Why did Tom Riddle bother preserving a memory of his 16-year-old self?

[GlassRoses314]

Why in CoS did Tom Riddle leave his 16 year old memory trapped in a diary? Yes we know Slytherin built the Chamber to hide the Basilisk to kill all the Muggle-borns etc, etc, etc. But why exactly did Tom leave a memory of himself in a diary? What purpose did he think it would serve at the time when he made it? Perhaps he knew what would come, so he left a little momento of himself behind. But that wouldn't make sence now would it? What do you all think?

Why would a 16 year old boy say "Hey! Let me preserve myself in this diary for future use!"? lol

[Max]

Tom stated the reason he left behind the diary in CoS. He said something about leading another to complete Salazar Slytherin's noble work in the movie. He knew that he can't return to Hogwarts after his seventh year, so he left behind a memory of himself. I find it quite ingenius actually.

[GlassRoses314]

Originally posted by Max
Tom stated the reason he left behind the diary in CoS. He said something about leading another to complete Salazar Slytherin's noble work in the movie. He knew that he can't return to Hogwarts after his seventh year, so he left behind a memory of himself. I find it quite ingenius actually.

I find it ingenius too. However I don't get what you're saying about leading another...

Was it part of a plan? Or did he plan to just take over someone when he was gone to release the Basilisk?

Also how did Lucius Malfoy get the diary in the first place and why?

[Max]

Well, since he's a memory, he can't leave the pages of the diary yet. So, when someone writes in the diary, he would eventually possess that person and get him to do whatever he wants. In the end, he'll literally suck the life out of the person and he could finally leave the pages of the diary. I'm not sure how Lucius Malfoy got the diary ... maybe Tom Riddle gave it to him for safe-keeping?

[GlassRoses314]

Well I know how the diary works. I just didn't know why he did it in the first place...

Thanks for trying to explain though. And I'd really like to know more about the Malfoys... sneaky they are.

[Max]

Yeah, me too; maybe JK will tell us more in Book 5.

[Camo]

I always thought that one of the main reasons Riddle preserved himself in the diary was to be immortal (kind of), sort of just preserving the memories of himself in a book which should be around long after he dies. It was like a first, feeble attempt to live forever.

[GlassRoses314]

hmmm good one Camo

[Max]

Yeah, I agree with Camo.

[gred&forge4ever]

In terms of how Lucius got the diary, I think that Voldie gave it to him. I think that Lucius then decided after Book 1 that Voldie was at least somewhat alive and decided to slip Ginny the diary so that Voldie could come back through her. I think that Lucius chose Ginny because being the Weasley's only daughter, that it would hurt them the most if she died.

[Ashkins]

I am sure Voldemort gave Lucious the diary and told him about it. I do not think it was to bring Voldemort back but rather hurt a cause Mr Weasley had been working on. The Muggle Protection Act or something like that. How would it look to everyone if his own daughter was attacking them.

In the end Lucious got what he deserved.

[Sinistra]

Tom Riddle made the diary for the same reasons the Marauders made their map. It was something fun and cool and they wanted to prove to themselves they could do it. Also Tom may have been experimenting or practicing for other future projects. Sometimes people in school have more energy and enthusiasm than adults. They will do projects that most people condiser way too ambitious or wasteful, and yet they get it done with a single-minded efficiency that can be astounding.

[Finch]

I like the idea that he was practicing for future projects Sinstra. But what could it be? anyone got any ideas?

[Snowangel]

Perhaps Voldemort has even more tricks up his sleeve for the future. Maybe he has more "stuff" out there that will help him out in the future. He certainly seems to have thought about everything. My guess is that he gave the diary to Malfoy with instructions as to how it would work and what to do with it. I'm not positive about this but it seems plausible.

[DragonslayerX]

I always assumed Malfoy got the dairy from the store he is in in the beginning of the book

[morosea]

I've always wondered about this too. Before the school term began, Dobby seemed quite convinced that the evil plot Malfoy was setting into action was going to be bad for Harry. How on earth would Dobby and/or Malfoy have known that giving Ginny the diary would so deeply effect Harry?

[WhiteSlash]

Because Harry would want to search it out. Plus, Hermione(his best friend) was a muggle born. Dobby wanted to warn Harry about the evil gaint snake. Plus he was the Malfoy's house-elf. Put 2 and 2 together and you've got it.

[morosea]

I suppose your right. I reread Dobby's Warning from cos, and Dobby never really said that the plot was directed at Harry, just that bad things were going to happen at hogwarts and that Harry "must not put himself in peril."

