Tom Riddle Senior

"Within a few months of their runaway marriage, Tom Riddle reappeared at the manor house in Little Hangleton without his wife. The rumour flew around the neighbor­hood that he was talking of being 'hoodwinked' and 'taken in'... He left her, never saw her again, and never troubled to discover what became of his son."

- Albus Dumbledore on Tom Riddle Sr.

Tom Riddle Sr. (1905–1943) was an affluent Muggle who lived in the town of Little Hangleton. He was the son of the wealthy Muggle couple Thomas Riddle and Mary Riddle. Tom was married to Merope Gaunt, while under the influence of a Love Potion, and was the father of Dark Wizard Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort. Tom Marvolo later killed Tom and his mother and father in retaliation for Tom's abandonment of his wife and unborn child, and later used this death to make Marvolo Gaunt's Ring a Horcrux. In 1995, his bone helped his son return to power.

Early life
"She likes looking at that Muggle. Always in the garden when he passes, peering through the hedge at him, isn't she? And last night — hanging out of the window waiting for him to ride home, wasn't she?... I got him as he went by and he didn't look so pretty with hives all over him, did he, Merope?"

- Morfin Gaunt on Merope's infatuation with Tom Riddle

Born to Thomas and Mary Riddle in 1905, Tom Riddle Sr. lived in a luxurious manor house not far from a run-down cottage that was home to the Gaunts, a wizarding family descended from Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell, outside the muggle village of Little Hangleton. Merope Gaunt, who led a miserable life of poverty and abuse at the hands of her father and brother, became infatuated with Tom, watching him ride by on his horse, sometimes in the company of a woman named Cecilia. Tom, on the other hand, mocked Merope and her family for their poverty and mental instability.

When her brother Morfin noticed her interest, he hexed Tom with hives. The Ministry of Magic discovered this, among other incidents, and also arrested Morfin and Marvolo Gaunt for attacking Ministry officials. Both wizards were sentenced to Azkaban. While they were gone, Merope and Tom got married.

Marriage
It was speculated by Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter that Merope used the Imperius Curse on Tom, but they decided that it was more likely she used a Love Potion to attract him. In any case, the two married, despite public disapproval over "the squire's son running off with the tramp's daughter." At some point in their relationship, Merope became pregnant.

It was believed that Merope eventually stopped whatever enchantment she had used on Tom in the hopes that he had truly fallen in love with her since, or would at least remain with her for the sake of their unborn child.

Abandonment
"Tom Riddle left her while she was still pregnant... I believe that Merope, who was deeply in love with her husband, could not bear to continue enslaving him by magical means. I believe that she made the choice to stop giving him the potion. Perhaps, besotted as she was, she had convinced herself that he would by now have fallen in love with her in return. Perhaps she thought he would stay for the baby's sake. If so, she was wrong on both counts."

- Albus Dumbledore

Riddle reacted with shock and horror to the truth of his relationship with Merope and fled back to Little Hangleton. He claimed to have been "taken in" by Merope, which may have been an allusion to her being a witch, or to her methods of attracting him. He did not state specifically that she used magic to seduce him, for the fear of being thought insane. Rumours in the town claimed that Merope had lied about being pregnant. Riddle's son himself came to believe that his father abandoned Merope solely because he discovered she was a witch.

Whatever the reason, Riddle abandoned his wife, and she was left impoverished, broken-hearted, and alone in London. Soon after, she gave birth to a son she named Tom Marvolo Riddle, after the baby's father and Merope's own father, Marvolo Gaunt. Merope died shortly after giving birth and the child was left in the care of a Muggle orphanage.

Death
In 1943, sixteen-year-old Tom Marvolo Riddle, who would later take on the alias Lord Voldemort, ventured to Little Hangleton to investigate his heritage. He learned the details of his parents' union from his uncle Morfin Gaunt and sought revenge on what he saw as the man who caused his mother's death. Tom Marvolo Riddle murdered his father and paternal grandparents with the Killing Curse and framed Morfin for the crime. His corpse was described as having a "look of terror upon his face."

