some revalations while re-reading goblet of fire

[catherine at cator-manor.demon.co.uk]

No: HPFGUIDX 22074

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Sylph ~*~" <kabuki_darling at h...> wrote:
> Hello! Well, we have already discussed the Arabella Figg thing, but 
odn't 
> worry.
> 
> You wrote:
> >#2) Death Eaters are all about purity of the blood.  Malfoy is 
always
> >going on about it.
> >goblet of fire - page 560
> >Voldemort : "You stand, Harry Potter, upon the remains of my late
> >father, he hissed softly.  A muggle and a fool, very like your dear
> >mother."
> >Voldemort's a mudblood.
> >something is up there.
> 
> Perhaps he's not a mudblood. For some reason, I think i read it 
somewhere 
> (in the books? in a fanfic?) that Tom Riddle was an orphan. I'm not 
sure 
> whether that means he was an orphan before he got adopted by Mr. 
and Mrs. 
> Riddle, or did it mean he was an orphan after Mr. and Mrs. Riddle 
died. 
> *brow furrows* If he was an orphan before Mr. and Mrs. Riddle, he 
may very 
> well be pure-blooded, just that Muggles found him first and gave 
him to an 
> orphanage. Er, but if he was the true son of Mr. and Mrs. Riddle, 
and became 
> an orphan after they died, then he is indeed a Mudblood. 
wait...didn't all 
> three 'die'? In GoF? I'm confused now.
> However, one possible reason why the Death Eaters go on and on 
about purity 
> of blood is because pure-blooded wizards resent Muggles coming in 
and doing 
> just as well. The majority of dark wizards come out of Slytherin (i 
said 
> MAJORITY), but I've neve rheard the sorting hat utter a word about 
purity of 
> blood to get in there. It's just how ambitious and stuff you are.
> I hope all this actually made sense, because I confused myself 
after a 
> while.
> 
> Sylph

This message really confused me.  As someone has already pointed out, 
Voldemort is half-blood - not pure, not *mudblood*.  His mother was a 
witch and a descendent of Slytherin.  His father was Riddle.  They 
were married, according to Voldemort (as Tom Riddle in CoS), but he 
deserted her before V. was born, and she died giving birth to him.  

Voldemort wasn't adopted by anyone.  The Riddles did not acknowledge 
his existence and he was placed in an orphanage.  The Riddle seniors 
and Voldemort's father were killed by Voldemort when he was a 
teenager.  So Mr and Mrs Riddle were his grandparents, not parents.  
His father returned to live with them when he abandoned Voldemort's 
mother, whose name we do not yet know.

Hope this clears things up for you,
Catherine