Could Tom Riddle really build a following in school

[tygershark]

As we all know the books left a lot of questions unanswered. So many things are contradictory and just flat out don't make any sense.

I've often thought about Tom Riddle's time at Hogwarts and those memories that Dumbledore showed Harry. Many of the things Dumbles told Harry didn't make any sense. Worse some of the reasons he gave Harry for the

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[sunnyskywalker]

Or because he liked the rush of getting away with letting out a deadly monster, and stirring up fear and hatred between different segments of wizarding society was a bonus? Muggle-borns might just have been easier targets to start with. Getting accepted by purebloods gave him access to their useful social networks, which would make eventually destroying them easier. He wouldn't need to use them or hate them, but how many people do, really? It's often some kind of warped emotional need rather than strictly practical.

Other possibilities: his position as the most powerful wizard would be more secure if he were the only wizard. Or wizards are just more exciting prey than Muggles (who can't fight back).

And of course his motivations may have changed over time. Maybe he first wanted to prove himself and get revenge--and also be immortal, because why would he accept dying. Then he decided that taking out the few people like Dumbledore who might be effective rivals would remove the last threats to his immortality (and destabilizing wizarding society made it easier to weaken them). And then realized it was just so much fun that he'd do it for that reason alone, and he'd play on whichever societal divisions worked best at the moment.

It's hard to put together a coherent psychology for Voldemort together because his actions are so determined by plot needs, but we can try ;-)