Analyzing Evil: Voldemort From Harry Potter

[Music] hello everyone and welcome to episode 77 of analyzing evil featuring lord voldemort from the harry potter series one of the greatest dark lords ever created voldemort is an arcane reflection of some of the worst criminals in history a megalomaniacal and elitist madman whose dark dream of immortality and ultimate power through magic would see the world transformed into a homogeneous dystopia comprised solely of pureblooded wizards with himself as eternal ruler of that world now some of you might be wondering why a video about the central antagonist from a series that spans seven novels and eight films is receiving such a short video and the reason for that is because voldemort doesn't personally appear all too much in the series until the last four books and even then his appearances there are comprised of only a few scenes and chapters for much of the series he serves as more of a looming threat however we're still given quite a decent amount of information that will allow us to examine his character in detail and in this video we'll be doing just that by looking at all the information we're presented with in the novels as well as the films as though all the plot points in the films can be found in the novels the films give us a better chance to examine his appearance and mannerisms now without further ado let's begin tom marvolo riddle jr was born on december 31 1926 at wall's orphanage in london england the son of the wealthy muggle tom riddle senior and his mother marope gand a member of the noble wizarding family the gods a family that could trace their considerably inbred bloodline back to salazar slytherin tom received the best of both worlds from his parents from his father he was granted his handsome features and from his mother an enormous magical talent that came with being the heir to one of the most powerful wizards in recorded history tom would gradually discover the power he held within him during his time at the orphanage using those powers to speak to animals to make them do his bidding and he would also torment other children who crossed him going so far as to hang a bully's rabbit from the rafters and take two of his fellow orphans to a remote cave during an excursion where he abused them so badly that they remain completely silent thereafter his concerning behavior would continue to grow as the years went by but the overseers could never confirm whether or not tom was involved in causing numerous problems for the other children at the orphanage fortunately for these children tom's reign of tyranny at their home would end when he was finally rewarded with information confirming his suspicions which was his belief that he was quote special as he had suspected for much of his childhood but unfortunately for the rest of the world receiving this information would be the beginning of tom riddle's evolution into his true self lord voldemort now this information was delivered to him by none other than albus dumbledore who at that point in time was professor of transfiguration at hogwarts because tom had recently come of age dumbledore had been sent to the orphanage to notify tom of his status as a wizard and his first encounter with tom is given to us by the ponce eve in the half-blood prince here we find tom to be rather blunt and defiant when dumbledore explains that he's a professor assuming that the overseers of the orphanage called him to the orphanage to have tom examined or taken away to an asylum and he proceeds to make the case that he isn't mad while he lies about his involvement in abusing the other children at the orphanage and afterward she challenges anyone to attempt to force him to attend hogwarts this attitude quickly changes however when dumbledore mentions magic brightening up considerably tom demands that dumbledore prove to him that he has the same powers that he does which he accomplishes by setting tom's wardrobe aflame after correcting him about his manners a spectacle that gives tom all the evidence he needed to take dumbledore at his word however tom's defiant behavior at their introduction wouldn't be the only concerning behavior he displayed here as dumbledore reveals a box of trinkets in tom's wardrobe one that contained items that he'd stolen from his fellow orphans and mementos to remind him of his nefarious activities and when dumbledore told him to head to the leaky cauldron in diagon alley and speak to the bartender on his way to acquire his school supplies tom showed an irritable twitch when dumbledore told him that the bartender's name also happened to be tom dumbledore proceeds to ask if he dislikes the name tom and tom goes on to explain how ordinary a name like tom is and then he proceeds to ask if the man he was named for his father was a wizard as well when dumbledore replies that he doesn't know tom remarks that it had to have been his father as his mother wouldn't have died if she were able to perform magic this initial meeting solidifies a few things for us that are central to not just tom's personality prior to his transformation into lord voldemort but afterwards as well we have the obvious in his unflinching attitude of fearlessness in the face of opposition a commanding presence his penchant for harming others and his extraordinary magical talents but less obvious are the components of tom that dumbledore elaborates on after he and harry return from this memory the first of those components is the fact that from a young age tom was fond of keeping mementos from his nefarious exploits a quirk of his that would prove to be instrumental in his search for immortality in his later