Morfin Gaunt

Morfin Gaunt
Biographical information
Born	Between the 1890s and 1907 Great Britain
Died	Between 1943 and 1996 (aged at least 36) Azkaban, North Sea, Great Britain
Blood status	Pure-blood
Marital status	Single
Nationality	British
Physical information
Species	Human
Gender	Male
Eye colour	Dark
Relationship information
Family members	Marvolo Gaunt (father) † Merope Riddle (née Gaunt) (sister) † Tom Riddle Senior (brother-in-law) † Lord Voldemort (nephew) † Salazar Slytherin (paternal ancestor) † Cadmus Peverell (paternal ancestor) † House of Gaunt
Magical characteristics
Wand	Unknown length, wood and core
Affiliation
Loyalty	House of Gaunt

"Hissy, hissy, little snakey,
Slither on the floor
You be good to Morfin
Or he'll nail you to the door."

— Morfin Gaunt speaking in Parseltongue

Morfin Gaunt (fl. 1943) was a British pure-blood wizard descended from Salazar Slytherin. He was the son of Marvolo Gaunt, brother of Merope Gaunt, and uncle of Tom Marvolo Riddle, also known as Lord Voldemort. He believed strongly in pure-blood supremacy and had an intense hatred toward Muggles.

He hexed or jinxed Tom Riddle Snr (a Muggle who lived near his home in Little Hangleton) with painful hives because his sister was infatuated with him. After this attack, his recklessness and disregard for wizarding law attracted the attention of Ministry of Magic officials, who sent Bob Ogden to speak with him. After a fight where he and his father assaulted a Ministry investigator, Morfin was imprisoned in Azkaban for three years. When he returned home his father and sister had already died.

In 1943, Morfin met his nephew, who murdered his paternal family and then modified Morfin's memory, so that he falsely believed he was the murderer and that he was proud of it. Morfin died in Azkaban, but not before Albus Dumbledore learned the truth about the Riddle murders.

Biography

Early life

"The son's quite mad, you should hear some of the stories they tell in the village —"

— Tom Riddle Snr's opinion of Morfin

Mofin with his father Marvolo and his sister Merope

Morfin lived with his father and sister in a shack near Little Hangleton. Generations of inbreeding in the House of Gaunt caused a defect in Morfin, rendering him mentally deranged and violent, and he became known in his childhood for being 'quite mad', often terrorising and bullying Muggles.

He almost exclusively spoke in Parseltongue in order to threaten and scare snakes, and he began bullying Tom Riddle Snr after Morfin noticed his sister watching him with interest. He, like his father, was highly abusive toward Merope as well.

First imprisonment

"She likes looking at that Muggle. Always in the garden when he passes, peering through the hedge at him, isn't she? And last night... Hanging out of the window waiting for him to ride home, wasn't she? But I got him, Father! I got him as he went by and he didn't look so pretty with hives all over him, did he, Merope?"

— Morfin regarding his sister's infatuation with Tom Riddle Snr

Ogden visiting the Gaunt shack, where Morfin grew up

Morfin's violent behaviour eventually led to the Ministry of Magic to notice what he had been doing and press charges against him; in particular for causing Tom Riddle Snr, a Muggle, to erupt with hives. Bob Ogden, Head of the Magical Law Enforcement Patrol, was sent to summon Morfin to a hearing. Morfin greeted the wizard with his wand in one hand and a knife in the other, hissing in Parseltongue that he was not welcome in his house. Ogden failed to understand what he was saying until Marvolo appeared and restrained his son.

Taking the discussion inside, Ogden explained that Morfin was summoned to a hearing on the 14th of September, but trailed off upon hearing Tom Riddle Snr and his companion Cecilia pass by, criticising the deplorable state of the Gaunt Shack. Morfin almost rose from his chair with the presumed intention to attack Riddle again, but was restrained by his father.

Morfin then told his father in Parseltongue that his sister was infatuated with Riddle, causing Marvolo to start to strangle Merope, ignorant of the fact that a law enforcement officer was in his very house. Ogden used a Revulsion Jinx to separate them and Morfin reacted by firing spells at the Ministry official, including a nasty spell that caused yellow pus to flow from Ogden's nose. Ogden fled, then returned to the Gaunt residence with several wizards, who successfully restrained both Morfin and Marvolo, placing both under arrest.

