Harry Potter Headcanons About Voldemort That Are Wild Enough To Be True

From Tumblr useriammultitudes:

The diary was Tom Riddle’s first gift. I suspect he bought it himself. The CoS states the first date is January 1st; Tom never went to the orphanage for Christmas. This was the first real birthday or Christmas present he got. It carried no strings, only intense thanks. That's why it became a Horcrux, unlike other artifacts.

From Redditoru/lunanight:

What if the Basilisk was Voldemort's last, best lieutenant in Deathly Hallows? Events in CoS happened for a few reasons:

Lucius never gave Ginny the diary and kept it at Malfoy Manor. Ginny never took it to Hogwarts, so the basilisk would not have died. He could return the diary to Voldemort at the Graveyard. If the basilisk stayed for Deathly Hallows, theBattle of Hogwartswould have changed a lot. It might have caused more major characters to die.

[Read the full headcanon here]

From aRedditor:

The Basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets holds secrets. Salazar gave it Parseltongue instructions for advanced Magic. He told it to pass this knowledge to his descendants. This gave Riddle more power than usual. He got direct access to Salazar's secrets. This is a smarter use of the Basilisk. It is a creature that lives for centuries and only speaks to its lineage.

From Redditoru/Xerties:

PSA: Voldemort was not conceived under a love potion. This did not cause his inability to feel love. Every time this comes up, I feel like Hermione explains the Apparition rule at Hogwarts. Read the source material! This is a common mistake in Potterdom: "Voldemort can't feel love because he was conceived via a love potion."

This is wrong, and it is not what Rowling said. Here is what she actually said:

"It was a symbolic way of showing he came from a loveless union—but everything would change if Merope had survived and raised him and loved him."

Key word: symbolic

A big theme is that choice shapes character, not birth. This changes completely if Voldemort cannot feel love just from the potion conception. Merope chose to die instead of living and raising a son she loved. Voldemort chose to torture peers at the orphanage. He acted methodically and deliberately to hurt and terrorize the other children, shielding himself from blame.

From Redditoru/wordhammer:

Voldemort's curse on the Defence Against the Dark Arts position at Hogwarts stems from being denied the role. This curse forces all Defence Against the Dark Arts teachers to confront their worst fears to prove they are better than Tom Riddle.

From Tumblr user harrypotterconfessions:

My headcanon: Voldemort liked his appearance becoming more snake-like and less human because he hated his Muggle father. Looking like him made him feel disgust.

From Redditor u/sefa16:

Harry and Voldemort both used wands with phoenix feather cores because they both returned from death. JKR made this choice symbolically. Pottermore claims phoenix feather is the third most common wand core Ollivander uses, but they seem rare. One could argue that phoenixes do not return from death; they just do not really die. This is good symbolism in the writing.

From Redditor u/wordhammer:

Dumbledore was wrong about how Tom Riddle killed his Muggle family. To bypass the Trace, he Imperiused Morfin Gaunt to go to the manor and kill the Muggle family. Using the Imperius in the Gaunt's shack, the Ministry heard nothing. Morfin's memory of Tom's visit showed the murders, even though he could not explain why he acted. After returning to the shack, Morfin's memory of Tom's visit vanished.

From Redditor u/Its_In_Belgium

Voldemort got the idea to make Nagini a Horcrux from Salazar Slytherin. Slytherin likely made the basilisk a Horcrux to await an heir to open the Chamber and resurrect himself. This would have been Slytherin's way to take control of the school. Being a very magical creature, the basilisk would have been hard to control if possessed, but it lived much longer than a normal snake.

From Tumblr user ssnakewhissperer:

Tom Riddle/Lord Voldemort’s snakes are all female. Several are actual biblical demons in snake form, like Asmodeus. They take female form because the demons recognize Tom’s deep, hidden human desire for a connection with a mother he never knew. Thus, they appear as females, whispering power promises to the boy on a path to eternal damnation.

From Redditor u/HobGoblinHat:

Does Voldemort's curse on the DADA job function like a reverse Felix Felicis? We do not know the exact magical workings of the curse. Coincidence suggests a professor only stays one year before dying, getting hurt, or leaving. Voldemort's method for cursing a job role is strange; even Dumbledore could not undo it. Perhaps Voldemort cursed the DADA professor's office or living quarters, so anyone living there gets cursed. Some item in the room might be cursed. Another idea: he invented a potion reverse of Felix Felicis. If a good luck potion exists, why not a bad luck one? He might have put a House Elf under a strong Imperius curse to drop a bad luck potion into the DADA professor's food once a year. Think about Lupin forgetting his Wolfsbane potion, Barty Jr. running out of Polyjuice Potion, or Lockhart taking Ron's wand—all bad luck incidents.

From Redditor u/Obversa:

TL;DR: Lord Voldemort used an alias or different name during early travels to search for Ravenclaw's Diadem. He may have created David Mollrot More (or David More) as an anagram of his birth name, Tom Marvolo Riddle. This alias also lets him form "I Am Lord Voldemort".

I checked for other birth names for Lord Voldemort besides "Tom Marvolo Riddle" that also form an anagram for "I Am Lord Voldemort". I found one. It seems almost perfect for Voldemort's character background. That name is David Mollrot More (initials D.M.M.).

[Read the full headcanon here]

From Redditor u/DarthMauli:

The hand Pettigrew added to the cauldron lacked a finger, so there was not enough material to make Voldemort's nose. Peter Pettigrew gave his right hand to Voldemort's rebirth. That was the hand missing a finger all those years ago.

From Redditor u/4give4get4sak:

Voldemort has a justification for his cause. Some villain groups believe they act right for the world, mixing indoctrination and mental illness. The prophecy states the muggle world ends; muggles will find magic, gain power, and crush the magical world. Magical defense stops the apocalypse. Voldemort, sociopathic but three-dimensional, learns this. He starts genocide against muggles, using Pureblood prejudice to gain followers, a destroy-or-be-destroyed tactic. Splitting his soul makes him lose mental clarity. Upon return, he sees the genocide plan fails. He switches to a political takeover, separating from muggles and defending violently if muggles find magic.

This rationale is the first reasonable reason I've heard for fighting Muggles. It is morally bad. Dumbledore seeks peace with Muggles, which causes total apocalypse, but he thinks violent action saves the world. This raises the same moral question as Enders Game: is genocide okay to stop the genocide of your own people?

[Read the full headcanon here]

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From Redditor u/ArcticTern4theWorse:

Watching the Chamber of Secrets, I thought: isn't it amazing that TOM MORVOLO RIDDLE is an anagram of I AM LORD VOLDEMORT? Voldemort means "flee from death" in French, which matches what Tom Riddle becomes about. If the Harry Potter world is real and not written by the smartest author, this chance is tiny. Some people might even think it's just a coincidence.

Merope Gaunt planned this from the start. Her obsession drove her to stalk the town's most influential man, then drug and rape him. Imagine poor, destitute Merope writing her lover's name, realizing adding "Morvolo" made an anagram for I AM LORD VOLDEMORT. Merope might have feared her father would force her to marry her brother to keep the bloodline pure. Or, he might have targeted another inbred pure-blood suitor. Merope, a descendant of Salazar Slytherin, had bigger goals. She wanted the best genetic stock for Slytherin's legacy, even a Muggle one. He was handsome, rich, powerful, and offered her chances her father withheld.

Merope Gaunt planned to use the Riddles' power to help her son gain power. She gave her son a name that would frighten witches and wizards for ages. This name would let him escape death.