years the second is how unsatisfied he was with his name for how ordinary it sounded because he wished to be someone who was extraordinary not ordinary which is also reflected in his belief that he was special this desire for greatness would be manifested in his shedding of his former name and compounded by the development of his skill and magic as well as the revelation of his ancestral ties to salazar slytherin all of which would be the driving force behind the formation of his elitist belief system the third component we see here is that he was self-sufficient secretive and friendless because of his highly self-centered personality the aforementioned belief that he was special and destined for greatness and his considerable skill and magic tom was able to capitalize on the traits afforded him by these inclinations which enabled him to become a commanding charismatic and awe-inspiring leader that was able to draw in not just the vicious and the brutal but the elite and skilled who held similar beliefs that they were greater than their mixed brethren and deserving of deferential treatment similarly his highly selfish nature allowed him to insulate himself from any potential threats by ensuring that he had loyal followers who feared him but not a single one who he could count as a friend among them a man who was completely without empathy who was quite willing to maim mutilate torture and murder those followers for any small inconvenience and the fear he inspires is above all else what would keep a good majority of tom's followers loyal to him the final component of tom worth mentioning here is his detestation of his mother for dying as well as his fear of death perhaps because of his mother's death tom was wholly unequipped for handling it and his frustration at having been left to rot in an orphanage as well as the loneliness he experienced due to a lack of family may have instilled this hatred and fear of death within him this lamentation of the loss of his mother would contradict his introverted nature but it could be possible that his introversion manifested as a result of his parental situation alongside his already predisposed inclination towards solitude and the experiences he had growing up in the orphanage regardless tom's revulsion of death would be another driving factor in his quest for power as what use is unmatched and unlimited power if one day your death will render that power obsolete now upon beginning his studies at hogwarts tom was universally admired and fond over by much of the population of the school his teachers were amazed at his manners and skills his peers stood in awe as he far surpassed anything they were capable of at that time in their lives and he generally enjoyed many privileges for being the person he appeared to be however tom was not at all who he appeared to be as tom's nefarious activities only increased upon becoming a student at hogwarts with tom now in a position to considerably expand his natural talents he set to work learning anything and everything that he could about magic becoming one of the most proficient and noteworthy students ever to attend hogwarts which of course only drew more admiration from his teachers and peers admiration that he would use to his advantage impressing his professors for darker information that they would have otherwise never divulged to a student and in gathering his fellow students to his person students that dumbledore described as being the weak seeking protection the ambitious seeking some shared glory and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty many of which would go on to later join his ranks as death eaters however much of his time spent at hogwarts is unknown to us we know he was a prefect that he opened the chamber of secrets which led to the death of moaning myrtle as well as the expulsion of hagrid that he murdered his father grandmother and grandfather after visiting his uncle morphin and then planting evidence on his person to blame the murders on him and that he convinced professor slughorn to teach him about horcruxes at some point in time but that's about all we're given as far as specific incidents however it's still worth noting that by the time tom had left hogwarts he'd already murdered four people and this comparatively small number of murders would be only the beginning of the reign of terror that would soon unfold following his departure from the school tom would secure a job at borgen and berks a shop in nocturne alley notorious for its unsavory inventory owners and clientele this was seen as an odd move by many as tom's talents caused many people to assume that he would pursue a career at the ministry or at the very least as a professor at hogwarts but neither of those positions would have enabled tom to pursue his true goals obtaining power beyond what he could find by going through normal channels this position at morgan and berks allowed him to do just that by giving him much needed protection from watchful eyes as well as a source of strange magical artifacts and trophies that he would use to further his knowledge at this point in time tom was now well on his way to transforming into the monster that we see in the books and the films as by the time that he initiated the first wizarding war he had already created five horcruxes by murdering several different people and transferring fragments of his soul into various historical or sentimental artifacts those being in order his diary via the murder of moaning myrtle the gaunt family ring which housed the resurrection stone via murder of his father grandfather and grandmother helga hufflepuff's cup via the murder of a woman