[HPforGrownups] Voldemort a Gryffindor?

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 40222

Talia Dawn said

> I suppose people assume that the Dark Lord was in Slytherin because of
what
> Ron said.  I don't have my book with me, so this this isn't an exact
quote.
> Ron says something to the effect of "There wasn't a witch or wizard who
went
> bad that wasn't in Slytherin."

**LOON appears in a crack of thunder and maple-scented smoke, and pronounces
doom upon Talia Dawn**

You have a bad case of Movie Poisoning!

**Points wand (made of purpleheart and ki-rin hair, by the way) at Talia
Dawn, intones "Verbatim Clarificatum!" Talia Dawn is seized with an
uncontrollable urge to re-read all four books and to write "I will check my
references" 25,825 times**

In the book, it was not Ron who said this. It was Hagrid. Tsk, tsk.

As for the main question, I went flipping through CoS. When Riddle confronts
Hagrid in the memory scene from the diary, they call each other by their
first names, which may or may not Mean Something. And towards the end, when
Harry is speaking with Dumbledore in Dumbledore's office, we have

"It only put me in Gryffindor," said Harry in a defeated voice, "because I
asked not to go in Slytherin..."
"Exactly," said Dumbledore, beaming once more. "Which makes you *very
different* from Tom Riddle."

Which I read to mean that Tom Riddle would never have *not* wanted to be in
Slytherin. But this is interpretation, and open for discussion.

Has anyone ever asked JKR this, in an interview? It's probably of the
"obviously" class of things, but you never know....

--Amanda, Primageist, Old LOON, Wielder of the Purple Wand