Tom Marvolo Riddle (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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ways_back_room2004-08-01 12:16 pm
young_tmriddle) wrote in ways_back_room2004-08-01 12:16 pm
All About Tom, or How an Evil Dark Lord-To-Be Became Less Evil By Leaps and Bounds
So when I started this, I imagined Tom would become caught up in machinations and be a charming yet slightly dangerous figure around Milliways. Obviously, things did not turn out that way. I thought I should do a little explainin' as Peter and hamlet have done.
I base Tom from canon (the scraps of it we have) and my own fic Strange and Wondrous, which ships Tom/Minerva. A basic summary of his character: - He grew up in Catholic orphanage where he was feared and reviled for being strange from an early age. After being called evil and bad for so long, he decides to believe it. After breaking into his records around age nine, he discovers a deathbed letter from his mother telling him about his lineage and destiny and imploring him to avenge her poor treatment by Muggles. At Hogwarts he finds himself not much more accepted by those in Slytherin house – he’s looked down upon because he is a poor, Half-blood. Those who are attracted to his burgeoning power are mediocre and beneath him intellectually. In 4th year, he is asked by Minerva (who’s in 7th) to help her with a Defense Against the Dark Arts project. She becomes his first real friend, someone intelligent and powerful enough to be worthy of his attention (he’s always admired her, from the moment they met before his first year in Diagon Alley). So for a little while, he can just be himself – a smart, intense, driven boy, and not the model student or the potential Dark lord. The main part of the story occurs in 1955 – this Tom came to Milliways from 1954. Tom managed to obtain a Parselmouth grimoire that holds the secrets of Inviting Darkness – actually calling Dark Power into his cellular structure -right before coming to Milliways. This book was destroyed by Crowley before Tom went with Door to London Below because if it still existed he would have continued using it, Door or no Door. So when he talks about the Darkness within him, he’s not kidding around – the Dark magic is part of him.
My version of Tom pre-Milliways is of an intelligent, angry, arrogant, impatient, and romantic soul. Not romantic as in gushy hearts and flowers, but romantic in the early 19th century style. He grew up with books as an escape, and he still loves books and learning. He is, of course, intense and driven – he has not started his quest for immortality by 1954, but he’s thought about it. Primarily he wants power and all it can bring him. He wants to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world, and he is frustrated that that goal is not happening quicker. He’s also driven by a desire for wealth even though he can use Imperio to get whatever he wants. He is more likely to immerse himself in research into some new Dark magic theory than sleep with someone. He did use Imperio to get people he fancied into bed, but this was not something he did often. He also went to magic user brothels when he felt the need. Sex was nice, and he’s good at it (because he always wants to be the best at everything he does, wink, wink) but it didn’t drive him. Obviously, he had no real attachments to anyone besides Minerva at school.
Something went wrong in 1954 – a potion he was brewing from the Grimoire, to be specific. He found himself at Milliways, and he found out what happened in his future(well, up to 1996 anyway). He knows that he became a raving lunatic who had apparently been bested at every turn by inferiors. I set Tom in 2004 but since time is so fluid at Milliways, I’m not worrying about that anymore. He knows that Voldemort was defeated eventually, but doesn’t know specifics. It wasn’t Voldemort’s actions that appalled him about his future, but the fact that he became an utter failure. That made him want to stay in whatever timeline he’s in now. But there was a Voldemort and he did do all the horrible things we know about. Tom only knows basic details – he didn’t know who Peter or Sirius were at first, he knows of Harry Potter, he’d have no clue who Ginny was even though he’d know about the diary and its potential effects. So when Tom first got to Milliways, he was confused, terribly disappointed in his future, but I didn’t expect him to be redeemed really. Not at all.
So these two kids just hit it off right from the start. As the Marquis says in Neverhwere about Door, “Your family was skilled in locating doors, both obvious and otherwise.” She found doors inside Tom that he never knew existed and opened them wide. I think that a part of Tom always wanted to be the “good” student he pretended to be at school. He wanted to be accepted and loved and cared about. And now he is, and that’s made a world of difference. All the intensity and focus he poured into his pre-1954 ambitions are now focused on keeping Door happy and safe. Every day holds the discovery of all the wonderful things he’s missed out on by being an intense, driven potential Dark Lord ;)
He is still a very powerful wizard, but his powers are in a state of flux as he detaches from using the Dark magic he’s come to rely on. He’s still very smart, but there’s plenty of arrogance there, too. He knows he’s got a long way to go as far as atoning is concerned, but he at least can admit he did terrible things (even if it’s only to Door). Being nice to Muggles is still not a high priority for him, but he is willing to admit they are not all vile and worthless. He hasn’t actually interacted with many Muggles yet at Milliways, but he will at least be willing to do so now.
As for specific powers, I, um, kinda forgot about the whole Voldemort being a powerful Legilimens thing. So here’s my SRE: Tom is a Legilimens, but he’s only used the power to hurt people, to forcibly take their memories. That’s why he hasn’t used it at Milliways. Yet. He is, however, really good at Occlumency, which is why no one like Dumbledore (who I think is an even better Legilimens than Voldemort ever dreamed of being) could see through his “good student” act. His guard is down at Milliways though.