named hepziba smith a descendant of helga who was in possession of that cup and slytherin's locket the locket was turned into a horcrux via the murder of a muggle and rowena ravenclaw's diadem via the murder of an albanian peasant after he extracted the information from the grey lady the ghost of rowena's daughter helena as a result when he approached dumbledore shortly before the conflict began and asked to become a teacher so he could infiltrate hogwarts to recruit new death eaters and retrieve any powerful artifacts he could find the effects of splitting his soul into several different pieces were already beginning to show and he was no longer the handsome young man who had stroked through the doors of hogwarts to impress everyone he encountered but a serpentine-esque creature whose appearance and personality now reflected who tom truly was because the truth of tom riddle is lord voldemort and the young man he had once been was but a facade even from the very start of his childhood but in order to show his true self to the world it was necessary for tom riddle to show temperance as starting off your life as an elitist murderer isn't a good way to ensure a future for yourself regardless voldemort always kept the manners he had shown so well in his youth and he often presented himself as a dignified and sophisticated gentleman despite the twisted words that came out of his mouth and his horrific appearance and this aspect of voldemort was present within him even up until the end of his life now prior to his resurrection in the fourth entry in this series there was still a good amount of tom left in the appearance of voldemort but afterwards there remained little to no evidence that he ever was the handsome man known as tom riddle before his resurrection his skin had become waxin and deathly pale and his eyes were heavily bloodshot but the resurrected voldemort had features that closely mirrored the snake that was the symbol of his ancestor returning to life completely hairless with an impossibly thin body skin so pale it was almost translucent slits where his nose should be an absence of lips unnaturally long fingers with sharp blue fingernails and scarlet eyes with cat-like slits for pupils voldemort was a terror to behold a monster made reality through the repeated abuse of his soul a creature that now only vaguely resembled a human being in accordance with his manners his mannerisms were distinguished and refined and though his appearance isn't quite the same in the films as it is in the books the shadowy elegance of voldemort is on full display with flowing hand gestures proper boughs and observation of societal courtesies and a stiff unbending posture but regardless of the heirs he puts on he is a monster through and through and his appearance certainly reflects that however it's his personality and his actions that truly show the beast that lies within him and now that we've arrived at this point what is there to say about voldemort's personality well for starters it's quite clear that he suffers from antisocial personality disorder as throughout this saga we're given multiple indicators to show us that he's a psychopath such as his cruelty manipulation disregard of right and wrong sadism and over-inflated ego narcissism selfishness and utter lack of empathy he's a pathological liar who will do or say anything to get what he wants and he suffers from delusions of grandeur that cause great turmoil within him turmoil that is often manifested as violent mood swings when he feels threatened in any way like when he's denied a teaching position at hogwarts or when he discovers helga hufflepuff's cup to be missing from gringotts his expertise in manipulation served as perhaps his greatest strength before the first wizarding war as much of what he was able to accomplish came as a direct result of his ability to charm coerce bribe or blackmail anyone whose services he required if it wasn't clear enough already voldemort was also a megalomaniac as his primary goal was to amass as much power as he possibly could so that he could eradicate all the unworthy non-magical humans in the world to create a completely pure-blooded society and though it's never expressly stated by him and after completing this monstrous task he would reign over the world as its dark master for all eternity this is as good a time as any to discuss the essentially racist and elitist belief system that voldemort clings to which is simultaneously one of his greatest strengths and one of his greatest weaknesses as it affects nearly every aspect of his life including his personality as his ideology isn't solely derived from an ugly worldview as it's also his inherent dislike of his own status as a half-blood and how the noble blood of salazar slytherin that flows through his veins has been tainted these beliefs are also rooted in his desire to be an exceptional person as muggles who are so utterly ordinary and incapable of understanding the finer magical aspects of the world are in voldemort's view undeserving of even being considered the same species as witches and wizards this clouds voldemort's judgment like it does so many other zealots as he can't see past his own prejudices and biases to understand that the world has far more to offer outside of brute force and dark power and as a result he continuously fights a battle that he's destined to lose as all adherents to a barbaric worldview are however the fallacies of his ideology don't prevent him from causing an immense amount of harm and when he's in a position to implement policies that align with his worldview we see the dire consequences it has for the rest of the world