He was the only man Voldemort ever feared.

But why?

Hey brother!

Voldt's greatest fear at all is dying.

In fact, he fears it so much that it's the basis for his entire evil empire.

It may look on the surface like all he cares about are power and ruling and sure on some

level he does, but his core motivation for everything he does is to avoid death.

He goes to greater lengths than anyone who has ever lived goes to avoid it,

and yet ironically ends up the least alive person alive if that makes sense. But despite his fear of the abstract concept of death, he has another much more concrete living breathing fear, albice Dumbledore.

This is one of the very first things

ever established in the entire story

that Dumbledore is the only wizard

Voldemort ever feared. In fact, when they finally do showdown some five

books later the chapter is actually called the only one he ever feared. But what is

he so afraid of? The answer probably seems pretty obvious that Dumbledore is just a very powerful wizard who could

possibly defeat Voldemort in combat and put an end to his entire reign.

And yet that doesn't exactly track for a few reasons.

I mean, first of all, it's just Baltimore's knowledge of the prophecy,

which states,

The one with the power to vanquish the dark lord approaches and the dark lord shall mark

him as as equal but he shall have power the dark lord knows not.

And yada yada you know it but it basically goes on to identify baby Harry or Neville, I guess, but definitely not

...