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Another Bellamort/Hinny parallel. I had almost forgotten about this..

Both Harry and Voldemort are fighting someone else (in Harry's case about to fight) but when Ginny and Bella are hurt, change their course and are stopped by Molly (in Harry's case) and Harry (in Voldemort's case, when he is about to kill Molly interestingly enough).

And yet some people have the nerve to say Bellamort wasn't intended from the beginning, that it somehow came from Cursed Child, despite being so obvious in the books.

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Voldemort is fiercely protective of Bellatrix because he only has her, as soon as anyone dares to say half a word against her they risk being thrown against the wall at the very least.

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'Bellamort isn't canon' ok someone tell Bellatrix and Voldemort...

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The foreshadowing from this article on pottermore is brilliant! Rita Skeeter even touched on some father-son drama between a then 8 year old Albus and his dad which we find out is true in CC! Well worth the re-read if, like me, you haven’t read this since Cursed Child came out.

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Lis I adore your Sugar Baddie Type analysis! But TOM RIDDLE?!

ok two more anons asked this and you are all really right, this indeed needs some explanations.

to put tom among the “sugar baddies” trope is the consequence of my *more mature* personal opinion about his character, therefore it is for you to decide how right i might be in the end. i was also specifically referring to his dynamic with bellatrix, which never stops to fascinate me. but again, since none or very little of this is clearly mentioned in the books, which are sadly not specifically about him, all this will always be up to interpretations.

tom riddle (and then voldemort consequentially) is one of the most ruthless, fascinating villains ever created, pure in his evil as much as in his ideology, extremely selfish and wicked, so full of hatred, fear, ambition and, yes, desperation as well. so purely evil, in fact, that people too many times tend to oversimplify his character and more importantly his behaviors. to most, voldemort is too evil to do anything else but evil; too evil to be anything else but a full-time fairytale-like villain. we can hardly picture him enjoying a quidditch game, or a pie, or reading a book about anything else but horcruxes-making; we don’t even dare to try to picture him having sex, if not in a degrading way towards his victim, ehrm, partner. and this is all absolutely true, but i love to think there is also… more.

to really strike me, a villain must still possess the shreds, the deformities of what once their humanity was. it’s what i love about ancient mythologies - even gods have human-shaped hearts. but those hearts in their chests are redder, have twisted forms, pulse with more insistence - and they are so much heavier.

i like to think voldemort falls in this category, even if it’s not always easy to come to realize this when you first read the books. after all, as any real myth, and i say this with a bit of pride, there is little or nothing left of the real person behind it, not in the minds of those who come after them, at least.

growing up with the hp books, i had this same idea of tom riddle as well and i think the novels are to some extent to blame for this, after all they are told from harry’s point of view and we can’t really blame him for falling for the fairytale-like monster trick, it’s obvious that tom himself wanted everyone to perceive him like that, to fear him like that, that’s, after all, the very reason he became voldemort in the first place, to get rid of his humanity - and i can’t honestly think of anything more painfully human than that.

yet, when i say “human” i’m not trying to belittle his demi-god aura, or his exceptionality, quite the opposite: i’m endlessly fascinated by his being a finer, higher, more sophisticated kind of human - with the horrors that came with it as well. even when harry tries to consider him as person, even while he watches him as a boy in the orphanage, harry is presented with an inhuman psychopath, but i don’t think it is necessary always the case. i like to think one as intelligent and exceptional (and damaged) as tom could easily go from pure evil to (potentially) pure love in a split second. and that’s absolutely disturbing in a person, and twisted, and really interesting. after all, there are many ways one can be unable to love: being conceived under a love potion doesn’t necessarily make you alien to love, but maybe simply unable to understand or trust it. i think this interpretation fits more tom’s character: he had ALL the capabilities others had, he actually had more than, even the one to love, but his past and choices and consequential fears made him the monster he became.

recently analyzing his character, i found myself intrigued to go past his evil-entity facade, looking at him in a more real person kind of way, trying to understand him more as a real-life dictator with supernatural powers. a man behind the monster, behind the endless power. and i like to think in the end he did enjoy quidditch games, and pies, and music, and literature, and art, and did care, in his twisted and dangerous way of course, about some people - bellatrix, most of all.

