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Hey brother!
Okay, you guys, let's talk a little bit about Tom Riddle
AKA the Dark Lord, AKA Lord Voldemort.
The character and the person are pretty much just evil
all the way through,
and pretty much have been since the beginning.
And at times, I felt like this made him
slightly less compelling,
because when you have a character who's just evil
for the sake of being evil, it's less relatable.
Voldemort, or I guess at this age,
Tom Riddle's upbringing wasn't very typical,
but we know even from a very young age
without any example set for him,
he was already using things like pain, fear, manipulation
and bullying to get his way.
And while I never got the idea
that Wool's Orphanage was the happiest place,
I also don't think it was the driving force
for why he turned out the way he did.
But it did get me wondering,
is it possible Voldemort was just a loving childhood away
from being the next most talented wizard,
the next Dumbledore instead of the next Grindelwald?
Say, for example, what if Voldemort had been raised
by Molly Weasley or someone like that?
Would he have still turned out evil?
I'm genuinely asking,
what is the nature verse nurture balance
that needs to be met here?
Or is there any balance
that could have ever been struck at all?
Or is it all down to nature when it comes to Voldemort?
Could he have been nicer or was he destined to be evil
because he was simply born that way?
Well, from love potions to blood purity, today we find out.
(suspenseful music)
- [Carlin Brothers] Hey brother!
- Okay, so before we begin, just from the onset,
I just wanna say that I, in real life here,
don't actually think anyone is just born evil.
And like I said before,
I think the fact that Voldemort is just pure evil
is kind of what makes him a little less compelling overall.
I don't immediately understand this seemingly innate drive
of Voldemort to seize power and spread darkness,
nor do I think I even have a clear idea
what the wizarding world would look like in general
with Voldemort as king?
Either way, this book isn't real life.
There's things like magic in play,
plus some other unique circumstances
we definitely need to consider that make it very possible
that Voldemort is simply the living breathing embodiment
of evil itself,
which, if true, means there is literally nothing
anyone ever could have done to have changed it.
He was just destined to be that way.
In fact, I think it's quite possible the entire premise
of the "Fantastic Beasts" movie franchise
was to help better illustrate
just how dangerous Voldemort really was
and why he was the way he was, but more on that in a bit.
For Voldemort, it all comes down to two major points
about the events leading up to his conception and birth.
First is the complete and utter lack of love involved
in his creation as a child.
This is important because in the wizarding world,
love is the most powerful kind of magic.
It's Harry's secret weapon against Voldemort.
Dumbledore explains,
with some general resentment from Harry,
that the power he possesses that makes him so very capable
of destroying Voldemort is his ability to love,
which, to Harry, is almost laughable.
It comes so naturally to him
that he doesn't even consider the possibility
that it could be powerful.
"'I know', said Harry impatiently. 'I can love'.
"It was only with difficulty that he stopped himself adding,
"'Big deal.'"
And while this does make Harry
uniquely capable of fending off Voldemort,
it also seems like it's the source
of Voldemort's power as well.
His lack of compassion or love at all
allows for a willingness to do anything,
anything to seize power.
And that could be dark magic or murder
or even severing someone's soul into seven pieces.
Harry himself even points out this distinction
in their final battle.
""You think you know more magic than I do?
"'Than I Lord Voldemort, who has performed magic
"'that Dumbledore himself never dreamed of?'
"'Oh, he dreamt of it', said Harry,
"'But he knew more than you,
"'knew enough not to do what you've done.'"
And of course, what Dumbledore understood was this.
"'I do not think he understands why, Harry,
"'but then, he was in such a hurry to mutilate his own soul,
"'he never paused to understand the incomparable power
"'of a soul that is untarnished and whole.'"
The point that Harry and Dumbledore are making here
is that someone capable of love, even at all,
would never have even been able to consider
making a horcrux, let alone seven.
But so why is Voldemort so lacking?
