Skip to main content

harry potter - How many Death Eaters died before Voldemort lost power the first time?


In the scene in Voldemort's father's graveyard, it is implied that all the Death Eaters there ever were (with Dark Marks) have a place in the circle, and it is further implied that only 3 died while working for Voldemort.


Can reasonable guesses be made as to who those three were, and is it really possible that there were no other losses by the Death Eaters?



Answer



The exact passage you’re thinking of is as follows (GoF, chapter 33):



“And here we have six missing Death Eaters… three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return… he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever... he will be killed, of course… and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service.”




As with the answer to a similar question, I’d assume that these people are part of Voldemort’s “inner circle”, and not representative of his entire force. Voldemort doesn’t strike me as the sort of person who’d mourn or mention their loss. I think the losses were far greater than three, but most wouldn’t merit any mention at Voldemort’s rebirthing ceremony.


So, who are these three people? I checked lists of named Death Eaters on HP Wikia, Lexicon, and so on for plausible candidates, and there are only really these three.


Here are my guesses:


Evan Rosier


We get his name in Karkaroff’s trial (GoF, chapter 30):



“Why, yes... there was Rosier,” said Karkaroff hurriedly. “Evan Rosier.”


“Rosier is dead,” said Crouch. “He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle.”


“Took a bit of me with him, though,” whispered Moody to Harry’s right. Harry looked around at him once more, and saw him indicating the large chunk out of his nose to Dumbledore.




Why do I think he’s important?



  • Karkaroff thought his name would be of value to the Ministry.

  • He was dispatched by Moody, probably the “best Auror the Ministry ever had” (Sirius). This suggests that he was a high-profile (and highly skilled) target.

  • Chose to die rather than being arrested, which suggests dedication to his cause and the possibility that he had secret information he wanted to keep out of the Order/Ministry’s hands. Both suggestive of high rank. We also know that Moody “always brought people in alive where possible”, so he wasn’t killed idly.


He died before the end of the war, so Voldemort would have known of his death. Quoting Sirius again (GoF, chapter 27):



“Rosier and Wilkes – they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell.”




This is when Sirius is discussing Snape’s old gang, and their future careers as Death Eaters.


Wilkes?


All we have to go on is the line from Sirius above. We know he was a Slytherin, student at Hogwarts, in a group with other prominent Death Eaters (inc. Avery, the Lestranges and Snape). Lacking better guesses, this seems like a good guess for the second.


Regulus Black?


This is more of a wildcard, but hear me out. Here are some arguments in favour:



  • He was a pure-blood wizard from a respected family, with close relations to many other pure-blood Death Eaters and their families. This is prime Death Eater material, and likely to ingratiate him with the inner circle. (It may also be why he got cold feet, if he was quickly placed alongside the more ruthless Death Eaters and saw Voldemort in person.)

  • He was close enough to Voldemort to find out about the horcruxes. At least in part because he volunteered Kreacher to help place the locket in the basin, which suggests he was trusted by Voldemort. He also knew how to get Kreacher out from the cave, and used Kreacher’s knowledge to retrieve the original horcrux. This suggests cunning and intelligence, which would have been valuable skills as a Death Eater.

  • The note he leaves is signed “R.A.B.”, rather than his full name. If he expected Voldemort to recognise this, he was probably of some importance.

  • Finally, we know he died in the cave replacing the horcruxes, and kept the circumstances of his death a secret to keep the family safe. Since Voldemort never returned to inspect the locket, he would never have learnt of Regulus’s defection. In this case, it seems logical to assume he died loyal to Voldemort and during his service.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
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

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

harry potter - What is the difference between Diffindo and Sectumsempra?

In the Harry Potter books, Diffindo is called the 'Severing Charm' and it’s most commonly used to cut ropes and the like. However, in the last book Hermione uses it on Ron but misses, creating a 'slash in his jeans' and his knee gets cut, causing him to 'roar in pain'. We've only seen Sectumsempra used once on screen when Harry directly uses it on Malfoy in the sixth book, but there it's mentioned that he is 'waving his wand wildly'. Wouldn't Diffindo, if used in such a fashion also cause a similar effect? Similarly, if it was able to cut Ron, it would also be able to, say, chop off an ear (George's)? In that case, how are these two spells different, except for Sectumsempra seemingly used exclusively to hurt humans? Answer While Diffindo and Sectumsempra both can be countered by other spells, Diffindo is far more easily countered. Reparo, a relatively common spell, can completely reverse its effect when used once. “He pulled the old cop...
Post a Comment
Read more