Why Harry Potter Fans Still Can't Stop Roasting Voldemort

Popular fantasy stories often have villains who embody all-around evil in order for the story itself to easily draw sides in its main conflict. "The Lord of the Rings" has Sauron, "Star Wars" has Emperor Palpatine, and "Harry Potter," of course, has Tom Marvolo Riddle, aka Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). Harry Potter's (Daniel Radcliffe) nemesis appears as the main antagonist in most of the seven "Harry Potter" books as he tries — and almost always fails — to kill Harry time and time again. Audiences even spend some time getting to know a younger Voldemort in memory form in "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" and "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince," learning that the Dark wizard simply strives to live as evil of a life as possible from childhood onward.

In spite of this, Voldemort can be seen as a relatively silly dude. Plenty of moviegoers still fondly remember the character's awkward hug with Draco Malfoy (Tom Felton) in the final "Harry Potter" movie as a rare lighthearted moment from the villain. Now, decade-old fan parodies like "Potter Puppet Pals" paint a significantly more amusing depiction of Voldemort than J.K. Rowling probably ever intended. Although 15 years have passed since the final "Harry Potter" book was published and over a decade since the final movie hit theaters, "Harry Potter" fans still can't help but wonder whether the story's big baddie is really as formidable — or intelligent — as he seemed at first glance.

Voldemort may be the only known wizard in "Harry Potter" to go as far as to create seven Horcruxes, but fans of the series have consistently used Reddit to point out where the villain's supposed intelligence betrays him. Redditor u/DirtyPie pointed out the rare passage in "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows" that is written from Voldemort's point of view as he finally realizes Harry is hunting down his Horcruxes: "[Voldemort] says that [Harry] couldn't possibly find the one at Hogwarts, because he [Voldemort] alone had penetrated the deepest secrets of the school. ... he hid it in the room of hidden things!!"

Of course, Voldemort hides the Horcrux encased within Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem inside the Room of Requirement's room of hidden objects. It's a location that Harry visits in "The Half-Blood Prince" too — but Harry immediately recognizes the room as a place where generations of Hogwarts students have hidden objects. Voldemort, full of hubris, assumes that he was the only Hogwarts student to ever discover the room in the first place.

Other Redditors have noted further examples of Voldemort's less-than-stellar ideas, including u/Cinderella_894, who asserts that Voldemort wastes an incredible amount of time telling his life story to his followers and Harry upon his rebirth in "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" rather than simply killing Harry immediately. At the end of the day, ol' Voldy is brought down by a group of teenagers due to his own arrogance. His assumptions that nobody — not even Albus Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) — could have discovered his deepest secrets create an opening for Harry, Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson) to strike. By the time Voldemort realizes he's made several massive mistakes, it's already too late.