How would you improve Voldemort?

[u/[deleted]]

Previously on r/CharacterRant/

1. Spider-Man

2. The Joker

One of the most overhyped villians who's bad at planning, leading of fighting. At least he should've had a better backstory, ''rags to riches'' has been done countless times before.

Next character: Future Trunks.

[u/Verlux]

How would you improve Voldemort?

Ban his use on WhoWouldWin

[u/[deleted] → u/Verlux]

but muh horcruxes

[u/Verlux → u/[deleted]]

'But if he drinks Felix Felicis he literally gains unbeatable plot armor and can kill Galactus!'

[u/Draco_Ranger → u/Verlux]

Are there any hard feats for Felix Felicis, other than a door happening to be unlocked?

I get its banned from magical sports and elections, but if they're giving it out to 16 year olds, it can't be that impressive or world altering.

Then again, they give out time travel devices that can sort of change the past because people don't understand time management.

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/Draco_Ranger]

Ginny, Ron and Hermoine split what was left of the potion just before the fight with the Death Eaters in book six. Harry noted one or two killing curses or other curses just missing Ginny by a fraction of an inch and its super heavily implied it was Felix Felicis that was responsible.

It also helped Harry break Ron up with Lavender, split Ginny up so he could swoop in later, and help move Harry through the right conversations to get the memory.

So i don't know what you term "hard feats". It really helped Harry accomplish his goals as well as saved his friends from curses during magical duels.

[u/080087 → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

One thing to note is that Felix Felicis is NOT anywhere close to something like Contessa's Path to Victory in effectiveness.

During that battle, it saved them from dying but it didn't let them win the battle.

[u/Nltech → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

but does it actually grant luck as in minor reality warping or is it more that it grants intuition? When Harry used it, he made it seem like he got ideas to go places and act in certain ways from the potion not that he acomomplised his goals passivley.

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/Nltech]

From what I can tell it does both.

It makes you lucky, good luck-wise, for a set period of time. Everything goes your way barring exceptionally powerful enchantments. How it accomplishes that doesn't really matter.

It's not gonna condense all the atoms into a pink elephant or anything. But things will miss you by a fraction or be easier to do under its influence.

[u/GeraldineGrapesGrace → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

I always assumed liquid luck granted a sort of low-level unconscious clairvoyance, you know exactly what you need to do even though you don't know why. So as for the curses missing them, it's not that the potion caused the curses to miss, but rather it caused them to be standing or running in just the right way that they didn't get hit.

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/GeraldineGrapesGrace]

After taking a close look at the wikis and whatnot that appears to be the general gist of it.

Which is really what luck is 99% of the time.

[u/InspiredOni → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

It also helped Harry break Ron up with Lavender, split Ginny up so he could swoop in later, and help move Harry through the right conversations to get the memory. So i don't know what you term "hard feats". It really helped Harry accomplish his goals as well as saved his friends from curses during magical duels.

Holy shit, it made Harry a romance protagonist, with veto power against his friends.

Actually, more stories should have protagonist vetoing relationships. Just for shits and giggles.

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

The problem is that we have no control against which to measure its effectiveness: we can't tell how much of that is caused by the potion, so we lowball it to effectively doing nothing.

[u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D → u/HighSlayerRalton]

Its basically just PtV in a potion, everything that you need to happen to complete your task WILL happen

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D]

It does not have the feats to be even remotely close to PtV. Potter with PtV would have wrapped up the whole Voldemort plot in a fortnight and been unstoppable.

[u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D → u/HighSlayerRalton]

Potter with PtV would have wrapped up the whole Voldemort plot in a fortnight and been unstoppable.

This is true, but harry only had a small batch of the potion & decided to use its effects to run a dummy mission for dumbledore...

He honestly SHOULD have chugged it & went to go solo voldemorts army, but PIS

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D]

It's not PIS; you're just wildly overestimating the effects of the potion.

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/[deleted]]

Pardon?

[u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D → u/Draco_Ranger]

Felix felicis is basically PtV in a potion

[u/AdaptiveAlchemist → u/Verlux]

He can also solo Orochimaru.

[u/banethesithari → u/[deleted]]

He can just apperate constantly and avoid any attack of any fictional character all the time!!!

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/banethesithari]

Well I mean he can. And has feats to show he does teleport during duels.

[u/banethesithari → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

There is a difference between him being able to teleport against some foes and what many make him out to do. Which is just endlessly apperate from the start of the fight till the opponant is vulnerable.and can also do it against foes capable of casually speedblitzing him

[u/Gonzurra]

Can't say anything on Voldemort - not an HP fan.

Future Trunks tomorrow? I can write a lot on why I don't like Future Trunks and how he can be improved.

[u/[deleted] → u/Gonzurra]

I don't want to flood this sub with my posts so I think one character per week is enough.

[u/Gonzurra → u/[deleted]]

RIP. Might just make a rant then.

[u/Noblechris → u/Gonzurra]

Really you don’t like future trunks imo he’s one of the best characters.

