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Death Eater

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Harry Potter Association
The Dark Mark of Lord Voldemort
The Death Eaters
Headquarters Unknown
Current Head Lord Voldemort
Intentions Preservation of blood purity and serving Lord Voldemort
Enemies Order of the Phoenix, Dumbledore's Army, and the Ministry of Magic
First Appearance Term first used in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, though other followers of Voldemort had been previously met.

In the fictional Harry Potter series, a Death Eater is a follower of Lord Voldemort. The Death Eaters serve in the innermost circle of Voldemort's troops in his war against the British Ministry of Magic and are his most loyal allies.

Their tasks include doing battle against the Ministry of Magic and the Order of the Phoenix, and reducing the resistance by those who oppose Voldemort by threatening, blackmailing or physically harming their families, particularly the children. After joining, Death Eaters are required to exhibit loyalty and obedience until death. Failure to do so results in punishment, often in the form of torture or death.

All Death Eaters are branded with the Dark Mark on their left forearm. The Dark Mark, Voldemort's sign (a skull with a snake protruding from its mouth) is used to summon the Death Eaters - when Voldemort touches any Death Eater's mark, the others' marks would burn black, and the Death Eaters were expected to apparate next to their master. The standard Death Eater attire is a black, hooded robe and a mask, entirely concealing the face.

The film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire features the Death Eaters in skull masks and black robes with pointed hats, reminiscent of the robes worn by members of the Ku Klux Klan.

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Several sons and daughters of Death Eaters attend Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry - the school itself has never had any political or ideological allegiance, although its various Heads did. According to J.K. Rowling, although the Slytherins we most often hear from are the children of Death Eaters, they are only part of the Slytherin population and there are some students connected to the Death Eaters in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw as well.

Contents

The Fall and Second Rise of Lord Voldemort

When Lord Voldemort was vanished after failing to kill Harry Potter, the Death Eaters largely disbanded. The Ministry rounded many of them up and imprisoned them in Azkaban, but some eluded justice by claiming they were bewitched or by turning in other Death Eaters, as Igor Karkaroff did; Harry witnesses Karkaroff's testimony against former Death Eaters in Dumbledore's Pensieve.

As Lord Voldemort regains a full-strength corporeal existence at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, he summons his followers to him by touching Peter Pettigrew's Dark Mark. Some who have betrayed him are too afraid to return to him, and others are dead or imprisoned, but many return to his service as Lord Voldemort begins his second attempt to claim power.

A Death Eater, as seen behind his skull mask in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Enlarge
A Death Eater, as seen behind his skull mask in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.

The incumbent Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge and most of the Ministry of Magic originally refuse to believe that Lord Voldemort has returned. Though Harry Potter and Albus Dumbledore serve as dissenting voices, the majority of the public chooses to believe the Ministry's position. This gives the Death Eaters an advantage, and for much of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the group keeps a low profile in order to maintain their secrecy. Because of the Ministry's refusal to remove the dementors from Azkaban, which Dumbledore advised immediately following Voldemort's return, the Death Eaters are able to recruit the dementors to their cause and make similar progress with to the giants; the quiet revolt of the dementors also allowed the Death Eaters to bolster their ranks by allowing the mass breakout of several surviving imprisoned members.

In an attempt by the Death Eaters to learn the entirety of a prophecy made about the connection between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort - which led to the latter's decision to murder the Potters - fails at the Ministry of Magic's Department of Mysteries, and eleven of the twelve Death Eaters present are captured, including strong Ministry influence Lucius Malfoy (and not including former Azkaban prisoner Bellatrix Lestrange, who escaped the Ministry with Voldemort). They also blow their cover as the Minister of Magic, after being alerted by Dumbledore's enchanted statues, sees Lord Voldemort in the Ministry and is forced to acknowledge his return. With no reason to stay covert, the Death Eaters wage another war to serve their master's ends, employing the assassination and kidnap of several important wizards as well as mass muggle killings.

