History Characters / HarryPotterDeathEatersInnerCircle

[[center: [-'''[[Characters/HarryPotter Main Character Index]]'''\\
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'''[[Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsStudents Hogwarts Students]]''' ([[Characters/HarryPotterGryffindor Gryffindor]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterSlytherin Slytherin]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterRavenclaw Ravenclaw]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHufflepuff Hufflepuff]])\\
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'''[[Characters/HarryPotterOrderOfThePhoenixMembers Order of the Phoenix Members]]''' ([[Characters/HarryPotterMarauders Marauders]])\\
'''[[Characters/HarryPotterDeathEaters Death Eaters]]''' ([[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort Lord Voldemort]] | '''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]]]]-]
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!!The Death Eaters' Inner Circle
[[foldercontrol]]
[[folder:Lord Voldemort]]
See [[Characters/HarryPotterLordVoldemort Lord Voldemort]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Bellatrix Lestrange]]
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[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/bellatrixlestrange_6.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"My Lord, I would like to volunteer for this task. I want to kill the boy."]]
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!!!'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter
!!!'''Voiced by:''' Rebeca Patiño (Latin American Spanish, ''Order of the Phoenix''-''Deathly Hallows Part I''), Creator/XochitlUgarte (Latin American Spanish, ''Deathly Hallows Part II''), Miriam Ficher (Brazilian Portuguese)
!!!'''Appears in:''' ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' (in a memory, book only) | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]''

->''"Well, well, well, look what we have here. It's Harry Potter. He's all bright, and shiny, and new again, just in time for the Dark Lord!"''

Next to Voldemort, Bellatrix is the Death Eaters' head honcho, and she's one mean Death Eating queen. She was one of the few females in the group, as well as among the most dangerous and sadistic of Voldemort's followers. At the end of the First Wizarding War, Bellatrix and her husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, his brother Rabastan, and Barty Crouch Jr. tortured Aurors Alice and Frank Longbottom to the point of insanity searching for information on Voldemort after his first downfall.

Bellatrix was sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban for the crime, but escaped in the 1996 mass break-out, along with nine other Death Eaters. She participated in several battles of the Second Wizarding War, making it a particular goal to kill any relatives who were members of the Order of the Phoenix, including her cousin Sirius Black and niece Nymphadora Tonks.
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* TheAce: She's so powerful that only six months after her escape from Azkaban she defeats Nymphadora, kills Sirius, has Kingsley Shacklebolt writhing on the floor in seconds, and deflects a spell from Dumbledore's Elder Wand casually. She takes out four snatchers at once, not even giving them the time to retaliate. She duels Hermione, Ginny, and Luna at once and is better than all three of them. She's extremely intelligent and is the only person in the wizarding world to figure out where Snape's loyalties lie solely through deduction, when even Voldemort himself could not. She's also described as being very beautiful and retaining much of her great good looks even after more than a decade in Azkaban. J.K. Rowling called her 'the Death Eater par excellence'. Also, it is stated that Snape would have beaten her due to his excellence skills as a wizard duelist.
* AdaptationPersonalityChange: She's more exuberant, childish, and blatantly insane in the films, whereas in the novels, she's more regal and complex.
* AdaptationalWimp: Quite a case of this in the films, which opt to portray her as more evil than dangerous. In the fifth book, she defeated three of the best fighters in the Order of the Phoenix (Tonks, Sirius and Kingsley) one after another; managed to block an offensive spell by '''Dumbledore''' in her way out; and although she did feel it when Harry hit her with a Cruciatus curse, she immediately got up and kept on fighting. In the film, her only kill is Black, which she actually scores by a lucky shot while he had his back turned to her, and when she and Harry face off, she's instantly left at Harry's mercy.
* AdaptedOut: In the books, she first appears in a memory on trial with Barty Crouch Jr. in ''Goblet of Fire''. The movie combines the questioning of Karkaroff with Crouch Jr.'s exposure as a Death Eater and arrest, so she doesn't appear in the films until ''Order''.
* AffectionateNickname: Voldemort calls her Bella even when he's angry with her.
* AgainstTheGrain: She fits the stereotype of a proper Pureblood woman enough but is also repelled by it. She finds it restrictive to just be a prim trophy wife, give birth to and raise proper Pureblood children, and let the men do everything else, and does stray from it. She's a Death Eater, fights in battles, and is above every single man who is a Death Eater in terms of intelligence and ability.
* AlliterativeName: Before she was married, she was Bellatrix Black.
* AnswerCut: Bellatrix is freed from Azkaban. Voldemort is described as maniacal, jubilant, ecstatic, triumphant, and the happiest he had been in fourteen years. Harry asks himself why he was so happy and his question is supposed to be answered but he focuses on Bellatrix before he even reads the headline, which means that Bellatrix was the reason for his happiness.
* ArchEnemy: She collects quite a lot of them throughout the series.
** Set up as this to Neville Longbottom, whose parents she tortured into insanity, particularly in the climax to ''The Order Of The Phoenix''.
** Could also be considered this for her relatives in the Order, namely Sirius and Tonks. [[spoiler:She ends up killing both of them.]]
** [[spoiler:Lastly serves as this to Molly, who bumps her off.]]
* ArrangedMarriage: With Rodolphus Lestrange and although she loves Voldemort, she gets on well with him as is implied by them always working together. He's described as her loyal husband despite her cheating on him.
* AristocratsAreEvil: She belongs to the greatest Pureblood family of the Sacred 28 and she's a cold-blooded murderer.
* AscendedExtra: In the sixth film. While she only appears in a single chapter in the corresponding book, she appears much more often in the film, most notably leading a raid on the Burrow and the party of Death Eaters who infiltrate Hogwarts in the climax.
* AxCrazy: To say she's psychotic is putting it lightly and it's up there with Voldemort in that department. Even when not killing or torturing somebody, Bellatrix's loud attitude, combined with her erratic and unpredictable nature still gives off the impression of somebody who's close to lashing out violently toward anybody, even when in a good mood. When she does become violent, there's nothing restraining Bellatrix from wanting to cause as much harm and pain as she could, and she'll do it mainly because of the fun involved in spreading misery.
* BadassBoast: Her line to Harry in Book 5 when he challenged her:
-->''"Potter, you cannot win against me! I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant, I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete."''
* BabyTalk: To Harry in the Department of Mysteries:
-->''"The little baby woke up fwightened and fort what it dweamed was twoo."''
* BadPeopleAbuseAnimals: In the prologue of ''Half-Blood Prince'', she kills a fox with the Killing Curse (she mistook it for an Auror).
* BattleCouple: In the books, she's described as fighting alongside her husband Rodolphus in the fifth and seventh books. They also were involved in torturing the Longbottoms alongside his brother Rabastan, and Barty Crouch Jr.
* BerserkButton: Never question or insult Voldemort around her. It only took Harry mentioning Voldemort's name and revealing his status as a half-blood to set Bellatrix off in ''Order of the Phoenix''. Defying her authority also seems to be one. When the Snatchers protest her order to give her the Sword of Gryffindor, she immediately attacks all of them and states that she plans on killing them for their defiance.
* BigSisterInstinct: She defends her sister in front of Voldemort and even lets Narcissa curse her.
* BirdsOfAFeather: With Voldemort. They are both dark, arrogant, intelligent, powerful, interested in the dark arts, and ambitious. She's very similar to Voldemort and is the only one who ever accepted him for who he is.
* BlitheSpirit: Despite being a villain, she's an optimistic, romantic, and generally vivacious woman.
* BrainyBrunette: She's the most intelligent Death Eater and the only person in the entire Wizarding World who figured out Snape's true intentions solely through deduction. She has black hair.
* BrutalHonesty: She's very blunt about her distrust of Snape, even going so far as to call Voldemort mistaken. She also does not sugarcoat the fact that Lucius has lost all status and authority when he tries to argue with her over who should call Voldemort.
* BullyingADragon: Bellatrix Lestrange has a habit of taunting her enemies, especially when she's made things personal for them, such as Neville or Harry, though at least she has more than enough power to get away with it. [[spoiler:Until she tries to kill Ginny, causing one very angry Molly Weasley to kill her.]]
* CainAndAbel: Bellatrix makes it very clear that she despises her sister Andromeda, who married the Muggle-born Ted Tonks, and wouldn't think twice about killing her if they ever saw each other again. In the Battle of Hogwarts, [[spoiler:she finally manages to kill her daughter and her own niece, Nymphadora Tonks.]]
* CassandraTruth: Bella is the ''only'' Death Eater who openly distrusts Snape, even going so far as to tell her sister, Narcissa, that she believes Voldemort is "mistaken" in trusting him, and she's right to do so. [[{{Yandere}} Considering Bella's feelings about Voldemort]], her deep mistrust of [[DragonWithAnAgenda Snape]] is pretty damn telling. However, Snape does say in Book 6 that many of the Death Eaters spoke behind his back, and Bellatrix might have just been the only one to confront him. Bellatrix's suspicions were not based on just distrust, the questions she asked him were extremely well thought out and showed her impressive critical thinking skills.
* CharacterExaggeration: Bellatrix is much more obviously deranged and maniacal in the films, and probably even more sadistic. In the books, she's more serious and focused.
* ChewingTheScenery: In the films due to her AdaptationPersonalityChange making her much more of a PsychopathicManchild. Helena Bonham Carter had fun with the role.
* ChildhoodFriendRomance: Not a typical example, but she and her husband Rodolphus both attended Hogwarts together before they were married.
* ColdBloodedTorture: Bellatrix Lestrange loves this.
* ColourCodedEyes: Her eyes are dark, as is her soul. She's the only Black to have dark eyes, the same colour as Voldemort's before his transformation.
* CombatSadomasochist:
** Bellatrix, the Death Eater responsible for torturing Neville's parents, appears in person. [[spoiler:She outright critiques Harry's grief-driven attempt at Cruciatus, noting that righteous anger isn't enough to make it work.]]
* CreepySouvenir: Her family vault at Gringotts contains, besides lots of valuable treasure, the skins of strange creatures, and a human skull wearing a crown.
* CurbStompBattle: Bellatrix defeats Fenrir Greyback and a group of Snatchers in seconds during Deathly Hallows, with Harry noting that they had absolutely no chance against her. Harry himself was on the receiving end two books earlier.
* CurbStompCushion: When Albus Dumbledore himself turns his attention towards her, she's able to block his spells long enough to escape (temporarily). Given that Dumbledore is considered by many to be the most powerful wizard alive, the fact that she was able to defend against him at all is impressive indeed.
* DarkActionGirl: Voldemort's best lieutenant.
* DarkMistress: She's the only living being Voldemort cares about and his feelings are confirmed to be romantic since he fathers her daughter.
* DeathByIrony: In ''Order of the Phoenix'', [[spoiler:Sirius taunts her in the middle of their duel [[TooDumbToLive which leads to his death]].]] In ''Deathly Hallows'', [[spoiler:[[TooDumbToLive Bella herself would die whilst taunting Molly Weasely in the middle of]] ''[[TooDumbToLive their]]'' [[TooDumbToLive duel]].]]
* DidntThinkThisThrough: Instead of pretending to be brainwashed like most of the other Death Eaters, she admitted she was loyal to Voldemort and proudly went to Azkaban while boasting of her UndyingLoyalty. However, as Snape points out in ''Half-Blood Prince'', once Voldemort had returned, all Bellatrix had to offer him was tales of her experience in Azkaban. The ones who lied and walked free were able to offer Voldemort things that had tangible use for his plans to take over the Ministry, such as Lucius Malfoy's influence with Fudge or Snape's 13 years worth of information on Dumbledore.
