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harry potter - Were there any female Death Eaters other than Bellatrix and Alecto Carrow in the books?


Obviously, women can become Death Eaters. Bellatrix was the Dark Lord's most loyal Death Eater, and she was a woman. Although she had a much lesser role and importance, Alecto Carrow was another female Death Eater. But were they the only two women in the Death Eaters mentioned in the seven books? (Keep in mind, Narcissa was never a Death Eater, so she wouldn't count.)


There are probably a few female Death Eaters in the movies. There are at least three at one of the Death Eater meetings (which includes only the inner circle), although it's theoretically possible that, like Narcissa, they're related or married to a Death Eater without actually being one. However, I think Narcissa was a special case, and I doubt the Dark Lord would usually allow people who weren't Death Eaters at their meetings. There are also a few more women present at the final battle, to be six different women among the Death Eaters at the battle, and at least two of the ones at the meeting were also at the battle. That's in the movies though.


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In the seven books, are there any female Death Eaters mentioned other than Bellatrix and Alecto Carrow? Unnamed women are fine, as long as it's clear in the text that the person is both a woman and a Death Eater. Reference the seven books only please.



Answer





(Though probably not...).


Apart from the three individuals referenced in the question, the Death Eaters seem to have been an almost exclusively male organisation. The movies seem to feature more female Death Eaters but then again it's pretty easy to just put a female extra in the background without giving their character a name or identity.


The Harry Potter wiki has a pretty decent list of known Death Eaters. It lists all the Death Eaters bar Bellatrix, Narcissa and Alecto as male. However, the wiki is not known for its reliability so I went down the list and checked those who I wasn't sure about. Almost everyone can be accounted as a male either by the use of pronouns in the narration (he said, etc.) or by catch-all statements like this.



Half a dozen boys were sitting around Slughorn, all on harder or lower seats than his, and all in their mid-teens.
(Half-Blood Prince, Chapter 17, A Sluggish Memory).


"There's someone else up there all right, Selwyn," said the second man sharply.
(Deathly Hallows, Chapter 21, The Tale of the Three Brothers).




For instance, in the second case, we can judge that both Selwyn and Travers are men since Travers is described as "the second man" [of two].


The only named Death Eater whose gender I could find any ambiguity about was Jugson. That's partly because he/she only has a walk-on part and therefore doesn't really get much time for description in the narrative. This is all we really have on Jugson:



"Jugson, come back here, we need to organise! We'll split into pairs and search, and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others if necessary - Bellatrix, Rodolphus, you take the left; Crabbe, Rabastan, go right - Jugson, Dolohov, the door straight ahead - Macnair and Avery, through here - Rookwood, over there - Mulciber, come with me!"
(Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35, Beyond the Veil).



Having said all that, though, Jugson was almost certainly a man. We know that Jugson was paired with Dolohov. Later we see that the person accompanying Dolohov in the Time Room is male.



"Petrificus Totalus!" shouted Harry, as the second Death Eater raised his wand. His arms and legs snapped together and he fell forwards, face down on to the rug at Harry's feet, stiff as a board and unable to move.
(Order of the Phoenix, Chapter 35, Beyond the Veil).




So it depends on whether the Death Eaters divided up in the way in which Malfoy told them to (they probably did) and whether or not Jugson was still alongside Dolohov when Dolohov ran into the Time Room (he probably was). In which case Jugson too is a man.


It's not clear why so many of the Death Eaters were male. It could be that Voldemort is sexist or it could be that women simply didn't want to join up in large numbers. After all, the three women who we know were involved with the Death Eaters were all married to or related to other Death Eater members. We don't know whether they would've signed up on their own.


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