Death Eater Tally

In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix we learn that a "dozen-odd" Death Eaters appeared at the summons. Counting them, the ten mentioned as being broken out of Azkaban in the same book, the three said by Voldemort to be dead in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, and the three in that book named by Voldemort as not present but not imprisoned, it is certain there were at least twenty-eight Death Eaters at the time of Voldemort's fall. During his duel with Voldemort in Goblet of Fire, Harry contemplates using Expelliarmus, but at first sees no need for it, as he sees himself as outnumbered "at least thirty to one".

It is unknown how many followers Voldemort has outside of Britain, but two known non-British Death Eaters are Antonin Dolohov and Igor Karkaroff, indicating that the Death Eaters aren't just dangerous to Britain, and that they are present in some foreign countries as well.

Ideology

Death Eaters go on a rampage at the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
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Death Eaters go on a rampage at the Quidditch World Cup in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

In short, the Death Eaters seek to destroy wizarding families of Muggle lineage, to destroy the Muggle world and gain complete power and control over the entire wizarding world, and restore the magical community to the pure-bloods. The Death Eaters are supporters of pure-blood heritage, or wizards who have no Muggle ancestors (ironic, as their leader, Lord Voldemort, is a half-blood who has a Muggle father). It is unlikely that all of them are pure-bloods, as very few pure-bloods still exist; it is noted that possibly many of them are half-bloods clinging to their pure-blood ancestors, such as Severus Snape, a former and, uncertainly, current Death Eater. A half-blood, Snape called himself (although few knew it) 'The Half Blood Prince' while at school, a reference to his mother's pure-blood family, the Princes. It is also stated, by JKR herself, that a Muggle-born wizard can become a Death Eater "in rare circumstances." [link]

The Ministry of Magic has an elite unit of Dark Wizard catchers known as the Aurors, a squad of the most accomplished trackers and Dark Wizard hunters in existence. Aurors are responsible for hunting and capturing - or killing, if necessary - Death Eaters and other Dark Wizards and Dark Creatures, including foreign Death Eaters like Igor Karkaroff, who was originally caught by Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody. The British Ministry is not the only group resisting the Death Eaters; The Order of the Phoenix, an organization (consisting of a few Aurors itself) set up by Albus Dumbledore to combat Lord Voldemort and his followers, plants spies among the Death Eaters and recruits international help. While in his fifth year at school, Harry Potter and his best friends Hermione Granger and Ronald Weasley, started an organization called Dumbledore's Army. Initially Dumbledore's Army was conceptualized as a rebel study group where the members were secretly taught the use of Defense Against the Dark Arts magic by Harry, but it was also formed, as stated by Hermione during their initial meeting, as a method of learning to fight the forces of Voldemort. Later, several members of the group help Harry fight the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries, and a year later when their school is invaded by Death Eaters, several members again fight against them.

Known Death Eaters

Those with no explicitly listed crimes, in most cases, participated in the battle at the Department of Mysteries, or are known to be Death Eaters for other reasons. Current Status indicates the wizard's status as of the end of the sixth book. Among the known Death Eaters are:

Deceased

Accused or Framed Innocents

The following are innocent people who were or are suspected of being Death Eaters, or aided them unknowingly or unintentionally.

Knights of Walpurgis

Knights of Walpurgis is either the previous name of the Death Eaters, fictional characters from the Harry Potter books or the name JK Rowling originally called the Death Eaters in early drafts of the scripts. The only quotation makes it unclear whether they were originally called this in Rowling's manuscripts or if the Death Eaters actually called themselves this in the story.

JK Rowling revealed this information during an interview with Jeremy Paxman on BBC Newsnight on 2003-06-19:

''"'…in here is the history of the Death Eaters and I don't know that I'll ever actually need it — but at some point — which were once called something different — they were called the Knights of Walpurgis…'"

Knights of Walpurgis is a play on Walpurgis Night, which is the night of April 30. In legend it is associated with witches' sabbats and black magic.

References

See also

External links

  • A Death Eater's Guide ([[http://www.mugglenet.com/search/index.php]])

 

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