Tom Riddle is not brave, he’s smart and that is all that he can rely on. He is a snake, among people that hate snakes. Morgana La Faye was once a Slytherin much like him. She rose to power by rallying those that had been oppressed, under the banner of equality for all blood status. When she learned, she could not defeat the powerful political powers by playing fair she had started acts of terrorism. She had become something dark and twisted. It got to the point where Albus Dumbledore had to face off against her, and even he fell to one of her many clever traps. She had stolen his wand for a trophy. So the Ministry, The Order, and anyone else that wanted to off her looked into other ways to defeat her, and that was when his prophecy was born.