as the policies and actions of dictators and despots always do ruling the world through a figurehead minister of magic voldemort converts the department of magical law enforcement into his secret police thugs known as snatchers who round up all people of non-magical heritage for sham trials that always result in an execution for those unfortunate enough to fall into their grasp he also sets to work producing a vast amount of propaganda that discredits muggles and anyone who happens to have any ounce of muggle ancestry and at hogwarts he's ensured the implementation of a curriculum that's centered around reinforcing that propaganda and preparing students for a future mired in darkness by teaching them all manner of forbidden spells yes voldemort is essentially a magical dictator and though who he is as a person is certainly horrifying his actions far outweigh the negatives present in his personality we've already discussed a few of the murders he's committed but the list of crimes that can be attributed to voldemort directly and indirectly is enormous there are 18 murders that we know for a fact that voldemort committed directly or were committed by other creatures or objects due to his direct influence and the number of goblins that he murdered after he went into a rage at gringotts is unknown but those 18 murders include the seven people that i mentioned earlier in this video that voldemort killed to make horcruxes dorcas meadows james potter lily potter bertha jorkins frank bryce charity burbidge grigorovich as well as an unnamed woman that was in his house at the time geller grindelwald peter pettigrew and severus snape but the actual number of murders committed by voldemort directly likely numbers in the hundreds if not thousands as he did have enough corpses on hand to create the army of infiri that guarded slytherin's locket and the various disasters that occur after his rebirth could have been committed by him directly like the collapsing of a bridge that killed dozens of people or the magical storm that he may have conjured that provided the same effect and of course we don't know how many witches wizards and muggles perished by his hand during the first wizarding war but the crimes that can be attributed to him in an indirect way could possibly be even greater in number as the murderous cronies in his service have all committed an unknown number of murders in their own right on their lord's behalf the reign of darkness that would have fallen over the world should voldemort been allowed to continue pursuing his path to immortal power and glory would have devastated every ounce of good that existed within the world a world dominated by a race of magical super beings fortunately his inability to see the value in every other aspect of the world outside of absolute power would be his undoing as the one thing voldemort could never hope to understand love proved to be far stronger than the dark power that course through every fiber of his being and at this end who was lord voldemort he was a child who was orphaned from birth a child that inherited the massive talent present in his mother's bloodline from a young age tom riddle would abuse these powers in a tyrannical way forcing animals to do his bidding and tormenting children who crossed him in unspeakable ways this troubling behavior only worsened as he aged and under the guise of the noble well-mannered and exceptionally talented student tom riddle voldemort would begin to uncover the dark secrets of the world in order to fulfill his dream of immortality and absolute power the realization of which would stave off the one thing he feared in this world more than anything else death fully embracing the idea that he and others like him were exceptional beings that deserve to sit at the pinnacle of the world voldemort pursued his abhorrent goals by carving a path of destruction through the magical world murdering any and all who stood in his way and murdering more still for his own pleasure rending his soul asunder through his repeated crimes voldemort would become the greatest terror that had ever set foot on the face of the earth a man so utterly consumed with himself and his own horrid vision that he would see the world turned into a dark kingdom of fear and hatred that would stand as a miserable monument to his power for all eternity the crimes of lord voldemort are sickening and to refer to him as lord is a disservice to those who suffered misfortune or perish due to his actions as in truth he is no lord but a manifestation of all the evil present in the wizarding world a criminal undeserving to be acknowledged is anything more than what he was a fiend whose existence would have ensured that the future was totally consumed by absolute evil thank you all for tuning in to this episode of analyzing evil and i hope you've enjoyed what are your thoughts on voldemort did i miss anything let me know down below and leave a suggestion for a villain you'd like to see featured in a future episode while you're at it if you like this video hit that thumbs up button and make sure to subscribe if you haven't already a big thank you to all of my subscribers and to my patrons and a most vile thank you to those whose names you're seeing on screen now join the channel's discord server and read it to interact with myself and the community and follow me on the social media platforms listed below to keep up with the channel as always thanks for watching and i'll be seeing you soon you

Channel: The Vile Eye

Views: 699,743

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Id: QrPsmDLTNbE

Length: 19min 23sec (1163 seconds)

Published: Wed Apr 27 2022