Why did Voldemort go bad?

[justcorbly]

No: HPFGUIDX 184130

--- "lesley" <hutchingslesley at ...> wrote:
>
> LV seemed to be evil from an early age...
>
> Why was he bad?

I can't answer that.  But, the parallels between Voldemort and Harry are so apparent that JKR must have intentionally led us in that direction.

Decisions and actions have consequences, though, and Tom Riddle made decisions and took actions that led him in one direction, while Harry went another direction.  Even at the end, JKR has Harry give Voldemort a chance to show remorse, knowing that if he did his future would be altered.  Voldemort chooses another path.

I also believe that we might have a different impression of Harry's childhood with his aunt and uncle if the first two books had been written at greater length and with an older target readership, as were the later books.  While it is made clear that Harry's childhood was painful,  the portrayal of the Dursleys is more comical than realistic. In reality, they'd likely have been brought up on abuse charges.

justcorbly