Ah, Tom Riddle. An anomaly indeed. His mother might have been a pureblood, daughter of the poverty-stricken aristocratic House of Gaunt, but his father was a mere middle-class merchant of the undistinguished Riddle family. From these humble beginnings grew Tom Riddle. His desire to ensconce himself amongst his betters was such that he invented himself a title – that of Lord Voldemort – and raised an army which crushed the one raised by King Cygnus Black. Voldemort the Usurper crowned himself Dark Lord of Hogwarts (though it is said the Sorting Hat denounced him) and proceeded to rule the land.