#im pretty sure i accidentally referenced harry potter

[ashilrak]

I've never seen anyone have voldemort as a fav character before so im intrigued, any reason why?

(Referencing this ask) Okay so this is a whole thing.

First things first, let's take a look at Tom Riddle in Chamber of Secrets:

You've looked? Great. Moving on.

But this is our first introduction to Tom Riddle, and that was all I, as a child, needed. From this book/this movie, I was hooked. He's charming, he's one of the few characters in the books that's explicitly described as handsome, he's ambitious, ruthless; he's interesting. Harry has a pretty good sense with people, he makes mistakes sure, but he was abused. He trusted Tom Riddle despite knowing he shouldn't, and this was only a peak into everything Tom Riddle was. We obviously later know it's a horcrux.

And then, as we move into the series, we learn a LOT about Tom Riddle compared to other characters, however there's SO much we don't know, and of what we do know, what can we trust? Dumbledore is pushing an agenda, and there are limited sources. I studied history in university; your interpretation is limited by your sources. There's a lot of possibility here.

But there are some things you know for certain: Tom Riddle grew up poor in a London orphanage. He was a half-blood (assumed muggleborn) in Slytherin during the 1940s. He was handsome, charming, intelligent, and ruthless. He doesn't want to die. He was set on taking over the Wizarding World. And, he almost did it.

There's so much to interject in here. But, based on what we know for certain, there are things we can assume. His earliest followers, the original Death Eaters, likely had some awareness of who he was as Tom Riddle. And, heir of Slytherin or not, he was a Half-Blood, and not one from a good family. The Gaunts were lower than dirt. Like, he was a street rat at a boarding school with a bunch of nobility. And he managed to come out on top. That's interesting. There's a story there.

I'm not a meta person; I do enjoy reading The Carnivorous Muffin's meta though, which can be found here. I haven't really been into Harry Potter recently, so this is so far from a complete analysis or explanation. Just my thoughts as they form.

There are so many different interpretations of Tom Riddle/Voldemort, but I don't think I've read a single one that's boring. Repeating and adding to what I said before, he's ruthless, obsessive, intelligent, charismatic, etc. etc. He's all of these things even after his resurrection, with less soul, less humanity, and less sanity. These things make good stories. He's a Good Character.

One of my personal favorite interpretations of him, and one that thecarnivorousmuffin touches on in their meta, is that at his heart, he was a Romantic (in the Gothic sense of the term) who was determined to bring the world down with him. The wizarding world was supposed to be an escape, but he faced the same prejudice, saw a broken system, and decided to use that system to his own aims to bring it all down.

And with all this being said, you know so little about him. We never get his POV. We don't know what he's thinking, what his goals were, what his experiences were. We know nothing.

He's a favorite character of mine because he's so interesting. Like, he's one that's stuck with me. And obviously there are tropes upon tropes here, but Tom Riddle is surrounded in what-ifs and possibilities and that means that, as a character, I love him.

Also, I'm a villain fucker.

From a shipping perspective, my biggest Harry Potter ship was always Tomarry or Harrymort or whatever you wanted to call it. The idea of them as mirrors? Good. They're like literally soulmates in a universe soulmates don't exist. Like, I'm sorry, but if I were to present you with the storyline "Character A accidentally injects a bit of his soul into Character's B, meaning they share unique traits and a bond forms allowing them to feel each other's emotions and influence each other's thoughts and dreams and the only way either of them can die is at the other's hands according to a prophecy" ????? The idea of Harry's entire life being centered around Tom Riddle even when he didn't know it? And dealing with that gap in his life once the war is over?? Like???? GOD. So yeah, I got super invested into Voldemort as a character.

Favorite characters aren't about good or bad or if I think they did the right thing, it's about if they're interesting and if they've stuck in my head. And Tom Riddle has done that more than any other character from Harry Potter.

TL;DR: He's interesting; defined enough to have a clear personality but while also being the type of character that brings endless possibilities to the fold. And I'm a villain fucker.

#Ask #Nonny #Harry Potter #Tom Riddle #Tomarry #You won't catch me jumping into Harry Potter again anytime soon #But some characters stick with you #And he's one that has for me