he screamed when she died. he tried to avenge her. he had a daughter with her. and in all honesty i can’t really see him having an aseptic one-night-stand sex for some heir-conceiving frenzy, it’s terribly out of character for someone who’s been planning to live forever and being the world’s eternal dictator since he was six years old. i’m sure delphini was a mistake and this means he was actively having sex with bellatrix, the said most loyal lieutenant, whom he tried to avenge, whom he screamed for, to whom he literally entrusted a piece of his own torn soul (how awfully romantic). bellatrix who was basically almost seen as a queen by everyone, incredibly feared and respected. bellatrix who was always behind him, and yet ahead of everyone else in every single battle/meeting/situation - and he let her. do you think someone like voldemort would have allowed anyone to be that annoying if he had not enjoyed it? anyone else would have been killed for much less. bellatrix who had talent, and courage, and the strength to never give up for all those years in azkaban, just to one day see him again. i think him intelligent and deep enough to be fascinated by that, especially if that beautiful mind was as twisted as his own. also i think him intelligent enough to value beauty: the beauty of magic, of nature, of her body. all those sentiments are linked and they absolutely don’t diminish the horrors in my mind, they just magnify them.

but i also think their relationship, as twisted and complicated and unhealthy as it might have been, wasn’t a degraded slave and master one. leaving aside the fact i don’t think he would have enjoyed to fuck a worthless worm at all and that bellatrix can be literally perceived as anything but that, i think he viewed sex as something deeply human, and therefore far beneath him. extremely good-looking as he was, i think he considered women something he would have never lessened himself with.

then why having sex with bellatrix and favor her, even publicly, even if in a really subtle way? the only possible answer is there were sentiments involved, admiration for her, trust in her, desire for her beyond reason, even. i also think he would have only ever allowed himself to appear that human with someone he literally trusted more than his very self. i don’t want to explore here all the possible implications and internal crisis this might have caused them both, but this is why they probably are my favorite fictional couple and that’s why i’m so fascinated by them both. they do fall in the trope, but not as the normal “pure girl saves villain” kind of way, but in a much higher one: what’s really perfect about them is they found each other in darkness, they are kindred spirits in power and terror, and yet this doesn’t mean they can’t love or care, but just that it’s a black kind of love they share. a terrible one.

i think bellatrix was the great woman behind the great man, whom he rewarded publicly, and dashingly and twistingly loved privately. and if we can’t really see him doing any of those things, it’s because he succeeded in making us just see the terrible mask of voldemort, finally becoming the hideous myth that could so safely protect and immortalize the broken, desperate and exceptionally talented tom riddle.

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Darchey: Did voldemort ever love a girl

J.K. Rowling: No, he loved only power, and himself. He valued people whom he could use to advance his own objectives.

What do you think of this remark?

Hector Dagworth-Granger, founder of the Most Extraordinary Society of Potioneers, explains: “Powerful infatuations can be induced by the skilful potioneer, but never yet has anyone managed to create the truly unbreakable, eternal, unconditional attachment that alone can be called Love.”

- Tales of Beedle the Bard

What Voldemort is incapable of is this, because that is how love is defined in HP.

Does Voldemort feel that kind of love for anyone other than himself? No. But that does not mean he feels nothing for Bellatrix. He has shown multiple times in the books that she means to him more than any other living creature. Agape is what Voldemort is incapable of, but there is plenty of grey area between that and indifference.

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That disappointed and horrified look on their face when they ask who are my comfort characters and my answer is; Lord Voldemort, Bellatrix and Delphini Riddle… 😊🫶🏻✨

And yours 👀?

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Foreshadowing of Delphi in Spinner's End?

What Bella says, often casually, always ends up happening. In the Department of Mysteries, she talked about Voldemort coming to the Ministry and it happened. When she thought the Cup was stolen missing she said they'd all perish if Voldemort found out, and when he did he killed everyone in sight. She was the only one who said Snape was a traitor and she was right.

“You should be proud!” said Bellatrix ruthlessly. “If I had sons, I would be glad to give them up to the service of the Dark Lord!”

Here she is talking about her hypothetical children rather casually, just as she casually dismissed the notion of Voldemort coming to the Ministry. Knowing what we do about Delphi now, this can be read as foreshadowing her birth.

Credits to @waterloobridge for pointing this out. Great catch!

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Officially a Death Eater since today 🐍😭🖤

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Bellamort is so perfect... He couldn't love her the same way... but he did care, they were very close. He loved her in his twisted way. He was even mad at himself for being so vulnerable, for caring too much, maybe he wanted to kill her at some point for making him feel that way. But he couldn't do anything about it. Maybe he tried, in the beginning, distancing himself. He must have tried many times to fight his and Bella's feelings… But he couldn't. He couldn't punish her for her loyalty, that would be very stupid of him and Tom was everything but stupid. Her devotion was what made him respect her even more. He couldn't kill someone who genuinely loved him. He couldn't kill her for trying to protect every single part of him, including Delphi. That wouldn't make sense. Again, Tom wasn't stupid. And yet he risked everything for her. And the very last thing he did before his own death was try to avenge her death. It wasn't your typical relationship... it was very unhealthy, toxic and twisted, but we're talking about two of the darkest wizards of their time... and yet we can say; Lord Voldemort was helpless when it came to Bellatrix.

