Rowena Ravenclaw, the founder of our great house, was the source of a great many quotes, but none are more well known than the one etched on the inside of her legendary diadem. "Wit beyond measure is man's greatest treasure." To us, this quote does not signify that one should be smarter than all the rest. That would be far too simple for a woman of Rowena Ravenclaw's acuity. We interpret it, rather, that we should exercise our mental resources and understanding to the best of our abilities, and when unsure, consider a wide breadth of facts to draw our conclusions. If we do so, then we are truly rewarded. He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named ranking so low does not satisfy this ethos; rather, it reeks of hastiness, of incomplete reasoning, and of short-sightedness, and this we do not treasure beyond any sort of measure.

In the spirit of Rowena Ravenclaw, and with the support of several members of Ravenclaw House who have made their opinions known on this very thread, /u/SFEagle44 and I have decided to use Ravenclaw house's shared Resurrection Stone, and the first Stone of this Rankdown, on Tom Marvolo Riddle.

Tom Riddle likely did not read the etching on Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem when he turned it into a horcrux. If he did, he certainly didn't care about its meaning. This does not make him a poor character; rather, it makes him a far richer one. His actions do not show wit, or even his own house's cunning, but blindness. Tom Riddle's youth, and rise through adolescence and then adulthood, bear the marks of a thirst for power far beyond an average person's ambition. In his childhood, he asserted his power by hanging rabbits and taking two fellow orphans to the cave. In his teenage years, he amassed his power by bending students and teachers alike to his will. And as he grew as an adult and engaged in his reign of terror, the lure of power became larger and larger, to the point where the only thing governing his actions and decisions was the potential to amass more and exercise it. If you live your life with a solitary goal in mind, wit and reason tends to fall by the wayside; as Hermione said, many wizards are bright, but don't have the faintest bit of logic, and Tom Riddle falls into the latter group. For all of his brainpower, he was unable to see past his psychopathic yearning for power that governed all of his decisions. His fear of death stemmed from a complete inability to fathom losing all of his precious power.

What makes this all the more potent is the fact that, when he was born, he had absolutely no power. He was an orphan, abandoned by both of his parents, stuck in a situation where all he could do was yearn. If you go from having nothing to having everything, whose perception and wit wouldn't suffer? These mistakes mentioned in the write-up are not truly mistakes, at least on the part of the author. They are flaws, which lend characters depth and, yes, complexity. Was it a mistake to release the Basilisk? Obviously in hindsight...but Voldemort could not ignore his need to prove a point. Was it a mistake to duel Harry in the graveyard? Obviously in hindsight...but why would Voldemort pass up the chance to not only kill but humiliate his nemesis in front of his followers? Intelligence and logic do not always go hand in hand; Voldemort was brilliant, but his logic was subsumed by his desire. He is a classic psychopath. This doesn't contradict his characterization; rather, it strengthens it. It shows that even the most brilliant, talented wizard on the planet falls victim to the same human flaws: ignorance, blindness, and witlessness.

And yet, even with all of these flaws, and all of the terrible deeds to his name, Voldemort is not outright dismissed by the author as a flat evil villain with no redemption possible. Rather, Rowling’s last act before killing her primary antagonist is to give Riddle one final chance. “It's your one last chance … Be a man … try … Try for some remorse …” Harry practically begs Voldemort. This was not casually inserted immediately preceding the climax of the series. No, J.K. Rowing knew what she was doing when she crafted the arc of Tom Riddle Jr. It is no coincidence that we see him so often as a helpless, infant-like figure. First in the orphanage, then in the arms of Wormtail, and finally hidden away in King’s Cross, Voldemort is shown time and again as a symbolic infant. It is not unimportant that he chooses an infant to mark as his equal.

This does not begin to explore the complexities of half of Voldemort’s ideas. The Dark Mark, the Death Eaters, the name Voldemort, the Resurrection Potion, the impostor Moody, the Ministry takeover. Each could be given its own post and then some. At this time at least, that won’t be necessary to show that You-Know-Who, Voldemort, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, The Dark Lord, the Heir of Slytherin-- Tom Riddle Jr. is not a character that belongs amongst the lowest echelon of our Rankdown.

There have been suggestions, some joking and some less so, that Voldemort ranking so low was bait for a Resurrection Stone. We don't doubt that Voldemort was cut for genuine reasons, yet if there was bait, we are eager to take it. Tom Riddle is a character who showed a stunning lack of wit, beyond any measure, and ultimately lost his greatest treasure: his power. This is what makes him such a fantastic character, and eminently worthy of ranking above not only Errol and Trevor, but nearly every other character in this rankdown. As such, we will do what his army of Horcruxes couldn't and stay his death sentence.