Ominis Gaunt is one of the characters you can meet and interact with in Hogwarts Legacy, the upcoming open-world RPG set in the wizarding world of Harry Potter. He is a blind Slytherin student who has a deep distrust of the Dark Arts and often clashes with his friend Sebastian Sallow, who is fascinated by them. But did you know that Ominis Gaunt is also related to one of the most notorious dark wizards of all time, Lord Voldemort? In this article, we will explore how Ominis Gaunt is connected to Voldemort, and what this means for his role in the game.
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The Gaunt Family: The Last Descendants of Salazar Slytherin
To understand how Ominis Gaunt is related to Voldemort, we need to look at his family history. Ominis Gaunt is a member of the House of Gaunt, a pure-blood family that traces its lineage back to Salazar Slytherin, one of the four founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The Gaunts are known for their obsession with blood purity, their use of Parseltongue (the ability to communicate with snakes), and their practice of the Dark Arts. They are also notorious for their inbreeding, which resulted in physical and mental deformities, as well as a tendency for violence and madness.
Ominis Gaunt was born blind, and no spell could cure his condition. He was also abused by his older siblings and parents, who tortured him with the Cruciatus Curse when he refused to join them in their sadistic games. Ominis developed a hatred for the Dark Arts and his family’s legacy, and sought to distance himself from them. He was close to his aunt Noctua Gaunt, who shared his views and tried to uncover more about Salazar Slytherin’s secrets. However, she died while exploring Slytherin’s Scriptorium, a hidden chamber beneath Hogwarts that contains ancient writings and artefacts.
The Dark Lord: The Heir of Slytherin
Lord Voldemort, whose real name was Tom Marvolo Riddle, was also a descendant of Salazar Slytherin. He was born to Merope Gaunt, a daughter of Marvolo Gaunt, who was Ominis Gaunt’s older brother or nephew. Merope fell in love with a Muggle named Tom Riddle Sr., whom she bewitched into marrying her. She became pregnant with Tom Riddle Jr., but stopped using magic on her husband, hoping that he would love her for real. However, he abandoned her when he discovered that she was a witch. Merope died shortly after giving birth to her son at Wool’s Orphanage in London.
Tom Riddle Jr. grew up as an orphan, unaware of his magical heritage. He was a brilliant student at Hogwarts, where he was sorted into Slytherin House. He learned about his ancestry from Professor Horace Slughorn, who taught him about Horcruxes: objects that contain fragments of a wizard’s soul, allowing them to cheat death. Tom Riddle became obsessed with immortality and power, and created six Horcruxes by killing people and splitting his soul. He also adopted the name Lord Voldemort, which he derived from an anagram of his birth name: I am Lord Voldemort.
Voldemort rose to become the most feared dark wizard in history, leading a group of followers called the Death Eaters in a campaign of terror and genocide against Muggles and Muggle-borns. He also sought to destroy Harry Potter, a boy who was prophesied to have the power to defeat him. Voldemort tried to kill Harry when he was a baby, but failed and lost his body and most of his powers. He spent years in hiding, until he regained his physical form and resumed his war against the wizarding world. He was finally killed by Harry Potter in the Battle of Hogwarts in 1998.
The Slytherin Student: A Friend or Foe?
Ominis Gaunt lived about a century before Voldemort’s rise and fall, but he still had to deal with the consequences of his family’s actions. He was shunned by most of his fellow students at Hogwarts, who feared and despised him for his surname and his blindness. He only had one friend: Sebastian Sallow, another Slytherin student who had a keen interest in the Dark Arts. Ominis tried to dissuade Sebastian from following that path, but Sebastian was determined to learn more about Slytherin’s secrets and legacy.
In Hogwarts Legacy, you can choose to befriend or antagonize Ominis Gaunt, depending on your actions and decisions throughout the game. You can also influence Sebastian Sallow’s fate: whether he will become corrupted by the Dark Arts or redeemed by your friendship. Ominis Gaunt’s relationship with you and Sebastian will have an impact on the game’s story and outcome, as well as your own character’s development.
Ominis Gaunt is a complex and tragic character, who represents the struggle between light and dark, and the choice between family and morality. He is also a reminder of the dark history of the wizarding world, and the legacy of one of its most evil figures: Lord Voldemort.