* TheDragon: To Voldemort after Lucius' fall from grace in ''Order of the Phoenix''. The narration in ''Deathly Hallows'' describes her as Voldemort's "best lieutenant". Played with in an interesting way; Snape most definitely fit this trope after his [[spoiler:mercy killing of Dumbledore, but given his status as a DoubleAgent Bellatrix fits this role as far as hierarchy of actual villains goes.]]
* DragonTheirFeet: Bellatrix managed to stay active for some time after Voldemort's first downfall. During this time, she committed her most infamous crime: torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom to insanity.
* DramaQueen: She's quite capricious, prone to mood swings, and has exaggerated emotions.
* TheDreaded: Not to the extent of her boss but she's still considered one of the most dangerous Dark Witches alive for damn good reason. Most of the Death Eaters including several of her own ''relatives'' are afraid of her. Even Narcissa, who she seems close with, immediately backs down when Bellatrix grows dangerously erratic – [[AxCrazy even for her]] – in Malfoy Manor. Beyond her deranged and psychotic behaviour this reputation was earned by torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity, something that horrified the entire wizarding world and demonstrated just what Bellatrix is capable of.
* EarlyBirdCameo: Harry sees a memory of her trial for the Longbottoms' torture in the book version of ''Goblet of Fire'', and she finally appears in-person in the next book. She and her husband are also given several indirect mentions throughout the same book by Sirius and Voldemort.
* EasilyForgiven: Bellatrix makes the same mistakes as Lucius, yet Lucius is punished much more intensely, bearing the marks from his punishment months later whereas Bella is described as looking completely unscathed except for battle. There's no evidence of her being punished physically in the books. Even after all of her mess ups, Voldemort still reacts with rage (and possibly even some sense of grief) [[spoiler:when she's killed by Molly Weasley]].
* EeriePaleSkinnedBrunette: She has dark hair and pale skin and is mentally ill.
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Done to present each character in a way suitable to his or her personality, Bellatrix's first appearance in ''Goblet of Fire'' shows her sitting on the chair binding her as if it were a throne and proudly proclaim her unwavering loyalty to Voldemort.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Sure she disowned one of her sisters for marrying a muggleborn but she refuses to rat out Narcissa to Voldemort for going behind his back to ask Snape for help because she doesn't want to betray her. She also lets Narcissa curse her and doesn't even retaliate showing that there's ''some'' trace of human bond in her unrelated to her unhealthy feelings for the Dark Lord.
* EveryoneHasStandards:
** Despite being loyal to him, she acknowledges that Voldemort can make mistakes and be deceived (though she seems conflicted by the very idea). She's quite adamant that Snape is untrustworthy, despite Voldemort trusting him and the many valid explanations he gives her (all of which he assures her that he's given to Voldemort as well).
** As stated in EvenEvilHasLovedOnes, she was didn't rat out her sister Narcissa when she went to Snape for help behind Voldemort's back.
** Despite boasting that she never denounced her loyalty to Voldemort, Sirius tells the trio in book 4 that Bellatrix and her allies initially were able to avoid Azkaban the way Lucius did. To be fair, she used her initial freedom to try to find him and help return him to power.
** When Voldemort demanded one of the Death Eaters to lend him their wand, Bellatrix was just as hesitant to hand it over as the others.
** If nothing else, she acknowledges Voldemort's BadBoss tendencies. She refused to summon him when she thought that Harry had potentially stolen Voldemort's Horcrux from her vault, fearing that Voldemort would torture them or worse. She also immediately ran away from him when they discovered that Harry really did steal the Horcrux about a month later, due to him targeting allies and enemies alike.
* EvilAunt: To Tonks. Not only are they on the opposite side of the Wizarding War, [[spoiler:Bellatrix ends up murdering her own niece during the Battle of Hogwarts]].
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Well, for a relative definition of "good." She cannot understand why Narcissa would be hesitant for Draco to accept the task of [[spoiler:killing Dumbledore]]. Bellatrix even says that if she had sons, she'd be proud to give them up in the service of the Dark Lord. Though Narcissa shares her sister's loyalty to the cause at the time, she values her son's well-being more than that and is aware the psychological damage of plotting murder would be too much for him to bear.
* EvilCounterpart:
** To Ginny Weasley. Both share some personality traits like a fiery temper, being defensive, recklessness, loyalty, obsessiveness, and passion. Ginny marries the main hero whereas Bellatrix is hopelessly in love with the main villain.
** And to Sirius Black, as well. She's the psychotic, muggle-hating counterpart to Sirius Black, a good man and WhiteSheep who was falsely accused of betraying the Potters. In addition to this both are equally talented, equally devoted to their cause and equally intense. They were both strong, attractive, important people in their respective causes who went to prison and came out the other end scarred and a bit loopy.
* EvilMentor: She trained Draco in the art of Occlumency. Given that he was possibly able to block Snape's attempts at Legilimency, her teachings must've been pretty effective. It's also likely that she taught him how to effectively cast the Unforgivable Curses and other dark spells.
* ExplainingYourPowerToTheEnemy: She mentions to Harry that the Cruciatus Curse needs a genuine desire to cause pain and suffering to work, not just righteous anger.
* FantasticRacism: She's one of the truest believers in Voldemort's pure-blood ideology and hates Muggle-born wizards, actively seeking to kill any of her family members connected with Muggle-borns like Ted Tonks. She also seems to despise magical creatures; she's enraged when Dobby – a house-elf – attacks her and is disgusted at werewolf Fenrir Greyback's presence, going out of her way to force him to his knees before her in Malfoy Manor when he slights her. She goes even further than the typical level of Death Eater bigotry by openly despising ''half-blood'' wizards as she calls Harry a "filthy half-blood" in the Department of Mysteries and flies into a rage when Harry points out that Voldemort is a half-blood too. (While half-bloods are typically treated as inferior to pure-bloods and erased from pure-blood family trees along with their "blood traitor" parent, other pure-blood supremacists haven't really been shown possessing nearly the same amount of scorn toward half-bloods as Bellatrix did).
* FatalFlaw: Her arrogance. Bella loves to not only inflict excruciating pain on others but taunt their loved ones about it. This leads to [[spoiler:her own demise when [[TooDumbToLive she decides that taunting an enraged Mrs. Weasley about the death of her son Fred after nearly killing her daughter Ginny is a good idea. Spoiler alert: it isn't]].]]
* FinalBoss: She's the final opponent fought in the video game adaptations of ''Half-Blood Prince''. She's also part of the WolfpackBoss fought at the end of ''Deathly Hallows - Part 1'' alongside the Malfoys.
* {{Flanderization}}: In the books, she only took a faux-childish façade once (in ''Order of Phoenix'') in order to mock Harry, dropped it instantly once he used Cruciatus Curse on her and never took it again. In the movies, however, her entire personality and demeanour seem to be built around it. Even after the aforementioned scene with Harry casting Cruciatus Curse, she continues to act extremely childish and goofy (for example, when Death Eaters are setting Hagrid's hut on fire in ''Half-Blood Prince'', she spends that scene literally hopping in place and waving her arms like a clown). As a result, she's definitely less threatening in the movies than she is in books.
* ForcedToWatch: She plans to torture Ginny Weasley with the [[AgonyBeam Cruciatus Curse]] right in front of Ron and Harry during the Ministry Of Magic fight. Luckily, she is stopped in time.
* {{Foil}}: To Molly Weasley, according to Rowling. [[spoiler:Their battle in ''Deathly Hallows'' was supposed to illustrate the differences between the two women: Bellatrix puts her ideas before the people in her life, whereas caring for and loving others is what's most important to Molly – and what drives her to kill Bellatrix.]] Narcissa could also be seen as her foil; they share the same cause, but Narcissa's devotion to her husband and son and desire to protect them above all else are what keep her from going as far as her sister does. It's even lampshaded in some scenes where Narcissa's reluctant to let Draco take on certain tasks and Bellatrix [[EvilCannotComprehendGood can't understand why]].
* FourTemperamentEnsemble: Choleric.
* TheFundamentalist: She's staunchly loyal to Voldemort and holds an unwavering belief in his racist worldview, hating all Muggle-borns, half-bloods, and "blood traitors" with passion. Even reminding her that [[BoomerangBigot her master is a half-blood himself]] does not shake her faith in the slightest.
* GangOfBullies: Was part of one with her husband, Severus Snape, Evan Rosier, Wilkes, Avery and Mulciber while they were at Hogwarts which only grew in range when they graduated.
* GeneralFailure: Though she's one of Voldemort's most dangerous lieutenants and a HeroKiller she spectacularly screws up the plan to steal the prophecy from the Department of Mysteries when her initial opposition was six teenagers - something Snape hangs a lampshade over during their argument in ''Half-Blood Prince.''
* HairTriggerTemper: Even by Death Eater standards, it really doesn't take much to set her off.
* HeroKiller: If her extremely dangerous and sadistic nature, as TheDragon to Voldemort, wasn't bad enough, she kills [[spoiler:Sirius, Dobby, and Tonks.]]
** She also was one of the Death Eaters to permanently incapacitate Neville's parents, cursed Tonks badly enough that she needed to spend time at St. Mungo's, defeated and injured badass auror Kingsley Shacklebolt relatively quickly and brutally, and remains one of the only characters who was able to deflect Dumbledore's spell. Harry also did not stand much of a chance when he attempted to duel her.
* HorrifyingTheHorror: Even Fenrir Greyback, a savage werewolf and one of the most feared men in the wizarding world, is afraid of her. After she attacks his group of Snatchers and magically forces him to his knees, he falls into line and visibly seems scared to approach her again.
* HotBlooded: She's ferocious and filled with passion.
* HumiliationConga: After the disastrous Battle of the Department of Mysteries ''Order of the Phoenix''. She doesn't get this nearly as bad as Lucius Malfoy but she nonetheless falls out of favour as TheDragon. She has the fact that she was bested by six teenagers rubbed in her face, is openly mocked at one point by Voldemort in front of the other Death Eaters, and her failure to prevent Harry, Ron and Hermione escaping from Malfoy Manor after she summons the Dark Lord leads to her being confined to Malfoy Manor.
* {{Hypocrite}}: She hates half-bloods but her own lover and father of her child is one.
* InformedAbility: We are told that she's accomplished in Occlumency, and it's implied that she is skilled in Legilimency too. Despite this she's never shown using either, other than her tutoring Draco in the art offscreen.
* InSeriesNickname: She's called "Bella" by Voldemort and her sister. Even Lucius calls her this at least once.
* InsufferableGenius: She is brilliant and never hesitates to taunt those lesser than her, such as Harry in Order of the Phoenix.
* {{Jerkass}}: She loves not only killing and torturing, but afterwards also taunting others about the deaths of their loved ones. Also, like all the other members of the House of Black, she prioritizes blood-supremacy over things like familial love and the lives of other people who are non-magical.
* KickTheDog: She taunts Neville with what she did to his parents when she meets him in the Department of Mysteries.
-->'''Bellatrix:''' "Longbottom"? Why, I have had the pleasure of meeting your parents, boy!
* KinslayingIsASpecialKindOfEvil: [[spoiler:She killed Sirius and Tonks, her own cousin and niece.]]
