20 Facts Every Harry Potter Super-Nerd Should Know

13. Voldemort Can€™t Feel Love Because Of His Conception

In Half-Blood Prince, it was revealed that Voldemort€™s mother, the abused and miserable Merope Gaunt, seduced his father €“ a rich, handsome Muggle who wouldn€™t give her the time of day €“ by bewitching him through a love potion. Though it sounds romantic on paper, it€™s more like the equivalent of magical roofies (hey, this is Voldemort€™s mom we€™re talking about). After she became pregnant with Voldemort, she took the bewitchment off in hopes that he would stay for the sake of their child, at which point he €“ wisely €“ turned tail and fled. J.K. Rowling has since noted that it was very significant that Tom Riddle was conceived under the effects of magic and coercion, rather than through an act of genuine love: because of this, Tom Riddle €“ who became Lord Voldemort €“ was incapable of feeling love later on in his life. The symbolic significance of this has also been pointed out by Rowling €“ that, in being conceived from a loveless union, and brought up with neither parent, Voldemort came into the world in a very €œprejudicial€ manner, also perhaps foreshadowing the immorality and hatred that pervaded his later life.
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Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.