Why does Voldemort look like that? Missing nose explained

He Who Must Not Be Named is also He Who Must Have No Nose — but why is Voldemort missing it? Here’s what you need to know.

Back in the 2000s, kids were leaving cinemas crying over a noseless villain who threatened to kill Harry Potter at any chance he could get — and with good reason.

Possibly on par with some of the deadliest horror movies of all time, Voldemort was the poster boy for the Dark Arts, heading the ultimate good vs. evil battle across eight epic movies.

We all know what happened to Voldemort in the end, but why does he look like that? Here’s the full truth behind his missing nose.

Why is Voldemort’s nose missing?

Voldemort’s nose is missing because of his frequent — and exclusive — use of Dark Magic.

When Tom Riddle became the eponymous Voldemort, he began to lose his connection to his humanity, particularly when he began creating Horcruxes. This is documented in the sixth book, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. According to both the movies and novels, this process was slow-moving, eventually morphing into the snake-like form we know and hate.

On top of this, Voldemort’s missing nose partially comes down to experiments on himself using Dark Magic. After trying to kill Harry as a baby, he consumed snake venom and mutated himself beyond human comparison. Most of what we know about Tom Riddle’s apparent good looks comes from book four, the Goblet of Fire.

Of course, we know exactly how Voldemort looks in the movies, and for the most part, he remained the same in the original novels. If anything, Voldemort’s appearance was even more serpent-like to begin with, dialled back onscreen to bridge the gap between human and creature.

If you’ve ever seen a behind-the-scenes YouTube video of Ralph Fiennes filming for the Harry Potter films, you’ll know that CGI was responsible for having his nose literally cut off of his face. Two blue dots were placed on the bridge of his nose, and voila — the cinematic magic happens.

According to Radio Times, visual effects supervisor Paul Franklin revealed it was all a bit of a hassle. “There’s this idea that we put the shots through the computer and it just vanished off [Fiennes’] face,” he explained. “[His nose] had to be painstakingly edited out, frame by frame, over the whole film. And then the snake slits had to be added and tracked very carefully using dots put on his face for reference.

“It’s very laborious, very time-consuming and the level of detail you have to hit is exquisite. It’s like creating a renaissance painting – the digital brushwork has to be very, very fine to get it to work. The art and time that goes into those nostrils should never be underestimated.”

For more breakdowns about the Harry Potter world, you can learn more about why Snape killed Dumbledore and how many Horcruxes exist in the franchise. Check out even more Harry Potter coverage alongside more amazing movies to stream this month.