Rumors about Voldemort / "terrible, yes, but great"

[oryx_leucoryx]

When Tom Riddle returns from a ten year absence and meets Albus Dumbledore the latter says, "Rumors of your doings have reached your old school, Tom. I should be sorry to believe half of them."

Tom dismisses the rumors as malicious lies of the envious, and describes his own activities as "I have experimented; I have pushed the boundaries of magic further, perhaps, than they have ever been pushed -"

He also mentions that there was an old argument between him and Albus about the merit of love vs Tom's kind of magic.

Years later, July 31st 1991 Ollivander says of Tom: "After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things - terrible, yes, but great."

Now we do know of some rather unusual, maybe original, things Tom did, such as making multiple Horcruxes. And he may have pushed the boundaries of that particular art all the way to the end. But we know Albus did not know about that at the time of the interview and I doubt Ollivander knew (though he may have figured there was one Horcrux somewhere - if he knew more than the general public about the events of Godric's Hollow). So what were those rumors Albus heard? And what was so great (though terrible)?

There is nothing unique or original in casting Unforgivables. These spells were known for centuries.

Feats of Legilimency and Possession? (I doubt Ollivander was thinking of those, since Tom at least does them wandlessly.)

Inferi were not invented by Tom, though he may have made more of them than previous Dark Lords. (Of course we have no idea what he did with them before he assigned them with guarding the island in the cave by the sea.) I tend to think the inferi in the cave were made over the years between Tom's return to Britain and his trip to the cave with Kreacher.

The only things shown in the books that might fit are the various curses he put on his Horcruxes and some of their hiding places - if he released into circulation objects with development stage versions of those curses.

Any ideas?

Comments

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

Dumbledore claims that Tom had consorted with "the worst of our kind", and the general public would know that normal humans do not look like Voldemort did when he returned, let alone if we assume he degenerated further between his job interview and his first defeat. Voldemort also claims that the DEs knew he'd progressed further down the road to immortality than anyone before, so it's quite possible rumours spread of just what exactly he might have been doing on the Continent.

That being said, if Voldemort was known to have learned secrets from "the worst of our kind"*, would these rumoured deeds have been quite as uniquely Voldemortian as they seem from Ollivander's words?

* Who are quite politely not doing anything noticeable. Grindelwald's disciples/lieutenants lying low on the same continent they tried to conquer rather than doing the sensible thing and running away?

[oryx_leucoryx]

But what was he trying to do on the continent?

Hmm, another thing - does the mention of that 'old argument' mean that while at school Tom debated Dumbles or asked pointed questions in class? Did Transfiguration classes look a bit like the exchanges between Hermione and Dolores?

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

But what was he trying to do on the continent?

Pre-HBP I'd have suggested he learned how not to die and nebulous Dark Lord stuff. Post-HBP, wherein we learn that Voldemort learned all he needed at school and that his missing years were a complete waste of time, I've got nothing. I can't see why it was necessary to give Tom his Dark sabbatical in the final scheme, rather than simply giving him an attempt to rise to power through the traditional paths in the WW.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Maybe he just needed to stay away long enough for his face to become unrecognizable.

[snapes-witch.livejournal.com]

Wouldn't that infer that his change of appearance was deliberate rather than an accidental side effect of making horcruxes . . . that hadn't occurred to me.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Maybe he realized the initial changes and experimented with what magic would have similar effects on his appearance. After all, if he was going for a name change and didn't want to be recognized as Riddle he couldn't just stick around with his original looks.

[charlottehywd.livejournal.com]

let alone if we assume he degenerated further between his job interview and his first defeat

I admit that it's been a while since I've read the books, but was being turned down at Hogwarts what provoked him to start up the Deatheaters? Because if so, that's officially the lamest Start of Darkness ever. (not linking TV Tropes in interest of everyone's time)

[oryx_leucoryx]

The Death Eaters were already known to Albus at the time of the job interview. Albus knew the term and he names four of them that were waiting for Tom at the Hog's Head.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

I think he went to the job interview primarily to hide the diadem in the RoR. If he'd got the job, that would just have been a bonus. According to Dumbledore, he was already calling his minions "Death Eaters" at this point, so it's likely he was planning to use them.

[oryx_leucoryx]

Yes. Hide the diadem, and if given the chance look for a suitable item of Gryffindor's to Horcruxify. Since he never managed to lay his hands on the sword he did not make his 6th Horcrux until Godric's Hollow.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

and if given the chance look for a suitable item of Gryffindor's to Horcruxify.

I came across a theory once that the Sorting Hat would turn out to be a Horcrux, and that would explain why the House of Tom's ancestor became filled with evil minions. Alas, it turned out the blessed Godric's relics were too special to be corrupted and destroyed.

Voldemort's experiments

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Perhaps he was honing his skills at doing nothing? Procrastination is an art.

[sunnyskywalker]

This wouldn't help with the rumors part, since apparently almost no one outside the DEs knew about it, but maybe he invented the Dark Mark, a tattoo as a summoning system/homing beacon (since you can only Apparate to somewhere you know - or wherever Voldemort happens to be, as we see in the graveyard, since I really doubt he regularly invited the DEs to Little Hangleton for weekend bashes) rather than just a nifty picture?

[oryx_leucoryx]

I agree the Dark Mark was not among the things Dumbles heard rumors about, but may have been something Ollivander knew of. I bet the occasional DE needed a new wand during the war. Ollivander seems like the type to remain neutral if he could help it, so even if he saw some tattooed left arms he'd remain silent about it. But after some of those were outed by death or arrest he put 2 and 2 together.

BTW, knowing what we are told in HBP about Apparition, GOF suggests the Ministry has some mechanism to direct Apparition to a pre-determined Apparition Point (arrangements for the QWC). Tom may have based the use of Dark Marks to direct Apparition on the same technology.