[HPforGrownups] Question regarding Tom Riddle

[Amanda Geist]

No: HPFGUIDX 46487

Richelle said:

I'm bringing this over from the movie list, where it has recently been
discussed regarding Tom Riddle in the CoS movie.  Now, here's my question.
Is Hagrid's comment about "You Know Who" coming from Slytherin really the
only "proof" that Riddle was in Slytherin?  I seem to have mental references
to other links, but can't think of them.  Have I been fooling myself all
this time based on one little comment from Hagrid?  Who has been known to
say things that weren't quite the truth anyway.  Surely there's other canon
supporting that Tom Riddle was in Slytherin?

Me:
I am following you over, because I'd wanted to throw it to this list, too
(it was originally a question about why Tom Riddle's robes in the Chamber
sequence are not obviously Slytherin). This very subject had come up offlist
a few months ago, and those of us discussing it had been unable to prove a
solid link. Here's what I said on the movie list:

----------------------------
L.O.O.N. on deck. Technically, canon does not provide an iron-clad link that
Tom Riddle was in Slytherin. This is frustrating but true. Hagrid says that
You-Know-Who was from Slytherin (the point being, it is *Voldemort* and
*not* Tom Riddle identified as being Slytherin). Dumbledore later says that
not very many people know that Tom Riddle became Voldemort. Given that
Hagrid is not a 100% reliable source, the tiny breakdown of knowledge (*did*
Hagrid know it was Tom Riddle who became Voldemort?) cannot be bridged
except by a logical guess. It's not canonically certain. Yet. So Riddle
could have defensibly worn any of the House robes without violating canon.
--------------------------

I have since found the page: here's the quote:
[Hagrid:] 'There's not a single witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in
Slytherin. You-Know-Who was one.'
[Harry:] 'Vol--sorry--You Know Who was at Hogwarts?'
'Years an' years ago,' said Hagrid.
pp. 61-62, PS

This, of course, is the passage that establishes Hagrid as an unreliable
source (not to mention giving Sirius-lovers heartburn), since at the time
Hagrid said this, Sirius was clearly considered a wizard who went bad, and
thus either (a) Hagrid's given to a bit of broad generalization for
emphasis, or (b) Sirius wasn't in Gryffindor. The consensus has been (a).
[All the Sirius-lovers were running out of TUMs, we had to do *something.*]

Looking at the quote, one can draw no conclusions at all as to whether
Hagrid realizes that Tom Riddle became Voldemort, or whether he is simply
repeating a "known truth" (a la Snape wants the DADA job). Dumbledore
himself later says that very few people realized Voldemort was Tom Riddle;
we don't know if Hagrid is one of the few. A small, but at the moment
unbridgable, gap.

Does anyone else have any insight on this? Canon to shore it up? Because I'd
say it's 95% likely that either Hagrid knows for sure, or that he just
happens to be correct. But it's not *certain,* and it also has a bit of the
flavor of those sneaky little unquestioned assumptions that JKR loves to
build in until we believe it's the floor, get used to standing on it, stop
thinking about it, relax, and *then* she releases that trap-switch.

~Amanda, who has not seen TCTTMNBN2 yet