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: Bellatrix is quite willing to take on any member of the Order of the Phoenix (and win), but when Albus Dumbledore directs his attention to her she deflects his spells and flees without even bothering to try and fight back.
* LackOfEmpathy: Obviously, considering how quickly and easily she murders and tortures anyone she feels like, including members of her family, but it's shown in a more subtle way in the second chapter of the sixth book, where Bellatrix [[EvilCannotComprehendGood genuinely cannot understand why her sister is terrified instead of "honoured" that Voldemort chose her son Draco to be sent on a suicide mission that he will almost assuredly be killed on.]]
* LadyOfWar: She's sadistic and revels in war, but she sits on chained chairs as if they are thrones.
* LargeHam: Only in the film versions. Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter [[ChewingTheScenery devours the scenery]] during all of her scenes. It's ''delicious''.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: Bellatrix is the dark-haired female warrior who has a child with a man who's not her husband; Narcissa is the blonde family-oriented woman who loves her traditional family above all.
* LiterallyShatteredLives: How her death is portrayed in the film.
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Her love for Voldemort is passionate but incredibly unhealthy and twisted, and eventually consumes her with insanity.
* LustObject: It's vaguely implied she's this for Voldemort, [[spoiler:considering the two had a daughter.]]
* MadLove: Bellatrix is madly obsessed with Voldemort and will do anything for him.
* MadonnaWhoreComplex: The whore to Molly's madonna. Rowling said she wanted to pit two feminine energies against each other, one being Molly's maternal love for her daughter and the other being Bellatrix's sexual and obsessive love for Voldemort.
* MeaningfulEcho: In Half Blood Prince, Bellatrix tells Snape that Voldemort has entrusted her with something he considers most precious, which later turns out to be his Cup horcrux.
* MeaningfulName: ''Bellatrix'' is the feminine form of "warrior" in Latin. It's also the name of a star in the Orion constellation.
* MonsterAndTheMaiden: She has this dynamic with Voldemort and they both work together for pureblood supremacy.
* MoodSwinger: Her emotions are very and intense and nuanced.
* MoralityPet: Apparently her younger sister Narcissa, who's the only person she seems to care about, at least in a non-creepy way. Bellatrix being who she is, however, and given how she [[HeroKiller treats]] relatives who stray from the family tradition, this "caring" likely lasts only as long as Narcissa is loyal to the Dark Lord. Still, she did accompany Narcissa to ask Snape for help behind Voldemort's back (though grudgingly).
* MotorMouth: She talks a lot.
* TheNapoleon: In the films, where she's played by 5'2" Helena Bonham Carter. Averted in the books, where she's described as being visibly taller than a teenaged Harry (see StatuesqueStunner).
* NeverMyFault: She pins all of the blame for the failed battle in the Department of Mysteries on Lucius even though it was her trigger-happiness that derailed the initial plan. She also has a habit of brushing off her failures by emphasizing her unwavering loyalty to Voldemort.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In ''Deathly Hallows'', her [[VillainousBreakdown terrified reaction]] when she sees Godric Gryffindor's sword helps Harry to realize that one of the Horcruxes is located in her vault in Gringotts, resulting not only in that particular Horcrux's destruction but also to the last unknown Horcrux being located and destroyed and Voldemort being finally defeated.
* NiceMeanAndInBetween: The mean one of her sisters, being an unrepentant sadist and pure-blood supremacist.
* NoHistoricalFiguresWereHarmed: Rowling modelled Bellatrix on the famous Eva Braun:
** Bellatrix Lestrange's love and devotion to Voldemort is based on Eva Braun who was married to UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler.
** Bellatrix was 25 years younger than Voldemort and Eva was 23 years younger than Hitler.
** Bellatrix's maiden name was Black which is the name of a colour in Bellatrix's native language and Braun means brown in Eva's native language, which is also a colour.
** Bellatrix had two sisters, Narcissa was in favour of Voldemort's cause and was in his inner circle while Andromeda was opposed to it and stayed out of politics. Eva also had two sisters, Ilse and Gretl Braun. Ilse was not involved in politics while Gretl was in Hitler's inner social circle.
** Eva met Hitler when she was 17 and Bellatrix joined Voldemort after leaving Hogwarts when she was either 18 or 19, depending on whether she was born after or before September the 1st.
** In the end, they both died unnaturally for the men they loved at a rather young age, Eva at 33 and Bellatrix at 46.
* NotBrainwashed: Despite her boastings, Sirius drops a line in book 4 that she and the Lestrange brothers did initially deceive their way out of Azkaban following Voldemort's original downfall. They were all arrested shortly afterwards after torturing the Longbottoms where she openly expresses her loyalty towards her fallen master.
* ObnoxiousInLaws: Shows nothing but utter contempt for Ted Tonks and his family, even though they are in-laws, caring more about blood-status than character or anything else. This also extends to every other WhiteSheep or Muggle-born in the House of Black, including Sirius, her own sister, and her niece and nephew-in-law, as, according to her own words in the first chapter of the final book:
-->'''Bellatrix:''' She is no niece of ours, my Lord. We -- Narcissa and I -- have never set eyes on our sister since she married the Mudblood. This brat has nothing to do with either of us, nor any beast she marries.
* OhCrap: During her final battle against an angry Mrs. Weasley. At first, Bellatrix doesn't take her seriously until Mrs. Weasley proves herself to be quite powerful – '''too powerful'''. Her manic battle lust rockets off as Mrs. Weasley pressures her with powerful attacks until one particular spell freezes Bellatrix and a second ''shatters'' her. The last expression on her face is one of shock and terror.
* OpponentInstruction: After she [[spoiler:kills Sirius]], Harry in his fury attempts to use the Cruciatus Curse on her but fails. Bellatrix tells him that righteous anger isn't strong enough to fuel an Unforgivable Curse; he needs a sadistic urge to make his target suffer. Later, Harry successfully uses the Cruciatus Curse on Amycus Carrow for trying to curse [=McGonagall=] and comments, "I see what Bellatrix meant. You need to really mean it."
* PetTheDog: She lets her younger sister curse her and does not retaliate despite being more powerful than her.
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: One of her biggest character traits (shared with all other Death Eaters and members of the House of Black) is her extreme prejudice towards Muggle-Borns and half-bloods. She will never miss an opportunity to mock someone for having heritage she considers impure, she barely considers the Muggles human, and God help you if you're a "blood-traitor" in her eyes.
* PsychicBlockDefense: We're told that she's quite skilled at Occlumency, being the one who taught Draco the art. We never see her using this ability, nor do we learn how she'd hold up against a skilled Legilimens (see InformedAbility).
* PsychoKnifeNut: The mentally unstable Bellatrix shows a lot of skill with a knife, which she uses to torture and threaten Hermione with and later [[spoiler:kill Dobby]].
* PsychoSupporter: She's [[BigBad Voldemort's]] most devoted follower. It's furthered by the fact that while Bellatrix fell in love with Voldemort, it's more to do with the fact that he's the closest representation of wizard supremacy and sadism in Bellatrix's perspective rather than any romantic affection.
* PsychopathicWomanchild: She occasionally puts on this attitude as a way of taunting the heroes in the books, though she's normally more regal. The movies play up this aspect much more, making her essentially a magical ComicBook/HarleyQuinn in attitude.
* TheQueenpin: She's one of the only two known female Death Eaters and according to Rowling, the Death Eater par excellence. She's shown to be one of Voldemort's two most trusted followers, the other being Snape, [[spoiler:who's actually Dumbledore's mole]].
* RedOniBlueOni: The fanatical, hot-tempered red oni to Snape's and Lucius's measured and calculating blue.
* RevengeByProxy: In ''Order of the Phoenix'', she threatens to torture Ginny and Neville so Harry gives her the prophecy.
* {{Sadist}}: She enjoys inflicting pain upon the enemies of her cause. It's part of what makes her so good at using the Cruciatus Curse: she explains to Harry that the spell draws from the pure desire to inflict pain upon others; righteous, justified anger [[spoiler:like Harry's grief over Sirius]] won't work.
* SanitySlippage: Fourteen years in Azkaban left a few psychological scars (presumably on top of her family history of mental illness), though she remains mostly functional. Regardless, she likely wasn't much more sane before.
* SiblingYinYang: Her devotion to pureblood supremacy led to the falling out between her and Andromeda after the latter married a Muggle-Born. She also has this with Narcissa; while Bellatrix is obsessed with Voldemort and the Death Eater philosophy, Narcissa fears Voldemort and would willingly betray him to protect her family.
* SlasherSmile: She sports this several times in the movies, most notably when she's duelling Ginny Weasley.
* SmugSnake: She's disdainful towards not only her enemies but also many of her fellow Death Eaters, including Snape and her brother-in-law Lucius.
* TheSociopath: A sadistic and remorseless torturer who's willing to kill her own family members if they are on the wrong side of the war without hesitation. She's [[AxCrazy incredibly unstable and violent]] and even taunts her victims as well as their loved ones, taking pride in her cruelty. The only connections she has are either undermined by how flimsy they are (as in killing people who go against Voldemort) or further prove how sociopathic she is (her "love" of Voldemort). She's even worse in the films.
* SoftSpokenSadist: In the book versions, she can be calm and in control if no less maniacal. It has a very narrow time span, however.
* SpoiledBrat: She and her sisters are heavily implied to be spoiled by their parents.
* StatuesqueStunner: A throwaway line in Book 7 describes her as taller than a 17-year-old Harry, who's probably just about as tall as the average 17-year-old male. Averted in the films, as she's played by a 5'2" Helena Bonham-Carter.
* {{Telepathy}}: While never outright stated, but since she taught Draco how to use Occlumency, it's likely that she used Legilimency on him for practice (as Snape did when teaching Harry). We never see her using this skill, and she seems to prefer getting information via good old-fashioned torture.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler:She kills Dobby this way, although Bellatrix was aiming for Harry.]]
* ThickerThanWater: {{Inverted|Trope}}. Bellatrix feels that it's her duty to kill the members of her family who are on the wrong side in the war, [[spoiler:beginning with her cousin Sirius Black]]. During the Battle of the Seven Potters in the seventh book, she targets her niece Tonks and [[spoiler:later kills her during the FinalBattle.]]
* TooDumbToLive: Not only did her attempt to kill Ginny draw the wrath of MamaBear Molly Weasley, Bellatrix dared to taunt Molly during their duel by mentioning the death of Molly's son Fred earlier. No points for guessing what happened to Bellatrix next.
* TortureTechnician: She was sent into Azkaban for ''[[spoiler:torturing Neville Longbottom's parents into insanity]]'' to find out Voldemort's whereabouts, and is noted by Dumbledore to enjoy "[[ColdBloodedTorture playing with her food]]". In fact, the Cruciatus Curse seems to be her signature M.O., though she isn't afraid to use more mundane methods of torture, as shown in Deathly Hallows, where she [[spoiler:carves "Mudblood" into Hermione's flesh with a knife]].
* TragicDream: She wants her cause to succeed and for Voldemort to win, but he's destined to be killed by Harry.
* {{Troll}}:
** "What will happen to your children when I've killed you? When Mummy's gone the same way as [[spoiler:Freddie]]?" [[spoiler:This taunt does [[MamaBear ''not]]'' end well for her.]]
** "He lives here? Here? In this Muggle dunghill? We must be the first of our kind ever to set foot-"
** "You dirty little monkey!"
* UndyingLoyalty: She was one of the few Death Eaters who tried to look for Voldemort after he disappeared, and she proudly went to Azkaban for him, convinced that he will free her.
