How Riddle Knew He Was A Descendant of Slytherin (WAS: Heir defined)

[Phyllis]

No: HPFGUIDX 58824

melskidz wrote:

> As I recall Dumbledore himself tells Harry that Tom Riddle is the
> last descendant of Salazar Slytherin.  Unfortunately I don't have 
> COS handy to get the exact quote. 

Now me:

Here's the exact quote:  "'You can speak Parseltongue, Harry,' said 
Dumbledore calmly, 'because Lord Voldemort - who is the last 
remaining descendant of Salazar Slytherin - can speak Parseltongue'" 
(CoS, Ch. 18).

As to the question of how Tom Riddle Jr. found out that he was a 
descendant of Slytherin - since my idea that his mother might have 
left him an interactive diary doesn't seem to be catching on, how 
about this idea:  Riddle knows that his mother named him "Marvolo" 
after his grandfather (CoS, Ch. 13).  While we don't know for sure, 
chances are good that it's his mother's father, since his mother gave 
him that middle name.  Assuming it is his mother's father's name, 
this would have given Riddle a clue to his heritage that he could 
have researched and worked his way back to Slytherin.  

Of course, this raises another question - how did Riddle know that he 
was named Marvolo after his grandfather?  I don't think his father 
told him, since his father abandoned his mother when he found out she 
was a witch (before Riddle Jr. was born), which leaves me with the 
impression that he never had any contact with his son.  And Riddle's 
mother died giving birth to him, so she couldn't have told him.  And 
presumably there were no other family members alive on his mother's 
side, or else Riddle Jr. would have presumably been sent to live with 
them rather than being sent to an orphanage.

So I'm back to my original idea that his mother found some way to 
communicate this to him - either through an interactive diary, or 
perhaps a letter she wrote to him before he was born. And if the 
letter/diary told Riddle that he was named Marvolo after his 
grandfather, it could have just as easily told him that he was a 
descendant of Slytherin.

~Phyllis