It’s so late and I’m so tired and a bit sick and very very emotional, which is a good time to start talking about Voldemort.
Like, ages ago I wrote a post on how I see Voldemort and how brilliant and great he is and how he’s definitely not misunderstood, just pretty much evil and how he’s basically angry at everything and that he has the most adorable sense of humour ever. I kid you not. He’s got this whole dry wit thing going on and omg cute why are you so cute shut the fuck up I can’t with you.
Okay so, why do I like Voldemort so much?
When he was younger, Tom Riddle had to charm and manipulate a whole lot of people for years and years without any pause in the middle. Do you know how exhausting that is? That boy took a look at the people around him, figured out how to manipulate them, and created a faux persona that would convince them to treat him the way he wanted to be treated. He learned and succeeded in all that despite the fact that he came from the Muggle world without any previous knowledge on what to do and how to act.
And like, all those summers spent at an orphanage, knowing you deserve so much more. All that anger and rage and hatred that just kept gathering inside his heart. Knowing that the people around him hated him and the people who were at school wouldn’t respect him if they knew about his background – it must have hurt his pride. And when you’re poor and orphan but very smart and ambitious, pride becomes your most precious possession.
He had nothing, seriously. He started from a point where people disliked him or downright hated him for one reason or another. Among muggles he was the weirdo, among his Slytherin house mates he was the Mudblood, and to the rest of Hogwarts he was just another Slytherin. But instead of accepting his lot he grabbed all those prejudices and fucking dealt with them. He left dem muggles in the dust, rose above his Slytherin housemates and made the rest of Hogwarts look up to him. Just by working hard and knowing how to manipulate people, how to read them, understanding what moves them and what motivates them.
This is why I can’t accept the fics that portray Voldemort as someone who doesn’t understand feelings. He does, he understands them well enough to manipulate people’s feelings, to guess what they’re feeling and even if it’s acquired knowledge through observation, he was smart enough to figure out how people work. It’s like a puzzle – just because he doesn’t relate to it, doesn’t mean that he doesn’t know how to figure it out, pull it apart and put it together the way he wants to.
I can’t accept fics where he’s portrayed as some kind of an idiot – he most certainly is not. And he’s not misunderstood either. What saved Harry the first time around was nothing short of a magical miracle, which means that it’s thanks to no one, and no one’s fault, that he survived. It is no indication of Harry’s strength (which I believe in because I love Harry *cries* ilu so much) or Tom’s weakness. Again this harrypotteristic miracle happened when Harry didn’t die in the Forbidden Forest. The two biggest events contributing to Harry’s victory and Tom’s loss were unpredictable and uncontrollable magical miracles.
Not that Tom doesn’t have flaws – hello, he does. I’m aware of them and I do not ignore them – I just don’t dislike his flaws, because I can relate to a lot of them.
One of the things I love about Voldemort is his ambitiousness. People are never anywhere near ambitious enough. Like, y’all are so fond of saying that one person cannot change the world, but y’all are quick to blame individuals for disasters. The moment you say you’re aiming for something more than what you have, you’re told to be realistic and how miracles don’t just happen. Tom didn’t ask for miracles – he worked hard and was ruthless. He didn’t waste his time crying over losses – he used them to his advantage.
He’s intelligent – and gosh, do I love his brain. Just to think of how academically gifted Tom is makes me smile. That Dark Lord was good at everything. He was ruthless, too, and I can respect that trait. Tom got far in his life and did things no other wizard thought possible.Tom achieved all that without anyone really to support him. Imagine how it feels to grow up knowing that there isn’t a single person who’d give a fuck about you if you died. Nobody you could ask for help when you were younger. Having to be so self-reliant from such an early age, especially in a hostile environment is something that shaped Tom’s personality greatly. I think it’s the root of his overconfidence – he relies so much on himself that everybody else just seems either incompetent, useless or expendable. Useful for a time but nothing he can’t survive without. Because if there’s something Tom learned how to do, it was how to fucking survive. His whole life is a story of survival.
People say that love is a strong motivator, and sure, it can be. But love can make you let go of things and forgive. Hate doesn’t. When we’re talking about fury that’s bone-deep, it doesn’t let go. It doesn’t forgive or forget. That’s why to Tom hate is a good, solid motivator. He believes in hate. He knows how deeply love can affect people and how people in love can be manipulated, but if hatred towards everyone else is the only constant thing in his life. it’ll also be a source of strength and stability to him.
And then of course, power. I’m not gonna lie. I’m am so fucking attracted to power and money it’s bordering on criminal. Voldemort created a otherfucking army that he ruled through fear – and yeah, he did make mistakes in how he governed that army. But even if those mistakes were partially responsible for his failure in the last battle, it doesn’t make him any less attractive to me. *sigh*
So there goes. I don’t agree with him on an ideological level, but I adore him anyway.
Also I could go on forever with this topic but I feel like I’ve written plenty already. Until next time!
marlowfication 