Could Tom Riddle really build a following in school

[tygershark.livejournal.com]

As we all know the books left a lot of questions unanswered. So many things are contradictory and just flat out don't make any sense. 

I've often thought about Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts and those memories that Dumbledore showed Harry. Many of the things Dumbles told Harry didn't make any sense. Worse some of the reasons he gave Harry for the things that he did make even less sense. I'm thinking here of Trelawney's interview being held in the Hog's Head because it was raining. Was she related to the Wicked Witch of the West? Did she fear death by melting? But I digress, back to my musings about Tom.

How was it that Tom was able to amass a loyal following that included the likes of Avery, Lestrange, and one can only assume Malfoy. Although they must have been the fathers of Lucius Malfoy's generation. I know Dumbledore tells Harry that he believed Tom did it by virtue of his Parslemouth ability, his charm, good looks, and superior intellect, but I have to wonder. Perhaps I'm too cynical, but during those "lessons" Dumbledore is so cagey in what he reveals I really have trouble taking anything he says at face value.

So here is my thought process, Tom starts Hogwarts in 1938 and he is sorted into Slytherin. The boy's origins at this point are a complete mystery. All that is known is that he was born and raised in a Muggle orphanage. With the great importance placed upon bloodlines and family ties, it is reasonable to assume that the child's parents were not magical. Having children out of wedlock would have been nearly unthinkable to the society stuck in the Victorian age. So as far as Riddle's housemates could see he was a muggle-born or at best a half-blood. Even him being a half-blood I think they would've discounted because again bloodline and family were so important. He could've been the product of a sexual assault but I think in their minds that would've been just as bad since he would've been a bastard. 

What I picture is this muggle-born boy being sorted into the house that values blood purity over everything, he's there on a bursary/scholarship so he's penniless. He would have only second-hand robes and supplies, he would have known little to nothing about the wizarding world and its customs. We already know that Snape was not well treated within his house for being poor, it is possible that the difference was that Tom was attractive whereas Snape was not. I can see that Tom's housemates might have made his time there a living hell. I can even see that he might have felt that but for the ability to do magic he was no better off than at the orphanage.

So what about his Parselmouth abilities, could he have won his housemates over by displaying one of the traits of their founder? Possibly, but then again that might have made his situation worse. I think that the Slytherins would only have seen this jumped-up little "mudblood" having delusions far above his station and made it their mission to put him in his place. 

I just don't buy that the Slytherins would have followed someone that as far as they knew was a "mudblood." Remember, Dumbledore tells Harry that Tom found out about his mother's family in the summer of his sixteenth year. Even if he found out much earlier about his family, I think the Slytherins would not have believed him or him trying to appropriate a status to which he had no right. I'm also not really sure about Tom's inclusion in the Slug Club unless it was for his brilliance alone. As a muggle-born or even a half-blood, Tom wouldn't have had much in the way of future potential to attract Sluggy's attention.

Dumbledore told Harry that he had considerable trouble locating anyone with memories of Tom's school days and those that did were reluctant to talk about it. But why would reluctance matter to a Master Legillimens? For that matter, why could Dumbledore not get the "true" memory off Slughorn? 

In the alternate universe of my headcanon Dumbledore implanted those memories into Slughorn. The reason he couldn't find memories of Tom's time at Hogwarts is that everyone remembered Tom's school career very differently and what they remembered wouldn't fit the narrative Dumbledore wanted. In this alternate universe, Tom is treated as the muggle-born he appears to be and he resents the stuck up pure-bloods and vows revenge. He finds out he's descended from the Slytherin line but he keeps that information to himself. It is only after he leaves Hogwarts and vanishes for those ten years that he becomes Lord Voldemort. Then when he comes back to England no one except Dumbledore suspects that he's Tom Riddle. Voldemort avenges himself on Malfoy, Lestrange, Avery, and the rest by coopting the pure-blood dogma and enslaving their children. All the while taking great pleasure in seeing their sons and daughters groveling at his feet. 

That sounds much more interesting to me than what we got. Tom was descended from rotten stock so that's why he's evil. Something for me to consider writing, maybe after I'm finished with my present fic.

Comments

[sunnyskywalker]

I've been thinking more about this, and I think Tom's popularity could work in stages.

