Who is to blame for Voldemort going bad?

[birdi86]

Voldemort is to blame for Voldemort going bad. Yes, Riddle lacked a support system and that hurt him but in the end and yes, it would have been difficult for him to ever be a whole, healthy person. But he made his choice again and again to do the wrong thing.

[eliza101]

Originally Posted by birdi86

Voldemort is to blame for Voldemort going bad. Yes, Riddle lacked a support system and that hurt him but in the end and yes, it would have been difficult for him to ever be a whole, healthy person. But he made his choice again and again to do the wrong thing.

I would have to agree with this. Voldemort knew the difference between right and wrong, he just didn't care.

[mactheknife]

Originally Posted by lovehp2010

Unfortunately I think it was already too late for Tom when DD met him.

I agree with this statement. By the time Dumbledore met the young Riddle it was too late. He was already deeply filled with hatred for his Father, which led to his hatred for Muggles!

[Frogki]

No one but himself is to blame. While I think that if in his youth he had had more support, he might have had a chance at being a decent person, it's like Dumbledore says in CoS. "It is our choices that show us for who we truly are" No one makes your choices for you, and you control yourself. One of the sad things about Voldemort is, by the time of the Battle of Hogwarts, he was so terrified of death that he couldn't ever be a decent person, not as long as he wanted to remain immortal...

[persian85033]

Originally Posted by Leslie33

As for Tom Riddle SR, I don't think he's to blame at all. He was an innocent victim of a neglected girl who was desperate for adoration.

As for Merope herself, she was made into an emotional cripple. Even if she "knew" what she was doing on the night she got pregnant, I see her so crushed by these two jerks that she consciously didn't fully comprehend what she was doing and the long term effects.

No matter how you look at this, no one but Tom Riddle aka Voldemort himself is to blame.

Too true, Tom Riddle Sr himself was a victim from the begining.

[captain Sparrow]

Voldemort is the only one to blame. Like so many have said before me, Tom Riddle Sr. was a victim and is not to blame. Some of the blame may belong to Merope, It's her decisions that lead to Tom Riddle Jr. being born. But it is not her fault she dies...So it all comes down to Voldemort himself. It is his decisions and actions that make him bad. But then again Slytherin's blood runs in his veins so I guess some of the bad in Voldemort are in his blood.

[persian85033]

But Merope IS to blame for the WHOLE thing for Tom Riddle Jr's birth. It's not her fault she dies, and that Voldemort is evil, but she is completely responsible in that he is alive. I'm not quite sure I'm expressing myself right.

I guess it's also that one person's choices can affect many people. Perhaps even the name she gave him contributed greatly. She named him for a Muggle, and he never would have traced back his mother's family without the name Marvolo, would he?

[harryup]

I think that Marvolo Gaunt!

famous singer Nina Simone

[Krums_Girl]

Dumbledore said it himself in CoS- the famous, "It is our choices, far more than our abilities, that define us." If this applies to Harry, why doesn't this apply to Voldemort?

[TaafeMJ]

I'll echo what others have said. Voldemort, and only Voldemort, is to blame for his actions.

I think it was a remarkable bit of writing to have both Riddle and Harry have such similar upbringings (neither's parents were there to raise them, both grew up in loveless situations, both found out about their magical abilities just before going to Hogwarts, both found out about Horcruxes later in their school years, both had Dumbledore's teachings and influence...I could go on, but I won't). And yet Harry chose to be good, while Riddle chose evil.

Yet the biggest thing to me was that Harry was still very much flawed. He had his temper, he was wrong on more than one occasion, and he was guilty of being too wrapped up in himself to see what was going on around him sometimes. Yet still, under immense stress, he made the right choices when it mattered most.

Riddle could have made these choices himself, but never did. He had the opportunity, and threw it away. Even after he'd tried to kill baby Harry, and he had all those years as a vapor to think things over, seeing what his life had been reduced to, and he still made the wrong choices. There may have been others who didn't help him, but ultimately he has only himself to blame.

[AldeberanBlack]

Who is to blame for Voldemort going bad?

He was bad?

[Hes]

It's canon that Voldemort was bad, killed loads of people, some with the intention to become "immortal". The question in this thread is who contributed to Voldemort's evilness. End off.

[fredgirl]

I would say Merope.She only was responsible for Voldemort's birth.Even if she had lived to see Riddle grow,and took care of him,I think he would have turned just as evil as he became.Because Riddle was not born as a result of true love.He was born to infatuation and love potion.That made him difficult even to understand what true love is.
I would say that his intelligence is responsible too.Even an evil man without any intelligence is not a big threat to the society.Without his cunning mind and sharp brain Riddle would not have become Voldemort.

[Krums_Girl]

Originally Posted by fredgirl

I would say Merope.She only was responsible for Voldemort's birth.Even if she had lived to see Riddle grow,and took care of him,I think he would have turned just as evil as he became.Because Riddle was not born as a result of true love.He was born to infatuation and love potion.That made him difficult even to understand what true love is.
I would say that his intelligence is responsible too.Even an evil man without any intelligence is not a big threat to the society.Without his cunning mind and sharp brain Riddle would not have become Voldemort.