* UnholyMatrimony: She's married to fellow Death Eater Rodolphus Lestrange. While she doesn't love him and is willing to cheat on him with Voldemort, she married him due to their shared pure-blood supremacy views and their mutual devotion towards Lord Voldemort.
* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom:
** In the Department of Mysteries, Voldemort grabs her and disapparates, revealing himself to the Ministry and practically inviting the Ministry to work against him, risking attack and capture even, and he takes the time to break the statue trapping her while the Ministry workers come even though he could have escaped right before they did, leaving her behind and saving himself. He would have lost nothing because he could have freed her easily soon and he didn't need her for anything as she wasn't known to be assigned anything till the other captured Death Eaters were freed. He even loses the opportunity to have Dumbledore captured, which hurts his chances of winning the war.
** In Deathly Hallows, her terrified reaction when she sees Gryffindor's sword helps Harry to realize that one of the Horcruxes is located in her vault in Gringotts, resulting not only in that particular Horcrux's destruction but also to the last unknown Horcrux being located and destroyed and Voldemort being finally defeated.
* VillainousCheekbones: Implied; her book appearance mentions that her face is hollowed, gaunt, and skull-like.
* VillainousValour: When Bellatrix is sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban, she goes proudly and without any fear. (She expects Voldemort to free her eventually, but spending even a day there is a horrifying experience.) She's also fully willing to engage almost anyone in a duel head-on.
* ViolentlyProtectiveGirlfriend: She's very defensive of Voldemort and tries to curse Harry when he reminds her of Voldemort's half-blood status.
* WhipOfDominance: In the first part of the ''Deathly Hallows'' finale, she has her wand extend a whip from its tip and uses it to punish Scabior and his Snatchers. For bonus points, Bellatrix is DressedLikeADominatrix with her tight black leather dress. Notably in the books, she simply punished them via a stunning spell, making it clear this adaptation gave her a whip just for the dominatrix/sadism aesthetic of a magic whip.
* WickedWitch: One of the most evil witches in the story (her only competition is Umbridge) and the most traditional example of this archetype with a few twists, such as her ragged appearance being the result of spending over a decade in prison.
* WouldHurtAChild: She'll do this ''gleefully'', as shown when she takes utter delight in the idea of torturing 14-year-old Ginny in the Ministry skirmish. She also fantasizes about mentally breaking Neville through torture as she did his parents. In the films, she personally volunteers to kill Harry. It goes as far as her saying that if she had children, she would gladly give their lives in service to Voldemort.
* {{Yandere}}: She's completely obsessed with Voldemort.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Lucius Malfoy]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucius_malfoy.jpg]]
->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/JasonIsaacs\\
'''Voiced by:''' Alejandro Vargas Lugo (Latin American Spanish, ''Chamber of Secrets'' and ''Goblet of Fire''), Creator/OctavioRojas (Latin American Spanish, ''Order of the Phoenix'' and ''Deathly Hallows''), Hélio Ribeiro (Brazilian Portuguese)\\
'''Appears in:''' ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]''

->''"Busy time at the Ministry, Arthur, all those extra raids? I do hope they're paying you overtime. Though judging by the state of this, I'd say not. What's the use in being a [[CategoryTraitor disgrace to the name of wizard]] if they don't even pay you well for it?"''

Draco's rich, well-connected daddy. Despite being ObviouslyEvil, Lucius is a VillainWithGoodPublicity for the majority of the series. Though a Death Eater, he's not particularly loyal and will not hesitate to turn his back on Voldemort to save his own skin. Or that of his son.
----
* AdaptationalBadass: While he never is shown duelling in the books, in the films he confidently deflects Harry's spells and fights pretty fiercely against Sirius Black and Harry.
* AdaptationalHairstyleChange: It was frequently mentioned that he and Draco looked quite similar to each other, implying that Lucius had his hair short. The films, however, had his hair long. He ''was'' going to have it short, but Creator/JasonIsaacs suggested otherwise, reasoning a proud wizard like Lucius would not want to look mundane.
* AdaptationalJerkass: A fairly mild example considering that he was already a highly unpleasant person in the books, but the earlier films portray Draco as being scared by his father's very presence, and the later movies add small touches that distance Lucius from the rest of his family. Meanwhile, it's later made clear in the books that while Lucius has certain standards he expects his son to meet, he genuinely loves Draco and Narcissa and is even willing to forsake earning favour with Voldemort to ensure his family's safety.
* AintTooProudToBeg: In ''Deathly Hallows'', he's reduced to begging Voldemort for the chance to find his son. Voldemort doesn't pay him any mind.
* AristocratsAreEvil: The Malfoys have a massive amount of wealth. That, along with FantasticRacism, explains their pride and smugness.
* BadassDecay: In-universe. His status among the Death Eaters plummets after what they regard, with some justice, his EpicFail, [[spoiler:his defeat at the hands of a gang of barely-trained school students, and moreover total failure of the mission and compromise of Voldemort's return to power.]]
* BeardOfSorrow: In the films, he's depicted as possessing very ragged beard stubble as a result of his year-long stay in Azkaban and his HumiliationConga following the disastrous events in the Department of Mysteries.
* TheBeautifulElite: The Evil version ''and'' the Jerkass version. He's sophisticated, wealthy, lives in a wealthy manor, and he has a lot of political pull with his high-ranking job at the Ministry of Magic and his elite social status as a so-called pureblood wizard. He's also not only a horribly unpleasant snob who looks down the length of his pointed nose at Muggles, Muggle-borns and "blood traitors", but he's also an inwardly-unrepentant original-recipe Death Eater who willingly served Voldemort's first reign of terror and is (initially) willing to rejoin him following his return, to say nothing of the danger he indirectly put Ginny and many Muggle-born students in ''before'' Voldemort's return, in ''Chamber of Secrets''.
* BigManOnCampus: As a wealthy Slytherin prefect, it's heavily implied that Lucius was this during his school days.
* BlingOfWar: In the films from ''Order of the Phoenix'' onward, Lucius is often seen wearing an ornate breastplate alongside his wizard's robes. His wand also counts with a snake-headed handle made from silver and with emeralds for eyes.
* BreakTheHaughty: He's introduced as a smoother, more competent version of his son and someone with real menace in the second book. [[spoiler:In the course of that book, he gets outfoxed by a 12-year-old wizard and his own House Elf. A few years later, he's leading a squad of dangerous Death Eaters tasked with recovering a precious MacGuffin, loses to a gang of barely-trained school students, then gets caught and sent to Azkaban, where Voldemort lets him stew for a year.]] When he's out, he's regarded as a has-been with zero respect, with his house unceremoniously hijacked as Voldemort's SupervillainLair.
* ButtMonkey: He becomes this for Voldemort after his failure with Tom Riddle's diary, and the destruction of the prophecy. He has his home taken over and unceremoniously turned into the Death Eater's main hideout, has his wand taken by Voldemort, who mocks him by saying he "has no use for one", and overall drops from the Dark Lord's implied second-in-command to somebody barely treated better than Peter Pettigrew.
* ClassyCane: In the film version. It holds his wand and even acts like somewhat of a second wand itself.
* CoolKidAndLoserFriendship: When they were both at Hogwarts, Lucius and Severus Snape had this, with Lucius being the cool kid.
* DeadpanSnarker: Has his moments, even when threatening Harry.
* DirtyCoward: Lucius talks tough, but he proves to be this. He easily gets bested by Arthur Weasley of all people when the two get into a physical altercation, as well as proving to be a sniveling worm who abandons his master at the first opportunity.
* DisproportionateRetribution: In the films, Lucius was about to hit Harry Potter with ''Avada Kedavra'' for tricking him into freeing Dobby, before being stopped by him. Given that this was right on Hogwarts campus with many theoretical witnesses, it's a complete mystery how he thought he would ever get away with it without getting a one-way trip to Azkaban.
* TheDragon: At first, due to being the highest-ranking Death Eater at large in the early books; after his failure and arrest in ''Order of the Phoenix'', he gets replaced by Snape and Bellatrix for the remainder of the series. In his notes for ''The Tales of Beedle the Bard'', Dumbledore admitted that it was his long-term wish to dislodge Malfoy from his position as Voldemort's favourite Death Eater. Malfoy's foolishness and Harry Potter do the job for Dumbledore.
* EducationPapa: Shows some shades of this trope in ''The Chamber of Secrets'', when he laments that Draco is getting lower grades than Hermione Granger, a Muggle-Born student, and generally expected Draco to perform better. Given his pure-blood pride and the fact that he was a prefect and one of the best students, he clearly set a high bar for his son.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The one redeeming trait of the Malfoys is that even though they all agree with the Death Eaters' philosophy – and two of them are Death Eaters – they are a close family who genuinely love each other.
* ExhaustedEyeBags: In the films, he's depicted as possessing very ragged eye bags as a result of his year-long stay in Azkaban and his HumiliationConga following the disastrous events in the Department of Mysteries.
* FallenOnHardTimesJob: His abandonment of Voldemort after the First Wizarding War combined with his [[GeneralFailure numerous screw-ups]] during the series cause him to lose his status as TheDragon to Voldemort. By ''Deathly Hallows'' he's little more than a servant to the point where Voldemort takes Lucius's wand for his own use, claiming he sees "no reason" for Lucius to have a wand anymore. After Harry, Ron, and Hermione escape from Malfoy Manor, Voldemort outright confines him to the manor.
* FantasticRacism: Like all the other Malfoys, he has a narrow-minded view of the people he dislikes, not just muggleborns, but also to the Weasleys as well.
* FauxAffablyEvil: Lucius is capable of acting polite and reasonable, hence his VillainWithGoodPublicity status. In his first appearance in the Chamber of Secrets, he scolds Draco, telling him to "play nicely" as Draco is being rude to Harry and Ginny, making him seem like he disapproves of Draco's behaviour, he then goes on to be even more horrid than his son to the group of 12-year-olds. He also comes off as rather sincere while offering to let Harry and his friends go in exchange for the prophecy. Beneath it, however, he's a smug, racist {{jerkass}} and (for a time) loyal Death Eater.
* Fiction500: Lucius is implied to be one of the richest men in wizarding Britain.
* FinalBoss: He's part of the WolfpackBoss fought at the end of video game adaptations of ''Deathly Hallows - Part 1'', alongside his wife, son, and sister-in-law.
* ForTheEvulz: It's implied (and later confirmed) that he was one of the Death Eaters committing hate crimes against Muggles at the Quidditch World Cup, just for fun.
* GeneralFailure: Voldemort's second-in-command has an abysmal record of success, thrice failing a perfectly good set-up. It's also somewhat {{deconstructed|Trope}}, as after his second major failed operation, Voldemort and all the other Death Eaters get sick of his screw-ups and he's swiftly demoted all the way down to the bottom ranks.
* GetIntoJailFree: Invoked by Dumbledore about Lucius's circumstances in ''The Half-Blood Prince'': [[spoiler:given Voldemort's fury with him for inadvertently getting Tom Riddle's diary destroyed, spectacularly failing to get hold of the prophecy, which in turn announced Voldemort's return to the Wizarding World at large, and got several prominent Death Eaters captured in the process, Dumbledore speculates Lucius might be glad to be in Azkaban, as it keeps him out of reach of Voldemort's wrath for the time being.]]
