Lord Voldemort

Lord Voldemort is the most powerful of all Dark wizards. He led his followers, the Death Eaters, into a war, and he is starting another one. He has committed several murders, including those of Lily and James Potter. His reputation is such that most wizards are too afraid of him to speak his name (often referring to him as He Who Must Not Be Named, or more commonly, You Know Who). His first attempt to seize control of the wizarding world was thwarted by the infant Harry Potter who did not die when attacked by Lord Voldemort.

Childhood
He was born as Tom Marvolo Riddle, named Tom after his father and Marvolo after his maternal grandfather. His mother was Merope Gaunt who likely bewitched Tom Riddle Sr. with a love potion. After the enchantment wore off, Tom Riddle abandoned Merope. Poverty-stricken, Merope sold a locket reputed to have belonged to Salazar Slytherin that was a Gaunt family heirloom and was forced to seek refuge in an orphanage where she gave birth to the infant Tom Marvolo before passing away shortly afterwards.

Tom Marvolo's childhood at the orphanage was marked by disquieting occurrences, including the hanging of a pet rabbit, and cruelty inflicted on several children. These facts were related to Albus Dumbledore when he attended at the orphanage to discuss Tom Marvolo's future with the matron. At Dumbledore's initial interview with Tom Marvolo, the boy revealed that he was a Parselmouth and that he thought himself special.

School
Despite misgivings Dumbledore decided to invite Tom Marvolo to study at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry where he was sorted into Slytherin House. Tom Marvolo quickly proved himself a capable and motivated student and gathered about him a group of followers that would, in later years, form a nucleus for the Death Eaters. However, according to Dumbledore, these followers were not true friends, as Tom Marvolo was by nature a solitary boy.When he was in his fifth year at Hogwarts, Tom Marvolo managed to open the Chamber of Secrets, releasing into the school a basilisk which killed one of the students, Moaning Myrtle. Tom Riddle escaped punishment at the incident was blamed on another student, Rubeus Hagrid who was expelled. Tom himself continued to use his charm and wile to achieve his ends, which included obtaining from Professor Horace Slughorn invaluable and otherwise unattainable information about the Horcrux.

After School
Following completion of his studies, he took a position with Borgin and Burke's a business located in Knockturn Alley devoted to the sale of treasures and objects, particularly those associated with dark magic.

After Hogwarts Tom Marvolo Riddle began the transformation that would result in the creation of Lord Voldemort. The phrase 'I am Lord Voldemort' is an anagram of the letters in his birth name. The name 'Voldemort' could be a French phrase that could be translated as "theft of death"; "flight of death" or "flight from death", although the latter would more properly be rendered as vol de la mort. His followers, the Death Eaters, frequently refer to him as 'the Dark Lord'.

Horcruxes
In search of some form of immortality, Voldemort is believed to have made use of the Horcrux spell to split his soul into as many as seven parts. The splitting of the soul in this fashion could only be accomplished in the context of a murder, and the young Voldemort is thought by Dumbledore to have commenced by murdering his Muggle father, his Muggle grandparents, and a witch by the name of Hepzibah Smith who had at one time owned a number of treasures, including a cup that had supposedly belonged to Helga Hufflepuff and the locket that had been pawned years earlier by Merope. Dumbledore believed that Voldemort placed fragments of his soul into these and other objects, such as a Slytherin family ring and Tom Riddle's diary, creating a series of Horcruxes. Dumbledore believed that another of the horcruxes may be the snake Nagini.

Rise
As he began the transformation from Tom Marvolo Riddle, Voldemort's appearance changed. His pupils began to narrow and his irises became red. His once handsome features wasted in a pale snake-like aspect. This process of physical change reflects an archetype of the arch-villain reflected in characters such as Darth Vader of the Star Wars films. Voldemort adopted the Dark Mark as his emblem, a skull with a snake issuing from the mouth. The Death Eaters were obliged to have the Dark Mark engraved onto their arms, and the mark could be used by Voldemort to summon his followers.

