History Characters / HarryPotterDeathEaters

** Voldemort and his Death Eaters are [[FantasticRacism prejudiced against]] wizards with less-than-pure wizarding blood and non-human magical creatures in general despite he himself having a Muggle parent. While he's counting on the anti-Muggle feelings of his followers, he genuinely despises Muggles and anything he considers Mudblood -- and he apparently has a one-drop rule for everyone except himself [[spoiler:and personal Death Eaters like Snape]]. While they also recruited giants and werewolves, they probably rationalized them as second- and third-tier "citizens" in Voldemort's new order. Also, Sirius flat-out states that wizards needed to procreate with Muggles to avoid extinction, and Hermione believes many Death Eaters are half-bloods pretending to be pure-bloods like their leader. Oh, and Pottermore revealed that Muggle-borns were much more accepted before the Statute of Secrecy, meaning mixed blood was inevitable.

** Despite the level of terror they bring to the wizarding world there seem to be under a hundred of them. Partly justified, since they are Voldemort's [[EliteMooks fanatical inner circle]] and are sent on all special tasks. It should be noted however that there seem to be a good number of non-Death Eater supporters such as the Snatchers, and many Ministry of Magic employees in the last book as well as werewolves, giants, dementors, and possibly other dark creatures who sided with Voldemort.
** Averted in the films, however, as there seem to be around 200 proper Death Eaters attacking Hogwarts. However, it is heavily implied that a majority of these fighters are Imperiused.

* BattleCouple: In the fifth book when he and Bellatrix fight side-by-side in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries when Lucius splits the Death Eaters into pairs. He, Bellatrix and two other Death Eaters fight Ron, Ginny and Luna, messing up Ron's brain for a short time and breaking Ginny's ankle. The two later fight together against Tonks and Ron during the Battle of Seven Potters.

* ProperlyParanoid: He continues to suspect that something is off about "Bellatrix" (actually a Polyjuiced Hermione) and watches her closely even after Hermione is able to mimic Bellatrix's personality closely enough.

* WouldHurtAChild: When it's mentioned that Travers killed Marlene [=McKinnon=]'s family, it implies her ''whole family''.

* NoNameGiven: He isn't given a name when he first appears and is merely referred to as "The Big-Blond Death Eater" until the following book when Harry recognizes him.

* CreepyChild: Lily describes the younger Mulciber as such when they were students.

* LikeFatherLikeSon: They might be father and sone, and both of them are Death Eaters.

* DirtyCoward: Apparently Gibbon was ordered to cast the Dark Mark above the Astronomy Tower in order to lure Dumbledore there, however he didn't like the idea of facing Dumbledore and ran back down to join the others. He gets killed as a result.

* GenerationXerox: At least one older Rosier served Grindelwald and two younger ones served Voldemort.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler: Harry]], or, at least for the time being...
* TheDogBitesBack: Voldemort's biggest mistake was sending Draco on a suicide mission. Not only did Draco end up becoming a SpannerInTheWorks, but it earned Narcissa's ire, who betrayed Voldemort the first opportunity she got by [[spoiler: concealing that Harry was still alive.]]
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: She genuinely loves her husband and her son. Her love for Draco plays a significant role in [[spoiler: the Malfoys' betrayal of Voldemort and Voldemort's downfall.]] She also seems genuinely close with Bellatrix.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: [[spoiler: Never managed to fully let go of the supremacist ideals she was raised with. Draco withholds Scorpius from interacting with his grandparents as much as possible.]]
* KarmaHoudini: According to Rowling, the reason the Malfoys never got their comeuppance was in large part due to [[spoiler: Narcissa's decision to spare Harry's life by lying to Voldemort in exchange for the knowledge that her son was still safe]].
* LoveRedeems: Like her husband, her main redeeming factor is the fact that she loves her son so much that [[spoiler: she is willing to stab Voldemort in the back to protect him.]]

* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: Not to her directly since Lucius bears more of Voldemort's ire, but the Dark Lord still sent her teenage son on a suicide mission to kill Albus Dumbledore purely as [[EvilIsPetty slow torture for Lucius's failures]]. [[spoiler: She betrays Voldemort the first chance she gets.]]

* RacistGrandma: Just like her husband. [[spoiler: She and Lucius found Astoria Greengrass a somewhat disappointing daughter-in-law for refusing to teach the prejudice against Muggles on their grandson, Scorpius. Family gatherings were, as a result, often fraught with tension.]]

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: Narcissa values wealth and power as much as Lucius does. [[spoiler: But both value their son even more.]]