Morfin Gaunt during his imprisonment in Azkaban

The Gaunt men were sent to the Wizengamot to stand trial, whereupon Marvolo was found guilty of abusive behaviour to his daughter and obstruction of justice. Morfin was found guilty of using a hive spell on a Muggle, resisting arrest, assaulting a Magical Law Enforcmeent Officer, as well as all the earlier crimes that were outstanding. Between summer and fall of 1925, Morfin was sentenced to three years in Azkaban and his father Marvolo received a six-month sentence.

While they were incarcerated, Merope married Tom Riddle, probably by using either the Imperius Curse or a Love potion on him. She died soon after giving birth to a son, Tom Marvolo Riddle. Marvolo returned from prison to an empty house and died before his son was released from Azkaban. When Morfin finally returned, he found his father dead, and learned that his sister had left the shack only to be abandoned in London by Tom Riddle. He, therefore, became the last heir to the Gaunt family and inherited the shack and the family signet ring, their last heirloom.

Over the years, Morfin lived in a much more deplorable state than ever, as Merope was no longer there to clean the house. Morfin let his hair grow to extreme lengths, seldom combing or styling it. He also rarely (if ever) cleaned his house, thus leaving the Gaunt residence in a state of extreme filth and squalor, with thick layers of dust and grime covering the place, and all the pots and utensils rusted through. Morfin's house was known for being poorly kept, filled with mould, clutter, and stale, half-eaten food.

With Merope's desertion, Morfin's opinion for her deteriorated further, as he insulted her for "marrying filth", and believed she deserved to be abandoned by her husband.

Second imprisonment

"So the Ministry called upon Morfin. They did not need to question him, to use Veritaserum or Legilimency. He admitted to the murder on the spot, giving details only the murderer could know. He was proud, he said, to have killed the Muggles, had been awaiting his chance all these years. He handed over his wand, which was proved at once to have been used to kill the Riddles. And he permitted himself to be led off to Azkaban without a fight."

— Morfin wrongfully imprisoned for the Murder of the Riddle family

Morfin's first and last meeting with his nephew

Morfin's teenage nephew came to Little Hangleton to learn about his family in the summer of 1943, and was far from impressed when he saw Morfin's living conditions. He met Morfin, who thought that this stranger looked "mighty like that Muggle", referring to the elder Tom Riddle. He told him an incomplete story of what transpired between the man and Merope, which infuriated Riddle Jnr to the point of seeking revenge. After stunning Morfin, Tom went to Riddle's home and murdered his father, grandfather, and grandmother with the Killing Curse, using Morfin's wand. He covered up his crimes by altering Morfin's memory, causing him to falsely believe he was the killer.

When the Ministry investigated the crime, Morfin freely bragged and admitted to it and was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban. They checked Morfin's wand to see what its last spell was, and saw that it was the Killing Curse. Coupled with a straightforward confession and a criminal record, the Ministry did not bother to delve into any possibility of someone trying to frame Morfin.

Before leaving, Tom also took the family signet ring from Morfin and wore it like a trophy at Hogwarts, which led Morfin to lament how his father would kill him for losing the ring for the rest of his life. It was eventually turned into one of Tom's Horcruxes and returned to the shack from where it was taken.

Death

"Whatever Morfin Gaunt was, he did not deserve to die as he did; blamed for a crime he didn't commit."

— Albus Dumbledore discussing Morfin's death

Albus Dumbledore sought Morfin out in prison, and, due to the difficultly of extracting the true memory of his meeting with his nephew, determined that his memory had been tampered with. Dumbledore immediately used the true memory to appeal for Morfin's release from Azkaban. Unfortunately, by that point Morfin was weakened to such an extent that he died before he could be exonerated. With no family network to claim his earthly remains, the Ministry simply had the Dementors bury Morfin's corpse beside the fortress alongside the other prisoners who expired within its walls.

Postmortem

Despite all of Morfin's faults, Dumbledore was among the few who believed that he did not deserved to die as he did, framed for a crime he did not commit, and paying with his life for what Voldemort did. When Morfin's fate was noted to Harry Potter, Harry himself shared the same view as Dumbledore, and was enraged at the Ministry's sloppy protocols, believing they had wrongfully condemned Morfin to an undeserved end.

