Tom Marvolo Riddle

Families

Parents

• Family: Unknown
  • Birth Father: Tom Riddle
  • Birth Mother: Merope Gaunt

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Analysis

• Born to Merope Gaunt.¹
• Started Hogwarts: 1938-09-01²
• Finished Hogwarts: 1945-06-??³
• Worked at Borgin and Burkes.⁴
• Murder of Hepzibah Smith.⁵
• 10 years later interviews with Dumbledore.⁶
• Nott, Rosier, Mulciber, Dolohov are already Death Eaters.⁷
• 1962 - Riddle is not yet sufficiently in power to prevent Nobby Leach’s election.⁸
• 1970 - Riddle is sufficiently active that the start of the war is dated from here.⁹

Problems

• the timeline above has a hole in it. 25 years separates our two fixed dates of finishing Hogwarts and the start of the war.
  • How long was Riddle at Borgin and Burke’s? I cannot imagine it was more than a 2-3 years on the outside.
  • How long between the interview for the Defence job and the start of the war? Even if we are generous with his time at the shop, we have at least ten years after the interview to account for.
• When does Lucius Malfoy take the mark? Before or after his graduation? Before or after his father dies? As the first Malfoy to do so, or the second? Note that his graduation would be after the start of the war.¹⁰

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1. Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince p. 178. Pottermore Publishing. American Kindle Edition.↩︎

2. See my History Notes.↩︎

3. See my History Notes.↩︎

4. Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince p. 358. Pottermore Publishing. American Kindle Edition.↩︎

5. Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince p. 360. Pottermore Publishing. American Kindle Edition.↩︎

6. Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince p. 366. Pottermore Publishing. American Kindle Edition.↩︎

7. Mrs. J. K. Rowling. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince p. 370. Pottermore Publishing. American Kindle Edition.↩︎

8. See my History Notes.↩︎

9. See my History Notes.↩︎

10. See my History Notes.↩︎