Most important of all in my characterization of Tom is the belief that Tom and Voldemort are essentially two different entities. And my Tom was very, very lucky to have avoided his fate.
I base Tom from canon (the scraps of it we have) and my own fic Strange and Wondrous, which ships Tom/Minerva. A basic summary of his character: - He grew up in Catholic orphanage where he was feared and reviled for being strange from an early age. After being called evil and bad for so long, he decides to believe it. After breaking into his records around age nine, he discovers a deathbed letter from his mother telling him about his lineage and destiny and imploring him to avenge her poor treatment by Muggles. At Hogwarts he finds himself not much more accepted by those in Slytherin house – he’s looked down upon because he is a poor, Half-blood. Those who are attracted to his burgeoning power are mediocre and beneath him intellectually. In 4th year, he is asked by Minerva (who’s in 7th) to help her with a Defense Against the Dark Arts project. She becomes his first real friend, someone intelligent and powerful enough to be worthy of his attention (he’s always admired her, from the moment they met before his first year in Diagon Alley). So for a little while, he can just be himself – a smart, intense, driven boy, and not the model student or the potential Dark lord. The main part of the story occurs in 1955 – this Tom came to Milliways from 1954. Tom managed to obtain a Parselmouth grimoire that holds the secrets of Inviting Darkness – actually calling Dark Power into his cellular structure -right before coming to Milliways. This book was destroyed by Crowley before Tom went with Door to London Below because if it still existed he would have continued using it, Door or no Door. So when he talks about the Darkness within him, he’s not kidding around – the Dark magic is part of him.
My version of Tom pre-Milliways is of an intelligent, angry, arrogant, impatient, and romantic soul. Not romantic as in gushy hearts and flowers, but romantic in the early 19th century style. He grew up with books as an escape, and he still loves books and learning. He is, of course, intense and driven – he has not started his quest for immortality by 1954, but he’s thought about it. Primarily he wants power and all it can bring him. He wants to be the most powerful sorcerer in the world, and he is frustrated that that goal is not happening quicker. He’s also driven by a desire for wealth even though he can use Imperio to get whatever he wants. He is more likely to immerse himself in research into some new Dark magic theory than sleep with someone. He did use Imperio to get people he fancied into bed, but this was not something he did often. He also went to magic user brothels when he felt the need. Sex was nice, and he’s good at it (because he always wants to be the best at everything he does, wink, wink) but it didn’t drive him. Obviously, he had no real attachments to anyone besides Minerva at school.
Something went wrong in 1954 – a potion he was brewing from the Grimoire, to be specific. He found himself at Milliways, and he found out what happened in his future(well, up to 1996 anyway). He knows that he became a raving lunatic who had apparently been bested at every turn by inferiors. I set Tom in 2004 but since time is so fluid at Milliways, I’m not worrying about that anymore. He knows that Voldemort was defeated eventually, but doesn’t know specifics. It wasn’t Voldemort’s actions that appalled him about his future, but the fact that he became an utter failure. That made him want to stay in whatever timeline he’s in now. But there was a Voldemort and he did do all the horrible things we know about. Tom only knows basic details – he didn’t know who Peter or Sirius were at first, he knows of Harry Potter, he’d have no clue who Ginny was even though he’d know about the diary and its potential effects. So when Tom first got to Milliways, he was confused, terribly disappointed in his future, but I didn’t expect him to be redeemed really. Not at all.
So these two kids just hit it off right from the start. As the Marquis says in Neverhwere about Door, “Your family was skilled in locating doors, both obvious and otherwise.” She found doors inside Tom that he never knew existed and opened them wide. I think that a part of Tom always wanted to be the “good” student he pretended to be at school. He wanted to be accepted and loved and cared about. And now he is, and that’s made a world of difference. All the intensity and focus he poured into his pre-1954 ambitions are now focused on keeping Door happy and safe. Every day holds the discovery of all the wonderful things he’s missed out on by being an intense, driven potential Dark Lord ;)
He is still a very powerful wizard, but his powers are in a state of flux as he detaches from using the Dark magic he’s come to rely on. He’s still very smart, but there’s plenty of arrogance there, too. He knows he’s got a long way to go as far as atoning is concerned, but he at least can admit he did terrible things (even if it’s only to Door). Being nice to Muggles is still not a high priority for him, but he is willing to admit they are not all vile and worthless. He hasn’t actually interacted with many Muggles yet at Milliways, but he will at least be willing to do so now.
As for specific powers, I, um, kinda forgot about the whole Voldemort being a powerful Legilimens thing. So here’s my SRE: Tom is a Legilimens, but he’s only used the power to hurt people, to forcibly take their memories. That’s why he hasn’t used it at Milliways. Yet. He is, however, really good at Occlumency, which is why no one like Dumbledore (who I think is an even better Legilimens than Voldemort ever dreamed of being) could see through his “good student” act. His guard is down at Milliways though.
Most important of all in my characterization of Tom is the belief that Tom and Voldemort are essentially two different entities. And my Tom was very, very lucky to have avoided his fate.
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