You say that even if Merope would have lived, and taken care of Riddle, he still would have been evil, and maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but how, then, does that make Voldemort being evil her fault?

And also, there are lots of parents of divorced children, whose parents conceived them when they didn't have "true love"... that is to say it even exists, and they turn out just fine, and they have the ability to love. I have a friend who was sexually abused when she was younger, and now she is just the sweetest, most loving person I know. So I don't think that the fact that Merope and Tom Riddle Sr. didn't love each other had anything to do with Voldemort being evil.

And if Voldemort's intelligence caused him to be evil...well...isn't his intelligence part of...him? Like, it's a characteristic of....him? I wouldn't say that the fact that he had dark hair as a boy caused him to be evil, and that's a characteristic as well.

So if you're saying that Voldemort's intelligence caused him to be evil, then it sounds like you're saying Voldemort caused Voldemort to be evil, which I don't understand, because you said earlier that Merope was the reason Voldemort was evil.

[AldeberanBlack]

It's canon that Voldemort was bad, killed loads of people, some with the intention to become "immortal". The question in this thread is who contributed to Voldemort's evilness. End off.

It's canon that he killed people, but "bad" and "good" are subject to interpretation, though perhaps not in this thread, and indeed assigning "blame" for someone's actions may vary according to how the actions themselves are viewed. As for who contributed to his behaviour, he was a product of his environment.

[Nandi]

Originally Posted by AldeberanBlack

It's canon that he killed people, but "bad" and "good" are subject to interpretation, though perhaps not in this thread, and indeed assigning "blame" for someone's actions may vary according to how the actions themselves are viewed. As for who contributed to his behaviour, he was a product of his environment.

no mass-murderer and "racist" can be called good.

[AldeberanBlack]

Originally Posted by Nandi

no mass-murderer and "racist" can be called good.

The murders were largely committed in war situations. Both sides killed or injured each other in battles. As for racism, again that can be questioned as whether Voldemort was intentionally "bad" or deeply misguided.

Getting back to the issue of blame, one could suggest that his racism was influenced by bitterness and confusion over where he came from. Feelings of abandonment towards his parents, particularly towards his father when he would have discovered that Tom Riddle Senior wasn't magical

So then he discovered his mother's origins, and through that he found that her lineage was rather noble (due to her Slytherin connections).

Given the two situations of being the unwanted son of a mere Muggle, or the son of a descendant of a powerful wizard, it's understandable he developed a hate towards Muggles and a romanticised view of magical blood.

That's what I think led to Voldemort's mindset.

[Trixa]

Originally Posted by AldeberanBlack

The murders were largely committed in war situations. Both sides killed or injured each other in battles.

The war was started by Voldemort. He wasn't a soldier who had to stay alive on the battlefield, he was a powerful person with murderous intentions whom the rest of the world was trying to stop. I don't think it's logical to give him the excuse that he acted they way he had to under the circumstances when he was the one who created them in the first place. He was a deeply disturbed individual with no morals or concern for anyone other than himself. The books make it clear that he was a sadist even as a child and there was certainly no war going on then.

Given the two situations of being the unwanted son of a mere Muggle, or the son of a descendant of a powerful wizard, it's understandable he developed a hate towards Muggles and a romanticised view of magical blood.

That is, if he didn't act like a racist just to gather followers because the way I see it Voldemort was more concerned with immortality and with being a ruler than with hating Muggleborns. He probably felt a sense of entitlement due to the things you mentioned and got a kick out of having all these purebloods under his thumb, who if they knew the truth would immediately believe they were better than him. He probably felt the need to show the world that there is nothing greater and more important than power.

[Hes]

Last chance. This thread is not the place to discuss if Voldemort is bad.

[fredgirl]

Originally Posted by Krums_Girl

You say that even if Merope would have lived, and taken care of Riddle, he still would have been evil, and maybe I'm misunderstanding you, but how, then, does that make Voldemort being evil her fault?

And also, there are lots of parents of divorced children, whose parents conceived them when they didn't have "true love"... that is to say it even exists, and they turn out just fine, and they have the ability to love. I have a friend who was sexually abused when she was younger, and now she is just the sweetest, most loving person I know. So I don't think that the fact that Merope and Tom Riddle Sr. didn't love each other had anything to do with Voldemort being evil.

Merope was responsible for Voldemort's birth.The way he was born ,using love potion and stuff,was also due to Merope's selfish intentions.

My point was that the way he was born had to have at least some effect on how evil he turned out to be.It is only my opinion.Some kids turn out to be just fine even if their parents were not loving each other at the time they conceived.I agree with that.But these parents were not using Love potion and their dads were not out of their mind...I mean, in magical world,the lack of true love between the parents might affect how bad their kids become...

Since the whole story is about how Voldemort was unable to realise what love is,I think Merope and her selfish way of using love potion is to blame for Voldemort going bad....

And if Voldemort's intelligence caused him to be evil...well...isn't his intelligence part of...him? Like, it's a characteristic of....him? I wouldn't say that the fact that he had dark hair as a boy caused him to be evil, and that's a characteristic as well.

Yeah by his intelligence I meant Voldemort.So both Merope and Voldemort are responsible for voldemort going bad...only my opinion..