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With a huge fan base, Harry Potter is a best-selling book series. More than reading a book or watching a movie, it brought a world where fans can escape. Harry and Voldemort had things that made their appearance stand out among the main characters.
For Harry, it was mainly the mark on his forehead and, of course, his glasses. But Voldemort had a very striking and terrifying appearance. And it can be confusing as they were several changes in his appearance throughout the series.
This article reveals why Voldemort doesn’t have a nose. You’ll also know other facts about him and his bodily transformations.
Now, let’s respond to the question.
Why Doesn’t Voldemort Have A Nose?
Voldemort doesn’t have a nose because he explored and went deep into dark magic. As a result, he conducted many experiments on himself, thereby changing his form. He doesn’t have a nose as the area looked flat with snake-like slits for nostrils.
Another reason is that he created Horcruxes. In his attempt to gain immortality, he placed a piece of his soul in different Horcruxes. The more he tore away from his soul, the more his appearance changed.
Voldemort’s Appearance And Body Transformations
Voldemort, previously Tom Riddle, was an attractive young lad. In her books, J.K. Rowling described him as handsome and tall. He had dark eyes, black hair, and pale skin. He also looked more like his father, who was also exceptionally good-looking.
However, as he delved deeper and experimented with dark magic, his appearance began to change. He gained so much power but lost his looks. Over time his appearance reflected the evil that was within him.
The change was gradual until he transformed entirely into something monstrous.
A few years after Tom Riddle left Hogwarts, he came back. He applied for a teaching position as a Defence against the Dark Arts teacher. However, Dumbledore turned him down. At that time, he was no longer the attractive Riddle but not yet the scary-looking Voldemort.
Voldemort’s features were already changing at the time he met Albus Dumbledore. He didn’t look snake-like, but his appearance looked blurred, burned, and distorted. His eyes were not scarlet with slit pupils, but they had a bloody look.
When his body changed totally, the Dark Lord had a snake-like appearance. He became a noseless entity with a pale white face. Voldemort was a hairless, tall, and skeletally thin figure. He also had large and red eyes. His hands were unnaturally long with sharp blue fingernails.
After his body got destroyed during his encounter with Harry as a baby, he roamed as a ghost-like entity. That was the period he possessed animals and other creatures.
However, Peter Pettigrew gave Voldemort a portion. He concocted it from the venom of Nagini and a Unicorn’s blood. That gave him a rudimentary baby body. It was far from a human baby as he looked feeble with thin arms and legs. His face was also snake-like.
Voldemort didn’t remain in that frail body for long. His followers helped him regain his monstrous body at the Little Hangleton graveyard. They used his father’s bone and Peter Pettigrew’s arm, which he cut off willingly. To complete the spell, they took Harry’s blood by force.
The regeneration spell brought the Dark Lord back. He still had his serpentine look, without a nose but snake-like slits, cat-like eyes, and spider-like fingers.
10 Facts About Voldemort
Voldemort is half-blood:
It may be hard to believe that Voldemort is half-blood. The fact that he hates Muggles makes it so. And the truth is, he hates that side of his lineage. His father, Tom Riddle Sr., was a Muggle and his mother, Merope Gaunt, was a witch.
The union between the two was due to a love portion Merope used on Riddle. She decided not to use it anymore when she became pregnant, assuming he would stay. But he did the opposite, leaving her and his unborn child.
Merope died after giving birth to Tom Riddle. And the young Riddle grew up in orphanages. He hated his father because of the betrayal and transferred the hate to other Muggles. The hatred grew during his time at Hogwarts.
He can cast spells without a wand:
Unlike many wizards or witches, Voldemort doesn’t need a wand to cast spells. For most wizards, a broken wand makes them unable to cast spells. Some of them had magical outbursts as kids without wands. But they couldn’t control it.
Wands served to control and direct their spells. However, young Tom Riddle didn’t have a problem channeling his abilities. He could control animals and even speak to them without using a wand. He could also move things using his mind.
