The Dark Lord's Seer

Tom Riddle's Character Notes

Regarding Tom Riddle:

I've been meaning to compile this for awhile now, and I realized since I'm continuing to write more Tom (Book 3 of this series), his character's so often on my mind.

And so I thought, just for the heck of it, I'd attach some of my character notes for him here for those of you who may like a glimpse into how I view Tom and in case it helps anyone seeking to write a canonically compliant Tom Riddle (personality/character wise).

Speaking purely personally, one thing I cannot stand is "Soft Tom" ("Good Tom"). Please understand I'm not here to belittle anyone's personal preferences; the beauty of writing fanfic is that you have the freedom to modify and recalibrate characters to your liking/preferences. My point in mentioning this is simply to express that my number one goal when writing Tom, above all else, is to veer as far away from anything approaching interpretations of "Soft Tom" as possible.

The Tom Riddle I love and am fascinated by is the evil and dark canonical Tom. I find his character so deliciously unhinged and morally reprehensible, I simply cannot help myself. I'm absolutely enamored. The Tom you meet here will always be an evil, manipulative, entirely irredeemable S.O.B.

I think this idea seems easy enough: write an evil, morally bankrupt Tom Riddle. The trick is keeping it up. So often in fics Tom starts out evil but eventually has a change of heart, or falls in love, or takes a "face turn" (i.e. begins the transition from bad to good).

Again, do you and write what you like! I'm just expressing that for me personally, my Tom will never, ever soften or find his way on the path towards "light" or "redemption."

Closely related to this yet distinct enough to bear mention is the issue of love vis-a-vis Thomas. Canonically speaking, Tom cannot love. I choose to stick with that for several reasons. Firstly, his inability to love makes him (in my unique opinion) a richer and more unusual character. It adds complication. And complication is just so delicious. Second, I think by eliminating the chance for Tom to know or experience love, it's easier to keep him on the dark path, the path of damnation. If he could let love into his heart, you've created a character who's on the way to experiencing a morality crisis, especially as the story deepens.

To be very clear, this is not a love story. This is a story about obsession and dark smutty fantasy. I have toyed with - and am still toying with - the idea of Y/N (the OFC) falling in love with Thomas at some point. I'm not going to reveal whether or not that will happen, but I think (hope!) it would be clear that that hasn't happened yet, and certainly not anything remotely close.

I really like the chaotic element of the two of them (Y/N & Tom) floundering together. I'm obsessed with the ambivalence they each feel for one another: how they both hate one another but oddly respect one another; how they're disgusted by the other but sexually drawn back again and again and again.

Once again, lust not love. Obsession, not love.

Speaking of obsession. I cannot write about Tom and not speak to his obsessions. Tom is driven by his fixations - I imagine for him they give him purpose and life. Obsession for Y/N is an excellent loophole (from a writer's standpoint) to solve the problem of him not being able to love. He can't love her, but he can obsess about her to the point of near (sometimes definite) madness. And that is a wonderful tool IMO to explain/rationalize why he's drawn to her again and again, why he craves her so much.

Vulnerabilities/flaws. Tom's completely unable/unwilling to acknowledge his vulnerabilities and shortcomings openly but I think he's too smart to not know he has them.

Flaws of Tom's, to name a few: vanity; obsession; hot-headedness/bad temper ... I could go on but let's just leave it there - at any rate, Tom's tacit self-acknowledgement that his flaws exist is what further fuels his obsessions with Y/N. In her, he's created (I believe unintentionally) a vessel to deposit all his vulnerabilities - at least the ones he expresses, consciously or not.

The catch to the above point is that this dynamic fuels Tom's hatred both for himself and Y/N. To be clear, Tom is completely filled with hate for everyone and everything, himself included. His self-hatred doesn't take the form of masochism, instead he rejects it and projects it onto others (think push not pull - he pushes his hate outward to the world rather than stuff it inside him).

Intelligence: Tom's intelligence in simply undeniable and second to none. In my opinion, he's clearly a genius. This, coupled with his extreme wizarding talent, makes him a formidable force. I do think his intelligence and talents often leave him mind-numbingly bored. I think that's part of why he so vigorously seeks stimulation in the form of conflict, however he can happen across it. Simply put, Tom's too intelligent for his own good. 

Sexual Drive/Sexuality: Tom may appear straight in this story since he's only portrayed in the context of a M/F interaction, but to be completely honest with you I don't conceive of him as straight. I would say he shirks any label or identifier when it comes to sexuality. Tom, to me, gets off on power and control. I don't think you could apply any conventional sexual orientation to him (JMO!)

Tom has an unbelievably, almost unimaginably high sex drive. Bordering on pathological, I dare say. Again, I'd attribute this to a variety of factors, including:

He's a sensory seeker (desperately so);

He's often very bored (see above discussion of intelligence);

He cannot love but he sees it in the world all around him, so I believe he uses sex as a futile attempt to approximate how he imagines love. Of course, love and sex are not interchangable concepts, but Tom doesn't quite grasp that, at least not elegantly;

Sex is a form of control for him;

Sex provides Tom with an energy release he desperately needs (a temporary release of his rage and whatever other negative emotions within him).

I do believe Tom finds sexual encounters addictive, especially with Y/N. He's aware of this weakness (See chapter "self-control") but as of yet, he hasn't gotten a handle on it.

General psychology/Freudian considerations:

Tom has both "mommy" and "daddy" issues. How could he not, given what we know about his early childhood and family backstory? I think, in particular, the issues he has with women, and with Y/N in particular, stem back to early childhood abandonment and unresolved trauma. I think a lot of the push-pull you see between Tom and Y/N can be explained by his issues in this area.

....

... I think, that's where I'll leave it for now. There's so much more I'd like to get into but since we've just begun releasing chapters of the third book (the second book's complete and posted btw), I'll stop here. I want to avoid elaborating too much on certain other aspects because I'm consciously trying to avoid certain spoilers.

Anyway, thank you for reading my story.

I appreciate you all very much! xoxo