Character:Merope Riddle
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| Character profile | |
|---|---|
| Merope Riddle | |
| Death | December 31, 1926 |
| Parents | Marvolo Gaunt |
| Sibling | Morfin Gaunt |
| Spouse | Tom Riddle, Sr. |
| Child | Tom Marvolo Riddle |
| Blood status | Pure-blood |
| Appearance | lank, dull hair; pale, heavy face; eyes gaze in opposite directions |
| Special abilities | Parselmouth; can brew strong Love Potions |
| First appearance in canon | The House of Gaunt (HBP) |
Merope Riddle, née Gaunt (around 1907), was the mother of Lord Voldemort. She was a descendant of Salazar Slytherin.
Contents |
Characterisation
Psychological
Physical
Quite simply, the young Merope Gaunt had the appearance of one who was defeated (HBP10) – a combination of several factors. She had limp, lifeless hair and a pale, heavy, rather average face. Her eyes gazed in opposite directions, but this was most likely a result of the Gaunt Family’s tradition of inbreeding. Merope’s dress was as tattered and derelict as their home, and matched the dirty grey of the sullied stone walls.
Life
Merope’s life, for the first eighteen years, was besieged by anguish. Her mother, having died relatively soon after Merope’s birth, had left her with a father, (Marvolo) who cared naught but for his son (Morfin) and his prized possessions (HBP10) and a brother who took pleasure in her persecution.
The family fortune squandered, she was the outlet for her brother’s and father’s frustration and derision. Practically the replacement House-Elf, and treated as such; the household’s chores and upkeep rested solely on Merope’s shoulders. Marvolo regarded her abuse – both physical and verbal – as normalcy; his most usual insult being “Squib” among others (HBP10).
So, it was no wonder that Merope, barely in her adult years, was the very epitome of subservient - crushed. She sought for an distraction, and found escapism in her daydreams of the wealthy, handsome Muggle Tom Riddle. Morfin soon realised her “burning passion” (HBP10) for Tom as she “peered through the hedge” and “hung out of the window” in hope that she’d catch a glance of him (HBP10).
Morfin and Marvolo, whom, as traditional of Pure-blood families, and even more so as a result of their connection to Slytherin, fostered an abhorrence of Muggle-born wizards (or, in their terms, Mudbloods), let alone Muggles were opposed, and brutal – she was a “filthy little blood traitor”. However, Bob Ogden from the Ministry conveniently oversaw the argument, and with the help of reinforcements, packed the father-son duo off to Azkaban.
Unweighed down by her Gaolers, Merope’s seemingly unapparent magical ability manifested and grew; Dumbledore suspected that with the assistance of a Love Potion, she duped Tom Riddle into marrying her (HBP10). Much to the dismay of the inhabitants of Little Hangleton, the pair eloped and conceived a child – yet, soon after the marriage, it seems that she allowed the potion to wear off. Perhaps in search of a love free of magic, but, nevertheless, in the blink of an eye, Tom Riddle raced back to the village, claiming he had been “hoodwinked” (HBP10).
It seems that Merope, despairing and weary, blamed her plight on magic and refused to use it, even for the sake of her unborn child. Abandoned, heavily pregnant and flat broke, Merope sold her sole possession – Slytherin’s locket – Caractacus Burke (of Borgin and Burkes) for a derisory 10 galleons before Christmas 1926; she was, unfortunately, unaware of its colossal worth.
Her life, as of New Year’s Eve, was worthless, and after the birth of her son, Lord Voldemort in a Muggle orphanage, she finally relented, dying an hour later.
Trivia
Ships
Canon
Fanon
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