harry potter - Why did Tom Riddle change his name to Voldemort?

Why did Tom Riddle change his name to Voldemort? What was the point of Lord Voldemort, specifically, not Lord Tom or, Lord Riddle? Tom Riddle was his officially documented name, after all...

Answer

Voldemort despised his Muggle father, who was also named Tom Riddle for 1) being a Muggle, something Tom Riddle Sr. couldn't help, and 2) for leaving his mother Merope Gaunt while she was still pregnant with Tom Riddle. I interpret canon to mean Tom Riddle took on the moniker "Voldemort" mainly to distance himself from the name Tom Riddle and his Muggle side of the family. He also wanted a name that wizards and witches the world around would fear to hear or speak. "I am Lord Voldemort" from Chamber of Secrets is an anagram for Tom Marvolo Riddle.

‘You think I was going to use my filthy Muggle father’s name for ever? I, in whose veins runs the blood of Salazar Slytherin himself, through my mother’s side? I, keep the name of a foul, common Muggle, who abandoned me even before I was born, just because he found out his wife was a witch? No, Harry. I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak, when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world!’
_{Chamber of Secrets - page 231 - UK Hardcover - chapter 17, The Heir of Slytherin}

I researched it and apparently "Voldemort" means "flight of death" in French (Vol de mort). I confirmed this with Gilles, who is French, and he said it can also mean "theft of death." Either are appropriate when one reviews Voldemort's primary objective to avoid death, to essentially steal his own death away from the inevitability of mortality by creating Horcruxes. This is just my personal observation -- J.K. Rowling's university degree is in French, and she taught French for at least two years. I'm not sure how she didn't know that Voldemort means flight of death. I'm certainly not suggesting she's lying; it's just interesting.

Comments

Did the gatekeeper and the keymaster get intimate in Ghostbusters?

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story identification - Animation: floating island, flying pests

At least 20 years ago I watched a short animated film which stuck in my mind. The whole thing was wordless, possibly European, and I'm pretty sure I didn't imagine it... It featured a flying island which was inhabited by some creatures who (in my memory) reminded me of the Moomins. The island was frequently bothered by large winged animals who swooped around, although I don't think they did any actual damage. At the end one of the moomin creatures suddenly gets a weird feeling, feels forced to climb to the top of the island and then plunges down a shaft right through the centre - only to emerge at the bottom as one of the flyers. Answer Skywhales from 1983. The story begins with a man warning the tribe of approaching skywhales. The drummers then warn everybody of the hunt as everyone get prepared to set "sail". Except one man is found in his home sleeping as the noise wake him up. He then gets ready and is about to take his weapon as he hesitates then decides ...

warhammer40k - What evidence supposedly supports Tau as related to the Necrontyr?

I've heard of rumours saying that the Tau from Warhammer 40K are in fact the Necrontyr. Is there anything that supports this statement, in WH40K canon? I just found this, on 1d4 chan 1 : Helping Necrons? Or are they Necrontyr descendants? An often overlooked issue is that Tau have no warp signatures, just like Necrons, hate Warpspawns and Warp in general, just like Necrons, have the exact same skull shape,stature and short lives, and the overwhelming need for Technology and beam weapons, JUST LIKE NECRONS. GW may have planned a race that simply prepares a pacified, multiracial galaxy for Necrons to feast upon, supported by Ethereals that have a C'tan phase blade. Then there is a reference of "dark seed in east" by the Deceiver, so the tricky C'tan might give Tzeentch the finger in the JUST AS PLANNED competition. Or maybe GW just has so little creativity that they simply made a new civ conforming to an Old One's standards without knowing it. Is this the connec...

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