Evil Man with tragic past?

[choki]

I have been reading too much books and watching too much shows but there is one thing I want to clarify.

We do know that Harry has a tragic past when he was young. But come to think of it, Voldemort or Tom Riddle did had a tragic past too.

His mother died when he was born. His father abondoned him before he was born. I supposed something bad happened to him when he was living in the orphanage, that led him to become Lord Voldemort. What do you think happened?

I personally think that Tom, being a wizard, had some magical powers in him even before he realised it. He probably used his powers to defend himself from some bullies without even knowing, and that led to his isolation.

I can't but felt sorry for Tom Riddle. I am sure he wasn't born evil or anything bad. Not to say, he wasn't at fault for doing evil acts but maybe it is not entirely his fault?

[highsorcerer]

But it's always choice. Tom Riddle, Jr. had a choice - be a great wizard, or become an evil one . Look at Tom, and look at Harry... both orphans; no knowledge of the magic world before Hogwarts... and look at what they became.

Riddle, Jr. ... evil and driven by power.

Harry, willing to defy evil and power.

Tom, willing to kill to gain immortality.

Harry, willing to die for a greater cause.

[Mistress Siana]

I really like the way the "personification of evil" is portrayed in the HP series, merely because of the background. It explains why he is the way he is, not just 'plain evil and born that way' or something, but it does not justify it, because it clearly states that you, and you alone, are responsible for your deeds.

[Athena Appleton]

The most evil men in history usually had a tragic past (read up on Hitler). They can either choose revenge or choose to make the world a better place. I think that, above all, Ms. Rowling's books are about choices. Harry made the choice to not be in Slyterin because his heart was pure. He had every reason to want to take a revenge attitude, but even in book 5, when he really wants to curse Dudley the Dreadful, he doesn't, but he saves him. And Bellatrix tells him that the reason his curse didn't work is basically because he doesn't have the honest desire to cause someone else harm in his heart.

[Emma'I'm a real witch']

How do you think Harry having a pure heart is going to affect the fact that in the end he might have to kill Voldemort? Bellatrix says 'you really have to mean it' when you are wanting to use an unforgivable curse, but I think that if you look at how angry Harry was at the end of book 5 if he keeps going at this rate then it is possible that he could be angry enough at the end of book 7, and hate him enough, to perform AK spell on LV.

Unless there is another way for him to be killed? We know that wizards seem to be able to take a lot more in the way of injuries than muggles can, for example Neville says in book 1 that when his uncle dropped him out of a window he bounced and that's how they knew he was a wizard.

But we saw Sirius fall through the veil in DoM maybe this has something to do with a future plot, because I think it is far too big of a thing to introduce towards the end of a book unless JKR was planning on bringing it back for future use??

[Ferrus]

The veil will play a further part in some of the books. JKR could have killed Sirius in a million ways, but she chose the veil why? because it has some importance in other books.