| “ | Merope Riddle chose death in spite of a son who needed her, but do not judge her too harshly, Harry. She was greatly weakened by long suffering and she never had your mother's courage. | „ |
| ~ Albus Dumbledore about Merope. |
Merope Riddle (nee Gaunt) is a minor character in the Harry Potter series. She was the mother of Tom Marvolo Riddle, who later became Lord Voldemort, the most evil wizard who has ever lived. Merope was also a direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin, one of the last surviving members of the Gaunt Family and according to The Cursed Child canon, the paternal grandmother of Delphini.
She died many years before the events of Harry Potter's life and is generally viewed as both a sympathetic and tragic character. Despite this, Merope is still an antagonist, one that left a huge impact upon Britain's magical community. Were it not for her, Lord Voldemort may never have been born. If so, then the Wizarding Wars and the innumerable tragedies associated with them, might never have happened.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
Merope Gaunt was born to Marvolo Gaunt and his unnamed wife at some point in 1907. She was the youngest of their two children and had an older brother called Morfin. By the 1920's Merope's mother (who was Marvolo's cousin) had disappeared. It is not known whether she had died or left the family, but the former seems more likely. Like the rest of the Gaunts, Merope was a Parselmouth, which meant that she could talk to snakes.
The Gaunt Family were very impoverished, living in a small shack on the outskirts of Little Hangleton, a muggle village. The only things of value within their household were Cadmus Peverell's ring, which unbeknownst to the family held the Resurrection Stone, and Salazar Slytherin's personal locket. Marvolo was noted to value both of these items more than his daughter.
It is not known whether Merope and her brother ever attended Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, but this seems very unlikely. Although she had acquired a wand by her adult years Merope could not perform magic very well. This led to her being both physically and emotionally abused by her family. Marvolo even went so far as to wonder whether or not she was a Squib (the name given to the non-magical offspring of wizards and witches). In reality however, Merope was actually a very talented witch. She just couldn't perform magic properly due to the trauma she suffered at home. As such, Merope felt unloved and craved affection.
At some point, Merope Gaunt became infatuated with a local muggle boy named Tom Riddle. Tom was the heir and only son of Mr. and Mrs. Riddle, wealthy land owners who lived in a large manor house within riding distance of the Gaunt's hovel. Naturally, Merope did her best to keep her feelings hidden, because her father and brother were both Pure-Blood extremists, with a deep hatred for muggles. Unfortunately, in the 1920's, her secret was discovered, which would change her life forever.
Bob Ogden's Visit[]
On an unspecified date in the summer of 1925, Morfin caught Merope staring at Tom Riddle through the hedge in their garden. In response he cast a spell upon Tom causing him to break out in painful hives. This illegal use of magic resulted in the Ministry of Magic pressing charges against Morfin.
Bob Ogden, a representative from the Department of Magical Law Enforcement came to the Gaunt shack in order to present Morfin with a summons. Whilst Marvolo kept Morfin in check, Merope kept to herself, focusing on the washing up and did not utter a word throughout the meeting. Nevertheless, Ogden spoke kindly to her, going so far as to help her mend a broken frying pan and chastising Marvolo for the way he treated her.
As Ogden prepared to leave however, the four magic users heard a commotion outside. The now completely healed Tom Riddle was riding by, in the company of his girlfriend Cecilia. Recognizing a golden opportunity to cause more trouble, Morfin (speaking in Parseltongue) deliberately told his father about Merope's infatuation with the Riddle, in spite of his sister's silent protest. Shocked and outraged to learn that his daughter was in love with a muggle, Marvolo Gaunt seized Merope by the throat and started to strangle her.
Horrified, Bob Ogden used magic to knock Marvolo away from his daughter, prompting Morfin to attack the Ministry representative once again, but Ogden escaped. Realizing that Merope could be in mortal danger, the shocked and horrified Ogden apparated straight back to the Ministry, before returning to the shack with reinforcements within fifteen minutes. Marvolo and Morfin both put up a fight, but were ultimately overpowered and arrested. This stint, coupled with Morfin's previous attacks on Muggles, earnt the father and son six months and three years in Azkaban respectively.
