Meropa Mrax does not appear so often on the pages of the Harry Potter novel, and she cannot be called the protagonist of the story. Nevertheless, she plays a significant role in the plot. By carefully studying the work, you can restore the full picture of the character’s life.
Biography
The biography of Meropa Mrax is dedicated to the chapter "The Family of Mraxes" in the book "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince." Harry sees Meropa, traveling with Professor Dumbledore with the help of the Omut memory in the past. The recollection in which the boy and the teacher find themselves was provided by a certain employee of the Ministry of Magic Bob Ogden, who was forced to visit the house of the Mraxes because of an offense committed in their village - an attack on a Muggle.
The girl lives with her father Marvolo Mrax and brother Morphine. Mraxes are distant descendants of Salazar Slytherin, one of the founding fathers of the Hogwarts magic school, and, like his famous ancestor, are obsessed with pure blood. Simply put, they hate all Muggles and even wizards descended from them.
Despite the nobility of the family, the Mraks live extremely poorly, since all the money was spent several generations before the birth of Marvolo, and they consider their work below their dignity.
Both father and brother treat the girl rudely, treat her like a servant. At the same time, Marvolo Mrax is dissatisfied and angry due to the fact that his daughter has poorly manifested magical abilities. The family’s dislike is reinforced by Meropa’s love for Muggle Tom Reddle. Like many members of the Slytherin clan, Marvolo and Morphine speak the snake language and communicate with each other. Throughout the scene of the conversation between the Mraxes and Ogden, Merope does not utter a word. Seeing the cruelty of family members, Bob tries to intercede for the girl, but he escapes, faced with Morphine's aggression.
Dumbledore tells Harry about the fate of the heroine upon his return from Omut.
Marvolo and Morfina were arrested for crimes against Muggles and rude behavior with an employee of the Ministry. Left in the house alone, Meropa freed herself from her father’s eternal oppression and took possession of the spell. She decided to give her a young man a love of love with a love potion. The plan was a success, as a result, Tom Riddle and Merope Mrax with a scandal fled the village. Marvolo was never able to forgive his daughter for escaping and marrying a Muggle.
Upon learning of her pregnancy, Meropa stopped giving Tom Reddle a love drink. She hoped that he had already truly fallen in love with her or would want to keep the union because of the child, but she was mistaken. Tom left the girl, she died in childbirth.
Appearance
Meropa Mrax was not beautiful, due to the large number of related marriages between purebred wizards. The following is known about her appearance: dull lifeless hair, a pale face with rude features, slanting eyes and a doomed look. She was wearing a torn gray dress.
Character
According to the behavior of Meropa in the chapter "The Family of Gloves" it can be assumed that the girl was extremely timid and insecure, very afraid of her father and brother. At the same time, Merope Mrax was obviously characterized by independent thinking, since, contrary to the idea of superiority of magical origin imposed on her from childhood, the girl fell in love with an ordinary person. It was not important to her that he did not belong to the wizarding world. On the other hand, after all the humiliations experienced in the family, Merope did not hate her father - she wished to give his name to her son.
Meaning of the name
In ancient mythology, Merope is one of the seven sisters of the Pleiades, nymphs, daughters of the titan. According to legend, six sisters - all except Meropa, married the gods, and only she - for a mere mortal.
The surname Mrax in the Russian version is a translation of the English surname that Meropa carries in the original book, Gaunt, which translates as "gloomy." Another possible meaning of the word - "exhausted" - was lost in the translation. It could be no less important for the author, since the Mraxes, the last representatives of the once prosperous family, live and die in poverty and loneliness.
The surname Riddle, which Meropa took from her husband, is written in the English book as Riddle. This word means "secret."
Role in the plot
Although Meropa is rarely mentioned in the book, she played a huge role in the story of Harry Potter, becoming the mother of the main antagonist, Lord Voldemort. In the shelter, her son was named as the girl wished before her death - Tom Marvolo Reddle, in honor of the father of the child and the father of Merope herself.
One of the main ideas that goes through the whole saga is that love is a special kind of magic, the most important and, in fact, invincible. From birth, Tom was completely deprived of the ability to love precisely because of the love potion, which made the boy the fruit of the “artificial” love of Meropa Mrax and Tom Riddle Sr. According to another version of the egocentric, the future Dark Lord grew up due to a lack of maternal love.
Although Harry Potter, like Tom Riddle, lost his parents at an early age, there is a huge difference in this loss. Lily, Harry's mother, died protecting the baby, and Merope died, leaving him defenseless.
Joan Rowling confirmed in an interview that Tom might not have become the darkest wizard of all time if his mother had survived.
Meropa Mrax also wore a family relic, a Salazar Slytherin locket, which her son subsequently made into a crucifix. The girl sold the locket very cheaply at the Gorbin & Burks magical antique store, fleeing poverty and probably not seeing any special value in it.
In film
In the Harry Potter films, Merope Mrax is mentioned, but never appears. The only thing known about Voldemort's mother is that she died. She is attributed the possession of two relics - a ring and a medallion. In the book, the owner of Peverell’s ring was Marvolo Mrax.