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And anyway the movies have caused a lot of problems for those who haven't read the books about Delphi's story. Reading Half-Blood Prince I wondered where the hell Bellatrix had gone and only with Cursed Child did I get a sensible answer.

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3. 8, and 9 for Bellamort please!!!

thanks for the ask, @celestemagnoliathewriter! and thanks for picking one of the more functional couples on the list. which says a lot about me...

[ship asks here]

3. what was their first impression of each other?

bellatrix likes power and lord voldemort has that in spades [whereas poor, nervous-looking rodolphus does not]. the first night they met, his menacing charisma was enough that she decided she could live with the red eyes.

voldemort noticed that she wasn't afraid of him, but that she was desperately impressed by him. he considered that the perfect reaction.

8. what do they love most about the other? why?

"love" is obviously a strong word to use in this case [although i'll die on the hill that it's appropriate]...

it's clear in canon that bellatrix transcends the gendered expectations placed upon her, and that she is one of the few pureblood women known to the story who do. she has no children, her marriage is completely irrelevant to the story, she has - in some senses - a job, and so on. her character arc is still entirely defined by a man, of course, but she is one of the few adult women in the series who is allowed to exist outside of a domestic or pseudo-domestic [like a boarding school, for example] context.

and when i'm trying to expand her in my own writing, i like to think of this as the result of deliberate choice, of straining against traditions by which she feels entrapped. unlike a lot of bellatrix fans, for example, i think her marriage to rodolphus is a miserable one, an unsuccessful arranged marriage neither had a choice in, and i think she had ambitions [to travel, to work] which were cut short by her marriage and which joining the death eaters offered her a chance to escape [although don't get me wrong, the opportunity to engage in sectarian terrorism against muggleborns was her main motivation].

the desire to make one's own life - to refuse to be constrained by things like one's father, or the expectations of one's social class - is something voldemort understands very well. a big question with this pairing is what they actually have meaningfully in common - well, this is one thing, and it's something he genuinely admires in her.

he also likes her hair, but he wouldn't admit that.

for bellatrix, the same is true - voldemort is, and isn't this a depressing thought, the only man in her life who not only doesn't care about her rejection of social norms but encourages them, and whose terrifying authority means that her unusual existence within pureblood society cannot be questioned. rodolphus wasn't pleased about his wife getting private lessons in the dark arts - and not just because half of them took place with her bent over the dark lord's desk - but he couldn't say anything about it or he'd end up getting murdered. voldemort provides her with a dual freedom and protection which she finds very valuable.

9. what do they dislike most about the other? why?

that he listens to her but never takes her advice. you just know she was screaming at that soul baby in the afterlife about how he ignored all her warnings about snape.

that she makes him look weak in front of the other death eaters.

before the flaw in the plan, after which he's in pure "reject-all-human-emotion" mode, voldemort actually tolerates a surprising amount of affection from bellatrix: he allows her to be physically very close to him; to talk to him in front of the other death eaters in ways which hint to the relationship between them; to refer to herself as his favourite [snape must know that voldemort permits this, since he's so keen to mock her with it in spinner's end]; to - if you accept the idea - be visibly pregnant with his baby [something which makes clear he's still just a man underneath it all...].

she causes him to fuck up a lot of things: she makes him blow a full year of cover so she doesn't get arrested in the ministry; she summons him back from his elder wand mission to chaos at malfoy manor; she gives away the location of his horcrux because she's incapable of subtlety; but she seems to get away with only the most minor punishment [after the cock-up at the manor, lucius malfoy is described as clearly having been physically attacked by voldemort, bellatrix is just getting the silent treatment.]

she's a nightmare, but lord voldemort is down bad. he hates it.

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Voldemort's level of attachment to Bellatrix: upon her death he loses control of his magic. Him, Lord Voldemort. And there are those who dare say that they were not together.

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Question for my fellow Bellamort fans. So I was reading some Rowling interview bits about Bellatrix as a character and her dynamic with Voldemort, and it is really in the pits. She says she enjoyed killing Bellatrix the most of any character, lol. So what exactly did she mean for the ship? What we have discussed and dissected is supported by canon, but the way Row talks about it in interviews.. I don't know. Her vision of the dynamic/relationship seems a bit unclear to me.... Thoughts? Opinions? Curses? Essays?

That’s such a good question. The short of it would be that yes, their relationship is supposed to be there, but there is also intentional leeway to keep it ambiguous and be able to walk it back, if needed.

