The latest episode of MuggleCast dives deep into Chapter 20 of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, “Lord Voldemort’s Request.”
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Listen to the episode above, and check out some of our key takeaways from the chapter and our episode discussion below.
Hepzibah Smith, Hokey, and Tom Riddle’s Manipulation
A major portion of the episode centers on the first memory: Tom Riddle visiting Hepzibah Smith, a wealthy witch and indirect descendant of Helga Hufflepuff, who owns both Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s cup.
Laura frames Hepzibah as both slightly comical and deeply tragic, emphasizing how her identity is tied up in her possessions:
“She is surrounded by mountains and piles of stuff and antiques… this feels like a deeply sad and insecure person who doesn’t really have real connections to other people, and so through the collection of all these artifacts, she’s making herself important.” — Laura
Eric connects this to a darker, Hufflepuff-coded twist on family traits, noting how positive qualities can sour over generations:
“If I’m thinking about how to turn Hufflepuff’s traits downward into negativity… you find that level of possessiveness or gluttony… those traits passed along families can morph into some of the negative traits we see within Hepzibah.” — Eric
Tom Riddle’s charm and calculated flattery are on full display in this memory. He regularly visits Hepzibah as a representative of Borgin and Burkes but is clearly there for more than business. As Micah puts it:
“He definitely does know the right buttons to push with Hepzibah, and this is yet again another situation, much like Slughorn, where he’s able to charm her.” — Micah
Laura takes this further and calls the dynamic what it is:
“She likes the attention… but also she doesn’t know what his ulterior motive is. So I would say this is elder abuse.” — Laura
Hokey the House-Elf and Wizarding World Injustice
The hosts then focus on Hokey, Hepzibah’s house-elf, who is blamed for her mistress’s death after confessing to accidentally poisoning her cocoa with a “little-known poison.”
Andrew questions whether Hokey’s confession can be trusted at all:
“Are we to believe that Hokey did accidentally put something in Hepzibah’s drink? Or did Tom Riddle mess with her mind about that?” — Andrew
Laura suggests a couple of chilling possibilities:
“I think it’s either he did it and he just planted a false memory, or he Imperiused Hokey and made her do it… much like Morphin, Voldemort had planted a false memory. Honestly, I think it could go either way.” — Laura
Micah raises the issue of how little investigation appears to have been done by the Ministry and how ready they are to accept a house-elf as a convenient scapegoat:
“Just because Hokey is admitting to putting poison into Hepzibah’s drink doesn’t necessarily mean that’s the means in which she died… it makes me even angrier that the crime wasn’t investigated further. This house-elf has been taking care of Hepzibah Smith for who knows how long, and just so happens to poison her one night by accident.” — Micah
The panel also questions whether wizarding forensics or magical-creature-rights groups exist in any meaningful way during this time period. Andrew wonders:
“What about some sort of elf rights group like S.P.E.W., but let’s say run by adults… I would assume there are some sort of magical creature rights groups in the wizarding world who feel passionately about magical creatures and house-elves.” — Andrew
Laura points out that the story’s implied time period (mid-1950s to early 1960s) suggests both Muggle and wizarding societies are underdeveloped in this area:
“I have to imagine they weren’t [doing well] in the wizarding world. In fact, I doubt we were doing so hot with that stuff in the Muggle world at that point either.” — Laura
The result is a powerful comparison between Hokey and Winky in Goblet of Fire: house-elves repeatedly taking the fall for the crimes of powerful wizards, often tied to Voldemort.
Horcrux Watch: The Locket, the Cup, and Voldemort’s Rise
The episode also advances what the hosts jokingly call “Horcrux Watch.” By this point in the story, Tom Riddle has already created several Horcruxes.
Laura does a quick tally:
“So far during his rise to power, Tom has the diary. He got the ring from Morphin, now he has the locket and the cup.” — Laura
The hosts note that Hepzibah’s murder and the theft of Slytherin’s locket and Hufflepuff’s cup are crucial milestones in Voldemort’s transformation. They also speculate when he next travels to Albania for the diadem and why Borgin and Burke themselves seem to escape his wrath, despite having profited from his family’s heirloom.
Eric finds that particularly suspicious:
“Voldemort now knows who swindles his mom out of his family’s locket, and somehow Borgin and Burke are both allowed to live.” — Eric
Dumbledore’s Memory: Voldemort’s Job Interview and the DADA Curse
The second memory in the chapter belongs to Dumbledore himself: Tom Riddle returns to Hogwarts years later, now deeply altered by his dark experiments, to request the Defense Against the Dark Arts position.
Laura highlights how visibly the Horcrux-making has begun to affect him physically:
“From the description of his physical attributes, all of that Horcruxing has started affecting those once handsome features.” — Laura
The panel talks through Dumbledore’s level of awareness at this stage. He clearly knows Riddle is dangerous and has pushed magic far beyond normal bounds, even if he may not have fully pieced together the Horcrux plan.
Eric quotes one of the key exchanges between Dumbledore and Voldemort:
“‘Of some kinds of magic, you have experimented,’ Dumbledore corrected him quietly. ‘Of some others, you remain, forgive me, woefully ignorant.’” — Eric (reading)
Andrew adds another chilling line from Voldemort’s rebuttal:
“He says, ‘Nothing I have seen in the world has supported your famous pronouncements that love is more powerful than my kind of magic, Dumbledore.’” — Andrew (paraphrasing/reading)
Micah argues that Voldemort never truly expects to get the job; the visit is a cover:
“I don’t think it’s really Voldemort’s intent to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts position… The real reason is to hide the diadem in the Room of Requirement and maybe do a little bit of recruiting while he’s there at Hogwarts.” — Micah
The conversation then turns to the famous curse on the DADA position. Laura points to the moment Tom’s wand hand twitches in the memory:
“Harry almost reflexively shouts out for Dumbledore to move because he sees Voldemort’s wand hand twitch, but I think we’re meant to believe that’s the moment when he places the curse on the role.” — Laura
From there, no Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher lasts more than a year. The hosts question why no one in authority does anything serious about it:
“Why don’t the faculty or the governors of the school or the ministry come in and break the curse?” — Micah
Eric notes that each departure is different enough to provide plausible deniability, but by the time Harry attends Hogwarts, the pattern is obvious.
How the TV Show Could Improve on the Books Here
Throughout the episode, the hosts repeatedly return to the upcoming Harry Potter TV series and how this chapter would translate on screen. Laura is especially keen for the show to dramatize Tom’s “missing years”:
“I don’t want it to be a freaking montage. I want to actually see them play out… it could be really cool if, particularly during the sixth season, each episode started out with a cold open of what Tom Riddle is doing concurrently on the timeline.” — Laura
Andrew agrees that this is a common and effective storytelling device for TV and could give viewers a richer sense of Voldemort’s evolution, his time at Borgin and Burkes, his travels in Eastern Europe, and his mounting body count.