* GotVolunteered: In Book 7, when Voldemort asks for volunteers to lend their wand and nobody seems eager to accept, Lucius gets handpicked for the task. Aside from the fact that losing one's wand is very humiliating for any wizard, he's just getting his failures rubbed in even more.
* HarmfulToMinors: It's implied that he was Severus Snape's main groomer (Squick if you imagine how he and Snape were young at that time). Even with the meta aside, he did teach his son Draco pretty nasty morals, and, more importantly, exposed him to the Death Eater thing.
* HeelFaceTurn: Nominally. [[spoiler:After his wife betrayed Voldemort to protect Draco, the Malfoys stop fighting for him altogether. After his defeat, Lucius and his family were pardoned after helping arrest his fellow Death Eaters. However, as ''Pottermore'' reveals, he never lets go of his prejudice against Muggleborns.]]
* HumiliationConga: He gets hit hard by this after ''Order of the Phoenix''. During the First Wizarding War, he was TheDragon to Voldemort. Lucius's failure at the Department of Mysteries combined with accidentally destroying a part of Voldemort's soul with the diary of Tom Riddle on top of Lucius abandoning Voldemort at the conclusion of the first war results in the loss of all standing he once had among the Death Eaters. His VillainWithGoodPublicity image is also shattered, exposing him as a faithful Death Eater to the wizarding world. Voldemort lets him rot in prison for a year, unceremoniously converts his home into a Death Eater base of operations, openly mocks and belittles the Malfoy family in front of other Death Eaters, effectively confiscates his wand for his own use, and sends Draco on a suicide mission as a form of psychological torture to Lucius and Narcissa. His final attempt to regain Voldemort's favour backfires horribly when Harry, Ron, and Hermione manage to escape Malfoy Manor after Voldemort is summoned, causing both the Malfoys ''and'' Bellatrix to be severely punished and confined to the manor.
* IHaveYourWife: In the fifth film, he manages to get Harry to surrender the prophecy by having the remaining Death Eaters hold Harry's friends at wandpoint.
* InformedAbility: Readers are informed that during the First Wizarding War, he was one of Voldemort's most dangerous and skillful lieutenants. One could understandably be skeptical of this given his [[GeneralFailure awful track record]] in the series proper. He's outwitted by a twelve-year-old Harry and spectacularly screws up the Hall of Prophecy mission when his initial opposition is six teenagers. Most tellingly he serves as a SpannerInTheWorks by essentially paving the way for Dumbledore to discover Voldemort's secret of immortality – all over a petty vendetta against Arthur Weasley.[[note]]To be fair, Voldemort didn't ''tell'' him it contained a piece of his soul, though Lucius probably shouldn't have used ''anything'' from his master for a petty scheme.[[/note]] Perhaps Malfoy was competent enough in the First Wizarding War but suffered BadassDecay by the time the Second Wizarding War began.
* IWasQuiteALooker: He becomes progressively more and more disheveled and unhealthy-looking as the series goes on.
* {{Jerkass}}: From his introduction, he was haughty and prejudiced.
* JerkassHasAPoint: Obviously his attempt to remove Dumbledore from Hogwarts in [=HP2=] on account of the basilisk attacks is in bad faith as he himself is the real culprit, having slipped Ginny Tom Riddle's diary, but he's right that Dumbledore has failed to protect his students. Children have been petrified under Dumbledore's care, it's only reasonable to question his abilities as headmaster.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: In ''Pottermore'', it's revealed that [[spoiler:he hasn't quite let go of the mindset and beliefs that made him such a loyal servant of the Dark Lord. Draco withholds him and Narcissa interacting with their grandson as much as possible as a result.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Despite everything he's done throughout the series, he never gets what he deserves. This is primarily due to [[spoiler:his wife's actions.]] Probable subversion, however, as Jason Isaacs believes he will be estranged from society and his family, never completely forgiven for what he put them through. The ''Pottermore'' entry on Draco Malfoy's post-Hogwarts life confirms that while Draco did love his father, family gatherings were tense because Draco's wife Astoria refused to tolerate the elder Malfoys indoctrinating Scorpius with their pureblood anti-Muggle nonsense. In addition, his actions as a Death Eater coming to light destroyed his, and by extension, the Malfoy family's, reputation as a respectable part of wizarding society, which is what he prized above all else.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: As soon as he realizes that the winds of fortune are blowing against Voldemort, he takes his family and buggers off.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: [[spoiler:Dumbledore speculates that Lucius had no idea that Riddle's diary contained Voldemort's soul – only that it would reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Had he known what it really was, he'd have never pawned it off to Ginny Weasley.]]
* LoveRedeems: Let's face it, the only thing that prevents him from being a complete villain is the fact that his love for his family hugely outweighs his loyalty to Voldemort.
* TheManBehindTheMan: For ''Chamber of Secrets'', since [[spoiler:he planted Tom Riddle's diary among Ginny's books, fully intending for the basilisk to get loose and to spite Arthur Weasley.]]
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: It's hard to find an aspect of his appearance that does not simply scream "Wealthy Douchebag".
* MistreatmentInducedBetrayal: He doesn't perform a full-on HeelFaceTurn, but this happens after his fall from Voldemort's good graces. Over several books, his home is unceremoniously converted into Voldemort's headquarters, and Voldemort takes every opportunity he can to belittle and humiliate the Malfoys. What finally pushed Lucius and Narcissa too far was Voldemort sending Draco on a suicide mission to kill Dumbledore solely to [[EvilIsPetty punish them]].
* MoneyIsNotPower: In the "old" wizarding world he claimed to so despise, Lucius had it made: for those situations where other wizards weren't awed by his noble lineage (e.g., Minister of Magic Fudge), there was never a problem he couldn't buy his way out of. Then he put himself and his family in thrall to a sociopathic tyrant, whose new world would be based solely on power – specifically, Voldemort having all and making sure nobody else had any.
* MoralityPet: For his son. He and his wife are one of the few people Draco truly cares for.
* MoralGuardians: ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' has Dumbledore recount how Lucius attempted to have a story that ends in a muggle/witch marriage banned from the Hogwarts library. Dumbledore managed to defend the book's continued presence and from there Lucius began his campaign to have Dumbledore fired. [[spoiler:Lucius is only temporarily successful and ultimately his own folly and Harry Potter causes him to stop being Voldemort's favorite lieutenant.]]
* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: Combines a bit of LouisCypher in his first name, with a last name meaning approximately "bad faith".
* NearVillainVictory: Late in Book 5, he and his party of Death Eaters managed to incapacitate everyone who accompanied Harry to the Department of Mysteries and Harry is forced to hand over the prophecy to save them. [[BigDamnHeroes Then the Order of the Phoenix shows up.]] The film takes it further by having Lucius holding the prophecy in his hand.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler:Thanks to Malfoy hijacking Voldemort's Horcrux (Riddle's diary)]], Dumbledore, who had probably suspected that Voldemort had used Horcruxes, not only had definite proof but could put two and two together that there were more, and since it was made in Riddle's schooldays, was able to get a rough time frame of when and where Voldemort made the rest. Furthermore, had he not done this, [[spoiler:the Chamber of Secrets would have never been reopened, denying the heroes what would end up being their greatest weapon against the Horcruxes, namely the basilisk's venom.]]
* NotBrainwashed: After Voldemort's first defeat, Lucius (like many others) claimed that he had been Imperiused into helping him. It prevented him from being formally punished, but according to Hagrid, a lot of people long suspected the truth.
* OddFriendship: With Severus Snape. Despite their different blood statuses, class, and level of social skills, the two actually seem to get along very well.
* OnlySaneByComparison: He, despite his racism and sadism, is this, especially when working along with Bellatrix and the more AxCrazy Death Eaters. Not therefore more competent than them, however; and in some cases, the complete opposite.
* OpportunisticBastard: Lucius is out for himself and his family and will take any chances that come his way, first to increase their power, and then to save their skins. He doesn't usually have a plan either – he'll let somebody else do the thinking and try to benefit from their work. In the backstory, he joins [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] for the power involved, and also because its [[ANaziByAnyOtherName racist cause]] adhered with his prejudiced mindset. After Voldemort's power is shattered and the Dark Lord disappears, Lucius abandons his master and pretends his deeds were because of brainwashing, allowing him to escape justice. Perhaps the best example of Lucius's "planning capabilities" is how he orchestrated the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. He simply [[spoiler:plopped Tom Riddle's diary into Ginny Weasley's lap, let Tom Riddle do all the work]], and sat back, taking advantage of the chaos for his own ends. When Lord Voldemort returns to power in ''Goblet of Fire'', Lucius goes back to Voldemort to avoid incurring the Dark Lord's wrath, and once again carries out Voldemort's will. Throughout the series, Lucius only has one consistent loyalty and that's [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes to his family.]] Eventually, [[spoiler:when Voldemort's cause endangers his son's life, Lucius defects from the Death Eaters for Draco's safety.]]
* OriginalPositionFallacy: One of the earliest Death Eaters, he thought that joining Voldemort would allow him to finally put the screws to all the Muggles, Muggleborns, and non-purebloods who were poisoning his fantasy of a "pure" world dominated by wizards, of which purebloods like himself and his family would naturally be the rulers. After a few hard moments in his HumiliationConga, he wakes up to the fact that his overlord is a murderous psychopath who doesn't sort the world between purebloods and other wizards, or even between wizards and Muggles, but only between "useful to me" and "not useful to me."
* PapaWolf: He deeply cares about his family and tends to prioritize them over his colleagues.
* PetTheDog:
** Surprisingly, he does have ''one'' moment – in his youth, he welcomed Snape as soon as the latter was sorted into Slytherin, even though Snape was working-class and a half-blood. Later in life, he continues to speak highly of Severus Snape, according to Dolores Umbridge.
** He wanted Draco to attend Durmstrang, but Narcissa felt it was too far from home, so he agreed to let him attend Hogwarts for [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes the sake of his wife]].
* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Where do you think Draco learned his FantasticRacism?
* PragmaticVillainy: Relatively speaking, Lucius doesn't let sadism or FantasticRacism blind him to the necessity of getting something done when he has to.
** Compared to some of his more AxCrazy fellow Death Eaters, the fifth film demonstrates that Lucius is seemingly the only one focused on the original goal of retrieving the prophecy while the other Death Eaters seem more intent to drop this in favour of killing Harry. Lucius actually seems sincere when he claims he will let Harry go in exchange for handing over the prophecy.[[note]]In fairness this may have been him adhering to Voldemort's strict orders that ''nobody'' other than Voldemort himself was permitted to kill Harry, but it still applies.[[/note]]
** Supplementary material reveals that the Malfoy family, despite being pureblood supremacists, are not stupid or desperate enough to resort to RoyalInbreeding to preserve their bloodline. It works in their favour, as they're still rich, respected, and mentally sound by the [=1990s=]. By that time, other wizarding families who married within their lineage to preserve blood purity, such as the Blacks and Gaunts, have lost their fortunes, gone extinct in the male line, gone medically insane, been wiped out, or some combination of those.
** He seems to be alright with having half-bloods in the Death Eaters' ranks and is on good terms with Snape. ''Deathly Hallows'' reveals that he welcomed a young Snape to the Slytherin table after his sorting.
* ProudPeacock: He's a prideful, conceited [[FantasticRacism pureblood supremacist]] and keeps several white peacocks on his property as a status symbol.