Since she had done nothing wrong, Ogden and the other Ministry officials left Merope be. Satisfied that she was now safe, they left her to her own devices. Unfortunately, this act of kindness would not only have fatal consequences for Merope, but come back to haunt the wizarding world.
Marriage[]
With her father and brother gone, Merope Gaunt was free for the first time in her life. In the absence of her abusive family, she discovered a previously unknown talent and found that she could use magic a lot more easily. Having had enough of her cruel lot in life, Merope, who knew she only had a limited amount of time before her father returned, formulated a plan to escape from the cruel household forever. Whilst she could have simply run away and started afresh elsewhere, Merope ultimately refused to renounce her feelings for Tom Riddle. On the contrary, Merope decided that after everything she had been through, she deserved to be happy and felt entitled to his affections. Thus, as part of her scheme, Merope decided to make him hers once and for all.
What exactly happened in the late half of 1925 is not known, but shortly after her father and brothers arrest, Tom Riddle became absolutely smitten with Merope. Ultimately, he left his girlfriend Cecilia, married the young Gaunt woman and eloped with her. The marriage was met with huge disapproval and caused a local scandal, but Merope did not care. Having gotten the man of her dreams, she drafted a final note of farewell to her father and brother. She then left the Gaunt Shack and Little Hangleton never to return, taking Salazar Slytherin's locket with her. She and her new husband moved to London, where they remained together for at least three months.
Many years later, Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore studied these events and deduced that Merope had enchanted Riddle somehow. In order to keep him bound to her, they speculated that she either used the Imperius Curse or, more likely, tricked him into drinking a love potion. Whatever method she used, Merope was careful to keep her husband under the influence of the spell/potion throughout their marriage. Then in March 1926, Merope discovered that she was pregnant with Tom's child, a revelation that no doubt delighted her.
Those few months were undoubtedly the happiest of Merope's life, but unfortunately the joy would not last. Unlike her kinsman, Merope Riddle had a conscience and a strong desire to be loved sincerely. Whilst the potion/spell had given her what she always wanted, i.e. a loving family of her own, Merope loved her husband very much and wanted him to love her of his own free will. As such, not long after learning about her pregnancy, Merope decided to lift the enchantment. She hoped that once free, Tom would return her affection and be delighted to learn that he was an expecting father. In the event that did not happen, Merope assumed that Tom would do the honorable thing and stay for the sake of his child.
This hope however, turned out to be misplaced and forlorn. What exactly happened is not known, but after coming to his senses, Tom Riddle reacted very badly to his situation. It is not known what words were exchanged between husband and wife, but evidently, Merope either told Tom the full story or enough for him to figure out what had happened. Far from being loving or understanding, Tom was justifiably furious at Merope for intervening in and (from his perspective) ruining his life. Merope's world was shattered when Tom Riddle made very clear that:
- He did not love her and never had done.
- Their "marriage" was over.
- He wanted nothing to do with Merope or his unborn child.
Thus, within a few months of his runaway marriage, Tom Riddle abandoned his wife, leaving Merope to her fate. He ultimately returned to Little Hangleton and his parents. Since Tom had no way to prove that Merope was a witch and would be thought insane if he told anybody the truth, Riddle told his family a modified version of the truth. He told them that he had been "hoodwinked" and "taken in". When word of this later reached the village, the residents of Little Hangleton concluded that Merope had lied to Tom about being pregnant with his child, thus tricking him into marrying her.
The only other person that knew the truth was Morfin Gaunt, who heard about what happened following his release from Azkaban. Gaunt was unsympathetic to his sister's plight and considered Riddle's abandonment justice for Merope's actions against their family and the "theft" of Slytherin's prized locket. Back at the Riddle residence however, the oblivious Thomas and Mary Riddle forgave their son and welcomed him back home. Returning to his old life, Tom Riddle would never see his wife again or learn about the fate of his child, at least until their fateful encounter seventeen years later, in 1943.
