Tomarrymort: Why it’s Such a Promising Ship
I absolutely adore Tomarrymort. It’s one of my all-time favorite ships, and I find myself coming back to it time and time again. Of course, it might take a bit of work to convince the quintessential skeptic about this pairing, so here are some reasons why Tomarrymort is a gold mine of content.
I. The parallels
J.K. Rowling painstakingly draws numerous similarities between Harry and Tom’s upbringing. For instance:
A. Childhoods
Although not explicitly stated by Rowling, Harry definitely grew up in an abusive home (starvation, overwork, belittlement, so on). Tom Riddle also spent his childhood in a bad environment, as he was born in 1926 at the height of global turmoil and England-specific class upheavals. As an orphan at an unforgiving home, he likely experienced harsh treatment for reasons even aside from his fear-inspiring magical abilities.
B. Unfit, Hostile Guardians
The Dursleys did everything they could to quash any freakishness in Harry. They systematically diminished his self-worth and sought to stifle his magical abilities in every way. Similarly, Wool’s Orphanage also treated Tom as an “other”. While Tom was by no means a saint, the Matron and his peers made no secret of their unease and borderline dislike for him, which likely only alienated Riddle further.
C. Marked by Dumbledore from a young age
Since the prophecy’s creation, Dumbledore singled out Harry as a tool to win the war. Dumbledore may have cared for him and genuinely regretted the self-sacrificing role he would have to play, but regardless, he still passively and actively ensured Harry would be put in too many life-or-death situations that no child should’ve experienced. And while Dumbledore preemptively christened Harry a savior, he contrastingly damned Tom at the very start. Within mere moments of meeting Tom, he was convinced that this young boy was someone to be feared. Mind you, I’m not a Tom Riddle apologist; I fully recognize that he was a very dark villain as an adult and his actions could not be primarily attributed to the rejection he faced from adult figures. However, the way that they were both pseudo-predestined to play opposing roles is rather fascinating.
D. Why these similarities matter!!
On a surface level, children are objectively impressionable beings, and the way Tom and Harry were raised likely affected their behavior and character in interesting ways. Because they had similar influences upon their childhoods, it becomes even more intriguing to observe where their paths diverged and how they became such famous hero-villains. I’ll let Tom say it himself:
“There are strange likenesses between us, Harry Potter. Even you must have noticed. Both half-bloods, orphans, raised by Muggles. Probably the only two Parselmouths to come to Hogwarts since the great Slytherin himself. We even look something alike.”
There’s something uniquely attractive about characters who could’ve been like one another, and yet ended up as completely different people. It’s like looking into a mirror and seeing a twisted reflections — rather incredible, isn’t it?
II. The magical ties
A. Horcruxes: Parseltongue, Occlumency, and more
This is probably the biggest addition to Tomarrymort’s intrigue. To start with, we have Harry’s Parseltongue abilities, which presented themselves early on in the first book and continued to appear in very memorable scenes throughout the series. While Parseltongue itself is a rather loaded concept rife with worldbuilding potential, its continued presence was a constant reminder of the soul relationship between Harry and Voldemort.
For, recall that Harry’s Parseltongue ability was a direct consequence of his soul relationship with Voldemort. He housed a piece of Voldemort’s soul for over a decade. This is astounding, given that there are several examples of other characters being affected by even a brief contact with Voldemort’s Horcruxes. The Diary possessed Ginny after just a school term, the Locket recreated Ron’s greatest fears after mere weeks of wear, and the shard in Nagini likely contributed to her complete obedience and lethality. That then begs the question — how could the piece in Harry have affected him? And if there was no effect, that just makes it all the more interesting with questions of why Harry alone was immune.
Bonus: ficwriters can play with the idea of soul magic or Horcrux-related worldbuilding. It’s wonderful seeing all these different interpretations of Horcrux events: restoring/rejoining pieces of Voldemort’s soul, establishing soul bonds, soul-based mind manipulation, and more.
B. The Prophecy
The actual prophecy has been re-interpreted by numerous fanfics in different ways. The last two lines are the most fanficable, in my opinion.
“And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not…”
Consider the phrase, “mark him as his equal”. A mark in and of itself is an inherently possessive act of claiming, which ties back to Tomarrymort’s obsessive relationship. And, the pairing can be written with paradoxically imbalanced power dynamics despite their “equal” status.
“And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…”
Oh, would you look at that — predestined enemies, fatal tragedy, and more. It’s quite poetic, really. Imagine falling in love with your worst enemy in this scenario. For Voldemort, the prophecy ascertained Harry’s status as a threat to his greatest goal of immortality, which would make a romantic pairing between the two into a very emotionally charged concept. And for Harry, he would have already experienced pain for loving a creature defined by an inability to love, and this prophecy line would have been the final nail in the coffin.
III. Fanfiction application
A. Sheer variety
Tomarrymort fics span across a wild spectrum. You can scroll just a couple fics down and go from a soul-crushing tale of beautiful angst to a gentle coffeeshop AU. There’s something for everyone here!
B. Depth
The nature of the pairing usually requires a good deal of buildup or context, and it can be pretty intense or achingly soft. Regardless, you’re guaranteed to get quite the vividly emotional experience.
IV. Conclusion
Generally speaking, there are too many reasons in canon and in fanfiction application that make Tomarrymort amazing. The community itself is also so lovely, and I found some of my greatest friends here. Give the pairing a try if you’d like, and cheers to happy fandom experiences!
(If you’ve read this far, kudos to you! Check me out on ao3, where I write sometimes! Or yell at me on twitter.)
