Tom Riddle's Legilimency

[Ceridwen]

No: HPFGUIDX 144874

I haven't been following every discussion.  There are just too many!  
But in the ones I've seen at least, this hasn't been brought up.

In HBP, Spinner's End, pg. 26 U.S., Scholastic, Snape refers to 
Voldemort as the most accomplished Legilimens the world has ever 
seen.  And, I've seen a lot of discussion about why a boy living in 
an orphanage would want or need to develop this skill over 
Occlumency - to see how he should act, to get the benes.

In HBP, The Secret Riddle, same version as above, beginning at the 
bottom of page 269, we see the proof of Tom Riddle's talents.  In 
this scene, Dumbledore has just met young Tom Riddle.  TR is afraid 
that Dumbledore is there to have a look at him at Mrs Cole's 
request.  Dumbledore assures him he's wrong.  Any emphasis is mine 
unless otherwise noted.
~
"I don't believe you,"  said Riddle.  "She wants me looked at, 
doesn't she?  Tell the truth!"

He spoke the last three words with a ringing force that was almost 
shocking.  It was a command, and it sounded as though he had given it 
many times before.  *His eyes had widened and he was glaring at 
Dumbledore*, who made no response except to continue smiling 
pleasantly.  After a few seconds *Riddle stopped glaring*, though he 
looked, if anything, *warier still*.
~
We've already learned that TR is suspected of being a bully.  He 
frightens the other children.  Look at what he's doing with 
Dumbledore.  He's trying to read his thoughts about Mrs Cole's 
intentions.  And, he may be trying to manipulate or control
Dumbledore.  When he gets no response, or an unexpected response 
(Dumbledore doing nothing), he becomes `warier still'.

He can't read Dumbledore and it shakes him.  It feeds into the myth 
of the Godlike Doctor.  This man can see into his mind and can resist 
his own form of `mind-reading' and control.  The sort of person who 
would run an assylum as presented by the information of the 1920s and 
1930s.  TR is furious at Dumbledore.  He accuses.  He loses his self-
control.  He might have gotten a crumb - he mentions specifically not 
harming `little Amy Benson or Dennis Bishop'.  (Ask them, they'll 
tell you.)  Dumbledore tells him Hogwarts is a school of magic.

Bottom of page 270:
~
There was silence.  Riddle had frozen, his face expressionless, but 
his eyes were flickering back and forth between each of Dumbledore's, 
*as though trying to catch one of them lying*.
~

They talk a bit more.  TR is ecstatic, almost transfigured, by 
learning of his powers.  He mentions things he can do - not nice 
things.  He wants Dumbledore to show what he can do.

Page 271:
~
"Prove it,"  said Riddle at once, *in the same commanding tone* he 
had used when he had said, "Tell the truth."
~

TR is shown to have Legilimency, and possibly some sort of mental 
control over people by the time he is eleven years old.  He can't 
read Dumbledore, and he can't control him.  It upsets him.  His 
expression hardens before he becomes compliant.  His face goes blank
a couple or three times after that, when he begins to use the 
word `sir' at Dumbledore's prompting, and when he puts his cache 
away.  He also becomes calculating, relying on what he can outwardly 
read in Dumbledore, rather than the easier method of just plumbing 
the man's mind.  He has to do what Dumbledore says, Dumbledore can 
thwart his natural abilities, and Dumbledore is, to Muggle-raised 
Tom, the most powerful man he's probably ever met.

But, he doesn't like it.  He refuses Dumbledore's company in buying 
his school supplies.

I believe the sections I quoted here show Legilimency and mind 
control being attempted by young Tom Riddle, and I also believe that 
Dumbledore's non-compliance in either is probably the first he's come 
across.  It seems that these are skills which are inborn, at least in 
some wizards, and a boy like Tom Riddle discovered it early enough 
that he hadn't yet been taught that `that's not possible', probably 
by the age of six or seven, the age when children start to question 
Santa Claus and other childhood beliefs.  And, that he consciously 
honed them, despite hearing later on that these things just weren't 
possible in his world.

Tom Riddle was obviously a remarkable boy to have overcome the 
disbelief in his world and nurture his natural talents.  But, is it 
normal for a magical child to have these sorts of gifts, to be 
nurtured, and in TR's environment, with no one able to help or to 
quelch his evil tendencies?  Does this show that TR is remarkable?  
Or is it nothing that the average WW child couldn't do, if Mum and 
Dad weren't watching for it and prepared to guide the child in proper 
use of these, or other, gifts?

Quick aside, I think that Harry getting gut feelings are along the 
same lines, and perhaps Hermione's 'steel trap' mind and Ron's chess 
strategy, too.

Ceridwen.