Morfin's injustice would ultimately be avenged when Harry defeated Voldemort in the Battle of Hogwarts, where Voldemort's own Killing Curse rebounded and killed him. However, prior to his death, Voldemort sired a daughter, Delphini, with his loyal servant Bellatrix Lestrange, posthumously giving Morfin a great-niece. Yet, Delphini would later be likely thrown into Azkaban, like Morfin and her great-grandfather, for committing murder and trying to damage the timeline with a Time-Turner.

Physical description

"The man standing before them had thick hair so matted with dirt it could have been any colour. Several of his teeth were missing. His eyes were small and dark and stared in opposite directions."

— A negative impression of Morfin

Morfin was described as having thick hair matted with dirt, missing teeth, and small dark eyes that stared in opposite directions, the latter suggesting signs of strabismus. Harry Potter thought such an appearance could be humorous, but instead many people found Morfin to be frightening. His physical deformities were attributed to the generations of inbreeding in his family.

Upon meeting Bob Ogden, a Ministry of Magic representative, Morfin brandished both a wand in one hand and a short, bloody knife in the other, and was noted to look like an insane person. After his sister's departure and father's demise, Morfin eventually let his hair and beard grow so long that it covered his eyes and mouth. He wore the family signet ring on his right ring finger until his nephew took it.

Personality and traits

"... She likes looking at that Muggle," said Morfin, a vicious expression on his face as he stared at his sister, who now looked terrified. "Always in the garden when he passes, peering through the hedge at him, isn’t she? And last night" — Merope shook her head jerkily, imploringly, but Morfin went on ruthlessly, "Hanging out of the window waiting for him to ride home, wasn’t she"?"

— Morfin's vicious and ruthless personality

Generations of inbreeding in the Gaunt family caused numerous defects within Morfin, rendering him an overall violent and deranged individual. Morfin shared the same ideology with his father and liked to torture and hex Muggles, without caring about the law, the community, or anyone else, except for his father, whom he respected, because they were both violent and pure-blood supremacists. As Merope was a blood traitor, Morfin was very disrespectful and abusive to her. After her departure from the shack, he brutally insulted her and called her a thief for stealing the locket heirloom. Furthermore, Morfin was sadistic, as he was constantly cruel to snakes, often singing rhymes to them in Parseltongue that were threatening, and, when the snakes disobeyed him or did something he disapproved of, he would physically torture them, nailing them to the door, despite his ancestor's affinity towards them. At least one snake of his suffered this fate and he threatened a second with it.

The Gaunt residence degraded into further squalor when Morfin lived by himself. Morfin had been dependent on Merope to care for the house, albeit not to the extent his father had been. After his sister's death, Morfin had no choice but to be the new housekeeper, although he did a very poor job at it as his home was filled with empty bottles, mold, and half-eaten food.

Morfin, being a social outcast from the wizarding world, presumably did not throw many parties at his home nor have many guests, and as such felt little need to keep up appearances. One of his few guests, Tom Riddle, was disgusted by Morfin's slovenly appearance, although this could also be because when he met the Gaunt patriarch, his image of the heads of pure-blood families had been akin to the likes of their ancestor or the House of Black and he had expected him to look much nicer.

Ironically, Riddle's framing of his uncle caused the extinction of the pure-blood House of Gaunt. Morfin's subsequent imprisonment ruined any idea of the final patriarch of the Gaunts continuing the bloodline. Admittedly, Morfin would have probably been the last patriarch even if he lived a free man. Morfin's penury, as well as his vulgar attitude, violent disposition and slovenly personal appearance, did not make him a very desirable catch to witches looking for husbands, and Morfin's pure-blood supremacist views limited his own pool of potential mates considerably.

Having his memory modified by his nephew, Morfin came to be proud of committing murder and allowed himself to be incarcerated without a struggle as he once had against Ogden. His only regret was the loss of his father's final heirloom, which caused Morfin's leftover sanity to slip away as he would spend the rest of his life muttering how his father would kill him for losing the ring.

Magical abilities and skills

"There was a loud bang, and Ogden was on the ground, clutching his nose, while a nasty yellowish goo squirted from between his fingers."

— Morfin nonverbally casting a dark charm at Bob Ogden

• Dark Arts: Morfin was highly skilled at casting various highly unpleasant Dark charms, which he even took great pleasure on performing them on Muggles. He attacked Bob Ogden with a dark charm that caused yellow pus to flow from his nose. He also cast another unidentified dark charm on Tom Riddle which resulted in him being covered in painful hives. He also sent a flurry of vile hexes at Ogden when Ogden sent a Revulsion Jinx to stop Marvolo Gaunt from strangling his daughter.

