Lord Voldemorts apperance, what is causing him to look more and more snake like? Magic, his sole splitting, his will? Will he become a snake if he continues?


End ~5/31

I don't think he will actually become a snake... and considering how his body is if he keeps on making horcrux then he's going to kill himself!! like he's going to wither away... I don't have the slightest clue what the cause is of his appearance... he looks like aquaman or something

I think it may have to do with both that he is the heir of Slytherin and splitting his soul. I really don't think he will turn into a snake but his snake like apperance is pretty cool.

I think it has more to do with the symbol of evil in the wizarding world. In the muggle world, it's all about the devil, red, horns, the whole shebang. What's evil in the wizarding world is snakes and what better way to make the most evil wizard of all time look the part than manking him more snakelike. I think it's more about symbolism than the actual transformation. He stripped his soul, whatever was left of it, of anything that could have been good that kept him remotely human. When he started experimenting with inhuman things, his humanity was gone and thus he could no longer retain a truely human form. When you start messing with evil, and to the extent that Voldemort did, it starts to change you, first your soul, the nyour body. Voldemort was the epitome of evil. I don't think his character would have been as poignant had he looked like everyone else.

I agree, he is becoming the very embodiment of so-called "Slytherin evil". This would certainly be very strong symbolism on the part of J.K. Rowling.

Yes, you explained it much better, of course you used more than two sentences, unlike me.

I think he will gradually get worse in his appearence if he keeps making more horcruxes, but I don't think he'll turn into a snake. He might get a more of a inhuman appearence, but not actually turn into a snake.

I think he'll get worse in apperance, because he's pushing 70, but I doubt he'll turn into a snake. I don't think it's possible.

Well, I think that Sissa gave a very clever explanation

However, what if Voldemort IS actually transforming? It's true he is known as the most evil wizard in the world and it makes sense to want to separate good from evil. Though it's a possibility that Voldemort does have control over his appearance, and there is more to it than just symbolism. Some of it had to do with the fact of how he was reborn (the flesh of servant, blood of the enemy, and bone of father unwillingly taken). The three ingredients are actually quite ironic, because none of them specifically apply to a snake. We already know from his pet Nagini, that he likes snakes and he's a parseltongue. Since Voldemort likes snakes, and his main goal is to prove as fearsome and kill mudbloods, he willingly shaped his appearance to look more fearsome. Honestly, if he remained as good looking as his younger self, would you really perceive him as an evil and powerful wizard? It's all part of the greater plot to kill Harry and others. The fact that he's a parseltongue also made it likely that he would choose a snake-like appearance.

I think his dabbling into evil magic has negated his aging effects. The man is rightly in his 80s yes not a wrinkle to be found! I think he's either grossly slowed the aging process or stopped it altogether (I'm also really trying to not go off of Ralph Fiennes portrayal and going from what I got from the book). There's no inference that he looks like an old man in snake form but rather just this snake-like creature. Whatever he's doing to himself has overridden his ability to age, since aging his a human aspect and he's no longer human.

But then he has reached his goal.. he wants to live forever right... and if he always stays young then he will. His only danger is his enemies. Dumbledore...who is dead... and Harry Potter. Well plus the good half of the wizarding world. But voldemort isn't scared of them.

There you go, I think you got it. Aging is a human aspect and since he no longer wants to be human, he has morphed himself into this snake like non-human. No one would question his mud-blood heritage after seeing him like that. I do think some of comes from the makeing of horcrux, I mean that has to change someone, right.

So, say someone else wants to go Voldemort's route and create X amount of horcruxes. Would they, too, change into a snake-like creature or would they change into something else, something that they would more align themselves with? I guess the question would be did Voldemort morph into a snake because of his heritage and whom/what he choose to side with or, is it because snakes are deemed evil in the wizarding world, anyone that would choose that route would doom themselves for a noseless, green-skinned life?

Here's a very interesting point! If someone was good and pure through and through, maybe they would start changing into an angel or a bunny rabbit or something along those lines. Because of the Slytherin background and heritage plus his being evil, Voldemort started morphing into a snake. Maybe the horcruxes have this power. Very, very interesting point, I like it! Like, they can be whatever you want them to be, depending on who is using them.

But if someone was good through and through, they wouldn't be making horcruxes because that would mean tarnishing their soul with murder, no longer making them so pure.

True, I guess I'm just being controversial here and trying to expand the possibilities a bit. I really like the idea of the horcruxes becoming a reflection of the true nature of the person who is using them. That would certainly explain why Vordemort is morphing into a serpent. (True nature - serpent from Slytherin, plus the Dark Lord is evil and slippery like a snake).

I agree with all of that

I think its due to the horcuxes, and the fact that they are being destroyed and that the one that is most powerful may be kept inside nangini, his snake that he is slowley morfing into a snake.

Yes, in the end it was because the horcruxes were being destroyed that he was becoming so snake like, I think. Even though it is interesting, isn't it, that he didn't start to take on at least some of the characteristics of Harry, being that he was a horcrux after all. I guess it shows how evil the horcruxes truly were.

I think his sole-splitting, as that gives him his immortailty. The night he tried to kill Harry, he changed then, so I expect so.

Perhaps the loss of Voldemort’s facial features is linked to his gradual banishment of emotions into a place farther than even he could reach. Take the nose for example. Not only is it a a vector of diverse and variable odours but also a passage for the spirit and to the heart. The nose is therefore a significative element of relation, of contact and of expression. His loss of his ears (more evident in the first revelation of him when released from Quirrel) could also be significant, more than likely having occurred after his first defeat by Harry, albeit unintentionally. The ear is more than a receptive opening; it is also a protuberance which can be valued as a symbol of strength. Speech is taken in through the ear and ultimately the attitudes of the environment. The basic contribution, beyond that of words, which audition makes to ego development remains obscure, but it seems that the ears do help to develop many special skills. Hearing can serve as an emotional instrument. In respect to crude sounds hearing is similar to the sense of smell, which is largely repressed in civilized man, yet retains powerful affective associations. The gradual re-emergence of said feature could indicate his regeneration into humanity, perhaps even signalling his eventual failure at the hands of his own mortality.