* RacistGrandpa: [[spoiler:''Pottermore'' claims that he enjoys this reputation among Draco's wife and child. Astoria Greengrass opposed the pureblood nonsense that Lucius, even after Voldemort nearly killed him and his family, refused to let go of. Family gatherings were tense, and Scorpius wasn't allowed to interact with him and Narcissa a great deal.]]
* RedOniBlueOni: The slightly more reasoned and measured lieutenant (blue) in comparison to the hotheaded, belligerent, unbalanced Bellatrix (red).
* {{Sadist}}: His face is described as "blushing" in pleasure at the thought of harming teenagers, some of them younger than his son, not to mention his constant abuse of Dobby and the fact that he rejoined the Death Eaters.
* SchoolyardBullyAllGrownUp: He might have been one in his youth and he grew up to torment Arthur Weasley on his position.
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: He trades on this to get out of prison the first time. [[spoiler:Subverted, years later, where, much to the reader's satisfaction, he's exposed as a servant of Voldemort and spends time in Azkaban for a year. He's more sober after that.]]
* ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney: He uses his immense wealth to have the ear of Cornelius Fudge by making very large donations to organizations like St. Mungo's. On a more sinister level, this was likely also done to facilitate his VillainWithGoodPublicity image and ensure that the Death Eaters could push a pureblood agenda.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In the final book and movie, with his family.
* ShadowArchetype: ''Pottermore'' reveals that after the Second Wizarding War, Lucius provided evidence against fellow Death Eaters and helped to ensure the capture of many of Voldemort's followers who had fled into hiding. In other words, it's the same thing that Igor Karkaroff did after the First Wizarding War. However, while Karkaroff did it [[DirtyCoward to save his own skin]], Lucius did it to ensure his family's safety.
* SharpDressedMan: He's ''always'' dressed in a snappy suit, fancy cloak, and ornate cane-wand to flaunt his wealth and social status. [[spoiler:Following his return to the Death Eaters in ''Deathly Hallows'' after having been arrested in Year 5, he looks much shabbier and much more unkempt, symbolizing his fall from Voldemort's favor and his general status in the Wizarding World.]]
* SmugSnake: Oh yes! If Snape's memories are any indication, he was even this in his youth.
* SpannerInTheWorks: Much to Voldemort's fury, Lucius proves to be this. [[spoiler:His hijacking of Voldemort's teenage diary (which he didn't know was a Horcrux) for his essentially petty vendetta against Arthur Weasley not only leads it to being destroyed but provides Dumbledore damning intelligence to track down all the rest of Voldemort's Horcruxes.]]
* SwordCane: His wand is concealed in his [[BlingBlingBang silver-topped]] cane, with the head of the cane a snake. The cane itself seems to function as something of a secondary wand.
* TortureTechnician: Although far more composed and saner than many of his fellow Death Eaters, Voldemort himself states Lucius often led the torturing of Muggles. Then there were his exploits during the Quidditch World Cup.
* UnholyMatrimony: Despite being a follower of Lord Voldemort (and a {{Jerkass}}), he and his wife genuinely love each other.
* UnusualPetsForUnusualPeople: The Malfoys keep a flock of ''peacocks'' (and albino peacocks at that) in the garden of Malfoy Manor, although it's not known if Lucius is the one who bought them or if it's a long-standing Malfoy tradition. Either way, it's likely [[AnimalMotifs meant to represent their egomania and elitism]]. TruthInTelevision, as many real-life noble families and stately homes kept peacocks and let them roam about their expansive grounds as a status symbol due to their greatly exotic appearance and association with grandeur.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Until Book 6, that is. Whilst Harry's POV establishes him in Book 2 as being a massive douchebag from the jump, it's implied that he had at least a somewhat decent reputation in the eyes of most of the public.
* VillainousBreakdown: A subtle one, but it exists nonetheless in the movies. As the series goes on, watch Lucius closely, and you can see [[BeingEvilSucks the stress that being a member of Voldemort's inner circle causes him:]] His clothing is no longer quite as immaculate, his hair isn't as neatly combed, his eyes grow red and puffy, and he acquires PermaStubble. By his final appearance at the Battle of Hogwarts – which he, his wife, and his son [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere decline to join]] – he's [[BreakTheHaughty no longer his confident, imperious self]] but a man who is worn out and just wants to keep his family safe.
* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler:In ''Deathly Hallows Part II'' at least (in the books, he and his family simply awkwardly sit around in the Great Hall post-battle), he, Draco, and Narcissa decide to cut their losses and simply get the hell out of dodge during the final battle rather than stick around and deal with the aftermath.]]
* VillainousFriendship: Appears to have this with Severus Snape. This friendship existed since their youth.
* VillainousValor: In the fifth film; despite losing the prophecy, he still thinks it's worth his while to stay and fight the Order, personally challenging Sirius to a duel.
* WouldHurtAChild:
** Forget ''hurt''. In the film adaptation of ''The Chamber of Secrets'', he was about to blast Harry with ''Avada Kedavra'' practically right outside Dumbledore's office, but Dobby cut him off before he got more than the first word out.
** In the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he tells the other Death Eaters to kill Harry's companions if they have to.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew]]
See [[Characters/HarryPotterMarauders Harry Potter - Marauders]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Bartemius "Barty" Crouch Junior]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/barty_crouch_jr.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:''"[[ManipulativeBastard Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter.]]"'']]
-->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/DavidTennant, Creator/BrendanGleeson (Alastor Moody disguise)\\
'''Voiced by:''' Creator/JoseGilbertoVilchis (Latin American Spanish), Alexandre Moreno (Brazilian Portuguese)
-->'''Appears in:''' ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]''

->''"I will be honoured beyond all other Death Eaters. I will be his dearest, closest supporter... [[WhenYouComingHomeDad closer than a son]]...."''

The son of Barty Crouch Sr., a famous Ministry official who was a KnightTemplar [[AntiHero "hero"]] in the first war against Voldemort. Apparently as an act of youthful rebellion against his inattentive father, Barty Jr. joined the Death Eaters and came to see Voldemort as a ParentalSubstitute. He allegedly participated alongside the Lestranges in the attack on the Longbottoms and was subsequently sent to Azkaban by his father, where he reportedly was found dead from despair.

In TheFilmOfTheBook, he was portrayed simply as a PsychoSupporter with his FreudianExcuse eliminated. The film's version of Crouch, Jr. has a [[CharacterTics signature tongue flick]], which was [[ThrowItIn improvised by his actor]].
----
* TheAce: This guy is Snape's only real competition when it comes to the third-most-skilled wizard in the series, after Dumbledore and Voldemort. He's a MasterActor able to fool [[spoiler:Dumbledore]], a wizard powerful enough to confound an ancient artefact like the [[spoiler:Goblet of Fire]], very skilled in curses, knowledgeable about different branches of magic, and likely a strong Occlumens -- and keep in mind that Dumbledore was always depicted as, at least, a little more skilled than Voldemort [[spoiler:and fooling Voldemort is Snape's greatest achievement.]] Essentially, the only advantage Snape has over him is [[SanityHasAdvantages sanity]], and this is all after more than a decade of different and horrible types of mental torture that Barty endured.
* AdaptationalBadass:
** Downplayed. Unlike the book, where Barty begged his father for mercy, he mocks his father when Karkaroff reveals Jr.'s involvement in torturing the Longbottoms. Additionally, he actually is actively helping Voldemort when Frank Bryce walks in on the conversation.
** In the books, [[spoiler:Barty was freed from Azkaban by his parents.]] In the film, this is never mentioned and it appears that he escaped under his own power.
* AdaptationalDyeJob: Blond in the book, dark-haired in the film.
* AdaptationalVillainy: The film version of him is a one-dimensional completely sadistic lunatic who relished his evil actions and showed no remorse whatsoever. In the book, while not necessarily any more humane, he's much more subtle and low-key, making his monstrosity less overt. In addition, the film also removes his TragicVillain status and makes it so that he joined the Death Eaters ForTheEvulz instead of joining them due to seeking a [[ParentalSubstitute father figure]].
* AintTooProudToBeg: He pleaded with his father for mercy during his trial. Averted in the film, see AdaptationalBadass.
* AmbiguousSituation: When Crouch and the Lestranges were brought to trial, he was the only one ''not'' looking like a Death Eater loyal to the death, rather being terrified and pathetically pleading for his life on the claim of being innocent. The story, however, leaves some ambiguity about whether he was already a full-fledged Voldemort loyalist trying to secure his release, capitalizing on his skill as a ConsummateLiar and MasterActor and possibly already planning to search for his master, or he was telling the truth and was just a case of YouthIsWastedOnTheDumb who only radicalized later during his stay in prison (which tends to happen in real life). Harry himself asks Dumbledore about it and the latter doesn't have an answer. For their part, Crouch himself acts as if he never faltered in his dedication to Voldemort, and Voldemort describes Crouch as "someone whose loyalty has never wavered", but neither is exactly a reliable source, as Voldemort didn't witness the trial, and Crouch underwent definite SanitySlippage in Azkaban between the trial and his rejoining Voldemort. Still, even when he denied torturing the Longbottoms (he appears to have been technically an accomplice by being there even if that was true), he never renounced Voldemort or ratted out his comrades, which in case he knew, it would make him a piece of work already.
* AxCrazy: His insanity wasn't too much of a factor in the book; however, his film version is worse, being a drooling, slavering maniac who did what he did ForTheEvulz.
* BadassTeacher: Under a disguise, but his students admit that despite him being a lunatic they still managed to learn loads from him, and he's definitely a badass.
* BadassLongcoat: In the films, he wears a black leather knee-length duster and is one of Voldemort's most competent Death Eaters. [[spoiler:The tan duster he wears while impersonating Moody also counts.]]
* BatmanGambit: Part of his plan relied on Cedric giving Harry information for the second task because Harry had helped him with the first. "Decent people are so easy to manipulate."
* ByronicHero: Like father, like son. Also a villainous example.
* CardCarryingVillain: "Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter..." Though this trope is much more applicable to his movie counterpart than his book self.
* CharacterTics: As the Polyjuice Potion wears off, he has a tendency to flick his tongue, which usually stops when he drinks more potion.
* ChekhovsGunman: First mentioned in the chapter "Padfoot Returns" (Chapter 27 in Book 4) as part of the reason for Barty Sr.'s downfall at the Ministry, when he presumably died in Azkaban.
* TheChessmaster: Manipulated most of the events going on at Hogwarts during ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]].''
* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: Probably the biggest example in the movies. He was possibly SparedByTheAdaptation and sent back to Azkaban, yet when all Death Eaters are freed in later movies, he never appears alongside them. It's often assumed that he did get the Dementor's Kiss in the movie universe as well, counting on anyone watching the movie as having read the books.
* ConsummateLiar: Dumbledore didn't suspect a thing until he removes Harry from the entrance of the maze.
* CoolAndUnusualPunishment: Visits this upon Draco while disguised as Moody. Six words: "Draco Malfoy, the Amazing Bouncing Ferret." What was Draco doing? Attempting to hex Harry when his back was turned. Though, it could be just because he's a Malfoy. Or maybe he was enraged that someone was going to hurt Harry before he could get him to Voldemort. Rowling implies he was just [[GoodIsNotSoft keeping in-character]] though.
* CutLexLuthorACheck: Crouch Jr. turned out to be a surprisingly good Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. If he wasn't completely nuts and devoted to the Dark Lord, he could probably do well for himself as a Hogwarts teacher, and given his large collection of O.W.L.S he could have even done so without incurring the curse of the Defense position.
