Most wouldn’t defend Lord Voldemort, the hypocritical killer of half-blood and muggle-born magic folk. But his actor, Ralph Fiennes, dares to do it.

The Hollywood Reporter has an article about Fiennes’ conversation with Newsweek about his character and his motivations. Fiennes does call his character a “demonic spirit” and “satanic force,” which is true, but Fiennes also says that he tries to find the good in all of the characters he portrays and brings up the idea of Voldemort being a victim of loneliness.

“Young Voldemort was an orphan and denied any kind of parental affection or love, so he’s been an isolated figure from a very young age,” he said. “But I always think there has to be the possibility of good in someone, too. It might have been eroded, repressed, suppressed or somehow distorted within him after he was really damaged.” According to Fiennes, Voldemort has never understood what it’s like to love or be loved, so he defaults to power and manipulation to gain some sort of validation.

That’s a convincing argument. I don’t think anyone would argue against it since Voldemort was, at one point, simply just called Tom Riddle.

You can read the rest of Fiennes’ interview here.