[Iam Cedric Diggory]

I think that Tom Riddle knew, before he would become Voldemort, that if he could not finish Slytherin's work, he had to make sure that someone would make sure it got done. Furthermore, that's why he gave the diary to Lucius Malfoy. Lucius hates Muggles (Tell us something we don't know) and would surely have been glad to do something like this for Voldemort.

[Elangomatt]

I think that Lucius has had the diary in his posession for a long time. I suspect that he probably has some other dangerous artifacts from Voldemort as well, like dumbledore suggested at the end of CoS.

[Max]

Lucius didn't get the diary from Borgin & Burkes! How would the shopkeeper get it? From Voldie's closet? I believe that Lucius had that diary tucked away in an out-of-sight closet or something.

[Professor_Lupin]

The reason Voldermort (Tom Riddle) left he's self in the diary was partly because he wanted to maintain he's power. In the event that some time latter in the future he was unable to open the chamber of secrets (and thus access the Basalisk). Also i think it was a way for Tom to demonstrate he's power. At the young age he wanted to leave a small sample of he's ability behind for himself.

[Camo]

Yeah, i agree that Riddle wanted to show how clever he was by leaving the memories of himself in the diary kind of like the marauders.

[Max]

I don't think that Riddle left behind the diary to show how clever he was -- he didn't want the whole school to know what he was doing, right? He only does something if it benefits himself.

[Sinistra]

The diary was probably left behind as all Voldemort's possessions were left behind. Probably after a suitable interval, the most trusted Death Eaters went and cleaned out his flat (or wherever he was living) and took whatever things they found and stored them away in the eventuality Voldemort would return. Or alternatively to learn nasty evil things from them and become more powerful and eviller (not as word but useful for the purpose).

Maybe they rushed there after they heard he was gone. I can just see it now, Malfoy and Knott fighting over their Lord's teapot and underwear. I guess Malfoy won. Or maybe he lost and only ended up with an old unused diary and a few kitchen utensils.

[Puffskein]

Voldie in a flat...lol. I can see Lucius clearing out the place, like What's-her-name Sackville Baggins in LOTR.

[FawkesBox]

I think it is also important to ask Why In COS??? Is this the only diary? Tom is very explicit in that this is this 16 year old self-- what about his 17 or 18 year old selves (ugh! the grammer :)) Although JKR has already done this could such artifacts appear again?

[rusk]

Riddle explains pretty clearly why he made the diary.

"I knew it wouldn't be safe to open the Chamber again while I was still at school. But I wasn't going to waste those long years I'd spent searching for it. I decided to leave behind a diary, preserving my sixteen-year-old self in its pages, so that one day, with luck, I would be able to lead another in my footsteps, and finish Salazar Slytherin's noble work."

He made the diary because he had spent 5 years learning about the Chamber of Secrets. However, after Myrtle was killed, Dumbledore was on to him. He couldn't risk opening it and getting caught. Instead of just wasting those 5 years of work, he made the diary so that someone else could open the Chamber.

It's not like he could just come back and open the chamber at any time, it had to be someone at the school. Since it's unlikely Voldemort would ever become a teacher at Hogwarts, the diary is a clever way of controlling a student. A student would be the easiest to control, having not been fully trained at recognizing Dark Magic like that.

[jordmundt6]

Yeah, Lucius is a pack-rat. Let's hope it gets him into trouble one of these days. I think there may be other school things, but Lucius is on notice not to use them, or plant them in innocent hands.

[Filius Flitwick]

Maybe he did it out of boredom...something that was a bit of a challenge at the time. Or, maybe it was an early attempt at immortality. Another possibility is that he was bored in Binns class and decided to work on something else. ;)

[jordmundt6]

Yeah, Binns' class would provide the perfect cover wouldn't it? Yes, it was a challenge and therefore worthy of an attempt. And yes, this is one method of immortality that he experimented with on his way to becoming Voldemort.

[GlassRoses314]

But wasn't Binns alive when Voldemort was at school? Or am I just being crazy again?

[Weatherby]

I always assumed Riddle left behind his diary at Hogwarts. How would he know someone would plant it on a student?If he didn't leave it at Hogwarts there would be no telling if his plan would even work.

Lucius probably found it in the Slytherin dorms.

[jordmundt6]

It wouldn't matter if Binns was alive or not, his lectures have always been Ben Stein-in Ferris Beuhler boring. That's a good point Weatherby. Lucius probably did find it in a dormitory.