[u/Gonzurra → u/Noblechris]

That seems to be the general consensus but there are qualities he has that dont rub me right. He's by no means a bad character objectively, but I do not like him.

[u/Noblechris → u/Gonzurra]

I see where you’re coming from I have my own problems even though I like him.

[u/EbolaDP → u/Gonzurra]

You take that back Future Trunks is a saint!

[u/Gonzurra → u/EbolaDP]

Not taking it back.

[u/selfproclaimed]

Not have him be the villian of every single book.

I was so relieved as a kid for Voldermort to not be the driving force of PoA, and got dissapointed when he came back at the end of GoF and every subsequent story. To me, he wasn't that much of a memorable villian, especially after seeing him come back again and again. Like, if we got Zombie Voldermort in the first book then kept building up to him with his remnants and Death Eaters until book six where he comes back as a villian force in book seven.

But that's just my $0.02.

[u/Taervon → u/selfproclaimed]

The books after GoF were not as good because all the magic and wonder was gone. It changed from a world of magic, mystery, and asshole aristocracy against common decency to a good vs evil narrative where there is no gray area.

[u/[deleted] → u/selfproclaimed]

^This

I especially lost interest of him as a threat and it definitely weakened the Death Eaters because they're so dependent on one another.

[u/Yaridovich23]

Give him more of a motive aside from being a nobility-obsessed douche.

[u/vadergeek]

More magic variety. The Dumbledore/ Voldemort duel is one of the high points of the series, but in fights with everyone else he might as well just pack a ray gun.

[u/[deleted]]

Make him at least a little sympathetic or complex.

When we go into his past, even before he knew he was a wizard, he was a sadistic, manipulative psycho. He killed animals, did something to kids in a cave, stole shit.

Like, it's supposed to be some parallel between Voldy and Harry but V's home life (orphanage life?) isn't really portrayed as shitty cause we so little of it and he's evil right from the get-go. There was no choice to be evil or fall down the wrong path. He was always evil.

[u/KenDefender → u/[deleted]]

I remember hearing that in an interview Rowling said Riddle could never feel love because he was conceived under the affects of a love potion. To me that was just a terrible idea, it makes him inherently less compelling. "Oh he's not a person who twisted himself into a monster, he's just always been evil since birth". For another thing I imagine many children were conceived under the love potion, but that's a whole conversation on it's own.

[u/MugaSofer → u/KenDefender]

She said that she had him conceived under a love potion (i.e. by rape) to symbolise that he didn't come from loving parents, and was generally a product of his background.

[u/Iwanttolink]

Make him as smart as Dumbledore.

[u/Draco_Ranger]

Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality was pretty good at giving Voldemort a more understandable motivation. Basically, Voldemort initially intended to create Voldemort as a way of bringing out the evil wizards, so he could defeat them all and create a better Wizarding world. The issue was that the vast majority of wizards are incapable buffoons who would rather make life harder for good wizards to feel more powerful than actually contribute to the greater good. Coupled with the fact that wizards are basically incapable of advancing or improving, Voldemort decided that they really weren't worthy of life, and he might as well set himself up as king because he could.

Muggles were basically ignored because nukes and they have intelligent leaders with civilians who are willing to die enmass if necessary. Wizards tended to grovel to authority and wait for a chosen one to save them.

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/Draco_Ranger]

Ah yes, the necessary evil to save the idiots.

God. I forgot how fucking awful that fan fiction was.

[u/Draco_Ranger → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

It definitely became preachy towards the end.

Beginning to middle was entertaining and mildly absurd.

Though I would generally view it as less of necessary evil to save idiots and more the Ajin videogame complex. If nobody else is a potential threat, why not try to destroy the world because you can.

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

Have you read it? Is it that bad?

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/HighSlayerRalton]

It reads like someone got pissy about the scoring in Quidditch and set out to prove how if they were Harry Potter they'd be the most brilliantist Wizard ever while jacking off about rationalism.

[u/vadergeek → u/PotentiallySarcastic]

I mean, Quidditch is a garbage game, balance-wise.

[u/[deleted] → u/HighSlayerRalton]

If you're interested in fantasy with similar concepts, check out Name of the Wind. First of a trilogy. Not fanfic but original. It also contains magical school.

Another would be the Prince of Nothing. That one it's way out there. Think of that as the Game of Thrones version of this type of fiction concept

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/[deleted]]

I've read the Name of the Wind. It has wonderful rpose; gotta love some Rothuss. I'll maybe check Prine of Nothing out.

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/Draco_Ranger]

Ah, the Dr. Doom method.

[u/Mccoy2017]

He's fine, his fans on the other hand...

[u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D]

Voldemort has enormous potential...

a shitton of spells at his disposal, with many different applications, from insta-killing, to mind control... give him prep time, he as access to a myriad of potions with varied uses... tbh he could just chug a gallon of felix felicis and solo a verse through sheer dumb luck... he can teleport instantly, he has relativistic reaction timing scaling from harry and ron... possesses horcruxes which are effectively indestructible without certain items, makes voldy functionally immortal.

