Although it is pretty well-known that Voldemort is one of the most evil wizards to have ever lived in the Harry Potter universe. The movie touches on a few abilities that the Dark Lord is capable of, such as Parseltongue and his use of the Unforgivable Curses. However, the books and J.K Rowling’s Pottermore website offer much more insight into the character and his abilities. Among the few briefly shown in the film, there are many more abilities Tom Riddle mastered in his long lifetime - after all, he was incredibly intelligent and driven.
Before becoming Voldemort, the wizard Tom Riddle attended Hogwarts and was well-loved by all his teachers, with the exception of Dumbledore who grew suspicious of the boy, seeing his ravenous hunger for power. Perhaps this is why Dumbledore also believes that Riddle cursed the teaching position of Defense Against the Dark Arts, as he had lobbied enthusiastically not once, but twice for the position. When looking at the character’s life, it becomes pretty clear that he was always going to become the Dark Lord. Voldemort’s inability to feel any sort of love was due to the fact his mother conceived him while putting her husband under a love potion. Along with his discovery of his Muggle father’s abandonment, this drove his hatred of Muggles for his entire life.
Here are 15 Powers You Didn’t Know Voldemort Had.
15. Wizarding Genius
Voldemort is incredibly clever which is an important factor in his success story. Due to his unrelenting drive, Tom Riddle taught himself almost every spell and secret of the Wizarding World; his ability to learn and execute magic was almost unparalleled.
Much like Hermione, Voldemort spent much of his time in the Hogwarts library and put into practice many of the things he learned with unnatural ease.
While he was at school, Riddle achieved top marks in almost every class for his entire school career. In fact, he is the most intelligent student to ever attend Hogwarts, with the only possible exception being Albus Dumbledore. During his time there, Tom was both head boy and a school prefect, a member of the Slughorn Club. He also awarded Special Services to the School for “catching” the person who opened the Chamber of Secrets.
14. Legilimency Master
During his time at school, Voldemort was able to master a number of spells and abilities under the guise of a curious student. At some point, Legilimency was introduced to the young Riddle and he became determined to master it. The ability to master such a spell would mean that he would pretty much be a walking lie detector.
Not only was Voldemort able to see into his victim’s mind, he could also tell if they were lying to him.
This was one of the reasons Voldemort was so feared: he knew what you were going to say before you did. However, this is also what makes Severus Snape and Narcissa Malfoy incredibly good liars. Even though Snape only became a spy because of Lily, he was able to lie straight to Voldemort’s face for years about almost everything. Narcissa Malfoy demonstrated that love really is the most powerful magic, because when she was asked if Harry had passed away, she was able to lie directly to Voldemort.
13. Curse Master
Everyone knows that Voldemort is a master of the Unforgivable Curses; it’s one of the staples of his character. The fact is that Voldemort is a master of almost all curses: the disintegrating curse, barrier curses, blasting-curse, jinxes; you name it, he probably knows it. Riddle, being the very petty person he is, also cursed the Defense Against the Dark Arts teaching position so that no one could hold it for more than a year.
It was his commanding capability of these many curses that caused fear and excitement in so many of his followers. Many of them were capable dark witches and wizards, but Voldemort showed them a new understanding of the Dark Arts. He even cursed his own name, which is why he became known as He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. What made him such a master wasn’t just his intellect, but his sheer enjoyment at using the curses on people.
12. Unsupported Flight
Unlike many wizards and witches, Voldemort could fly completely unsupported. This act alone literally defies the law of wizarding physics, which states that no object can fly without the use of a flying charm. This feat indicates his high level of magic that no other wizard, except Severus Snape, was able to perform.
His ability to fly without a flying charm showed that he had grown far beyond the abilities of most wizards.
Voldemort used this ability to get out of tight spots or pursue targets at extremely fast paces. He pursed Harry over Little Whinging as he was trying to escape with the many copies of himself. His ability to fly with no support could have stemmed from his uncanny ability to apparate with pinpoint position.
11. Charms Master
Along with being a master of almost every form of magic, Voldemort was insanely talented with charms. Once, he created a protective charm so powerful, it was invisible to his own eyes. During the battle of Hogwarts, he was able to summon the Sorting Hat from several floors away to knock Neville back; an example of both his effortless use of charms and his extensive knowledge of the castle.
His ability to perform charms so easily was a huge factor in his hiding and evasion skills, it also allowed him to put numerous protective charms on all of the horcruxes, including inventing one that requires blood be drawn before the entrance appears.
For many witches and wizards, it requires a great deal of concentration to simultaneously cast protective spells on themselves and levitate object out of their way, but Voldemort displays this in almost every battle, making him a formidable adversary.
10. Ability To Control Animals And People
While he was growing up in the orphanage, he would often torment the other orphans by controlling them into doing terrible things, or controlling animals to torment them. In one particular incident, Riddle took two of the orphan from the orphanage to a cave and showed them something that traumatized them into silence.
Dumbledore was told about this, and many other incidents, when he arrived at the orphanage to fetch the young wizard. When meeting him, Dumbledore became alarmed at his abuse and the unusually high control Riddle had over his abilities. He did not realize that Tom would eventually evolve into Voldemort, and that would be facilitated by his time at the school.
After arriving at Hogwarts, Riddle continued his mind control of both animals and his fellow classmates.
9. Exceptional Actor
It might surprise you to think of the young Voldemort as a thespian, but it’s true. The young Tom Riddle was able to win over both his teachers and his future victims with his acting ability. It ties in to the fact that he is a narcissistic megalomaniac who has no desire to socialize with anyone beyond his use of them. When he was younger, Voldemort was recognized as being incredibly handsome, polite, enthusiastic, and eager to learn; the opposite of what comes to mind when you hear his name.
