Tom Marvolo Riddle Jr. was born in 1927 to a non-magical father, Tom Riddle Sr. and a magical mother. His father abandoned his mother, upon learning that she was a witch. After Mrs. Riddle dies giving birth to Tom Jr., he is raised in an orphanage.

Tom Riddle entered Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in 1938.

He was sorted into Slytherin House. An excellent student, who even Dumbledore described as probably one of the most brilliant minds to have entered Hogwarts, Riddle became prefect and Head Boy during his school years, during which his closest friends already called him Lord Voldemort. Upon leaving Hogwarts, Riddle immersed himself with the Dark Arts and the worst of Dark wizards (or was it the best, most skilled ones?). Riddle became deformed by his exploits.

With his goal of becoming the greatest wizard, Riddle, now Lord Voldemort formed his own group of followers, the Death Eaters, all bearing the Dark Mark, which is characterized by a snake protruding through a skull. Based on a genuine prophecy by Sybil Trelawney, Voldemort’s threat would be the boy named Harry Potter. Neither Voldemort nor Harry may continue living simultaneously---one must die, which would be summed up in the troubled words that formed in Harry's head after learning about the prophecy from Dumbledore: kill or be killed.

At the height of his power, during which several witches and wizards were murdered, including members of the first Order of the Phoenix, a society which fought against Voldemort and his followers, Voldemort set out to kill the young Harry. Having gained information through violent threat, from a man named Peter Pettigrew, a friend (and Secret Keeper) turned traitor of Harry’s parents, James and Lily, Voldemort arrived at Godric’s Hollow. He had succeeded in killing James and Lily, using the Aveda Kadavra curse, but failed with his attempt on the one-year-old Harry. Instead, his spell rebounded. Having lost his power and body, Voldemort fled. This infamous event would lead the wizarding world into mixed conclusions, believing Voldemort to have died, or to be at large, albeit weak and generally believed to be incapacitated from doing any harm. Nevertheless, Voldemort’s downfall would place Harry Potter in the ranks of important wizard history, as the boy who defeated Voldemort in his first downfall, and the only one who could defeat him in the end.

Tom Riddle regained his body and power, with the aid of Peter Pettigrew, during Harry’s fourth year in Hogwarts. With his second rise to power, he summoned and gathered his Death Eaters, while condemning their failure to find and help him in his bodiless weakness, for which he demanded “thirteen years repayment.”

Voldemort strengthened his army with the addition of new allies, including the dementors of Azkaban prison and the giants. The procurement of the dementors’ loyalty, would prove detrimental as it resulted in the mass breakout of Azkaban prisoners, during Harry Potter’s fifth year (1996). Voldemort’s second rise would instigate the formation of the second Order of the Phoenix, a hybrid of old, surviving members and new members, including the cousin of Death Eater Bellatrix Black Lestrange, Sirius Black.

During the battle of the Department of Mysteries at the Ministry of Magic, several Death Eaters were captured (others were killed) by the Order of the Phoenix. Herein, Voldemort fought with Albus Dumbledore, the only wizard he is known to be afraid of. For a brief moment he possessed Harry’s body, forcing to latter to feel a pain so tremendous he entertained the proposition of death. Voldemort escaped, taking with him Bellatrix Lestrange, but having lost a number of his closest followers.