* HeroKiller: All in all, he seems to have the second highest kill count next to Bellatrix among the Death Eaters, and he is treated with extreme seriousness, even among Death Eaters. In fact, his final defeat is one of the '''only''' times he was defeated straight up. To count, he took part in assassinating the Prewett brothers, he nearly killed Hermione, defeated Moody, almost killed Sirius before Harry intervened, fought Harry, Ron and Hermione all at once after Rowle was stunned in the cafe and defeated the two boys before Hermione body-bound him with a surprise attack, and [[spoiler: killed Lupin during the final battle]].

* {{Cuckold}}: [[spoiler: His wife had a child with Voldemort and he knew about it. Reading between the lines, it comes across similarly to a cultist allowing his wife to sleep with the cult leader.]]
* EvilMentor: Possibly to [[spoiler: Delphini,]] since she wasn't trained at Hogwarts. If he did train her, he did a very good job, since she managed to hold her own against four adult wizards, including Harry, at once.

* SatelliteLoveInterest: Compared to his wife, who is a fairly major character, Rodolphus is never even given a single line and mainly exists to show that Bellatrix made a "respectable pure-blood marriage." [[spoiler: As Bellatrix had a child by Voldemort, this "respectable pure-blood marriage" clearly wasn't a faithful one; although as Rodolphus was as fanatically devoted to Voldemort as his wife he doesn't seem to mind.]]

* GutturalGrowler: He's described as having a raspy bark of a voice in the books.

* GutturalGrowler: Depicted as such in the audiobook.

* GutturalGrowler: Crabbe is described as having a [[EvilSoundsDeep low]] and rough voice.

-->'''Appears in:''' ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]''

* GutturalGrowler: Crabbe is described as having a rough voice.

* ANaziByAnyOtherName:

* DirtyCoward: The Death Eaters as a group tended to suddenly deny any involvement in the group after Voldermort's defeat. They also appear to shrink from any real wizards, preferring instead to gang up on groups of kids or Muggles. In the movie adaptation of ''Deathly Hallows'', several Death Eaters [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere are seen Apparating away]] when [[spoiler: Harry is revealed to have survived the Killing Curse in the Forbidden Forest and the Hogwarts students and staff get a HeroicSecondWind.]]

* MultiethnicName: ''Antonín'' (accent on the 'i') is Czech, but ''-ov'' surnames are only really found in Bulgaria and Russia.

* AerithAndBob: Their names are very different from each other, ranging from ''Lucius'', ''Regulus'', and ''Bellatrix'' to ''Evan'' and ''Peter''. Their leader is both Bob and Aerith at once, as he's literally TomTheDarkLord but goes by ''Voldemort'' instead of his birth name. Barty Crouch Jr. is also both at once, his full name being Bartemius.

* AerithAndBob: Their names are very different from each other, ranging from ''Lucius'', ''Regulus'', and ''Bellatrix'' to ''Evan'' and ''Peter''. Their leader is both Aerith and Bob at once, as he's literally TomTheDarkLord but goes by ''Voldemort'' instead of his birth name. Bartemius Crouch Jr. is also both, as he's colloquially known as Barty.

* AerithAndBob: Their names are very different from each other, ranging from ''Lucius'', ''Regulus'', and ''Bellatrix'' to ''Evan'', ''Peter'', and ''Barty'' (though that last one is short for ''Bartemius''). Plus their leader is literally TomTheDarkLord, though he goes by ''Voldemort'' instead of his birth name.

[[Characters/HarryPotterTheWeasleyFamily The Weasley Family]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterMinistryOfMagic Ministry of Magic]]\\

* ForWantOfANail: Suppose Regulus had come with the information about the Horcruxes to Dumbledore and the Order. Since this was before Voldemort's first downfall, it's likely that Voldemort's return could have been delayed or averted entirely, and many people would have lived.

* ShaggyDogStory: His life is a mix of this and TheGreatestStoryNeverTold [[spoiler:until Book 7. After finding Voldemort's Horcrux, he ordered Kreacher to destroy it, instead of giving it to his brother, a member of the Order of the Phoenix at the time of his death, or to Dumbledore.]] This leads to a bizarre, prolonged and needless FetchQuest years after his death, after his brother died without knowing of his HeelFaceTurn.

* SpannerInTheWorks: To [[spoiler:both Voldemort and Dumbledore, discovering and compromising the former's Horcrux while Dumbledore risks death and madness all for nothing]].

* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: Regulus Black unearthed Voldemort's greatest secret [[spoiler:and took it to his grave without divulging anything he learned to Dumbledore or Sirius. The result is that it delayed Dumbledore's attempt to locate Horcruxes by two decades, during which time many innocent people died and his own brother was incarcerated for a crime he didn't commit]].

