What Would Voldemort’s Boggart Turn Into?

In the harrowing world of the Harry Potter series, the character of Lord Voldemort stands as a formidable antagonist, driven not merely by ambition, but by an escalating fear of the ultimate end—death. This blind apprehension led him to create Horcruxes, splintering his soul into pieces to cheat death. Yet, if placed before a boggart, one could predict the disquieting form it would take for the Dark Lord.

The boggart, a shape-shifting creature in the wizarding world, always manifests the form that most terrorizes its witness. For Voldemort, who viewed death as an insidious specter that thwarted his youth and denied him love and familial ties, his boggart would indeed reveal his deepest dread: his own corpse.

However, a more nuanced and terrifying scenario might involve his mother weeping over him, highlighting a dual fear of death and love. The absence of his mother in his early years due to her tragic death likely engendered a profound sense of loss and a deeper fear of the impending unknown. His inability to feel love and the realization that it remained a source of his undoing—a love that could not be extinguished by even the most grievous of acts—would make his mother’s mourning an even more chilling vision.

The Dark Lord’s Fears Unveiled

Fear of Death

Toshio Riddle, before his misguided path, grew to adulthood without the comfort of familial bonds. The absence of his mother and fathers' unpredictable nature went beyond mere physical loss; it was a void in nurturing, leading to his deep-seated fear of death. In his youth, the knowledge that he would not have known comfort, care, or love had his parents survived would have amplified his dread, mirroring his desperate attempts to cheat death through Horcruxes. The boggart would manifest as his own corpse, symbolizing the ultimate victory of the cold, lifeless void he feared.

Fear of Love

Contrary to popular belief, Voldemort's profound hatred of his muggle relatives stemmed from more than just an antipathy toward their inherent muggleness. He feared love, an emotion that was a significant absence in his early life and a constant in Harry's. His inability to touch Harry, driven by the love Harry shared with his mother, signified Voldemort's fear of attachment and the warmth it brings. The boggart would show his mother shed in tears over his dead body, a poignant reminder of the love that could not be broken, even by his malicious deeds. This pathetic scene would underscore the folly of his pursuit of power, as love, the very thing that could have saved him, instead defined his ultimate downfall.

The Unlucky Killing Curse

One of the most pivotal moments in the series is when Voldemort's Killing Curse, rebounded from Harry's Expelliarmus, did not leave him in ashes. Instead, it left him vulnerable, exposed, and in a state that echoed the helpless infant form he had once been. Here, the boggart would not show a menacing figure of death but the embodiment of untouched vulnerability, the very contrast to the inviolable figure he aspired to be. This would be his greatest fear coming true, a corpse of the very self he was trying to conflate with immortality.

Logical Conclusion

Given these fears and Voldemort's psychological makeup, a boggart for him would unfailingly reveal his own corpse. However, adding the poignant and sorrowful image of his mother weeping over it would capture the duality of his worst nightmares: an end to his existence and the realization that his soul was severed from the warmth and connection he craved.

Thus, a boggart for Voldemort would not only be a terrifying sight but a poignant reminder of the love that could not be extinguished, the very essence that defined his undoing.