Is Hermione more talented than Voldemort was at his age?

[Seventh_child]

Tom's lack of guilt or care about killing his father and grandparents could be linked to another interesting discussion about whether or not he had conduct disorder as a child which sometimes later progresses into Adult Anti-Social Disorders. I think it's on the forums somewhere, I'll post a link if I find it.

I agree with others that Hermione is a little too timid to think outside the box when it comes to spells. I'm sure she could make some brilliant ones if she put her mind to it. I'd say she lacks a creative flair. She's probably left brained, meaning logical and concise. Right brained people (like me) tend to prefer drawing and writing stories to working out maths and writing up equations. Obviously there are some people who have a good blend of the two, and I think that Tom is a perfect example of a good blend of creativety and logic. Anyone think so too?

[Zina_x0]

Originally Posted by Seventh_child

I agree with others that Hermione is a little too timid to think outside the box when it comes to spells. I'm sure she could make some brilliant ones if she put her mind to it. I'd say she lacks a creative flair. She's probably left brained, meaning logical and concise. Right brained people (like me) tend to prefer drawing and writing stories to working out maths and writing up equations. Obviously there are some people who have a good blend of the two, and I think that Tom is a perfect example of a good blend of creativety and logic. Anyone think so too?

I agree. I think I'm a bit of left and right brain together, but yeah. Hermione is someone who "goes by the rules." Remember how she wouldn't go with the Half-Blood Prince's changes to potion directions. She just follows orders, doesn't create. I can't see her making a horcrux, but she could definitely make some amazing spells if she wanted to.

[aaron016]

Originally Posted by Rosie Cotton

Does that make him more powerful? I think that makes him weaker. The ability to hold life so lowly, that is not power, that weakness. Hermione might be a bit sensitive (I sympathize with her, I'd burst into tears at the slightest scolding until I was 11, and I still could stand to be a bit better about it). Riddle was not mentally stronger, having the ability to kill his parents.

That disgusts me that you think that the ability to kill ones own parents is mental strength!

I don't think he has more mental strength because of that reason, but the fact that he is ruthless and prepared to murder people is not a weakness, it gives him even more power! It gives him a weapon that Harry, Hermione, Dumbledore, etc could never have; a weapon that can only be countered by a power "the Dark Lord knows not".

Originally Posted by Seventh_child

I agree with others that Hermione is a little too timid to think outside the box when it comes to spells. I'm sure she could make some brilliant ones if she put her mind to it. I'd say she lacks a creative flair. She's probably left brained, meaning logical and concise. Right brained people (like me) tend to prefer drawing and writing stories to working out maths and writing up equations. Obviously there are some people who have a good blend of the two, and I think that Tom is a perfect example of a good blend of creativety and logic. Anyone think so too?

Exactly! People like Tom, Dumbledore and Snape are powerful because they are experts in both the left and right side of the brain, whereas people like Hermione only specialise in the left side of the brain and people like Fred and George only understand the right side of the brain.

[mzhummer4113]

i would imagine she is

[Alonna]

I don't think there is any comparison between Riddle and Hermione. He completely outclasses her. Hermione is too restricted by her lack of creativity. Hermione is simply someone who has a photographic memory and is willing to put in the time to study as much as possible. I suspect that many of the other students in her year could reach her level simply by studying as much as she does. In her mind, if it isn't written in a book, then it isn't right. Tom Riddle was someone who could be creative and think outside the box. The diary horcrux is particularly impressive because that is something he could not have learned from the Hogwarts library. Riddle also does not have the tendency to lose his head which Hermione has frequently displayed throughout the books. Riddle was always cool and collected while Hermione panics when put into an unknown situation.

[Taliana]

This is a little off subject but I just wanted to make a note. I think that Hermione is an inteligent and driven girl, but Voldermort had more natural talant and a solid disreguard for anyone who stood in his way. So I think that, where powerful magic is converned, Hermione is just not as good as Tom Riddle was.

[potterfan_amuse]

Hermione's clever, and has a good memory.
Tom's talented and powerful.
There is a difference.

