Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort, born Tom Marvolo Riddle, is the main antagonist from the Harry Potter franchise. He is a very powerful Dark Wizard and the Dark Lord of the Death Eaters; who aims to take over the wizarding world and shape it following his supremacist views. He made himself the archenemy of the primary protagonist Harry Potter after trying to kill him, having learnt that he would grow into a threat. The name Voldemort comes from the French "vol de mort", meaning "flight of death" or more figuratively "theft of death". (In correct French pronunciation, the T at the end is silent; however, it is generally pronounced by English-speakers.)

Early Life
Tom Marvolo Riddle was born on New Year's Eve, 1926 in an orphanage in London. He was born to Merope Gaunt, a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, and Tom Riddle Sr, a wealthy and extremely snobbish Muggle. Merope magically tricked Tom Sr. into marrying her and kept him under control until she finally let him go, hoping he would have fallen in love with her on his own after, but he abnadoned her without second thoughts, desperate and miserable, she died shortly after chosing a name for her newborn son. J.K. Rowling explained that due to the fact that was born because of a love potion, it made him unable to feel love and made him the monster he was, though it would have been different if Merope survived and loved him. Tom Riddle grew up in a dingy orphanage, completely unaware of his Wizarding heritage, though he did have a lot of grasp on his abilities beyond that of normal magical children, which he used to harm people he did not like. He was never caught for any of his acts, but was suspected nonetheless. He used fear and manipulation to control his fellow orphans and regularly stole from them, who feared him so much that they refused to share a room with him. Although he was far more intelligent than his peers, he already demonstrated disturbing sociopatic and megalomaniac tendencies.

When Tom was 11, Dumbledore visited the orphanage and invited Tom to attend Hogwarts. Not much else is known of his childhood.

Hogwarts Years
Tom Riddle was educated at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry from 1938 to 1945, and was placed in Slytherin. During summer breaks, he would return to the Muggle orphanage, which he despised and dreaded more than any other place on earth.

Tom described himself as "poor, but brilliant, parentless, but so brave, a school prefect, a model student." This opinion was shared by the Professors, including Horace Slughorn whom Tom tricked into telling him about Horcruxes. The sole exception to this was Albus Dumbledore, the Transfiguration professor at the time, who still admits that Tom was the most brilliant student Hogwarts has ever seen.

Tom eventually became obsessed with his parentage and began researching it with an insatiable hunger. During his research, he realized his shared heritage with Salazar Slytherin. During this time, Tom relinquished the Muggle name he loathed and began going by the name " Lord Voldemort": an anagram of his given name: "Tom Marvolo Riddle" rearranged giving: "I am Lord Voldemort"

In his fifth year, Tom located the secret entrance to the Chamber of Secrets, and was able to control the Basilisk (the snake-like monster inside) because he was a Parselmouth. Tom turned the beast loose on the school, injuring many. The last victim was a student named Myrtle, who was killed in the girls' bathroom. Hogwarts was to be closed, but Tom did not want to return home. To keep the school from shutting down, he framed fellow student Rubeus Hagrid, who secretly raised Aragog, a baby Acromantula. (Giant Spider.)

Dumbledore, distrusting Riddle, kept a close watch on him after that. Because it was no longer safe to open the Chamber of Secrets, Tom created a diary to preserve a part of his soul, hoping it would one day lead someone to finish Salazar Slytherin's "noble" work. This diary was one of his seven Horcruxes. At Tom's last year at Hogwarts, he was prefect, Head Boy, and he had received a medal for magical merit.

Little Hangleton
During the summer of 1943, Tom Riddle went to the small hut where his mother once lived. There he gained information about his mother and father, and then stunned his uncle Morfin Gaunt (the last remaining inhabitant) and implanted a false memory of him killing the Riddle family inside his head. Later that morning, all three Riddles were found dead in the drawing room of their home. Investigating wizards learned Morfin's wand was used to commit the murders and he confessed the murders. As for people in Little Hangleton, they grew to blame the Riddles' gardener Frank Bryce.

After Hogwarts
Shortly before graduating, Tom used his charisma to charm the spirit of Helena Ravenclaw (more commonly known as the Grey Lady, the ghost of Ravenclaw Tower) into revealing the location of Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem. Then when he finished his education, he asked Armando Dippet for a chance to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts, but was deemed too young. After leaving Hogwarts, he presumably traveled to the far-flung forest in Albania about which Helena had told him and retrieved the Diadem. He murdered an Albanian and turned the Diadem into a Horcrux. Upon his return to Britain, he was offered several positions in the Ministry of Magic, but ended up working at Borgin and Burkes for Caractacus Burke, which disappointed and surprised many. His job was to "persuade" people to part with their valuable magical items — a job at which he was very good.

During his time with Borgin and Burkes, Tom charmed a wealthy, elderly lady named Hepzibah Smith. After several visits showed him her two most valuable treasures: Salazar Slytherin's Locket and Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. Tom killed her and stole the objects, vanishing without a trace. He covered his tracks well by implanting another false memory into an innocent person, Hokey, Hepzibah's house elf, who admitted to accidentally putting poison into Hepzibah's cocoa. Meanwhile, Tom ran away with the cup and locket and turned them into two more Horcruxes.

