Skip to main content

harry potter - Why exactly do the Death Eaters serve Lord Voldemort?


The impression that I got from the Harry Potter films was that if Lord Voldemort was successful, most of the world was going to suffer greatly. Basically everyone would serve Voldemort as slaves or die.


So what's the point of serving someone who's probably going to ultimately end up betraying and/or enslaving you?


I know the Death Eaters hated Muggles, but is that really enough to justify tearing down Wizard society?


Why exactly do the Death Eaters serve Lord Voldemort? Fear?


Is the post-Voldemort world not that bad?


(I for one welcome our new Death Eater overlords)



Answer



Same reason people followed every charismatic and/or powerful evil monster - from Hitler to Stalin to Saddam, to name just a few recent examples.



Most of which reasons boil down to basic game theory and human nature.


The main possible reasons (or their combinations) being:




  • They lust for real power. Being "enslaved" by Voldie while lording it over pretty much everyone else doesn't sound like a bad deal to a LOT of people. The kinds that make the best lieutenants. See Malfoys.




  • They are just generally evil, and will gladly follow someone who enables their evil inclinations to be expressed. See Crabb/Goyle types for small-time kind of example, or Dolores Umbridge for larger. Or Malfoys again (or better yet the psychopath/sociopath Lestrange).





  • They agree with Dark Helmet's axiom that "Evil will always triumph because Good is… DUMB". And they want to be on the winning side.




  • They (despite never having seen Spaceballs) make a rational assumption that Voldemort will win based on his power/history. And they want to be on the winning side.




  • They agree with Death Eaters/Voldemort's politics (wizards should rule over Muggles, stronger wizards should rule over weaker ones). See Malfoys. But MANY MANY would agree (think how many people bought into Hitler's Master Race idea, both within and outside of Germany, and that was given a TOTAL absence of a proof, as opposed to having magical powers vs. not). Blood purity was a big thing in Wizarding world, both in the past (elaborated a lot on Pottermore) and in the present (Fudge, Umbridge etc...)




  • They are weak personalities easily swayed by a crowd or a strong charismatic leader (which Tom Riddle most certainly was). See Peter Pettigrew/Wormtail.





  • The Enemy of my Enemy factor - someone hates a specific Muggle/wizard, and Death Eaters provide both a means of revenge AND moral support. See Snape vs. James Potter.




  • The friendship/other relationship factor. Your family belongs to Death Eaters or your best friend is, and you follow. See many Slytherins (e.g. Crabb, Goyle, Draco).




  • They are afraid of Voldemort. Same reason MANY MANY people joined Communist party or Nazis or the gangs - if you don't, you will be hurt for not doing so. Likely example is Karkaroff.





  • Most are not smart enough to realize that any possible payoff from being a Death Eater is counteracted by the problems which Mark raised. See real life example of any American/Western leftie "intellectuals" who worshipped Stalin (hint - the same kind most of which would get put up to a wall and shot if they lived in Soviet Russia); or the the dumbhead Santana who wears Che Guevara t-shirt, ignoring the fact that Che hated Rock, never mind was a mass-murdering sociopath).




  • For many, being "enslaved" by Voldemort isn't that much of a deal - in reality they are just low level followers of a faction/army and the alternative is a low paying wizard job/unemployment/unfulfilling life.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Do the Kwikspell courses work?

In Harry Potter we are introduced to Kwikspell course in The Chamber of Secrets (and never hear about it again). We see Filch taking courses, presumably by mail. The descriptions of Kwikspell make me think it is for people who are weak in magic (kind of like how Neville was supposed to be when he was younger), but had magic in them nonetheless. However, Ron's comments later in the chapter make it sound like it is mainly for Squibs to learn magic. However, it is strongly implied through out all the books that Squibs are essentially Muggles, and will never be able to do magic. How then is a Kwikspell course supposed to work? Do we have any information to know if it works at all? Is it a scam? An answer from any level of canon is welcome. Answer Kwikspell courses are (probably) useful to some wizards, but not to squibs. The Kwikspell course literature comes with two testimonials. Madam Z. Nettles of Topsham writes: ‘I had no memory for incantations and my potions were a family joke...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

star wars - What "exactly" happens when someone turns to the Dark Side?

When I saw the original Star Wars saga as a kid, the concept of the Dark Side imprinted in me was quite simple. You did a bad thing, so you're a bad person so you go to the Dark Side and keep doing bad things. Now, obviously this doesn't hold true in reality. In my mind it is perfectly reasonable for Luke to kill the Emperor and Vader and then just flee the Death Star and rejoin the Alliance. After all they are at war, those are enemy officers that have captured him and are taunting him by threatening with death of all loved ones and the whole operation was intended to kill the Emperor anyway. The same would hold true for Anakin. He could have killed Mace Windu to save the Chancellor and Padme but that doesn't mean he's going to then go mad and kill all Jedis including children. It doesn't add up from a merely psychological point of view. He had a set of objectives and that made him want to keep the Chancellor alive (quite valid by the way, Mace Windu is quite clums...
Post a Comment
Read more

star trek - Warning regarding forward saucer section in Nemesis?

In Star Trek: Nemesis , just before the Enterprise rams into the Scimitar, Picard sends a text message from his captain's chair arm pad to Troi — who is manning the helm in lieu of the crewman who was just blown out through what was once the view screen — indicating that she should put full impulse on standby. (Literally, if you watch the scene closely, Troi's console prefaces the order with "TXT MSG" !) My question is: Did Picard also somehow warn crew members in the forward saucer section about what was about to happen? The ramming of the Scimitar was a heat of the moment decision. Considering that he also resorted to calling the auto-destruct sequence shortly after (which ended up being offline), he probably was of the mindset that any losses would be acceptable in order to hault Shinzon's march to Earth. Still, I'm curious. Answer The original script indicates that he called for the crew to " brace for impact ". Whether that call (or the comma...
Post a Comment
Read more