* FantasticRacism: Although all the Death Eaters have this trait, Travers seems to be one of the worst offenders. He refers to muggle-born beggars as "it", seems annoyed at the necessity of goblins at Gringotts, and even seems to dislike foreigners including ones who support the Death Eater cause.

* MiniatureSeniorCitizens: He's described as a relatively short man, though it could also be due to his posture or in comparison to the towering figures of Crabbe and Goyle Sr. who he was standing next to.

* CreepyChild: The younger one is described as such.

* AxCrazy: According to Hagrid:

** Bonus points for his first appearance (Book 3), where he's actually wielding an ax.

* HeroKiller: All in all, he seems to have the second highest kill count next to Bellatrix among the Death Eaters, and he is treated with extreme seriousness, even among Death Eaters. In fact, his final defeat is one of the '''only''' times he was defeated straight up.
** To count, he took part in assassinating the Prewett brothers, he nearly killed Hermione, defeated Moody, almost killed Sirius before Harry intervened, fought Harry, Ron and Hermione all at once after Rowle was stunned in the cafe and defeated the two boys before Hermione body-bound him with a surprise attack, and [[spoiler: killed Lupin during the final battle]].

* BoomerangBigot: Hermione theorizes that most Death Eaters are actually half-bloods pretending to be pure-blood, while espousing the superiority of pure-bloods, the inferiority of half-bloods and Muggle-borns, and the worthlessness of Muggles. She cites how the huge number of Death Eaters couldn't be supported by the declining number of Pure-Blood families in Britain. Indeed, Lord Voldemort himself is a half-blood.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The higher-ranked Death Eaters tend to be the most effective duelists. Or maybe [[AsskickingLeadsToLeadership the other way around]].

* BadassBaritone: Is described as having a cool voice.

* MamaBear: She is fiercely devoted to her family, and will do whatever it takes to protect them.

* BoomerangBigot: Hermione theorizes that most Death Eaters are actually half-bloods pretending to be pure-blood, while espousing the superiority of pure-bloods, the inferiority of half-bloods and Muggle-borns, and the worthlessness of Muggles. She cites how the huge number of Death Eaters couldn't be supported by the declining number of Pure-Blood families in Britain. Indeed, Lord Voldemort himself is a half-blood. .

* AdaptationalBadass: The organization as a group is given a noticeable power-up in the films, where they appear as fearsome, metal-masked wizards with unique ghostly powers for whom Harry's friends are absolutely no match, and are also much more numerous, numbering as hundreds in the Battle of Hogwarts. In the books, most Death Eaters are portrayed as fairly beatable, even incompetent and cowardly, to the point the Dumbledore's Army gives them a heck of a battle despite being undertrained teenagers. The exception is Bellatrix; in the books, the Death Eaters are implied to be a pretty shallow pool of talent where Bellatrix is the only truly high-level wizard aside from Voldemort, Snape, Barty Crouch, Jr., and possibly Dolohov (the rest being essentially mediocre bullies), while in the films, she's among the ''weakest'', being quickly defeated by Harry.

See Characters/HarryPotterSlytherin

* WouldHurtAChild: Seriously injured Hermione and broke Neville's nose in ''Order of the Phoenix''.

* BareFistedMonk: While he's presumably a competent wizard, he seems to favor hand-to-hand even in his human form, mauling his opponents with his teeth.

[[quoteright:170:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_dark_mark.png]]
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* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: The higher-ranked Death Eaters tend to be the most effective duelists. Or maybe [[AsskickingEqualsAuthority the other way around]].

[[center: [-[[Characters/HarryPotter Main Character Index]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterTheTrio The Trio]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHarryJamesPotter Harry James Potter]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterRonBiliusWeasley Ron Bilius Weasley]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHermioneJeanGranger Hermione Jean Granger]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsStudents Hogwarts Students]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterGryffindor Gryffindor]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterSlytherin Slytherin]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterRavenclaw Ravenclaw]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHufflepuff Hufflepuff]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsStaff Hogwarts Staff]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterAlbusDumbledore Albus Dumbledore]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterSeverusSnape Severus Snape]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterTheWeasleyFamily The Weasley Family]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterMinistryOfMagic Ministry of Magic]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterOrderOfThePhoenixMembers Order of the Phoenix Members]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterMarauders Marauders]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterSiriusBlack Sirius Black]] | '''Death Eaters''' | [[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort Lord Voldemort]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterDeathEatersInnerCircle Death Eaters (Inner Circle)]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterMuggles Muggles]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterMagicalBeings Magical Beings]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterAnimalsAndPets Animals and Pets]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterOtherCharacters Other Characters]] | [[Characters/FantasticBeasts Fantastic Beasts]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsMystery Hogwarts Mystery]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterOtherCanon Other Canon]]]]-]