To expand on that – it looks to me like many things and events mentioned in the books retain an intentional level of ambiguity on JK Rowling's part, so that she doesn’t write herself into a corner and can always shift things if needed. This is the case with the Time-Turners, for instance, and I think it's the case with some of the characters as well, including Bella. When she is first mentioned, there is no obvious connection between her and Sirius or Narcissa. Even when Voldemort mentions the Lestranges the moment he comes back, although it's clear that he holds them in great esteem, I don't know how much was planned for them beyond that. For all I know, Bellatrix and Rodolphus might have been the ultimate power couple - until Bella actually showed up on the page and things went the way they did. 

The other thing worth mentioning is something I recall her saying with regards to the Black family tree (I can't find the link, but I'm sure I'm not mad) - that there were stories woven into it. And there are stories intentionally woven into the series as well, of which we only get snippets. The focus is understandably on the main characters, but there are little references or events mentioned that give so much richness to the universe. If someone has interest in a particular character, chances are there's going to be some curious line thrown in about that character - just enough to pique your interest, to leave you wanting more.

So in that context, every single line on Bellatrix and Voldemort is intentional. There's NO way she would write "happier than he had been in fourteen years" in as many words, using that precise number, focusing on Bellatrix in the very next scene, if she hadn't meant for readers to make the connection. As with all great stories, this is particularly obvious in hindsight, after he's blown his cover for her sake at the Ministry. And every one of their scenes after that adds to it. Now, I don't think their relationship was ever meant to be front and center, or in any way pretty/healthy - it's just stuff happening in the background, if you care to look. 

I feel like JK Rowling giving her blessing to the existence of Delphini was her way of acknowledging in a very definitive way this story that she had sprinkled clues for throughout the books. And I find that really cool, actually (if I had been around in this fandom before the play was released, I would've felt soooo vindicated that Bellamort was so unequivocally enshrined in canon that I probably would never shut up about it).

And yes, I remember that interview where she said she was happy to kill off Bella - I think that might be her "official" stance on the villains, considering the audience etc? She did break my heart with that, though. And I genuinely hope that Bellatrix was fun to write, because she is SO much fun to read. 🖤

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Exactly… and I’m so sad we didn’t get any real interaction between them :/

There has to be more to Delphi relationship to Voldemort because not only does she have her own title (The Augurey) but a flag flown over the Ministry. That says she is his right hand woman. (Much like her mother.) And has a place all the death eaters thought they were going to get.

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just thinking...

1.Bellatrix Lestrange knew about Tom being half-blood. 2.Bellatrix Lestrange was the highest ranking DE, Wormtail was a joke to LV and Barty Jr would be the second one if he was alive. Lucius was constantly bullied by Tom. Snape wasn't the highest ranking. 3. Snape was a double spy, Snape was very useful, no one is denying his importance, but Tom didn't trust him 100% (that's why he sent Wormtail to Spinner's end) 4.Tom punished Bellatrix but never too much and rarely physically. 5. Bellatrix was the only one who probably knew about the horcruxes (she was ceratain that Voldemort wasn't dead after 10/31/1981. And she knew how important the cup was, that's why she freaked out at Malfoy Manor) 6.Bellamort was present throughout the books = Bellamort had been canon before TCC was released. 7.Delphini's existence makes complete sense.

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this, omg <3, I've been thinking and saying the same

I’ve been on a really weird HP kick the past few days (and by HP I mean Bellamort) and one of the scenes which has been ruminating in my head is when Bellatrix dies and Voldemort’s rage explodes like a bomb. Beyond the obviously visceral emotional reaction, what makes this scene so interesting is that his rage is embodied in a blast of magic. The way I’ve always interpreted this is that for a brief moment he was so enraged that he lost control of his magic. This is particularly notable for several reasons.

Magic can be volatile. Hard to control. Wizards and witches specifically use wands because it always much more control over their magic. Particularly talented wizards are able to eventually use wandless magic, although the use of a wand still seems to be preferred for various reasons. 

Due to the unpredictability of magic children are often sent to a magical boarding school in order to learn and hone their power. However, as shown throughout the books because kids are kids they can be prone to magical outburst when dealing with intense emotions (eg. Harry ballooning up a relative for being a bitch). 

That said, Tom Riddle Jr was observed to be particularly proficient in controlling his magic, even at a young age. He’s shown to be one of the few (only?) wizards to use wandless magic regularly as well. My point is his magical abilities were extraordinary and his embracing of those abilities only served to perfect his skills far beyond other wizards. 

Yet

When Bellatrix dies his internal reaction is so great that his magic explodes outward. 

There’s no other point to this ramble other than to say what a powerful moment it is in the books.