%%* DarkAndTroubledPast
* DisproportionateRetribution: A comedic example when he punishes Draco Malfoy for nearly hitting Harry with a spell when his back is turned. He turns Malfoy into a ferret and bounces him painfully around until an aghast [=McGonagall=] [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure puts a stop to it]].
* DissonantSerenity: After his disguise is outed and under Veritaserum, he explains the entire backstory in an even tone, proudly exuding in his triumph and noting that Voldemort's back thanks to him.
* TheDragon: Voldemort's main agent in ''Goblet of Fire''. It's also implied that Voldemort would've possibly considered him this had he been able to escape Hogwarts at the end of the book.
* DragonInChief: For most of ''Goblet of Fire'', Voldemort is in a weakened state, and if Barty didn't help Harry, the plan would have backfired.
* DueToTheDead: Subverted; he did bury his father after killing him, but Barty's method (transfiguring his father's dead body into a bone and burying it in Hagrid's garden) is far from respectful.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: No doubt due to his own visit to Azkaban, the subsequent hell under his father's Imperius Curse, and why he was there in the first place (either torturing the Longbottoms for information that could revive his NotQuiteDead master or being an accomplice to the torturers), Barty has an intense loathing for Death Eaters who escaped Azkaban and didn't bother to look for or revive Voldemort, thereby betraying their Lord. This loathing of the Death Eaters who escaped Azkaban is almost [[{{Hypocrite}} hypocritical]] -- we see at the trial that while his fellow Death Eaters are accepting their sentences, fully expecting Voldemort to break them out of there, he was sobbing and insisting that he was innocent and that they'd gotten the wrong person. Of course, it's always possible that he was just acting and would have gone back to looking for Voldemort if they had set him free since that's what his father had to physically and magically restrain him from doing.
* EvilAllAlong: The common view among the wizarding community is that he was just a kid who got caught up in the wrong crowd and was thrown to the wolves by his uncaring father. The truth is unknown, but if we trust his own word, he was a completely loyal Death Eater who was just a ''very'' good actor.
* EvilCannotComprehendGood: "Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter." Crouch also believed that the care Winky showed for him was nothing more than pity, and was perfectly happy to abuse that trust [[spoiler:at the Quidditch World Cup.]]
* EvilGenius: He's very intelligent, and it's he who played a major part in Voldemort's return. For context: if there's any truth to his father's ramblings, Barty Jr. earned twelve Outstanding [=OWLs=]; Hermione, the gold standard for intelligence and "brightest witch of her age," only earned ten. (In a case of WritersCannotDoMath, JK Rowling originally wrote Hermione as receiving eleven, later editions corrected this to ten.) Arguably the horrifying result of what can be accomplished by a ''competent'' Death Eater. Voldemort indeed admires Barty's loyalty and smarts and prizes him above all his Death Eaters. [[spoiler:It's fridge brilliance when you realize that he had to get his soul sucked because the later books would have been harder for the heroes had he remained functional.]]
* EvilGloating: Oh, does he get his fair share of it. [[spoiler:Once you know that Mad-Eye Moody is, for most of the book/movie, actually Barty Jr. a lot of what he says winds up being this. Showing off the Unforgivable Curses in class? An example of how well he can use them. Causing a scene after the champions' names come out of the Goblet of Fire and presenting a plausible, if slightly outlandish sounding, scenario for how Harry's name could've gotten in, which just happened to be exactly what he did? Basically the equivalent of a SarcasticConfession. His legitimate moment of explaining his masterstroke to Harry, right before getting bitten in the ass by karma and revealed? Seriously, only Voldemort loves gloating evilly more than Barty Jr. does.]]
* EvilIsHammy: David Tennant is clearly having a blast in the film, where he becomes a deliciously nasty CardCarryingVillain. Rather than begging for his life when he's arrested like in the book, he gives a giant SlasherSmile and goes "Hello, Father" tauntingly as he's dragged away.
* EvilMentor:
** Strangely subverted. While in his Moody disguise, he teaches his students about the highest-grade dark curses in ways that were almost certainly completely illegal. However, his lessons are immensely useful and instructive, and Harry even learns to fight off the powerful [[MindControlDevice Imperius curse]] completely thanks to him. Despite being thoroughly evil, Crouch ends up being one of the most competent and helpful teachers Harry ever runs into and his lessons have no negative or morally ambiguous results, only methods. It can be argued that this was a result of him either [[BecomingTheMask playing the role of Moody FAR too well]] or simply not caring about whether the kids were properly trained or not, or perhaps likely, [[PragmaticVillainy figuring that, with Voldemort's return approaching, a fourth-year defense education would not give any significant advantage to the "other side" and that there's no reason not to do a credible job.]]
--->'''Dean:''' Well, [Crouch] turned out to be a maniac, didn't he? Mind you, we still learned loads.
** A good example of the subversion is that he submits Harry to the Imperius curse and Harry learns to resist it, and later he resists the Imperius curse given by Voldemort himself in the graveyard, but in neither case did it specifically help or aid Harry, either at the end of ''Goblet of Fire'' or the later books.
* EvilTeacher: [[spoiler:He's this when disguised as Moody.]]
* ExactWords: [[spoiler:Crouch as Moody tells Harry the thing he despises most is a Death Eater that walked free. Harry naturally assumes he speaking from being an ex-Auror. But really, he means he hates said Death Eaters because they denounced and betrayed Voldemort to avoid Azkaban when he had to go.]]
* FateWorseThanDeath: The Dementor's Kiss. Either his soul underwent a CessationOfExistence, or it's still trapped inside the Dementor (like the souls trapped in a PhilosophersStone in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'').
* FauxAffablyEvil: Particularly in his Moody disguise.
* {{Foil}}: Like Voldemort, he had a very unloving father. Unlike Voldemort, however, he actually tried everything to gain his father's approval and only became evil because all he was trying to do was to find a ParentalSubstitute after failing.
* ForgottenFallenFriend: While Voldemort speaks fondly of him during his resurrection scene, calling him his most loyal follower, he pays Crouch Jr. absolutely no thought after the latter [[spoiler:gets the Dementor Kiss.]] Which is of course very in-character for [[BadBoss Voldemort]].
* ForTheEvulz: In the film, he's given no justification for working for Voldemort, making him look like a one-dimensional completely sadistic lunatic that relishes his evil actions. [[spoiler:Not so much in the novel where his depravity and cruelty is at least paired with a need for validation by a parental figure.]]
* FramingTheGuiltyParty: Played with. We never learn how involved he actually was in torturing the Longbottoms, the crime for which he was sentenced. But afterwards he's definitely a Death Eater (which nobody, himself included, ever denies), and his trial in an apparent KangarooCourt is a RedHerring intended to obfuscate the antagonistic role he ends up playing in the present plot.
* FreudianExcuse: His isolation and distance from his father made him cling to Voldemort as a replacement father figure due partially to their similar backgrounds.
* FriendlessBackground: Never outright stated, but it's strongly implied that he never had any real friends until joining the Death Eaters in his late teens. Even then, calling them "friends" is probably a bit of a stretch.
* FromNobodyToNightmare: Was once just a promising model student. Then he became a Death Eater who managed to help [[spoiler:revive Voldemort.]]
* GoodPowersBadPeople: [[spoiler:He has enough strength of character, a trait commonly associated with good characters, to fight off an Imperius Curse. Too bad he's a Death Eater.]]
* TheHeavy: He drives the entire plot of ''Goblet of Fire'' with his manipulation of the Triwizard Tournament, ensuring that Harry is entered against his will and rigging each event so he comes out on top, all so he can reach the Portkey which transports him to Voldemort's resurrection in the maze.
* HypercompetentSidekick: Seriously, this man was more efficient than all the other Death Eaters put together, if not Voldemort himself. Not only did he manage to impersonate Mad-Eye Moody perfectly, but even managed to fool ''Dumbledore'' who was one of his oldest friends, for over a year! In fact, if we look at his evil plan then everything he was personally responsible for went off without a hitch. The only reason it ultimately failed was because ''[[BondVillainStupidity Voldemort]]'' demanded that he be the one [[TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou to kill Harry personally]] and ''didn't'' kill him [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim straight away]] like Barty had assumed! Hell, considering that over the course of the series, Voldemort [[HoistByHisOwnPetard shoots himself in the foot]] ''[[HoistByHisOwnPetard a lot]]'', Barty could actually even be considered more competent than the man he worships in at least some respects!
* {{Hypocrite}}:
** For someone who has been prompted into the service of the Dark Lord by his father's neglect, he surely didn't seem to place much value on either his mother's or Winky's maternal love.
** His disgust of the Death Eaters who abandoned the cause is more of a borderline sign. Yes, he was screaming hysterically about his innocence when he was about to be taken in by the Dementors, but it seems likely that he would've kept up his search for the Dark Lord if freed, unlike others who chose not to despite escaping Azkaban. Also note that he never denied being a Death Eater during the trial (as opposed to the likes of Lucius Malfoy, who claimed to have been under the Imperius Curse). Barty merely denied torturing the Longbottoms--which could technically be ''true'', as the story never clarifies whether he was an active participant or just an accomplice.
* IHaveNoSon: His father disowns him at his trial.
* INeedYouStronger: Part of the reason he teaches Harry so effectively in his Defense Against the Dark Arts class is that he needs him to be capable enough to win the Triwizard Tournament and not be killed in the process.
* INeverSaidItWasPoison: In TheFilmOfTheBook, Harry realizes "Moody's" involvement with the Death Eaters when Moody mentions the graveyard even though Harry never brought up where he'd been transported.
* KickTheDog: Gets a moment with Neville. After shaking him to his core by demonstrating the Cruciatus Curse -- the one used to drive the Longbottoms insane (an act where he was at least an enabler and an accomplice if not an active participant)-- in class, he calls Neville up to his office and gives him a book on herbology (Neville's favourite subject and only strong suit). And rather than it being an act of kindness it ties into Barty's EvilPlan: the book he gives Neville contains information which would have served Harry well in the Second Task, which Barty planted to make sure Harry stayed alive until Voldemort needed him.
* KickTheSonOfABitch:
** He only turned Draco Malfoy into a ferret out of a grudge towards Draco's father Lucius, but the kid still deserved it.
** Killing Barty Sr. is one in the books, due to the latter's status as an AssholeVictim.
* KnightTemplar: Ironically inverted, considering how his despised father was one. Nevertheless, he has some traits as well since he seemed to truly believe in the Death Eaters' cause with zealotry perhaps equaled only by Bellatrix Lestrange. The thing is, that cause was the ensured rise of the BigBad. In contrast, Death Eaters such as Lucius Malfoy and Peter Pettigrew serve Voldemort almost entirely out of self-interest.
* LargeHam: David Tennant's lively performance in the films gave Crouch this trait. Special mention goes to him hissing at the Dark Mark after casting it, his signature tongue flick, and his sarcastic, hissing comments to his father after being outed as a Death Eater.
* ManiacTongue: His [[CharacterTics iconic tongue flick]] in the film is in line with his fanatic zeal.
* ManipulativeBastard: Plays everyone involved with the Triwizard Tournament like fools.
* MaskOfSanity: The picture of Crouch Jr you see in at the top, is him on a good day. It doesn't take much to make it slip and for him to devolve into an AxCrazy psychopath, even in the book, which Harry is terrified to witness when he reveals to him his true colours.