Childbirth and Death[]
| “ | I hope he looks like his papa. | „ |
| ~ Merope's last words before dying after giving birth to her son. |
Following Tom's abandonment, Merope Riddle was left alone, heartbroken and destitute. Unemployed, impoverished and barely able to take care of herself, she remained in London, knowing full well that she could never return to Little Hangleton again lest she face Riddle, his parents, the villagers and more importantly her own family. The loss of her husband and his unrequited love, had a profound effect upon Merope magical abilities, as she either became unwilling or unable to use magic again.
It is not known what Merope did or where she stayed throughout this period, but ultimately Merope managed to see her pregnancy through. To survive, Merope sold off what little valuables she had left in order to keep both herself and her unborn child alive. This eventually included Salazar Slytherin's locket, which she sold to Caractacus Burke in Knockturn Alley. Despite her situation, Burke deliberately swindled the young woman, giving Merope (who did not know or care about the lockets true value) the measly sum of ten galleons, despite knowing full well that the locket was priceless.
On 31 December 1926, tired and disheveled Merope Riddle staggered onto the steps of Wool's muggle orphanage. Within an hour, she had given birth to a healthy baby boy. She told one of the attending staff members, Mrs. Cole, that she wanted her son to be named Tom Marvolo Riddle. Tom for his father, Marvolo for her father and Riddle for herself. According to what Mrs. Cole later told Albus Dumbledore in 1937, Merope's last words were that she hoped her son would grow up to look like his father. Merope Riddle then died, less than an hour after giving birth, bringing about an end to her short, tragic life. It is not known what happened to her body.
Legacy[]
Following his mother's death, Tom Riddle Jr., would be raised in the orphanage. He was never adopted and later developed a reputation as a bully. Despite growing up in a Muggle environment, he was eventually discovered and allowed to join Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There he learnt the skills that would eventually allow him to become Lord Voldemort, the most powerful and evil dark wizard of all time.
Despite Merope's absence, she never the less passed several skills onto her son. This included a talent for magic and the ability to speak Parseltongue. Most importantly, since Voldemort had been conceived through a love potion rather than genuine affection, he was born without the ability to feel love himself. This inability to understand compassion or care for another human being was one reason that Riddle was so willing to commit mass murder in his later life.
Even before finding out that he was a wizard, Tom had a very low opinion of his mother and may have even despised her. Upon discovering his connection to the magical community, Riddle immediately concluded that she must have been Muggle since she succumbed to death, the thing that Riddle feared above all other things and therefore, could not have been a witch.
It is not known if this opinion was altered once he learnt of his connection through her to Salazar Slytherin and the Gaunt family. In 1943, he went to Little Hangleton himself in order to find some answers. There, during an encounter with his maternal uncle Morfin, Voldemort was able to confirm that his mother was indeed a witch and that it was actually his father who was the Muggle parent. Upon hearing that the older Riddle was both alive and present in the village, Voldemort concluded and would spend the rest of his life believing that Tom Riddle Sr. had married Merope willingly, only to abandon her after discovering that his wife was a witch. He never found out that this assumption was only half accurate and that Merope was in fact the guilty one.
Ultimately, on that same day, Voldemort would avenge Merope's abandonment by Tom Riddle Sr., as well as her previous mistreatment at the hands of Morfin. After stunning his uncle, the rising Dark Lord went to the Riddle House, where he murdered all of his paternal relatives in cold blood. He then used a false memory charm to frame Morfin for the crime, causing him to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban. These were the first of many murders that Voldemort would go on to commit throughout his life, a fate that could have been avoided if Merope had been there for her son.
Trivia[]
- Merope is the name of a daughter of Atlas in Greek Mythology. It is also the name of the mother of Oedipus in Oedipus Rex. Both Voldemort and Oedipus killed their fathers.
- The flashback scene featuring Merope and her family was cut from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince because of time and pacing concerns. In the finished film, Merope was indirectly mentioned by Dumbledore as the owner of Salazar Slytherin's ring. However, it was originally present in an early draft of the film's screenplay according to director David Yates. It's unknown if there were any considered actresses to play Merope by that point.
- Though too speculative, Merope had easier time in bewitching Tom Riddle Snr. thanks to arrangements done by Bob Ogden in improving her life qualities, more so considering the latter's disgust toward her father and brother for their abuse.