By the time he became an adult, he had gained mastery of wandless and non-verbal magic. He could control and move people using only hand gestures.
He didn’t need a broom to fly:
Voldemort could fly without a broom. That’s strange because, in the series, wizards or witches required brooms to fly. Even though some used other magical creatures and objects, none could do so without support.
Voldemort experimented a lot and trained himself to use magic to fly. Some Death Eaters also learned the skill from him. So they didn’t need any support when they fly especially during attacks.
He could change memories:
The Dark Lord could tamper with people’s memories. He does it using two magical powers known as Legilimency and Occlumency. The former refers to the ability to penetrate people’s minds. The latter refers to the ability to shield his mind.
Voldemort grew to be the most potent Legilimens in the whole Wizarding World. Apart from reading minds, he could also control them. In the movies, he made Harry Potter see realistic visions that led him to find his prophecy.
Only a person strong in Occlumency can stop that, and very few people were.
He could possess others:
Voldemort could take over other people and animals. After his body got destroyed when Harry Potter was a baby, he didn’t exactly die. That was because he created Horcruxes that housed bits of his soul. But he remained in ghostly form since he didn’t have a body.
However, the Dark Lord began to possess animals. But he couldn’t perform magic in such form, and the creature’s lifespan gets shortened.
Voldemort later possessed Professor Quirinus Quirrell and began to regain his powers. But Quirrell had to drink unicorn blood to remain alive due to its healing powers. It also served to heal the Dark Lord.
He could use transfiguration:
Voldemort was great at transfiguration. This magical skill enables him to change how someone or something looks. Even though it can be a complex spell to cast, he was a master of the magical craft.
Not only can the Dark Lord cast the transfiguration spell quickly, but he could also use it for a long time. An instance is he replaced Peter Pettigrew’s lost forearm with a silver one. He also changed Nagini, the snake, into Bathilda Bagshot for a long time to eliminate Harry.
He spoke Parseltongue:
The Dark Lord spoke and understood Parseltongue. It’s an ability that allowed him to communicate with and influence serpents. It’s a rare ability that he shared with Harry Potter. That happened when he attacked Harry as a baby.
Those who had the ability are known as Parselmouths. And most of them are from the lineage of Salazar Slytherin. Sometimes, other wizards saw it as a sign of a dark wizard. However, there are a few good ones.
He was a skillful duelist:
Voldemort was a master duelist and one of the greatest in the Wizarding World. He could cast spells without a wand, so using one gave him more power. His mastery is evident in his many duels with powerful wizards and witches.
The Dark Lord defeated some known master duelists. Some include Minerva McGonagall, Horace Slughorn, and Kingsley Shacklebolt. The dueling style he used was also aggressive and unpredictable. And so he fought and changed moves without warning.
Tom Riddle’s mastery of dark magic gave him more advantage over his opponents.
He felt pain when he touched Harry Potter:
Voldemort felt pain whenever he touched Harry. That was the effect of the protective spell of Lily Potter on her baby. It’s also a result of the backfired Avada Kedavra spell.
It was evident when Quirrel (whom Voldemort possessed) felt immeasurable pain when he touched Harry Potter.
However, the Dark Lord found a way to stop that in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He made a portion using Harry’s blood to regenerate his body at the graveyard. That enabled him to touch Harry Potter without feeling any pain.
Voldemort’s wand had a weakness:
Another notable thing about the Dark Lord is that his wand had a defect. He didn’t know about it until he regained his body and dueled with Potter. To his surprise, he couldn’t beat Harry. And that was because of his wand’s weakness.
Voldemort’s wand couldn’t overpower Harry’s during the duel because they had the same core. They both had Fawkes’ phoenix feathers as their core, which was their connection.
Conclusion
Voldemort doesn’t have a nose because of his experiments with dark magic. The more he removed pieces of his soul and placed them in Horcruxes, the less of himself he became. His nose was not the only affected part of his body. His skin and eyes also became snake-like and terrifying.
His transformations began slowly until the attractive Tom Riddle was no more.
