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Harry Potter and The Chamber of Secrets by JK Rowling.
Tom is saying why he had changed his name.
I fashioned myself a new name, a name I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world! '
If I were to say that, I'd say " I knew wizards everywhere will... "
"when I become...
Please help me out.
Why "had" and "would"?
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would ... had
OR
will ... have
The first has a little less certainty.
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Considering Voldemort's character. He was certain he would become that. So, I don't think it's about certainty.
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It is just reporting a past thought
at that time , this would have been what he was thinking:
"I know wizards everywhere will one day fear to speak when I have become the greatest sorcerer in the world!"
present(know), future (from the present) using modal "will" (will fear), future perfect (I have become)
now, reporting events from the past, all the tenses are backstepped
I knew wizards everywhere would one day fear to speak when I had become the greatest sorcerer in the world! '
past (I knew), future (from the past) using modal "will"(would fear), future pluperfect (I had become)
"would" is the past tense of "will"
The story is told in the past, as is usual for stories.
Here tenses are all backstepped to report the thoughts he had at that time.
know - knew
will - would
have become - had become
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Thank you so much.
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This page explains the grammar. Quote:USE 1 Future in Past  Future in the past is used to express the idea that in the past you thought something would happen in the future. It does not matter if you are correct or not. Future in the past follows the same basic rules as the simple future. "Would" is used to volunteer or promise, and "was going to" is used to plan. Moreover, both forms can be used to make predictions about the future. https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/futureinpast.html#:~:text=Future%20in%20the%20past%20is,to%22%20is%20used%20to%20plan.
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