Do you think there is more to Voldie's story?

[delwynmarch]

No: HPFGUIDX 97700

Ms Mo Me wrote:
> I have often wondered, WHY and HOW did Voldemort get
> so bad?
> 
> We know he had rough beginning.  People have also
> speculated about the lack of love in his life.  But,
> do you think that it is that ALONE that made him get
> so evil?

Del replies :
Nope. I think the lack of love and the rough circumstances made him 
hard, resentful and ambitious. And I think it's his *power* that 
corrupted him in the end. Because he was so powerful, he could do 
almost anything he wanted to satisfy his resentment and ambition. 
And the more he did bad things, the more he eroded his conscience, 
his sense of right and wrong. That's how he slowly turned completely 
evil. If someone had been strong enough to break him, to force him 
to stop and think, maybe he could have seen the error of his ways. 
But apparently this never happened. Or it was already too late when 
it did. Maybe DD did break him, but because he didn't dare doing it 
as soon as he saw the need to (when Tom was 11 ?), he did it too 
late, when Tom's conscience had already been eroded too much.

Mo wrote :
> I just wonder where the turning point happened for LV.

Del answers :
I would rather say that the turning point did *not* happen for LV. 
Being unloved put him straight on a tough road, right from birth, 
because of his strong, proud, ambitious personality. If he had 
received enough love early enough, he might have changed. If he had 
found someone stronger than himself, he might have been forced to 
think. But those things didn't happen, and Tom didn't deviate from 
his road, and that road led him straight to being LV.

I know it contradicts what JKR said about nodody being born evil, 
but I can't see how she reconciles that with the fact that Tom was 
obviously so deeply evil and corrupted by the age of 15. 15 is 
simply too young an age to have *chosen* to be so evil and corrupted.

Del