"Darling," whispered Morfin in Parseltongue."

— Morfin speaking to his sister

• Parseltongue: As with the rest of his family (His ancestor, father, sister and nephew), Morfin inherited the magical ability to speak to snakes from their ancestor. Morfin was very proficient with the language, enough to communicate with his family with it.
• Duelling: Morfin had some notable skill in duelling and in martial magic. His quick flurry of hexes was enough to send Bob Ogden running for his life, and later was responsible for injuring some of the reinforcements who Ogden brought back soon after. He was however unable to defend himself against his nephew when the latter stunned when he framed him for the Riddle murders.
• Nonverbal magic: Morfin was furthermore highly proficient at casting many spells nonverbally, a skill which is particularly difficult and complex to master. He was in particular capable of casting many of his foul hexes and jinxes nonverbally, such as when he cast numerous hexes at Bog Ogden, both times without saying any incantations. This implies that Morfin was in fact a highly skilled and powerful wizard because of his expertise and talent in nonverbal spell casting, despite his deeply malicious and hateful personality.

Possessions

• Wand: Morfin wielded a wand of unknown core, wood type and length. He used it mainly to terrorise his Muggle neighbours. It was briefly confiscated when he was sentenced to three years in Azkaban, after which it was returned to him. His nephew "borrowed" the wand to kill the Riddles, which incriminated Morfin. Upon his life sentence to Azkaban, the wand was permanently confiscated, and most likely buried with him upon his death.
• Knife: Morfin wielded a knife in conjunction with his wand, usually in a threatening manner against people he disliked.
• Gaunt Shack: Once Marvolo had died, Morfin inherited the family's shack, which he took extremely poor care of, allowing a very unhealthy mess to accumulate. When Morfin was sentenced to life in Azkaban and died there, the shack was left abandoned until his nephew used it to hide his Horcrux.
• Family signet ring: Along with the shack, Morfin inherited the family signet ring from his father, which was passed down through generations, starting from Cadmus Peverell. Morfin wore it on his right ring finger, until his nephew took it from him. The loss of this final heirloom led Morfin to insanely lament for the rest of his life how his father would kill him for it. Voldemort would eventually transform this ring as his second Horcrux, and return it to the very shack it was taken as a hiding place. Albus Dumbledore found the ring and eventually destroyed it, and Harry Potter left the stone within the ring somewhere in the Forbidden Forest. In his entire time of wielding the ring, Morfin never knew of its status as one of the three Deathly Hallows, specifically the Resurrection Stone.

Relationships

Gaunt family

Marvolo Gaunt

Morfin's relationship with his family was mixed. He seemed to tolerate and maintain a tenuous relationship with his father Marvolo Gaunt. Morfin was very loyal to Marvolo and the family ideals about blood purity as they were both pure-blood supremacists and Marvolo was gentle enough to converse with his son in Parseltongue. He also protected his father when Bob Ogden fired a Revulsion Jinx at Marvolo to stop him from strangling Merope. However, had Marvolo been alive when Morfin lost his father's heirloom ring, their relationship would most likely have turned into a strained one, to say the least.

Even though his father had died, Morfin still continued to lament how his father would kill him for losing the ring; of course, with Morfin's mental instability, this could have contributed to the delusional state he became in Azkaban. Nothing is known about Morfin's relationship with his mother.

Merope Gaunt

"Dishonoured us, she did, that little slut!"

— Morfin in regards to his sister

Morfin, on the other hand, was physically and verbally abusive towards his sister, Merope like his father was. He would enjoy seeing her being abused by their father and even mocked her romantic feelings of Tom Riddle Snr when he noticed her watching him. He also laughed when Marvolo tried to attack her when he revealed that she was in love with the Muggle who lived on the hill over their village when Bob Ogden visited.

After Morfin was imprisoned in Azkaban, Merope was very pleased to be free from her abusers. While incarcerated during his three-year sentence, his sister married Riddle Snr, but Tom later left her while pregnant with their only child. Morfin even said that Riddle Snr leaving Merope served her right for 'marrying filth' and robbing them of Salazar Slytherin's locket, and called her a "little slut" who dishonoured him and Marvolo.

Tom Riddle Snr.

"Ar, he left her, and serves her right, marrying filth!"