As many of the pureblood families--such as the Blacks or the Malfoys--had prejudices against wizards of Muggle or mixed parentage and also tended to be attracted to the dark arts Voldemort (who himself was of course of mixed Wizard/Muggle parentage) exploited this pre-existing fault-line within the wizarding community in order to recruit many of his followers.

Voldemort's first attempt at gaining power was marked by use of the Unforgiveable Curses by himself and the Death Eaters. The wizarding community was terrorized and many wizards, witches and even Muggles were killed in the ensuing struggle. Casualties were particularly high among the membership of the Order of the Phoenix whose members formed a front line against Voldemort. Besides James and Lily Potter, other deaths included Gideon and Fabian Prewett, brothers of Molly Weasley, and Edgar Bones, brother of Amelia Bones. Neville Longbottom's parents, Frank and Alice Longbottom were tortured into madness by the Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange and her husband Rodolphus.

Fall
Through information revealed by Severus Snape, Voldemort became aware of a prophecy uttered by Sybill Trelawney to Albus Dumbledore that revealed that the person who could defeat Voldemort would be born toward the end of July. Through threats and intimidation Voldemort managed to persuade Peter Pettigrew to reveal the whereabouts of James and Lily Potter whose son, Harry, had been born on July 31. Although the prophecy might also have referred to Neville Longbottom, Voldemort chooses to destroy Harry. Although successful in killing Harry's parents in October 1981, Lily's willingness to sacrifice herself to save her son has the effect of sealing Harry with a protective magic that preserves Harry and rebounds to destroy Voldemort's corporeal existence, putting an end to the first war against Voldemort and marking Harry as the nemesis with the potential to destroy him utterly. After the destruction of his body, the remnant of Voldemort (preserved only because he had divided his soul among several horcuxes) drifts into a semi-oblivion, but gradually gains strength enough to seek the long journey back towards a rebirth. By this time Voldemort's spirit has reached the Balkans and attaches itself to a young wizard, Professor Quirrell. Quirrell, Voldemort's host, is hired by Dumbledore to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts in Harry Potter's first year at Hogwarts, described in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Making use of Quirrell, Voldemort seeks to obtain the Philosopher's Stone in a bid to find a means of ensuring immortality, but Quirrell/Voldemort is defeated by Harry Potter and Voldemort suffers a serious setback.

The following year, in the events described in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets through a diary from his own teenage years at Hogwarts that he has used as a horcrux, Voldemort possesses Ginny Weasley, Harry's best friend's sister, unlocks the basilisk from the so-called "Chamber of Secrets" and attempts to destroy Harry. Again Voldemort is defeated when Harry's life is saved by Dumbledore's phoenix Fawkes and, to add insult to injury, the diary-horcrux is destroyed when Harry plunges a fang from the basilisk into the object.

Rebirth
Voldemort is finally successful in returning to corporeal form in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire using his own murdered father's bone, Peter Pettigrew's flesh, and Harry's blood to create a powerful restorative potion. At that point Voldemort summons his Death Eaters and, although Harry evades destruction once more, Voldemort is poised for a triumphant return to power.

He begins by reassembling his Death Eaters, using a combination of torture, intimidation and fear to impress upon them the completeness of his authority. Severus Snape makes a pretense of rejoining the Death Eaters, but according to Dumbledore is acting as a spy for the Order of the Phoenix. Former Death Eaters who do not rejoin the ranks of his supporters, such as Igor Karkaroff are murdered, as are many powerful wizards and witches, such as Amelia Bones, head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, and Sirius Black, Harry's godfather.

In Harry's sixth year at Hogwarts, Dumbledore commences a programme of personal instruction for Harry to acquaint him with what Dumbledore knows of Voldemort's childhood and youth. Voldemort, meanwhile, has set Harry's arch-rival Draco Malfoy with the task of killing Dumbledore, who, it is said, is the only wizard that Voldemort himself ever feared. Severus Snape makes an Unbreakable Vow to protect and assist Draco in the carrying out of the task set by Voldemort and, at the end of Harry's sixth year kills Dumbledore, thus destroying the most powerful wizard standing between Voldemort and a renewed reign of terror.