Transformation
Tom disappeared for many years, slipping deeper into the Dark Arts. The more he made Horcruxes, the less human he became and eventually lost all trace of humanity. Tom appealed once more to Albus Dumbledore, now Headmaster of Hogwarts, for the position of Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, in an attempt to learn Hogwarts' secrets and recruit followers. Dumbledore denied him, knowing of his plan. The position has since been jinxed; teachers only held the position for a year until Riddle's death ended the spell. Riddle's visit to request the position was not fruitless, however; he hid Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem in the Room of Requirement, where he believed it would never be found.

The Rise of the Dark Lord
In the 1970s, Lord Voldemort had gathered a following of witches and wizards, who named themselves the Death Eaters. He then began taking advantage of the Wizarding World's greatest weakness: the beings and creatures that they had outcast. He recruited Giants, Werewolves, Dementors and many others; and used his army to wage war against the Ministry of Magic. At the height of Voldemort's reign of terror (and for many years after), people were so afraid of him that they did not even dare speaking his name, referring to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named." One of the Wizarding World's few remaining safe places was Hogwarts, which was under the staunch protection of Albus Dumbledore, the only person Lord Voldemort feared. Dumbledore created the Order of the Phoenix to fight against Voldemort, but they were outnumbered and suffered many casualties. In 1979, word came from an informant, Severus Snape, of a Prophecy that predicted Voldemort's downfall:

The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches…Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies…And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…

This Prophecy was made by Sybill Trelawney, during a job interview with Albus Dumbledore for the position of Divination. According to Dumbledore, Snape only heard the part about Voldemort's downfall and to whom it may relate, before being thrown out by the barman. (Aberforth Dumbledore.) Frightened, the Dark Lord sprang into action, unknowingly lauching a chain of events that would eventually accomplish the fate he sought to avoid. Lord Voldemort realized he must kill thewo babies to whom it could refer — Harry Potter, a Half-Blood, and Neville Longbottom, a Pure-Blood. — For reasons known only to Voldemort himself, he chose to kill Harry instead of Neville. (Dumbledore suspected this was because Harry shared his Half-Blood heritage with Voldemort.) Thanks to Peter Pettigrew, James Potter's friend-turned-Death-Eater, Lord Voldemort learned the Potter family's secret location. Voldemort murdered James and Lily Potter, but when he used the Killing Curse on Harry, it rebounded upon himself, ripping his soul from his body and destroying his powers. Lord Voldemort had been defeated by the one-year-old boy because Lily's love for her son created an invisible powerful defense in Harry's skin when she died for him.

The Death Eaters were lost. Many claimed they had been under the Imperius Curse, while others stayed true to their master and continued his work, most notably the Lestranges; Bellatrix and her husband, Rodolphus. Eventually, they were all captured and locked away in Azkaban.

Missing Years
Lord Voldemort was not dead, however. His Horcruxes kept him alive, although formless and powerless. He retreated to the same Albanian forest he had traveled to find Rowena Ravenclaw's Diadem, expecting one of his faithful Death Eaters to find him and help him. But those still faithful to him were either dead or in Azkaban. He gained a form by inhabiting snakes, which never lived long.

Abilities
As was described earlier, before even knowing the very existence of magic itself, a young Voldemort could already use his magical power to achieve something similar to telekinesis, manipulate animals, and "make bad things happen to people who annoy him", in a much more controlled display of magic than wizards exhibit at that age.

Voldemort grew into one of the most powerful wizards to ever exist, second only to Dumbledore himself. He masters virtually every field of magic and Dark Magic. He has proven able to create artificial artificial limbs such as Peter Pettigrew's silver hand; to conjure objects (like shields) within seconds; create and contro Inferi (undeads); to summon snakes; to compel people's movements (forcing Harry to bow in their duel) and suspend people bound in midair; to transfigure objects and elements into living beings; to perform high-level telekynesis; to turn corpses into disguises, like he did with Bathilda Bagshot; to cast curses; to curse a word into a Taboo that unleashes spells when uttered; to create tatoos that summon his servants and sends message upon being touched; to speak to snakes and control them; and many more.

Voldemort has also devised many magical feats of his own, such as the Morsmordre, (which summons his symbol, the Dark Mark), the ability to fly without support at high speeds, the ritual that restored him, and other. He is extremely skilled in magical duels; being able to cast spells, counter-spells, an to Apparate/Disapparate with great speed and precision, and to cast powerful and complex spells in mid air with enough accuracy to strike a moving target. He masters the Killing Curse Avada Kedavra, the Torture Curse Cruciatus and the Mind-Control Curse Imperium with great proficiency; and is seen using other powerful attack spells. (The movies depicts him casting fire, magical blasts and sonic booms.) He likely taught his followers every attack spell they are seen using.

Voldemort is an exceptionally powerful practitioner of Legilimency, being able to tell whenever a person is lying and to delve into their deepest thoughts without resistance. One of the few people who are skilled enough to shield their mind from him is Severus Snape, who is extremely skilled at occlumency. Voldemort would often plant illusions into the minds of his victims to manipulate them. Voldemort is also said to be very skilled at Occlumency, however his use of this talent was not greatly shown in the series.

Finally, Voldemort is extremely intelligent and knowledgeable, and capable of thinking of almost perfect plans. If it was not for his extreme megalomania and his utter inabilty to comprehend human emotions and reactions, he would not have fallen.