Tom Riddle[]
Tom Riddle was born and raised in a muggle orphanage, but eventually attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was sorted into Slytherin house. Having achieved outstanding grades in every examination he took, Riddle left Hogwarts and went on to a brief employment at Borgin and Burkes, before disappearing from public view completely. Having embraced the seductive Dark Arts he encountered in his travels, the former Tom Riddle, now known exclusively as Lord Voldemort, raised an enormous army comprised of followers he recruited both at school and afterwards, as well as many dark creatures. This army, known as the Death Eaters began a campaign of terror and violence never before seen in Britain.
During his time at school and abroad he worked on creating several Horcruxes which harboured peices of his soul, protecting him from death until all are destroyed.
List of Horcruxes[]
- Locket of Slytherin (in Voldemort's possession)
- Hufflepuff's Cup (in Gringotts)
- Diadem of Ravenclaw (at Hogwarts)
- Tom's Diary (in the vaults of Malfoy Manor)
- The ring of Perevell (in the Gaunt shack
- (2 more unknown)
Harry Potter[]
After hearing from Severus Snape half of a prophecy referring to a single being with the power to destroy him, Voldemort spent the next year planning how to eliminate his foretold competition. His first assumption was that the Prophecy was talking about Neville Longbottom, son of the Aurors Frank and Alice. However, during his preparations to attack the Longbottoms, he began to have dreams of a young man with dark hair and glasses and lightning scar on his forehead. These dreams developed into nightmares in which the young man attacked him with a flash of red light, and a heart-stopping falling sensation. After deliberations with his followers, he realised that this young man was the Potter boy, Harry.
Voldemort recruited Peter Pettigrew, and spent a year planning his attack. Peter would reveal the location of the Potter's hiding place. Voldemort would go there on Halloween night, taking the Potters by suprise and killing their one-year-old son. However, a week before the intended date, Voldemort began to have a new nightmare. This nightmare was of a young woman with red hair falling in a flash of green light, followed by the same falling sensation. With days to go, he changed the plan.
On Halloween 1981, Peter Pettigrew visited James and Lily Potter. They had dinner, and Pettigrew shared news of the outside world where they were no longer allowed to venture. After dinner, Peter offered to put the young baby Harry to bed. But on the way to the nursery, he Apparated out of the house. He took the baby directly to Lord Voldemort. With no one to save him, Harry was killed. Back home, distraught and with no way of knowing what had happened to their son, the Potters contacted Albus Dumbledore.
Dumbledore used his connections to track down Voldemort, but by then it was too late. Faced with the reality of Harry’s limp body, Albus Dumbledore’s heart was broken. They duelled, and Voldemort emerged victorious again.
Before long, the wizarding world was entirely under Lord Voldemort’s control. The Minister for Magic was deposed and all wizarding institutions including Hogwarts and St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries were temporarily shut down. After a year, all the high-ranking officials were in the charge of the Dementors and the all of wizarding society including the Order of the Phoenix were chased into hiding or forced to swear allegiance to Voldemort. By 1995, Voldemort had the United Kingdom entirely under his control and had started to turn his attention to the rest of the world.
Now[]
Now, in 1999, the Magical and Muggle Governments are under the direct control of Lord Voldemort. The Ministry of Magic is an institution of convenience that regulates and controls the wizarding population under Voldemort’s direction via his Minister for Magic, Peter Pettigrew. The Muggles are kept quiet and in fear under their Prime Minister, Nathan Yaxley.
The Department of Magical Law Enforcement is made up entirely of Death Eaters, headed by Bartemius Crouch Junior. The Department of Mysteries is secretly devoted to finding the secret to immortality, which has always been and remains Voldemort's ultimate goal.
Internationally, Voldemort has full control of all of Great Britain. He is also substantially powerful in Eastern Europe, particularly Russia, Bulgaria and Romania, where he has long had supporters ready to usurp their own leaders in his favour. He is currently nibbling on the edges of Western Europe, but the foreign Ministries have hardened up their armouries against him. Making it difficult for him to gain a real hold.
Followers[]
Voldemort gave plenty of power to those who supported him during his rise. However he is careful not to let many individuals rise above the others, so as to avoid rebellion.
The Malfoy Family[]
Voldemort needed the Malfoys during his rise to power mostly for their greatly accumulated wealth. Lucius was a great politician and was helpful in gaining power. Now, the Malfoys live well due to their continuing obedience to the Dark Lord, and Voldemort has hopes for their son Draco that he might be more abitious than his father.
The Blacks and Lestranges[]
Bellatrix Lestrange was appointed Voice of Voldemort not long after his successful rise to power. He did this not only because she was a good follower, but because he wanted his regime to have a beautiful and dangerous face. She has done much to make up for the treachery of other members of her family such as her sister Andromeda Tonks and cousin Sirius Black, with the help of her husband Rodolphus Lestrange and his brother Rabastan.
He had thought that Regulus Black was another lost cause, but he was suprised when the man returned after eighteen years of being thought dead. He was still more suprised when the man presented him with the locket Horcrux, which he had thought one of the safest of all. He rewarded Regulus for returning the Horcrux, believing his story about having been held captive, but reserving judgement for a later time.
Peter Pettigrew[]
Voldemort had never imagined needing Pettigrew for much more than getting him access to the Potters, but when the man brought him Harry Potter practically on a silver platter and ensured his rise to power, Voldemort decided to reward him with the position of Minister for Magic. Of course, Peter takes his orders from Voldemort himself. He doesn't like the man much, but knows he is a good candidate for the job, as he has little ambition and is too terrified of his Master and drunk with power and riches to attempt a rebellion or to disobey any order.
Severus Snape[]
Severus Snape is Voldemort's most trusted advisor and probably the closest thing he has to a friend. He is the only one of his followers to which he speaks informally when in private and allows to speak his mind in turn. This closeness stems from Voldemort's realisation that they have a lot in common, both being Halfbloods born into families that didn't appreciate them, as well as Severus' role in bringing Voldemort to power.