. One who rarely cried, however as he grew older he appeared to cause "nasty" things to happen to the other children and to the pets that dwelled within and around the orphanage.

During his time at Hogwarts Tom was known as excellent student with a bright mind and heavy focus. He worked hard and didn't cause any trouble, although that wasn't the case at all as it was his fault that Rubeus Hagrid had been expelled.

Tom is extremely obsessed with power and holding power over others. He is constantly working towards being the most powerful and he is constantly engulfed in knowledge of the dark arts and things that most people have never even heard of or knew existed. Even with his knowledge and power, Tom tends to constantly want more. Nothing is ever enough and no one is harder on him than himself. He also takes pride in the torture and pain of others, especially those he deems as being unworthy.

However, the biggest misconception with Tom being Lord Voldemort is that he hasn't any characteristics like others would. Tom does have emotions, feelings and views just like any other person does. He also harbors a lot of angst and hatred for his past and the hard times that he has endured within his life. He doesn't allow just anyone to be close to him, they have to earn it. Most have never even been close to earning his trust and confidence, even after years of doing his bidding. However, there are those mere, rare few that have seen more than the Lord Voldemort side of him and those are the one's that he keeps in his highest regards.