His acting convinced Professor Slughorn that he was only asking hypothetical questions about Horcruxes as an eager student.
After graduating from school, Riddle approached the headmaster, Professor Dippet, in an effort to secure a job as the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher; not to actually teach, but to recruit students and discover all of the school’s ancient, well-guarded secrets.
8. Spell Creation
While it was pretty common in the Middle Ages for witches and wizards to invent spells, it was usually restricted to ones that would help with chores. Voldemort was able to create a number of powerful spells and curses, one of which included the Drink of Despair, which helped to establish him as a great wizard.
He also created the Morsmordre spell, which summoned the Dark Mark in the sky, as well as creating the Dark Mark.
It is also suspected that Voldemort used his talent of spell creation to invent a potion that allowed boundless flight, which he taught to several of his closest followers. Voldemort’s ability to create spells and potions was the reason he was able to protect himself so well, and stemmed from everything he learned at Hogwarts.
7. Transfiguration
Like many students, Tom Riddle learned Transfiguration during his time at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Probably due to a mix of his intellect, genuine eagerness to learn, and the obvious usefulness of it, Tom dove head first into the class. In his later life, Voldemort used his talents in malicious ways.
During Harry and Hermione’s visit to Godric’s Hollow, Voldemort was able to transfigure Nagini into Bathilda Bagshot for an extended period of time. During the battle at the Ministry of Magic, Voldemort used Transfiguration to defend himself by turning Dumbledore’s fire rope into a snake. Another example of his mastery of transfiguration is his ability to conjure items such as a working silver hand for Peter Pettigrew.
6. Wandless Magic
Most Potterheads know how big of a deal wandless magic is - even McGonagall and Dumbledore both require wands to perform most of their magic. Voldemort, however, was very proficient in both wandless and non-verbal magic, even able to perform the Unforgivable Curses without so much as muttering a whisper.
A quick snap of his fingers and you could drop, something his followers always kept in the back of their minds.
During battles, Voldemort was able to use landless and non-verbal magic to his advantage. Most notably, Voldemort conjured a snake during his battle against Dumbledore at the Battle of the Ministry, which visibly startled Dumbledore, as he had conjured an advanced spell both without a wand and without speaking.
5. Possession Expert
One of the only reasons Voldemort was able to survive all those years was because of his possession skills. After his Curse had rebounded and stripped him of his physical body, Voldemort fled and was unable to use most of his magical powers. It was only through possessing creatures and a few humans that he was able to survive and return to Hogwarts.
Immediately after his defeat, Voldemort began making his way to Albania through the possession of various snakes and other animals. This was where he first found Nagini deep in the Albanian forest. He was able to possess her and she nurtured him back to reasonable health, at the same time as poor Professor Quirell made his way into this forest. The professor was ultimately possessed by the Dark Lord, and unfortunately, assisted his subtle re-entry into Britain.
4. Fire Spell Master
Fire spells were one of the Dark Lord’s favorites, and were usually seen to be most powerful when he flew into a fit of rage. During the Ministry battle with Dumbledore, Voldemort easily conjured the enormous snake of Fiendfyre, without uttering a word or using his wand.
When Neville defied Voldemort, he burned the poor wizard with a mere flick of his hand.
Fire is one of the most destructive things known to man, making it fitting that Voldemort would master it. Harry even got a monumental firestorm sent down upon him when Voldemort discovered he had survived the attack in the Forbidden Forest. Riddle’s use of fire spells has opened much discussion over whether it highlights how unstable the Dark Lord really is.
3. Created the Inferi
If you only watched the movies, you probably wondered what those little things trying to pull Harry and Dumbledore under the water in the cave from Half-Blood Prince are. They’re called the Inferi and they are all the souls of Voldemort’s victims. It wasn’t enough to create the Drink of Despair to protect his horcruxes, the Dark Lord also created a curse that enslaved his victims.
Voldemort is the only wizard known to have been able to do this, although the second most evil wizard, Gellert Grindelwald, did attempt it. It’s unknown just how many people the Inferi of the cave have dragged away, but one person has been confirmed: Regulas Black. Black defied the Dark Lord and stole the locket, replacing it with a fake, which led to him being dragged to his watery grave.
2. Master Duelist
Voldemort was incredibly proficient at dueling. He was able to simultaneously take on McGonagall, Shacklebolt, and Slughorn with alarming ease. One of the reasons he was able to rise to power so quickly is because he was of almost unparalleled skill; every wizard who stood against him ended up severely hurt.
Voldemort was able to overpower very capable wizards, such as Alastor Moody whom he dispatched.
Voldemort’s style was both quick and unpredictable. Due to his excellence at spells, he was able to switch his fighting style at almost any given moment with extreme ease and no warning. Harry had an incredibly difficult time fighting the Dark Lord, and was mainly able to defeat him because they shared a wand core - Harry was the rightful owner of the Elder Wand.
1. Only Wizard To Achieve Immortality
Although many have tried, Tom Riddle is the only wizard to achieve complete rebirth. During his lifetime, Tom Riddle split his soul so many times that, when he was finally beaten, there was barely any humanity left. He was just a cursed soul trying to survive, which ultimately led to the scar on Harry’s head.
Voldemort viewed mortality as a weakness that only the mediocre and Muggles suffered. He believed in this so strongly that, for years, he refused to believe his mother was a witch solely because she had passed away.
Due to his obsessive fear of passing away, Voldemort was able to put into action a number of contingency plans should he be stripped of his physical self. After interacting with Peter Pettigrew though the ritual, Voldemort was reborn as his physical self, becoming the first and only to do so.
What do you think Voldemort’s strongest power is in Harry Potter? Let us know in the comments!
