THANK YOU. Finally someone says it!
I can’t even count the number of fics and hp theories I’ve read that completely ignore this fact.
I honestly think the reason why so many people forget this is because the characters themselves never acknowledge it. And the fact that most of the people Harry surrounds himself are firmly entrenched in Magical Society. He has a lot of Pureblood allies and friends for example. I don’t think many of them understand just how deep discrimination can go. Nor do I think they understand the difference between being called a blood traitor vs a mudblood. It’s the difference between being sympathetic to muggles rather than actually being related to one and that shit matters.
They associate anti-Muggle sentiments with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. In their minds, as soon as they’re defeated everything will go back to normal! Normal just being more subtle and unspoken discrimination that can be waved away by the few well-meaning but ignorant Purebloods, “Oh Sally from accounting said something to you? You must’ve misunderstood! I know her very well, she’s no Death Eater.”
I’ve lost my point, if you can’t tell I’m really interested in the politics behind hp discrimination, I’m very sad that there aren’t more fics about it pre and post-Voldemort. But back to Tom.
Another factor is the fact that Dumbledore canonically theorizes Tom had a gang of Slytherins following him called the Knights of Walpurgis (KoW) during school. I think that bit of canon is absolute garbage and I hate it because as you said: he’s perceived Muggleborn. I swear every time I read a fic with this ‘gang’ that isn’t a crack fic I want to scream.
You’re telling me that this man worked in customer service for years voluntarily? When he had like 5 Sugar Daddies on speed-dial? Honey, please. Magic I can rationalize but KoW is just straight up unrealistic.
Also, fun fact Dumbledore 100% knew Tom wasn’t a Muggleborn because of his Parseltongue abilities (or at least suspected). This man let Tom be discriminated against and did not say a WORD. Nor did he attempt to help find Tom’s family. And poor feral baby Tom probably didn’t tell another soul about his ability to speak to snakes during school because of Dumbledore’s reaction when he told him.
Considering his Catholic upbringing in addition to Dumbledore’s response to learning about his in-built Snake Google Translate, Tom was probably like “Ok so the Magical world also has bad associations with snakes. Good to know.”
And then Tom probably found out Parseltongue was an indicator for Slytherin ancestry during the Chamber fiasco and flipped the fuck out. Because that meant his elitist-ass housemates were disrespecting him in what was essentially his own fucking house??? I’d be mad too if I went to school somewhere where the students worshipped the ground the founder walked on and used the founder’s beliefs to try and prove I didn’t belong. And then discover that I was related to the founder they would use as a reason to bully me? The audacity. I’d implode on the spot.
(In answer to your last query, I headcanon that his hiatus from Britain was so he could re-brand himself. Tom Riddle was the bullied Slytherin Muggleborn. He had to disappear. Voldemort was the messiah-like cryptid who emerged from the shadows with all of life’s answers. He just needs your first born.)
Tom Riddle, aka, Voldemort was canonically perceived to be a muggleborn for many years before he found out about Merope Gaunt. Because only for muggleborns does a teacher visit the parents/guardian/orphanage. Harry was simply given a letter even though he lived in the muggle world, while McGonagall visited Hermione.
In the same vein, Dumbledore visited Tom’s orphanage to inform him about Hogwarts.
where am i going with this?
the sorting hat put a perceived muggleborn in Slytherin. Don’t try to tell me that oh no, the sorting hat knows who or what you and your ancestors are. No it doesn’t. It reads your mind. it’s very much possible (and by that, i mean i’m certain) that the gaunts did not attend hogwarts.
He might’ve turned out to be a half blood, but at the time, he was considered muggleborn, both by magic and by himself-even though he hated the thought of it.
there are muggleborns in slytherin.
slytherin is cunning and ambition. not blood purity.
(also, i do not understand how people like the malfoys and the blacks and the lestranges and other blood purity fanatics followed a perceived muggleborn. like did voldy tell them that oh no, i’m a half blood? or was it because he was so charismatic that he made them forget that essentially, he was not a pureblood?)
I just KNOW that he had a PHAT crush on Tom Riddle, or Abraxas Malfoy........ or maybe both
All hail Alphard Black, gay icon and everyones favourite crazy old uncle
You're onto something. You're CLEARLY ON TO SOMETHING. WAIT WAIT WAITTTTTT Somebody please write a fic the angst is gonna be so good oml
I think that Walburga and Tom Riddle were romantically and sexually involved during their Years at Hogwarts. Which is why Tom named his First Version of the Death Eaters the Knights of Walpurgis. Her Knights because she was supposed to be his Queen. But Walburga in the end broke up with him because she didn’t want to be married with a Half-Blood and cuz her Relationship with Tom was known she was already sorta defamed among Purebloods and thus could only marry her Cousin Orion.
She would probably also have hated Delphini if she had met her because she would be the living Proof of what she could have had and that ultimately she failed at everything in Life.
She chose her Family and the Pureblood Dogma over the Love of her Life and in turn she only got trapped in a Loveless Marriage with her own Cousin, whom she never loved as much as Tom, a Son who despite being talented spitted on everything she believed in and another who despite sharing her views simply couldn’t live up to her expectations.
All the while she would have to watch her own Niece living the Life that could have been hers because she loved Voldemort/Tom more than anything even her own Family and literally turned her back on her Pureblood Husband to be with him. Now Walburga would have had to watch as her Niece has a perfect little dark princess and is truly happy with the Man who Walburga actually loves and has an extremely talented daughter who is a perfect mix between Tom’s Beauty and Bellatrix’s and an Heiress of Slytherin and Grindelwald.
(I read somewhere that Druella could be Gellert and Vinda’s Daughter and since she was born in the 30s it’s not too far off given how close Vinda and Gellert seem.)
And Bellatrix gained that by truly loving and accepting Tom/Voldemort for who he is instead of what he could be and being brave enough to throw her Family aside for him. That would definitely have broken Walburga down completely and filled her with Jealousy beyond belief.
~
Nothing will EVER come close to this fanfic. All the young dudes, Crimson Rivers aside, The Seven Devils is probably one of the BEST fanfics I've read in HP fandom. Oh my god I could read it again and again and again and never get bored of it. There's no OC like Varya Petrov and never will be. I fucking love her and her strong, dark personality. And talking about the other side characters will never be enough. This is just simply masterpiece. If you haven't read it, GO RUN AND READ IT
I beg all of you to go read a Tom Riddle fanfic called The Seven Devils by thesehunprint on ao3 and Wattpad. Beautiful writing, tragic storylines, and charming characters are what made it really win my heart.