The Fear

[Alz]

OK - I touched upon this in another thread ... but figure it might be worthy of it's own discussions ...

We know that Dumbledore was the only one Voldemort ever feared - and he really did fear him ...

In HBP we were treated to a huge amount of background and past information on both Riddle and Dumbledore ...
I never really saw any indications in the pensive moments of Riddle fearing Dumbledore ... not outright anyways ...

Question is - what made Riddle fear Dumbledore?
What clues or facts exisit in the previous books to support this fear?

[Boing]

This is not by any means the whole reason, but I think some of it might have to do with the amount of power Dumbledore had and the fact that Dumbledore never seemed phased by him. He couldn't read Dumbledore, couldn't control Dumbledore like everyone else. He feared him because Dumbledore wasn't afraid of him.

Now, I think that this could have caused a wariness, but as for the major cause of the fear, perhaps there was something more to it - something that happened between the two of them (or that was witnessed by Voldemort) that made him outright fear Dumbledore.

[kashlie]

I agree with Boing here. Dumbledore never let Riddle control him, or 'sweet talk' him, as he managed with many others,
I am a little confused with timelines here, but when did Dumbledore defeat Grindlewald? Perhaps Riddle idolised Grindewald?
Dumbledore may have even spoken face to face with Riddle at some point, and told him he knows what he is and he'll always be watching?
I think we saw in DD's office in Voldemort's request when his fear became obvious. Something more than rejection occured in that room. Maybe Voldemort even tried to use legilimency on Dumbledore, but failed, only seeing how powerful DD's mind was (mind over matter and all that).

[Alz]

I think that would be good ground for Voldemort to avoid Dumbledore - I mean he was a private person - much said about him being a loaner ... but to fear him - nah ...

Voldemort has seen and embraced many things that would turn most people's hair white with fear - in order for him to know fear himself - I think that Dumbledore plays on one of his darkest fears .. something he really dislikes ...
I thought it might be because Dumbledore cared for him - we have seen all this about how Riddle never knew love - he was a scary brat so no-one wanted to play with him or mother him in the orphanage ...
I think Dumbledore might have done what he always did and looked at Riddle as someone he would look after - change and make normal and fuctional - from Riddle's point of view it was like someone was taking an interest in him - someone was doing something he didnt know how to explain ... take an interest.

I think that is what I was feeling when Riddle came into the school in Dumbledore's pensive moment to ask for a job - it just felt wierd reading it ...

[Tonks]

Even early on at Hogwarts, Dumbledore didn't see through Tom Riddle like the rest of the other teachers. I think this may have even had something to do with the fact that Dumbledore knew more about Tom than the rest of the staff - he had picked him up at the orphanage and seen what kind of a boy he was before he got to school and that gave him a bit of a clue as to what Tom was capable of later on..

Naturally, Tom would probably be a little wary of the one adult he knew that didn't think he was all that..

When Dumbledore took Dippet's place and wouldn't give Tom the job, that probably made him more aware that Dumbledore wasn't someone he could just push around, but instead he was someone that would need to be reckoned with - he'd never encountered someone else that stood up to him like that..

And on top of it all, Dumbledore was a very powerful wizard who defeated Grindelwald - so along with the power he had the capabilities to put Tom in his place..

[Fortescue]

Riddle mentioned to Harry in the Chamber that Dumbledore kept an annoyingly close eye on him after he got Hagrid expelled. I got the feeling that Dumbledore kept a close eye on Tom from day one. His arrogance alone was enough for Dumbledore to be suspicious, let alone the fact that he was already using his magic to hurt others. For someone who didn't know what they were doing was magic, he seemed to catch on rather quickly. I wonder what Tom thought he was doing, or what he thought was making things happen around him? He said he knew he was special, but what could he have thought he was doing when he enchanted the stolen objects? None of that part of the book makes sense.

I do think Voldemort's Request had something to do with his fear of Dumbledore when he realized how closely Dumbledore was still watching him - close enough to know what he'd been up to and who he was hanging out with. That would be enough to scare someone like Voldemort.

[Weasleyfanforever]

I just want to add to this: I do think Voldemort's Request had something to do with his fear of Dumbledore when he realized how closely Dumbledore was still watching him - close enough to know what he'd been up to and who he was hanging out with. That would be enough to scare someone like Voldemort.

Voldemort revels in secrecy, it's that veil of secrecy that helps him accomplish what he does, and I think Dumbledore following him, knowing what he has been doing, and figuring out large parts of his plans would have made him fear him in some way. He wanted everyone to be taken by surprise when he returned, but he had Dumbledore and Harry stumping about and telling everyone with a set of ears that he was back. Not everyone believed them, but it made sure that a lot more people were able to ready and protect themselves. It foiled his great plans, he failed. I think that is why he feared Dumbledore in OotP, and during his first reign, he thought Dumbledore was the only one that could make him fail...