[GlassRoses314]

ooh you're right jordmundt lol thanks.

[Gandalf_the_White]

I think it was basically like in the Goblet of Fire when Voldemort scolds his followers because they did not look for him, they should have known better because they knew of all the precautions he took to avoid death. This was one of the precautions he took, if the diary had worked and Ginny had died, he would have returned young and strong, perhaps not as strong as before but death would have been avoided none the less

[zoeydsngwrtr]

Going off of Gandolf's statement (which I agree with) Voldemort was sure to know that the wizarding world would oppose his "insights" and look to take him down. He knew he hate muggle's and muggle borns by the time he was at Hogwarts, and he wanted to be the best more than anything. If you knew that soon people would be trying to take you down, wouldn't you be leaving ways out everywhere. For example if someone threatened you because you had valuable information, wouldn't you leave a paper trail as wide as the ocean??? That is exactally what I think Voldemort did, left a paper trail, if he really were to be killed, then somebody would find it, and follow in his footsteps.

[Buttercup]

OHHH Zoey that is good.

I think that Lucius has more of Vold school stuff (he probably did a lot of dark things while he was there, not just the diary) and that we will probably see more of these items (they could be in that secret room in Malfoy manor).

[jordmundt6]

Yeah, but I think that Malfoy is, for the moment, on notice that if he distributes any more collectibles he's looking at a very long stretch in Azkaban. Plus, I don't think he'd want to own that he'd been using them for his own personal gain and had given up the idea of Voldemort's genuine return.

[Rowais]

I think that at the time, Tom Riddle (a.k.a Voldemort) thought it would be an interesting little project to keep his 16 year old memory in a journal. Also, he wanted someone to open the Chamber of Secrets in the future and he couldn't have known that he would meet his downfall or not, so he was being safe. It is not surprising that Lucius got hold of the diary considering he was in Voldemorts inner circle, its also not surprising that Ginny Weasly recieved the diary at Flourish and Blotts considering the Malfoys all hate the Weaslys, so who better than to give the diary to?

[Morgan]

Voldemort putting himself in that diary at 16 shows that he was already evil and planning for the future. Why else would he preserve himself in the diary? He probably had his ideas for world domination planned out even then. But, I don't think he gave Lucius the diary while he was still powerful. Why would he? That diary was valuable and could probably be put to much ill-use by Lucius had he wanted, and I doubt Voldemort would trust Lucius with that much unless he really had too. I think Lucius got the diary after Voldemort fell, it's hinted at several times in the book that Lucius has a lot of things that used to belong to Voldemort. Most likely, when Voldemort fell, Lucius went to his place (where did Voldemort live?!) and got as much stuff as he could. And then he slipped that diary to Ginny because he was probably hoping the Baselisk would get out and kill Harry (or he might've done it for some other reason that we won't know untill later, seeing as how book 6 is connected to CoS).

But, I think Voldemort chose to preserve himself in that diary because already at 16 was he planning a career as a not to nice fella....

[moonfire330]

Doesnt anyone remember what Mcgonagal said in hp3? she said salazar made the chamber with the snake (i cant spell the name) so that he could clear the school of halfbloods. I dont know who he gave it to through. maybe it was given to someone in the malfoy family, so that soon they'd somehow give it to one of the students and the plan would take place.

[Nys]

I'd have to say it was because he would have been a bit power mad even as a 16 year old.... And I"m pretty sure it was because he'd just had to close off the chamber of secrets, and he wanted to make sure that someone else could do it once he was gone...

[luvs10s]

I've just finished reading Chamber of Secrets for fourth or fifth time and I was left wondering what Tom/Voldemort's plan was if he actually succeeded in returning as his sixteen year old self.

Was he returning with just his teenage memories or was he coming back with the memories and powers of Voldemort?

If he came back as a teen, how was he planning on supporting himself? Was he going to re-learn his Dark Magic? Where was he planning on living?

I know that none of this is really an issue because Harry saved the day but it did get me wondering how the plan was supposed to work.

[Auror77]

Tom stated the reason he left behind the diary in CoS. He said something about leading another to complete Salazar Slytherin's noble work in the movie. He knew that he can't return to Hogwarts after his seventh year, so he left behind a memory of himself. I find it quite ingenius actually.
Basically, I feel this couldn't have been a better explanation, so good job Max! :clap: Tom knew it wouldn't be safe to try opening the Chamber again, so he figured by preserving his 16-year old self, it would be both safe for him and devastating to the muggle-borns. He was brilliant huh?