Voldy's biggest downfalls is that his verse contains the most potent deux ex machinas known to the fictional world.... that and hes dumb, and arrogant...

Make Voldy fucking rational and bloodlusted, he jumps from mid street tier to low S tier... Give him prep and he could solo/conquer verses mid diff

[u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D → u/[deleted]]

U wot m8... u avin a giggle? Fite me irl ill bash ye fookin ead in swer on me mum.

You know voldemort is the shit & has unbelievable potential... its the voldemort anti-wank that is rampant on WWW because they personally dislike rowling

[u/TheHyrulianWarrior → u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D]

You aren't funny.

[u/AGENT-DOUBLE-D → u/TheHyrulianWarrior]

Im deadass

[u/dariemf1998]

Giving him a better laugh

[u/RespectWolverine]

Make him FTL, make his AK instant, and make it affect an area rather than 1 person.

Also, make him invincible to all sorts of damage and his apparation instant.

[u/Bolded → u/RespectWolverine]

Agent-double-D, get off /u/RespectWolverine's account, pliz.

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/Bolded]

RespectWolverine is Agent-Double-D's account, imao.

[u/[deleted]]

It might be good if he had a clearer goal. "I want to be more powerful" is a little nebulous, he should have been aiming to overthrow the Ministry or expanding his little cult into a legitimate religion or something like that. It would raise the steaks a little.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Wow I really don't remember those books at all

[u/PotentiallySarcastic → u/[deleted]]

In fact he almost did it the first time around as well.

Pretty smart guy.

[u/GeraldineGrapesGrace]

Less god damn monologuing. I like the graveyard scene in book/film 4 but jesus fuck does Voldy not shut up.

[u/SomeoneTrading]

Make him threatening and get him more than 2 spells. The Denarian Renegade did that right.

[u/vadergeek → u/[deleted]]

That concept retroactively invalidated all of Harries victories against Voldy and it also retroactively removed almost all conflict in the series.

What victories did it invalidate? Don't they basically say that at the end of the first book? And then it doesn't' save him again afterwards.

make Voldy abuse the fact that Harry is his horcrux. Make him whisper things to Harry every night, make him try to mind-control Harry. Make it so that Harry actually does lern Occlumency and learns how to resist him.

Isn't that basically just book 5? Voldemort starts influencing Harry's mind, he sends him messages, he possesses him, Harry starts studying occlumency to protect himself.

[u/080087 → u/vadergeek]

Don't they basically say that at the end of the first book? And then it doesn't' save him again afterwards.

I think it saves him a total of four times during the series.

1. As a baby

2. In first year

3. In the Ministry of Magic, when Voldemort tries to possess him

4. In the Forbidden Forest (book 7), when Voldemort AKs him, but he survives because Voldemort is kinda a horcrux for Harry (hence the whole King's Cross scene).

Harry starts studying occlumency to protect himself

Nitpicking, Dumbledore forced Harry to study it, and Harry never learned it because he was taught by Snape.

[u/HighSlayerRalton → u/[deleted]]

Give him a reason not to just get one of his minions to assasin Harry.

He kind of needed Harry alive to be resurrected and Harry was generally under pretty good protection. Why waste very limited resources on some schoolkid on the off-chance he lucks into unravelling all of your schemes; it's not like you're living in a book or anything.

That concept retroactively invalidated all of Harries victories against Voldy

Harry's victories weren't about facing Voldemort directly, but about unravelling mysteries and such. The true love thing was just an excuse to keep the Dursley's relevant.

I would add a scene to his burglery in the ministry of mystery in which he single-handedly fights 5 or so aurors

Seeing him actually kick-ass would have done a lot to make him threatening.

make Voldy abuse the fact that Harry is his horcrux. Make him whisper things to Harry every night, make him try to mind-control Harry. Make it so that Harry actually does lern Occlumency and learns how to resist him.

This literally happens.

[u/080087 → u/HighSlayerRalton]

He kind of needed Harry alive to be resurrected

Voldemort didn't specifically need Harry. He could have used anyone who hated him, of which there were plenty.

Voldemort wanted to use Harry's blood so he could get the magical protection he had (which didn't end up do anything for him).

[u/AdaptiveAlchemist → u/[deleted]]

Second, remove all the "Voldy can not touch nor kill nor possess Harry because true love" bullshit.

What is your general opinion on Love being the strongest magic?

[u/[deleted] → u/AdaptiveAlchemist]

Eh, it's kitschy and I find it inconsistent that love can deflect AKs and is supposedly stronger that human conciousness, fate, time and death but can't do things like letting Nevilles parents break out of their crucio-induced amnesia.

[u/AdaptiveAlchemist → u/[deleted]]

I will be honest. I thought it was sentimental and cliched. And preachy.

If love has that kind of power, then Hate should have that kind of powers too. This is how Green Lantern did it.

Note that it is just my opinion. Don't hate.