Why is he literally incapable of love?
Well, it all goes back to his mother, Merope.
As we all know,
Voldemort's mother harbored a forbidden crush
on the handsome Muggle, Tom Riddle,
who used to ride by the Gaunt shack.
He, of course, has zero affection towards her
or the Gaunts at all, and yet, Merope manages to seduce him
by means of a love potion and the two end up married,
very much against Tom's will.
And while I'm sure it's not hard to see
that this is a pretty evil act,
the use of a love potion doesn't always scream dark magic.
As formidable as it is,
it also doesn't seem like the kind of drink
you'd see on the shelves at Borgin and Burkes.
However, even Slughorn points out
just how dangerous it can be.
"'Amortentia doesn't really create love, of course.
"'It is impossible to manufacture or imitate love.
"'No, this will simply cause a powerful infatuation
"'or obsession.
"'It is probably the most dangerous
"'and powerful potion in this room'",
which is saying something,
considering the other potions in the room
are Veritaserum, Felix Felicis and Polyjuice.
So anyway, not only is Tom Riddle
forced to marry against his will,
he is also then forced to conceive a child
against his will with Merope,
at which point she thinks she's finally safe
to lift the enchantment.
Like, certainly Tom will stick around,
if not for me, at least, because he loves his unborn child.
Right?
Wrong!
As we know, he immediately abandons them both
and has no love for either of them,
which brings us to our first inspection
of how Tom Riddle was born already incapable of love.
You could look at it pretty simply,
like he wasn't the product of true love,
but it goes further than that.
But hey, on that note,
today's show is sponsored by Better Help.
Ah, being human.
When we're at our best,
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you're more prepared to handle all the things
that life throws at you.
And I can speak from the heart on this one,
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You might think, well, I guess his father abandoned him
and definitely didn't love him,
but his mother must have loved him at some point, right?
But no, the baby was only ever a tool for her
to help sway the adult Tom Riddle.
And when that doesn't work, when he leaves,
Merope gives up on life, magic and her son.
Her very last wish
is for the baby to be named after his father, Tom Riddle.
But even that is an act
in the name of his mother's own self-interest
and not for him.
It's as if Merope is trying to prove to herself
in her dying moments
that yes, this relationship did mean something
and will live on,
when, of course, we all know it absolutely did not.
And so, in no way, shape or form
does Voldemort enter the world as a product of true,
and perhaps more importantly, reciprocated love.
And let me just pause right here to say,
yes, I know things like this absolutely do happen
in the real world,
and by no means am I trying to suggest
that those children are evil at all.
Voldemort, however,
does have some other fictional forces at play
that really, that really do seal his fate though.
And those forces begin with how Merope responds
to Tom Riddle abandoning her,
something Dumbledore actually explains
the massive impact of.
"'It is my belief, I am guessing again,
"'but I am sure I am right,
"'that when her husband abandoned her,
"'Merope stopped using magic.
"'I do not think she wanted to be a witch any longer.
"'Of course, it is also possible that her unrequited love
"'and the attendant despair sapped her of her powers.
"'That can happen.
"'In any case, as you are about to see,
"'Merope refused to raise her wand,
"'even to save her own life.'"
It's so interesting to me how he phrases that.
Like, yeah, it's possible her despair
sapped her of her powers.
That's like what happens to Tonks in "Half-Blood Prince".
But Dumbledore thinks it is way more likely,
and he is positive that he is right,
that what actually happened
is that Merope decided to stop using her powers altogether.
Dare I say,
Dumbledore is positive she begins repressing her powers.
Mhmm, mhmm.
And what happens to a witch or wizard that begins doing this
that Dumbledore would have a firsthand experience
in recognizing?
They form an Obscurial.
Except, unlike in so many other instances
that we've seen so far,
this one would be uniquely happening much later on in life,
and even more uniquely happening
to someone who is actively pregnant.
