Lord Voldemort or “He Who Shall Not Be Named” doesn’t have a nose because of his use of Dark Magic and Forbidden Spells. He fully succumbed to studying and learning more about Dark Magic during his time as a student at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
Although, there are other theories about why he doesn’t have a nose. Of course, he split his soul into seven Horcruxes, but to do that, he had to murder someone each time. Some say with each killing, he lost not only part of his soul but also part of his physical body. It was the small price he had to pay for taking so many lives (because he definitely killed more than seven people).
Additionally, people speculate it’s due to his association with snakes and possibly snake venom. Granted, one of Voldemort’s Horcruxes was his pet snake, Nagini, so he was quite literally linked to a snake. His appearance (and personality) became more snake-like as he mastered Dark Magic.
His “new nose” resembles the slits that snakes have for noses. As an heir of Slytherin, Lord Voldemort could speak in Parseltongue, meaning he could communicate with snakes in their own language. And of course, Slytherin’s House animal is a snake, and Slytherins are known for being sneaky and cunning like snakes.
What Happened to Voldemort’s Nose?
Lord Voldemort’s nose was most likely not reformed when he got his new body. When Lord Voldemort was first defeated when Harry Potter was a baby, he no longer had a physical body. Peter Pettigrew or “Wormtail” used a Regeneration Potion to resurrect Lord Voldemort, who got a new body because of it.
“Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son! Flesh of the servant, willingly sacrificed, you will revive your master. Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe.”
Peter Pettigrew
Many say this is why Lord Voldemort doesn’t have a nose because his new body was formed from Dark Magic. His new extremely pale body was almost alien-like with a tall, lanky body and abnormally long fingers.
He had no hair on his body with slits for a nose and cat-like, red eyes. This all contributed to witches and wizards being afraid of him because he was so powerful and because he looked the way he did.
Did Voldemort Ever Have a Nose in the Books or Movies?
When Lord Voldemort attended Hogwarts, he was known as Tom Riddle, who was very handsome. At that time, he did have a nose because it was early on in his experimentation with Dark Magic.
Regarding his conversion to only being Lord Voldemort, he did have a nose in the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
He didn’t yet have a whole body and had to attach himself to Professor Quirinus Quirrell. We see in the movie as well that Lord Voldemort does have a nose, and his face looks different from his new face later on.