Merope Gaunt

Merope Gaunt lived a tragic existence as the sole daughter of the violent pure-blood supremacist Marvolo Gaunt, descending from both Salazar Slytherin and Cadmus Peverell. Born around 1907, she endured years of abuse alongside her brother Morfin in their squalid shack, her magical abilities suppressed by trauma and fear. Her father and brother’s cruelty left her appearing older than her years, with dull hair and a pallid complexion that reflected her miserable circumstances.

Despite her downtrodden appearance, she harboured a secret obsession with the handsome Muggle Tom Riddle Senior, who lived in the nearby village of Little Hangleton. After her father’s imprisonment for attacking Ministry officials, she seized her chance and used a love potion to ensnare Riddle. The pair eloped, much to the horror of his family, and she became pregnant with his child.

Her brief happiness crumbled when she discontinued the love potion, hoping her husband might have developed genuine feelings for her. Instead, Riddle abandoned her immediately, returning to his family and leaving her destitute and heartbroken. Alone and penniless, she made her way to London, where she gave birth to a son at Wool’s Orphanage on New Year’s Eve 1926.

She died within an hour of the birth, but not before naming her son Tom Marvolo Riddle—after his father and her own father. Her final act ensured her son would carry both the Muggle name that had brought her joy and the pure-blood heritage that had caused her such suffering. That child would grow up to become Lord Voldemort.