If he was quiet and personable for the first year or two and caught on quickly how to delicately flatter the older and more socially prestigious kids, they'd initially accept him as useful (like Severus, only better looking), albeit maybe with some grumbling or reluctance. By some point in second year, they'd have noticed how unusually talented he was. Some would start muttering about that, but he could honestly tell them that he was an orphan and no one knows for sure who his true parents are. (The orphanage has names, but must not have traced them or they'd have tried to foist the kid off on his relatives, and Mrs. Cole would have complained that they refused to take him or something. So Tom could say that the names the orphanage has are obviously false ones to hide his true parentage.) Everyone reassures themselves with the thought that he's a pureblood bastard who got lost in the Muggle world somehow. He manages a few clever schemes to help his housemates get revenge on rivals, and maybe helps them with their homework or something (only more subtly than Hermione). It isn't quite a gang, let alone his gang, but he's gradually getting kids used to listening to him and depending on him.

Then in fourth year, Tom traces the Gaunts, gets the ring that summer, and starts dropping hints that he's found his family in fifth year (when he finds the Chamber and writes Heir of Slytherin graffiti). His friends accept the Quester's ring as proof that he's from an old family, because who else would pass on such a thing? Now they can laugh at the joke about his lack of background, because they all know the truth, right? (Not the actual families involved, but they probably have their suspicions--encouraged by Tom.) They're sure that once Tom's proven himself for a few years out of school, his family will be more willing to make it an open secret, and Tom's "background" will be settled to everyone's satisfaction. Tom steps up the stealthy revenge plots, helps someone influential pass his NEWTs, and various other helpful maneuvers. But now he's more of a first among equals. They stay up late talking about power and immortality and cool stuff, and Tom sounds like he seriously intends to do the stuff they're talking about, and makes it sound so possible... There might still be a few holdouts who think he "isn't quite our class," but they aren't getting useful homework help and keep suffering from unexplained accidents, so they're listened to less and less. They're obviously jealous losers, right?

Sixth and seventh years, he really steps up his game, and now definitely has that "gang" Dumbledore mentioned, with Tom is now their leader. They still aren't quite sure which families his parents are from, but they're sure to be from the oldest and purest ones. How else would Tom be such a handsome, brilliant, and magically gifted young man with such charisma? And obviously they are too smart to be fooled by some half-blood or Muggle-born upstart, so there's further "proof" that he's pureblood.

And Tom still remembers his first two years, when people weren't shy about denigrating him even as they tried to use him, and how the wizarding world abandoned him to the orphanage when they could have rescued him years earlier, and is determined not just to use them, but to destroy them. And make them thank him for it.

Could that work?

[aikaterini.livejournal.com]

This sounds like a compelling backstory. :) In this version, would Tom open the Chamber of Secrets to prove his merits to his pureblood classmates, to eliminate Muggle-borns because he genuinely felt contempt for them, or both?

Also, Tom's motive of revenge for being used reminds me of a theory I saw on Jodel's Red Hen website where he determined to use everyone before they used him. Unless Tom's grudge lasted for the rest of his life, though, I still don't see how it connects to his desire for immortality. If he's immortal and the most powerful wizard alive, then I don't see why he needs to use or hate anyone, be they pureblood or Muggle-born. He's already achieved immortality and he's already an extremely powerful wizard, so what more power does he want and why does he want it?

[sunnyskywalker]

Or because he liked the rush of getting away with letting out a deadly monster, and stirring up fear and hatred between different segments of wizarding society was a bonus? Muggle-borns might just have been easier targets to start with. Getting accepted by purebloods gave him access to their useful social networks, which would make eventually destroying them easier. He wouldn't need to use them or hate them, but how many people do, really? It's often some kind of warped emotional need rather than strictly practical.

Other possibilities: his position as the most powerful wizard would be more secure if he were the only wizard. Or wizards are just more exciting prey than Muggles (who can't fight back).

And of course his motivations may have changed over time. Maybe he first wanted to prove himself and get revenge--and also be immortal, because why would he accept dying. Then he decided that taking out the few people like Dumbledore who might be effective rivals would remove the last threats to his immortality (and destabilizing wizarding society made it easier to weaken them). And then realized it was just so much fun that he'd do it for that reason alone, and he'd play on whichever societal divisions worked best at the moment.

It's hard to put together a coherent psychology for Voldemort together because his actions are so determined by plot needs, but we can try ;-)