Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, formerly known as Tom Riddle, are the main protagonist and antagonist, respectively, of the Harry Potter series. Yet, while they represent opposite forces of good and evil, they also share many similarities.

Related

Every Harry Potter Book, Ranked

Here is every book from the immensely popular Harry Potter franchise, ranked from worst to best.

In many ways, their lives mirror each other, and Harry, looking back at Tom Riddle's early years, was able to empathize with the young orphan's start to life. However, some of the similarities between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort, especially their powers, exist due to the fateful Halloween night of 1981 when Voldemort tried to kill Harry.

7 Harry And Voldemort Were Both Orphans

Harry's Parents Died When He Was A Baby & Tom Riddle's Mum Died In Childbirth

Both Tom Riddle and Harry Potter had a tough start to life, with Tom Riddle Sr. abandoning his son before Merope Gaunt died giving birth to him. Meanwhile, Harry's parents were killed by Voldemort's hand when Harry was just one year old. Naturally, the lack of parents in their lives had a profound impact on both of them.

With Tom Riddle being raised in an orphanage and Harry being raised by the Dursleys, neither of them received any love until the age of eleven, and sadly Tom Riddle never would. Harry on the other hand ended up with many parental figures after starting at Hogwarts, including Hagrid, Molly and Arthur Weasley, and for a short time Sirius. This is just one of many reasons why Harry turned out better than Voldemort.

6 They Were Both Raised By Muggles

Neither Harry Nor Tom Riddle Knew About Magic As Children

Despite both having at least one magical parent, both Harry and the boy who became Lord Voldemort were raised by Muggles and had no knowledge of the Wizarding World until they turned eleven. This is not inherently a bad thing, as many Muggle-born students attend Hogwarts, and there are advantages and disadvantages of growing up away from magic. Sadly for Harry and Tom though, they each had awful Muggle guardians.

However, the two boys took different lessons from their subpar Muggle upbringings, with Harry developing humility, a sense of hard work, and an understanding that not all Muggles are bad. Voldemort on the other hand, appears to have developed a deep resentment for all Muggles from his time in the orphanage, and saw them as inferior for the rest of his life.

5 Hogwarts Was Their First Real Home

Harry And Tom Riddle Found A Home At Hogwarts And Wanted To Stay In The Summer

One similarity that Harry and Voldemort share is that, for them, Hogwarts was their first real home and, more importantly, the first place they truly felt at home. It is easy to see why the magic and beauty of Hogwarts would capture the hearts of these two young wizards, and they are far from the first or last to have been affected in this way.

From wondrous feasts and the majesty of the castle itself to the comforts of the common rooms and the magic both inside and outside the classrooms, Hogwarts is like no other place. In fact, Both Harry and Tom Riddle wished they could stay at Hogwarts during the summer holidays, and the school always meant a great deal to them.

4 Harry And Voldemort Are Both Parselmouths (Can Talk To Snakes)

Harry Got His Parseltongue Ability From Voldemort

When Lord Voldemort attempted to kill the one-year-old Harry Potter on the 31st of October 1981, he not only failed but also inadvertently turned Harry into a Horcrux and subsequently transferred some of his powers to the boy.

Related

Harry Potter: 12 Iconic Death Eaters

Discover which of Voldemort's minions left the biggest impression on the Wizarding World during their reign of tyranny in the Harry Potter franchise.

One of these powers was the ability to speak to snakes and other serpentine creatures such as the basilisk in the Chamber of Secrets. The ability to speak Parseltongue is an incredibly rare gift, and without even knowing how to, Harry could speak to snakes from a young age, just like Tom Riddle.

3 Neither Of Them Were Pure-Bloods

Harry And Tom Riddle Had Different Feelings About Their Blood Status

With Harry having a Muggle-born mother and Tom Riddle having a Muggle father, neither of them was a pure-blooded wizard, and yet this similarity highlights a huge difference between them.

Despite not being a pure-blood himself, Lord Voldemort saw them as superior, and on top of leading others to believe his blood was magically pure, and murdering his Muggle family, Voldemort wanted to create a world in which pure-bloods ruled over all. Harry, on the other hand, did not judge people based on their blood status or any other aspect of their background.

2 They Were Both Descendants Of The Peverell Family

Voldemort Was A Descendent Of Cadmus Peverell & Harry Was A Descendant Of Ignotus Peverell

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Hermione reads aloud "The Tale of the Three Brothers," and it tells of how they won the three Deathly Hallows from Death himself. The three brothers, it turns out, were Antioch, Cadmus, and Ignotus Peverell, and both Voldemort and Harry can claim descent from two of these brothers.

Related

Harry Potter: 10 Most Underrated Wizards In The Books

In the Harry Potter books, these wizards didn't quite get the credit they rightfully deserve.

Through his mother, a Gaunt, Voldemort was a descendent of the middle brother Cadmus, and he thought himself the natural successor of the Resurrection Stone. Harry, meanwhile, had the Invisibility Cloak of Ignotus Peverell passed down to him through his father, James Potter.

1 Their Wands Shared The Same Core

Fawkes The Phoenix Provided The Feather Core For Harry And Voldemort's Wands

One of the most important similarities between Harry and Lord Voldemort, and one that had a significant impact on the plot, was that their wands were considered brothers. This is because both their wands had a phoenix feather core, with the feathers coming from the same Phoenix, Fawkes, who belonged to Albus Dumbledore.

In the penultimate duel of The Goblet of Fire, this led to an unforgettable moment when the two wands met and refused to fight each other, triggering the Priori Incantatem spell and forcing Voldemort to look for an alternative wand to kill Harry.

MORE: A Wizarding World Game Away From Hogwarts Could Be Worth The Risk