[PotionsPrince5]

true- i think they're both neat in their own way. hermione is skilled , but volde is natural talent and cruelty there is a big difference

[cgold]

She isn't more talented than Voldemort but about 99% of people would prefer to be in her position over Voldemort. Talent isn't everything afterall because there are lots of things especially when dealing with the Harry Potter books that mean and matter much, much more.

Cheers

[formidilosus]

I'll add some more comments to this thread. Like someone else said Hermione learns to master spells quickly but that doesn't make her talented. Everyone learns them eventually and when they do Hermione's spells are in no way better than anyone else's. So then how do you measure talent? Why is Dumbledore so much stronger than all other adult wizards? Why is Voldemort so powerful? It certainly isn't JUST because they could learn spells before others. Which seems to be what most of you are basing your opinion of Hermione's talent. So Hermione knew Alohomora before everyone else, does that really matter in the grand scheme of things? No, not at all.

Hermione is just book smart, she's not even street smart. Remember in book 1 when she knew the Devil's Snare hated light and heat? She knew that, she had the knowledge but it didn't help her since she didn't have the clarity of thought to use it. She needed Harry there to tell her. Knowledge is useless without the ability to use it, and knowing when and the consequences of it. In an interview JKR said Hermione is like her, unathletic. How did Harry get out of the graveyard after prior incantatem? He had a dozen Death eaters shooting curses at him and he managed to dodge them all. He dodged, dove behind graveyards and just things that come instinctive to an athlete. I don't know about you but i'd rather have a coordinated person in a battle with me than a clumsy one. Considering some curses are unblockable, I'd rather have someone who would just dodge it on instinct that someone who has the knowledge it's unblockable but can't get out of the way in time, to act on that knowledge.


Hermione just does the equivalent of gets good grades. Anyone can get good grades if they study endlessly. That's what Hermione does. But there's a limit to how far working at something will get you. I could run everyday for the rest of my life, but I'll never be as fast as the Olympians. There's just a fundamental difference in our DNA that will never allow me to even come close to them. There is the same difference with Voldemort and Hermione.

Some of you use the Protean charm to show Hermione's power... Yeah she managed that earlier, she even managed to make polyjuice potions, both accomplishments, but we have no idea of what Voldemort would be capable of at that age. I'm sure it's something much more extraordinary. Not to mention although it's impressive she did those things, when we actually got down to NEWT classes we found Hermione actually struggling at times, espcially potions. In which she had never shown weakness before, so why would that be the only class she had problems in. We even got a new more friendly, probably easier to learn from teacher and she was struggling. Would Voldemort have ever struggled? I very much doubt it. He was after all Slughorn's favorite. Harry performed almost perfectly everytime because of the HBP's book. He was fawned over the same way as Voldemort. Hermione was favored yes but it certainly wasn't to the same level as Harry. So we can say its safe to assume Voldemort outperformed her in potions for sure and i would be willing to bet everything else too.

[Jaguarundi]

Dumbledore himself said in CoS that Tom Riddle was the probably the most brilliant student to ever attend Hogwarts. Remember that when Dumbledore says that he is including not only Hermione, Harry, and Ron but Snape, James, Lily, Lupin, Sirius, McGonagall, Slughorn, and himself (Dumbledore).

From what we've seen in HBP Hermione has trouble being at Snape's level at the age of 16 and it's certainly implied that Tom was even more advanced then Snape.

I'd say Hermione: 5 and Tom Riddle : 10.

[HPotter24]

I'm not sure we really know enough about Riddle to know how good a wizard he was at a young age. This makes it difficult to compare him and Hermione. Most of our cannon supports the fact that he has BECOME the second most powerful wizard in the world, not that he was at that high a level at a young age.

[cgold]

Originally Posted by HPotter24

I'm not sure we really know enough about Riddle to know how good a wizard he was at a young age. This makes it difficult to compare him and Hermione. Most of our cannon supports the fact that he has BECOME the second most powerful wizard in the world, not that he was at that high a level at a young age.

He could perform controlled occlumency and leglimency and other magic by age 11 without having any training which seemed to impress Dumbledore and he created his first Horcrux at age 16. Not to mention that he was an orphan, so like Ginny, Slughorn had him as a favourite based on talent. I think canon supports it.

Cheers

[potterfan_amuse]

Originally Posted by cgold

He could perform controlled occlumency and leglimency and other magic by age 11

How do you know that? where in canon was that?

