When did Tom Riddle get his new face?

Question

Recently I asked about the effects of the Rudimentary Body potion pertaining to Voldemorts new face. However I was corrected by Slytherincess...

Well, I think the confusion comes with mixing movie canon with book canon. In Philosopher's Stone, here's what Harry sees when Quirrell unwraps his turban:

Harry would have screamed, but he couldn’t make a sound. Where there should have been a back to Quirrell’s head, there was a face, the most terrible face Harry had ever seen. It was chalk white with glaring red eyes and slits for nostrils, like a snake.

Philosopher's Stone - page 212 - UK - chapter 17, The Man With Two Faces

So it seems at some point between leaving school, and sticking his face to the back of Quirrel's head possessing Quirrel he got a new face some how.

How did he manage that? Is it some dark magic he applies? Is it from possessing snakes in Albania?

Answer 1

Here's a bit from Half-Blood Prince:

Harry let out a hastily stifled gasp. Voldemort had entered the room. His features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the great stone cauldron almost two years before; they were not as snakelike, the eyes were not yet scarlet, the face not yet masklike, and yet he was no longer handsome Tom Riddle. It was as though his features had been burned and blurred; they were waxy and oddly distorted, and the whites of the eyes now had a permanently bloody look, though the pupils were not yet the slits that Harry knew they would become. He was wearing a long black cloak and his face was as pale as the snow glistening on his shoulders.

The Dumbledore behind the desk showed no sign of surprise. Evidently this visit had been made by appointment.

‘Good evening, Tom,’ said Dumbledore easily. ‘Won’t you sit down?’

‘Thank you,’ said Voldemort, and he took the seat to which Dumbledore had gestured – the very seat, by the looks of it, that Harry had just vacated in the present. ‘I heard that you had become Headmaster,’ he said, and his voice was slightly higher and colder than it had been. ‘A worthy choice.’

Half-Blood Prince - page 413 - British Hardcover - chapter 20, Lord Voldemort's Request

I briefly touched on this in What Order Were the Horcruxes Made In. According to the HP LEXICON, Dumbledore was made headmaster of Hogwarts circa 1956. Voldemort appears to be acknowledging Dumbledore's appointment as if it were relatively recent to their visit, so I think it's safe to estimate Dumbledore's memory in the pensieve in Lord Voldemort's Request occurred around circa 1956 - 1957. Voldemort had resurfaced after having gone missing for ten years, immediately following the murder of Hepzibah Smith circa 1946.

In Hokey the House-elf's memory of Tom Riddle meeting with Hepzibah Smith, where he covets the Slytherin locket and the Hufflepuff cup, Harry notices flashes of scarlet in Tom Riddle's eyes here and there, so if you count that as part of his face changing, then it can be demonstrated as early as circa 1946. This scene is also in chapter 20 of HBP, Lord Voldemort's Request.

I postulate that Voldemort's face had begun changing between 1946 and 1956 or 1957, and continued to morph into the terrible visage it became over subsequent years.

The reason for the change in Voldemort's features was his complete immersion in dark, evil magic, including the creation of five Horcruxes by the time he met with Dumbledore in 1956-ish, and the repeated splitting of his soul through murder. Why did he happen to look like a snake? I'm guessing because he was a Slytherin, a Parselmouth, and seemed to admire snakes, as evidenced by his ownership of Nagini. Also, snakes are stealthy, self-sufficient, and potentially lethal (depending on the variety of snake). It may also have been a nod to his ancestry, Voldemort being the last direct descendant of Salazar Slytherin.

Answer 2

Voldemort's face had not fully changed when he had the work appointment with Dumbledore. However, it had minor changes. This was probably around about the time it started to change, the year then was 1956, or something around 1956. This is a bit from Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 20, Lord Voldemort's Request, the memory of his appointment with Dumbledore.

Harry let out a hastily stifled gasp. Voldemort had entered the room. His features were not those Harry had seen emerge from the great stone cauldron almost two years before; they were not as snakelike, the eyes were not yet scarlet, the face not yet masklike, and yet he was no longer handsome Tom Riddle. It was as though his features had been burned and blurred; they were waxy and oddly distorted, and the whites of the eyes now had a permanently bloody look, though the pupils were not yet the slits that Harry knew they would become. He was wearing a long black cloak and his face was as pale as the snow glistening on his shoulders.

But notice this line:

That Harry knew they would become.

This line shows that Voldemort's face has not all changed, only portions. It keeps on changing for many more years to come.

But how does his face change?

Well, I disagree, and agree, with the above posts. I think, sorry, not think, I am 95% sure, that his face changes because of his Horcruxes. In the meeting with Dumbledore, he had already made five Horcruxes. His face had begun to change because of this, and, like I keep saying over and over again, it kept changing for many more years to come. But from the gap between 1956 and 1981, the year his "first death" occurred, his face had not become the one we see when Voldemort is reborn in the graveyard in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Yes, by 1981, it had become very different from the one in the meeting with Dumbledore, but, like I mentioned a few lines above, not the one we see in the graveyard.

You see, by the time his first death occurs, he has already made six Horcruxes, the new Horcrux is Harry. But it is still not the face we see in the graveyard, but at the same time, it is not the one from the meeting. No one can be sure of this, since we never see his face when he comes to try and kill Harry in 1981. But I am 95% sure I have got my facts right. His face stays the unknown face until early 1994, in the Riddle House. When he is inside the Riddle House, he creates the seventh Horcrux, which is his snake, Nagini.

When Voldemort turns Nagini into a Horcrux, he get some of the snake-like features Nagini has, and his face changes once more, into the face we see in the graveyard, and the face we see in all of the events after the graveyard. Done!

Answer 3

When Tom Riddle made the horcruxes, he lost more and more of himself, beacuse a horcrux is a splint of the soul. Tom made seven of those, that meant that he lost more of his appereance than if he made only one.

I think that is it, it´s been years since i last read Harry Potter

Answer 4

I actually think that it is not do with horcruxes. As Voldemort admitted that he changed his name because it was his Muggle Father's, I believe that he changed his appearance too. Tom Marvolo Riddle was one of the best wizards Hogwarts had ever taught, he would be highly skilled in all of the subject's including transfiguration. He might have used Human transfiguration so that he didn't look like his Muggle father.

Answer 5

According to movie canon, he did not look this way until after he came back with Quirrel. In the last movie, you are shown Voldemort killing Lily. He looks the same then, as well.

Also: with the snake, she was a Horcrux, one of the originals, which were likely created whilst Tom was still young, as evidenced by the scene in The Half-Blood Prince. So, it is quite possible that Nagini has nothing to do with it.

Answer 6

Nagini was a horcrux of Voldemort's, so it is possible that Voldemort took Naginis features resulting in his new face. Vodemort also had a certain love for snakes, which seemed like the only thing he truely loved other than death and dark magic.