Tom Riddle. The sinister memory of a young Lord Voldemort

Tom Marvolo Riddle

The name given to the Dark Wizard Lord Voldemort by his parents was Tom Marvolo Riddle, and so Tom Marvolo Riddle is Lord Voldemort. In Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, however, the Tom Marvolo Riddle who posesses Ginny Weasley and opens the Chamber of Secrets, waking the Basilisk, is not the same Tom Marvolo Riddle who almost died when trying to kill the infant Harry Potter. The Tom Marvolo Riddle in the diary is a magically preserved memory of a younger Lord Voldemort, and had it managed to escape the confines of the diary there would have been two Lords Voldemort at large in the world.

Tom Marvolo Riddle attended Hogwarts whilst Dumbledore was not yet Headmaster, only a member of staff. During his time there, Riddle opened the Chamber of Secrets and then blamed the resulting death on Hagrid and his pet Aragog, a giant spider. Hagrid was expelled, and Riddle was never caught. Most likely Dumbledore knows the truth now, and at least


suspected it then.