— Morfin talking about his sister and her Muggle husband

It is unknown if Morfin had met Tom Riddle Snr in person, but it is known that Morfin watched him from a far distance before he bullied and hexed him because he noticed his sister romantically looking at him. He most likely hated him even more when he found out that the two had gotten married. Because Morfin joined his father in teasing his sister about being a likely Squib, he probably did not know she had the competence to enchant Tom Riddle. Despite his hatred for Riddle, Morfin was in agreement that Tom Riddle did the right thing in leaving Merope, albeit with a sense of schadenfreude as he caused heartbreak to Merope, all the while continuing to hold Tom at a low regard by calling him "filth".

Many years later, Morfin was framed for murder by his nephew by causing him to believe he killed his brother-in-law and his parents; Morfin's memory was modified to make him feel proud of the action, and it is likely he would have been proud of this even if his memory had not been altered to feel that way, because he hated him so much.

Tom Marvolo Riddle

Morfin Gaunt: "I thought you was that Muggle. You look mighty like that Muggle."

Tom Riddle: "What Muggle?"

Morfin Gaunt: "That Muggle what my sister took a fancy to, that Muggle what lives in the big house over the way. You look right like him. Riddle. But he’s older now, in ‘e? He’s older’n you, now I think on it... He come back, see."

— Morfin speaking with Tom Riddle

Tom Marvolo Riddle, later to become Lord Voldemort, his half-blood nephew

Morfin's relationship with his nephew, Tom Riddle is unknown. They did not know each other well since Riddle had spent his life in a Muggle orphanage and Morfin most likely never knew about his sister's pregnancy nor made any effort to claim guardianship of his sole blood relative. Riddle didn't care about Morfin and deliberately framed him for murdering the Riddle family. Tom's disdain for his uncle Morfin may have been disgust at his squalor or disdain that he never tried to raise him (akin to his father's ignorance), or a combination of both. By taking Marvolo Gaunt's Ring from Morfin, he rendered his uncle to become depressed with losing the last family heirloom for the rest of his life.

In the summer of 1943, Morfin seemed to not know that he had encountered his half-blood nephew (the son of his 'blood traitor sister' and the 'filthy Muggle' he attacked 18 years earlier). At the moment he saw Riddle, he thought it was Tom Riddle Snr but then realised it wasn't because he suddenly started speaking Parseltongue. Morfin also said "you look mighty like that Muggle, but he is older...", where Morfin had now lived a life that was somewhat more peaceful than his earlier attack on Tom Senior, having now learned from his imprisonment to leave Muggles alone, but was astute to see Riddle would have likely progressed into middle age. Although Gaunt answered Riddle's questions, he got rather annoyed that the boy even would walk in to start asking such things.

After having his memory modified by his nephew, Morfin did not remember anything from the night before and was wrongfully convicted by the Ministry of Magic for the murder of Tom Riddle Snr and his parents. It could be surmised that after Albus Dumbledore discovered the truth and reinstated Morfin's proper memory of the Riddle murders Morfin Gaunt realised he had come into contact with, and been tragically deceived by, his sister's only son. It's unknown if Morfin lived long enough to see that his nephew grew up to be Lord Voldemort, or if he would've known them to be the same person.

It's also quite possible that it was indeed Riddle's intent to put an end to the House of Gaunt. Disgusted by the vulgar appearance of Morfin, Riddle could have been motivated to finish this "disgrace" connected with Salazar Slytherin, so that Riddle himself would carry on the Slytherin legacy alone.

Etymology

• The name Morfin is a variaton of "Morfey", an Anglo-French surname meaning "ill-omened," or "ill-fated". This could be a reference to either Morfin being "fated" to die for crimes that he did not commit, or how he was effectively the end of the House of Gaunt.
• Morfin could also come from a variation on Morpheus, the Greek god of rest and dreams, from which the word morphine, a powerful drug administered to people undergoing major surgery to dull pain, derives. In a sense of irony, Morfin's life was the antithesis of that name, being one of constant physical and emotional pain, partly of his own doing, but chiefly due to being bamboozled by his own nephew.

Behind the scenes

• Morfin and his family and even his memory of his encounter with his nephew were omitted from the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. His entire backstory was ultimately cut from the film series, where Albus Dumbledore describe his ring as being Merope's.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (First appearance) (Appears in flashback(s))
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Mentioned only)
• Pottermore
• Wizarding World