[Jaguarundi]

Quote from potterfan_amuse:
How do you know that? where in canon was that?

The two children that Tom took to the cave had no memory of what happened to them implying that some form of memory tempering must have occured. Tom didn't have a wand at the time so that basically leaves occlumency and leglimency.

[cgold]

Originally Posted by potterfan_amuse

How do you know that? where in canon was that?

You are very correct to be questioning this because it is an assumption on my part that I've turned into fact based on what Dumbledore says. However, it is still just an assumption until JK confirms it. It doesn't take away from my point though because facts do remain that Voldemort was performing controlled and wandless magic by the time he met Dumbledore at age 11.

Cheers

[powerof7]

Originally Posted by lord__voldemort

tough to answer.
they both are good in studies.
i only proof i have that tom is more intellegent than hermione that tom was able to find about hocrux but hermione was unable to do the same.
hermione is loss her paitence at some points but tom is full of paitence[remember how tactfully he talked about hocrux with slughorn].
if i give tom 10 than hermione gets 9.5.

Hermione is certainly a smart witch. But I think several characters show more cretive intelligence than Hermione at the same age. Hermione is able to research and remember things she has read very well. She is also quick to master new spells that she is taught. She can also apply the ideas of others to her own situation (adapting the Dark Mark Voldemort uses to the coins). But she really doesn't show alot of creative intelligence. Remember, Severus Snape was inventing better ways to make Potions at the same age Hermione is now as well as new spells. James and Sirius figured out to create the Mauraders map as well as taught themselves to be Animagus at the same age. And even the twins, who never applied themselves to school work, have invented products that even Hermione thinks are quite advanced magic.

[Blaise_Prewett]

I think both characters are intelligent and talented - but Hermione's thirst for knowledge is more innocent, she simply enjoys learning. Tom's talents and thirst for knowledge is driven by curiosity, greed, power. He comes off as being more 'creative' with his magic because of his highly ambitious nature, thus being more daring and willing to experiment/explore things further, despite the consequences. He uses his talents and the act of learning as a way to put him to an advantage - it is a means of crushing and controlling people as well as instilling fear.

I think Hermione's good nature and her knack for obeying the rules, restricts her from her full potential and maybe that is why people see her as not being 'too creative'.

[aaron016]

Originally Posted by Blaise_Prewett

I think Hermione's good nature and her knack for obeying the rules, restricts her from her full potential and maybe that is why people see her as not being 'too creative'.

Dumbledore has a good nature and will only break laws if he is required to do so (which Hermione does as well), but he doesn't come off as uncreative as all. I think Seventh_child explained it the best.

I agree with others that Hermione is a little too timid to think outside the box when it comes to spells. I'm sure she could make some brilliant ones if she put her mind to it. I'd say she lacks a creative flair. She's probably left brained, meaning logical and concise. Right brained people (like me) tend to prefer drawing and writing stories to working out maths and writing up equations. Obviously there are some people who have a good blend of the two, and I think that Tom is a perfect example of a good blend of creativety and logic. Anyone think so too?

Hermione is just not creative with her spells. She is undoubtedly brilliant with books and exams, but she is not as powerful as Voldemort, Snape and Dumbledore when it comes to making up potions, spells and whatnot, and then performing the right spells under pressure.

[AmesGDG]

I don't think Tom is patient at all. He tries to be, but he wants things done quickly and without a mess. I think what really gets to him is that he cannot do everything himself, so some things get done wrong. He needs inside men to do jobs that he normally wouldn't trust people with, so his patience wears thin sometimes.

On Topic: This isn't a discussion about good and evil. It's a discussion about who was cleverer at 16 years old. I do believe this is Tom. He went so far into dark magic that he learned enormous amounts of it, and was very good at creating plans for his Horcrux killings. I think that even Harry knows more about the essence of magic than Hermione does, because Hermione can learn all she wants from books, but that cannot teach you honor, fear, or whatever else comes from being in magical situations. Hermione has the wrong kind of cleverness to be matched with Tom's, I think. She knows the mechanics, but Tom knows the mechanics AND the heart of the spells he casts. Since he has an evil heart, his 'evil' spells are more succesful and darker than imagined.