What Jo says about...
Lord Voldemort, aka Tom Marvolo Riddle

Please note: unless you see quotemarks, these are summaries, and not JKR's words themselves. Please see the linked article for the actual text.

• Voldemort, Malfoy, Quidditch are all invented names. [Read the exact quote from WBUR interview, 1999]
• Hagrid and Voldemort are both in their 60s. [Read the exact quote from National Press Club, 1999]
• JKR says she pronounces Voldemort "Voldemor," not "Voldemort," but she is the only one. [Read the exact quote from The Orange County Register, 1999]
• Refers to Voldemort as "The most evil wizard for [does she mean "in?"] 100s and 100s of years." [Read the exact quote from the Diane Rehm Show interview, 1999]
• JKR: "Well I think it is often the case that the biggest bullies take what they know to be their own defects, as they see it, and they put them right on someone else and then they try and destroy the other and that's what Voldemort does." [Read the exact quote from the cBBC Newsround interview, 2000]
• JKR characterizes Voldemort as "a raging psychopath, devoid of the normal human responses to other people's suffering," and Wormtail as somone "who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the strongest person." [Read the exact quote from Entertainment Weekly, 2000]
• JKR on Voldemort and Cedric's death: "We really are talking about someone who is incredibly power hungry. Racist, really. And what do those kinds of people do? They treat human life so lightly. I wanted to be accurate in that sense. My editor was shocked by the way the character was killed, which was very dismissive. That was entirely deliberate." [Read the exact quote from Time Magazine, 2000]
• Voldemort being a relative of Harry’s would be a bit "Star Wars" [Read the exact quote from the Scholastic chat #2, 2000]
• Susan Bones' grandparents were killed by Voldemort. [Read the exact quote from the Yahooligans! chat, 2001]
• Riddle was lying when he said that Hagrid had raised werewolf cubs under his bed. [Read the exact quote from the Yahooligans! chat, 2001]
• JKR: "If you are writing about evil, which I am, and if you are writing about someone who’s, essentially, a psychopath – you have a duty to show the real evil of taking human life." [Read the exact quote from "Harry Potter and Me," 2001]
• Voldemort does not have any children. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Voldemort went after Harry because he "identified more with the half-blood boy and therefore decided he must be the greater risk." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• The "crucial and central question" of the series is why both Harry and Voldemort survived the killing curse. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• When Wormtail sacrificed his arm to revive Voldemort, his debt to Harry did not carry over to Voldemort. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Voldemort "prefers his henchmen to do his dirty work." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• We will "find out more about the circumstances of his [Voldemort's] birth in the next book." [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• Wormtail used Voldemort’s wand to kill Cedric. [Read the exact quote from World Book Day, 2004]
• "The HBP is neither Harry nor Voldemort." [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• "Voldemort is the last surviving descendent of Salazar Slytherin. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Tom Riddle is the same person as Voldemort, so he is not the Half Blood Prince. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• At the end of GoF, Lily should come out of Voldemort's wand first, then James. JKR originally wrote this correctly, but her American editor told her it was the wrong way round, so she changed it. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• Does the prophecy mean that both Harry and Voldemort need to die? JKR: "Both Madam Trelawney and I worded the prophecy extremely carefully"[Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• In 'Chamber of Secrets,' what would have happened if Ginny had died and Tom Riddle had escaped the diary? JKR: cannot answer except to say Voldemort would have been stronger. [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]
• We should be asking "Why didn't Voldemort die?" Not, "Why did Harry live?" but, "Why didn't Voldemort die?" The killing curse rebounded, so he should have died. Why didn't he? At the end of Goblet of Fire he says that one or more of the steps that he took enabled him to survive. You should be wondering what he did to make sure that he did not die — I will put it that way. I don't think that it is guessable. It may be — someone could guess it — but you should be asking yourself that question, particularly now that you know about the prophesy. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• The second question we should be asking is "why Dumbledore did not kill or try to kill Voldemort in the scene in the ministry." Dumbledore did not give the real reason. [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• Voldemort/Riddle has never cared for or loved anyone. "He couldn't possibly be what he is." [Read the exact quote from the Edinburgh Book Festival, 2004]
• In choosing which child to kill (Neville or Harry) Voldemort was "choosing which boy to anoint as the Chosen One." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Harry's scar gives him a "magical window into Voldemort's mind." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• Neville does have a "significant part to play in the last two novels and the fight against Voldemort." [Read the exact quote form Jo's website]
• "Harry-Snape is now as personal, if not more so, than Harry-Voldemort." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Why did Voldemort offer Lily so many chances to live? JKR: "Can't tell you." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• If Lily had stood aside and let Voldemort kill Harry, she would have been allowed to live. She had a very clear choice and very consciously lay down her life. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Voldemort's boggart would be "death, ignominious death .... He would see himself dead." He sees death as a "shameful human weakness." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• In front of the Mirror of Erised, Voldemort would see "Himself, all-powerful and eternal. That's what he wants." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• After Book 6, in front of the Mirror of Erised, Harry would see "Voldemort finished, dead gone .... Because he knows now that he will have no peace and no rest until this is accomplished." [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• It is possible that we will find out what spell Dumbledore was trying to cast on Voldemort in the Ministry. [Read the whole quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• Dumbledore's guesses about how to kill Voldemort are “never very far wide of the mark.” Harry will need to get rid of four horcruxes, and then “go for Voldemort.” Dumbledore has given Harry “some pretty valuable clues” and Harry "has amassed more knowledge than he realizes." [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• “Ginny is definitely in no way possessed by Voldemort.” She is not a Parselmouth. [Read the entire quote from the Leaky Cauldron, 2005]
• The first two chapters of Book 6 were a useful device to show that everybody knows Voldemort is back and that a lot of people are being affected. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• JK will not tell us if Lord Voldemort ever finds out what the prophecy fully said. [Read the whole quote from ITV, 2005]
• "In Book 6 "Harry finds out a lot of Voldemort's history. Though he was never that nice a guy." [Read the whole quote from Time Magazine, 2005]
• Voldemort "is not, in a biological sense, related to [Harry] at all." [Read the whole quote from BBC-Radio4, 2005]
• Jo thinks that the Book 1 scene where Voldemort appears in the back of Quirrell's head is "one of the creepiest things I have ever written." [Read the whole quote from R&J, 2006]
• Jo thinks that if psychologists were to get Voldemort in a room, pin him down and take the wand away he would be classified as a psychopath. [Read the whole quote from RCMH1, 2006]
• Tom Marvolo Riddle was born on December 31st. [8 May 2007] [Read the exact quote from Jo's website]