When Dolores was younger, she was bullied, bullied because of her looks and superior attitude. At times like those, she wished to be strong, to be powerful enough to stop them and make them never hurt her again. Finally, she went to her father.

"Hate," he told her, "hate gives you power."

And so she hated them, and it did make her powerful. With hate she could use accidental — though it wasn't really accidental anymore — magic and get revenge.

Hate gave her power, and she made sure to remember that all through her life.

When it came time to go to Hogwarts, she and her father went to Ollivander's to buy a wand. The wand that chose her was a short one, and Ollivander explained that it was for those who had a lack of moral character. Her father didn't care, saying that morals only made you weak, and so if her father didn't care, she didn't care.

When she finally graduated Hogwarts and went to work at the Ministry, she found that several influential people hated half-breeds such as werewolves, centaurs, and merpeople. So she embraced that same belief.

After all, hate gave you power.

You might think that Dolores wasn't a person anymore, that her character was just a collection of other peoples' beliefs, but there was a little part of herself — just a little — that she kept the same. She kept that little girl side of herself, the one who liked pink and cute, fluffy kittens to convince herself — and maybe even others — that she was still slightly human.

But perhaps she really wasn't human anymore.

When Voldemort took over the Ministry and instilled pureblood supremacy, she embraced that too, but there was a little part of herself that hated it. Hated following everyone. After years of following everyone's beliefs, she wanted to follow her own and be herself, but there was no going back. If she wanted to be powerful, she needed to hate, and she needed to hate the same things as others.

After all, hate gave you power.