Post-mortem
"You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late father. A Muggle and a fool.. very like your dear mother. But they both had their uses, did they not? Your mother died to defend you as a child... and I killed my father, and see how useful he has proved himself in death..."

- Lord Voldemort Tom Riddle Sr. was buried in Little Hangleton Graveyard along with his parents, and their deaths were not at all mourned by the townspeople due to them being very unpopular. Tom's murder was used by his son to transform Marvolo Gaunt's Ring into his second Horcrux. Voldemort seemed to see this murder as retribution for the miserable existence his father had condemned him to in his abandonment, as well as his own triumph over his "filthy Muggle" heritage. Voldemort made use of his father's murder again in 1995, when Peter Pettigrew used a bone from Tom Riddle Sr.'s grave to make the potion that resurrected him.

Personality and traits
The son of wealthy parents, Tom Riddle Sr. was something of a snob and rather callous. When he and Cecilia were riding by the Gaunt Shack on one occasion, Bob Ogden ran out, having been terrorized by the Gaunts, and stumbled into Riddle's horse. Both he and Cecilia "roared with laughter" at this. Very handsome and wealthy, Riddle boasted to his companion about how much property his family owned. Tom also abandoned his pregnant wife and apparently made no attempts to find out what happened to his child, despite being made aware of Merope's pregnancy before abandoning her.

Tom was described to be ruder and more snobbish than his parents, who were both very mean as it was. This made Tom immensely unpopular in Little Hangleton, and the villagers were not sorry for his demise.

Physical Appearance
Tom Riddle Sr. was a very handsome man, dark-haired, dark-eyed, and pale. His son, Tom Marvolo Riddle, was noted to be the spitting image of him in his early years.

Merope Gaunt
Tom originally looked down and made fun of Merope and her family because of their poverty, their strange shabby appearances, and their exceptional disabilities. Merope then used a Love Potion on Tom, making them go on a runaway marriage. Merope eventually became pregnant with Tom's child. However, as Albus Dumbledore had theorized, Merope, who was deeply, truly in love with her husband, could not bear to continue enslaving him by magical means and made the choice to stop giving him the potion, convincing herself that he might have truly fallen in love with her of his own accord, or even if he had not, he would stay with her for their child's sake. When Tom awoke from his enslavement, he revolted in what Merope did to him and immediately left his wife and unborn son, claiming he had been "hoodwinked" and "taken in." Merope was left heartbroken and lost her will to live as a result, and later died giving birth to his son, naming him after her lost love, wishing that he would look like his father.

Tom Marvolo Riddle/Lord Voldemort
"[...] my dirty, muggle father [...]"

- Tom Marvolo Riddle on his father

During Tom Marvolo's time at Hogwarts, he originally believed his father was a wizard. He later found out that it was his mother, not father, that had magical abilities. He grew to harbor a passionate and ultimately deadly hatred for his father, blaming him for abandoning him and his mother. His hatred eventually evolved and spiralled completely out of control, leading him to hate the entire race of muggles.

He later tracked down his father during the summer of his sixth year and killed him and his family, blaming his uncle Morfin. He later used this death to make Marvolo Gaunt's Ring a Horcrux. One of his bones was also used to help his son revive a body.

Cecilia
"[...] don't look at it Cecilia, darling."

- Tom and Cecilia on a stroll

Cecilia was a Muggle that may have been Tom's lover before he married Merope Gaunt.

Behind the scenes

 * Tom's flashback scenes were cut from the film adaption of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.
 * Tom Marvolo Riddle thought that Tom left Merope because he hated magic and left her after she revealed herself to be a witch, which is the reason Tom Marvolo hated muggles. He never learned the real reason Tom left Merope.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Notes and references
Tom Jedusor Sr.