Normally, how an Obscurial is described
is as a magical parasite that forms inside a witch or wizard
who has chosen to stop using their abilities,
or more specifically is suppressing their abilities.
They are extremely powerful, extremely dangerous,
and seek only to destroy,
which is a really really interesting description
when you consider everything having to do with the character
of Tom Riddle, AKA Voldemort.
(Voldemort laughs)
Who is himself an extremely dangerous and powerful person
who only hopes to cause destruction.
But so, then what are we saying?
That Tom Riddle has an Obscurial?
No.
What we are saying is that Tom is the Obscurus.
It's as if while forming in the womb,
he became physically entangled with it,
as if it's part of the fabric of his DNA.
He is a literal walking human magical cancer,
which sounds about right.
And this explains Voldemort's innate evilness.
It's why, even as a child, he begins to manipulate people,
use fear, he starts bullying people,
with no example set for him of any kind.
This is just his natural tendency,
which brings it back to the question,
what would the wizarding world even look like
if Voldemort was successful and was just reigning supreme?
Because everything we see during his rise to power
feels like a dark cloud of despair.
The streets are literally covered in fog
caused by Dementors breeding.
You can't even make the argument
that Voldemort was hoping to preserve
the wonderful wizarding world he grew up in
because he is actively, and in some cases,
absolutely intentionally destroying it.
- Anything off the trolley, dears?
- Not now, Trolley Witch!
Why is he destroying everything?
What are you hoping to rule over, man?
A bunch of ruins?
You might be wondering at this point,
"Wait, does this mean
"that Credence in 'Fantastic Beasts' is evil,
"'cause isn't he kind of the same thing?
"A human walking around
"with the contained power of the Obscurus inside him,
"who was also raised in an orphanage,
"an orphanage that was specifically trying
"to squash the magic out of you?"
I mean, heck, Wool's Orphanage where Tom Riddle grew up
was practically sprouting sunshine and rainbows
compared to this place.
And yet, Credence doesn't actually seem evil.
Dangerous, yes, but not actively evil,
and that's because he's not.
The big difference between Voldemort and Credence
is that Credence developed the Obscurial much later in life
and then found a way to contain it.
But Credence's ability to do this is so powerful
that Gellert Grindelwald travels
all the way to the United States
and spends months trying to get Credence
to come to his side.
Credence is so powerful
that another wizard had a vision of his existence
as arguably the most powerful magical being on the planet
and potentially the only one capable
of defeating the other most powerful wizard on the planet,
Dumbledore.
Grindelwald literally puts two entire movies
towards just recruiting Credence to his side.
Imagine how much easier his entire job would've been
if he simply possessed that power innately,
if he was just an extremely magically gifted individual
with a fascination with the Dark Arts,
who had the untamed unrelenting power of the Obscurus,
oh wait, that's Voldemort.
(Voldemort laughs)
Which is why, in a lot of ways,
I think this might have been the point
of the "Fantastic Beasts" movies,
to show you why Voldemort is the way that he is,
because what you see in the "Fantastic Beasts" movies
is this super powerful, dark magical entity
manipulated by someone who has evil intents.
And then you have Voldemort,
which is just both of them combined.
And this, to me, explains everything.
It is why Voldemort is innately evil,
it's why he can't feel remorse,
it's why he can't understand love,
and it's why, no matter what happened to him as a child,
he was always going to be evil.
And just as an interesting side note, if this is true,
then it means that the ultimate evil in Harry Potter
is the personification of repressing your magic,
which is to say,
denying yourself who and what you truly are.
So let this just serve as your personal reminder
to celebrate yourself, whoever you are.
Be super.
But guys, thanks so much, as always,
for watching today's video.
Don't forget to leave a like on it if you haven't already.
If you wanna see what would've happened
if Petunia Dursley had been a witch,
you can check out this video right here.
But otherwise, Ben, until next time,
I will see you in another life, brother.