Tommy Riddle's birth (was Re: No Sex, Please, We're British)

[quigonginger]

No: HPFGUIDX 83858

> Geoff wrote:
> > How did he manage to trace his father in a time when information 
> > about 
> > > true parents was usually held secret? 
> > 
> 
> Ginger:
> > Um, perhaps by his name?  And the story that went with it?
> > Not meaning to be saucy, but that did hit me right away ;)
> > 
> 
> Geoff again:
> I don't know whether you're in the UK or not, but certainly in the 
> case of adoptions and possibly orphanage situations (look at Oliver 
> Twist for example), the details of parents are withheld. 

Ginger:  Sorry.  I was using US orphanages as my resource.  A good 
friend of mine was raised in one.  So in the UK at that time, names 
were changed?  That really makes me wonder why he went *back* to Tom 
Marvolo Riddle if he had spent his early years as, say Bob Jones.   
You'd think he would have wanted nothing to do with Tom Riddle, 
unless he found out about the abandonment later, after he had 
switched back to his "true, wizarding name", which turned out to be 
Muggle after all.  

Still, I'd think that he'd have been used to Bob.  In real life, I 
have two names, a given one, and a nickname I was given in my late 
20's that stuck.  (neither is Ginger, BTW).  I know how confusing it 
is to be called by two different names by different people. 

Geoff:  
Going back on one or two of the coat hooks which I hung 
> up and which have been used, someone raised the point about what 
> happened to Tom Riddle after his birth. Did he stay in the 
orphanage 
> (I implied this in my post without realising it at the time) or was 
> he sent out to a family?
> 
> Further question - is there any significance that he seems to lay 
the 
> blame completely on his father?
> 
Ginger:  I would have thought that he would have stayed there due to 
his conversation with Dippet, but, as Pippen pointed out (thanks for 
the educating, Pippen) small children were fostered out and then 
returned.  

As to his laying blame on his father, if he knows what we know, and 
nothing more, I'd say that's exactly where the blame lies!  
Significance?  That hatred led him to become an Evil Overlord.  He 
couldn't very well blame his mother for dying, and I don't think her 
people even knew he existed.  I would have to wonder if he tried to 
contact them and how that went if they were still alive.  

I do hope we get more of his backstory.  And thanks, Geoff, for 
filling me in on the UK orphanage stuff.  I learn so much here!

Best wishes to all, Ginger