* MasterActor: He managed to pose as Mad-Eye Moody for ''months'' without anyone picking up on it, even Dumbledore -- an abnormally intelligent and perceptive man who was ''also'' a good friend of the real Alastor Moody -- was totally fooled right until the end. He may have also convincingly played the part of a scared innocent kid during both his trial and his imprisonment, nobody suspecting that he was truly Voldemort's most devout minion.
* MoralSociopathy: His moral code is similar to that of [[Creator/MichaelMadsen Mr. Blonde]] in ''Film/ReservoirDogs'', by which torture and murder are okay but ratting your boss out isn't.
* NiceJobFixingItVillain:
** Harry's able to pretty much throw off the Imperius Curse at will due to Barty's repeated use of it on him during a Defense Against the Dark Arts class. This comes into play later on when Voldemort attempts to use the curse on Harry, presumably with the intent of simply forcing him to stay in place to eat an Avada Kedavra. Harry's resistance to the curse and the subsequent battle with and escape from Voldemort can be directly laid at Barty's feet.
** Moreover, Harry's able to use the Imperius Curse to great effect during the Gringotts break-in in the final book, which proved to be crucial for the trio to find one of the Horcruxes in the Lestrange vault. Being on the receiving end so much probably taught Harry how to dish it out.
* NotQuiteDead: [[spoiler:Thought to have died in Azkaban a year after his imprisonment. This is not the case.]]
* {{Patricide}}: By his own confession in the novel (and by implication in the film), Barty murdered his own father in cold blood. Adding insult to injury, in the books, he transfigured Crouch Sr.'s body into a bone and buried it to hide the evidence of his crime.
* PsychoSupporter: In both the book and the movie, but in the movie, it was [[EvilIsHammy made more obvious]].
* RiddleForTheAges: Sirius and Dumbledore aren't sure whether he personally tortured the Longbottoms or was just an accomplice, though neither denies he was at least nominally a Death Eater. For starters, there's not really a witness: Frank and Alice don't have the facilities to testify in a trial and Neville was too young to remember what happened. When the ruse is uncovered, there are more pressing matters at hand and he's fed to the Dementors not too soon thereafter, leaving the truth ambiguous.
* {{Sadist}}: Along with the Lestranges, he tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity and expressed a desire to hurt other Death Eaters for their refusal to seek out Voldemort.
* SanitySlippage: In the film, when he starts to lose his cool (and when the Polyjuice Potion starts to wear off), he gets an ominous twitch, and his tongue-flicking habit returns. In one scene, this starts to happen in the presence of his father, who's noticeably alarmed at recognising the mannerism [[spoiler:on a Hogwarts teacher.]] More so in the novel, as the Dementors and the Imperius curse pretty much destroyed his mind and drove him to insanity.
* SelfMadeOrphan: At the end of the same book, we learn that he murdered his father. Then transfigured his body into a bone and buried it. He makes much of how both he and Voldemort had very disappointing fathers and the pleasure of killing those fathers. He also seems to regard Voldemort as a father substitute.
* SinsOfOurFathers: Probably why he transformed Draco Malfoy into a ferret: he resented Draco's father for disavowing and informing on the Death Eaters.
* SlasherSmile: Several times in the film (courtesy of David Tennant's hammy performance), and during the book, as he relays the story of his escape from Azkaban and reunion with Voldemort (specifically the parts where Voldemort sought him out and placed Crouch's father under the Imperius curse).
* TheSociopath: Most definitely. Extremely AxCrazy and sadistic, excellent actor ([[spoiler:playing the part of Mad-Eye Moody with near-pinpoint precision]]), and with an utter absence of empathy.
* SparedByTheAdaptation:
** ''[[AmbiguousSituation Possibly]]''. The movie version of ''Goblet of Fire'' skips over his falling victim to the Dementor's Kiss, but the rest of the movies never acknowledge him again as if it did happen. A line from ''Order of the Phoenix'' that claimed he had been sent back to Azkaban was cut from the script, presumably for the plot holes it would cause in the story.
** He's actually a bit of a double example in ''Goblet of Fire'': the movie never uses the plot of him supposedly dying in Azkaban (actually his mother taking his place), Dumbledore merely says he was imprisoned, and when he's exposed at the end nobody expresses any surprise to see him alive. In fact, the beginning of the film shows him already having joined back up with Voldemort in the Riddle House, so the audience is never led to believe he died either.
* TragicVillain: He was neglected throughout his childhood and has tried to please his father throughout his life. His father never showed any concern or love towards him and that's what eventually led him towards insanity and joining Voldemort. All he ever wanted was to find a father from whom he could find love. Completely averted in the film.
* TreacherousAdvisor: He plays this role with Harry throughout the Triwizard Tournament, going from giving him subtle but effective hints to flat-out rigging things in his favour. As a small subversion, he has every intention of helping him win. The problem is that him winning isn't a good thing.
* UncertainDoom: In the movies. His final fate is never revealed in the films, but as he's never seen again afterwards, the chances of him being still alive are slim, though if it happened exactly as in the books is unknown.
* UndyingLoyalty: Crouch is portrayed as fanatically loyal to Voldemort, to the point that the Dark Lord himself described him as "someone whose loyalty has never wavered" and "my most faithful servant".
* UnderestimatingBadassery: Several characters dismiss him as a kid who merely fell in with the wrong crowd. [[spoiler:While disguised as Moody, he hangs a lampshade over the fact that it would have taken an extremely powerful Confundus Charm to trick an ancient magical object like the Goblet of Fire, showing that he's no slouch as a wizard.]]
* VillainBall: There were countless better things he could have turned into Portkeys that would get Harry to Voldemort instead of a trophy to a tournament that Harry was incapable of entering and unlikely to survive. That said, it might have been Voldemort's idea to have Harry enter the tournament and win the trophy, and Barty's only mistake would have been to go along with the plan if that was the case.
* VillainsOutShopping: [[spoiler:His protracted undercover stay at Hogwarts produces a few of these moments for him; particularly at the Yule Ball in the fourth book and film, where he's shown dancing with Professor Sinistra and lightly enjoying himself and humming/tapping along to the music.]]
* WalkingSpoiler: His presence in the present events of Book 4 gives a lot away.
* WellDoneSonGuy: His mother and Winky loved him, but that was apparently not enough to make up for his failure to get his father's approval, which he in turn sought from his replacement father figure, Voldemort. Rowling addressed this indirectly in an interview, noting that, "That's where evil seems to flourish, in places where people didn't get good fathering."
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In the films, his appointment with a Dementor and his kiss doesn't get mentioned.
* WhatTheHellHero: A rare villain-to-villain case. He's NOT happy with the Death Eaters that escaped Azkaban and never bothered to look for Voldemort.
* WhenYouComingHomeDad: Crouch Sr. was so obsessed with his work of hunting down dark wizards that Jr. barely saw him.
* WorthyOpponent: After Harry nearly blows his cover due to spotting him on the Marauder's Map, Crouch tells him that he would make a good Auror.
* XanatosSpeedChess: Harry derails Barty's plans to get him to win the Triwizard Cup several times due to his bullheadedness and refusal to ask for the help of others. Barty improvises every time that this happens. He does it so effectively that the plan goes off without a single hitch regardless. [[EvilGloating He naturally takes the opportunity to tell Harry this when he's found out.]]
* {{Yandere}}: When it comes to Voldemort, he's on a par with Bellatrix.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Amycus and Alecto Carrow]]
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/the_carrows.png]]
-->'''Portrayed by:''' Ralph Ineson and Suzie Toase
-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/CarloVazquez (Latin American Spanish, Amycus)
-->'''Appears in:''' ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]''

->''"Nah, they make [Umbridge] look tame. The other teachers are all supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't, though, if they can avoid it. You can tell they all hate them as much as we do. [...] I got this one [scar] for asking [Alecto] how much Muggle blood she and her brother have got."''
-->-- '''Neville Longbottom''' on the Carrows

A brother-and-sister team of obnoxious, lopsided-looking Death Eaters, Amycus and Alecto are present at the Astronomy Tower when Snape kills Dumbledore, and following Voldemort's coup, become Defense Against the Dark Arts (Amycus) and Muggle Studies (Alecto) professors at Hogwarts. They were last seen being tied up by Professor [=McGonagall=] in the Ravenclaw Common Room.
----
* AdaptationalAttractiveness: All book descriptions point to Alecto being very unattractive; however, Suzie Toase is quite an attractive woman. Amycus was said to resemble her but Ralph Ineson on the other hand...
* AxCrazy: They routinely use [[AgonyBeam the Cruciatus Curse]] on students who get detention and, as Ron succinctly puts it, use Neville as a knife sharpener for speaking out against them. It takes quite an effort to make Dolores Umbridge look tame.
* BerserkButton: Accusing them of being anything but pure-blooded. Neville was punished brutally for asking Alecto how much muggle blood is in her family tree.
* BlatantLies: Amycus's plan was to lie to Voldemort by stating that some students ambushed Alecto and forced her to touch her Dark Mark. Not only is this lie highly unbelievable, but Voldemort is a skilled Legilimens and would know right away that he was being lied to.
* CoDragons: To Snape in the final book.
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: [[DownplayedTrope A mild example.]] Though neither Amycus nor Alecto could be considered intelligent, both seem to be highly skilled in the Dark Arts and fairly skilled duellists (though not enough to fight someone with [=McGonagall's=] caliber). It's also implied that Amycus taught Crabbe the Fiendfyre curse, and unlike Crabbe presumably knows how to control it.
* CurbStompBattle: In the film, [[spoiler:[=McGonagall=] shows just how powerful she really is when a spell of hers, ''after'' being deflected by Snape, knocks the Carrows unconscious just from being too close to it. Snape probably helped. At the very least, the aim was intentional.]]
* CurbStompCushion: In the sixth book, Alecto's sent running from Prof. [=McGonagall=], though as Harry witnesses them duelling a few paragraphs earlier, she was presumably able to hold her own against the transfiguration master at least for awhile.
* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: They seem to truly care about each other. Amycus was even planning on lying to Voldemort in an attempt to spare her.
* EvilGloating: Both of them are quite pleased to see Dumbledore cornered and proceed to taunt him, though he's more amused than anything at their insults.
* EvilRedhead: In the films, Alecto's played by the red-haired Suzie Toase.
* EvilTeacher: They are Death Eaters, after all.
* FantasticRacism: Hardly out of order for a Death Eater, but as Muggle Studies teacher, Alecto literally makes a career out of this.
* {{Giggling Villain}}s: Two giggling bastards.
* HateSink: Two of the vilest characters in the series -- not even Bellatrix was vile enough for Harry to succeed in casting the Cruciatus curse by ThePowerOfHate, which he ''does'' successfully cast on Amycus.
* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Amycus fires several curses at Ginny, but none of them hit her. This is justified since Ginny had recently consumed Felix Felicis (liquid luck). Given that his curses were described as barely missing her, and his own insistence that she couldn't dodge forever, he's probably a decent shot otherwise.
* InsultBackfire: Amycus takes notice of Dumbledore's weakened appearance and mockingly asks what happened. Dumbledore simply informs him that it's nothing more than old age and slyly states that Amycus would be lucky to live to experience the same thing given his lifestyle. Amycus is clearly enraged by this implication.
* IronicName: There's nothing amicable about Amycus.
* LaserGuidedKarma: They are fond of practicing the [[TortureTechnician Cruciatus Curse]] on students for the most minor of offenses (or out of boredom), so when Harry tortures Amycus with it for [[BerserkButton insulting]] [=McGonagall=], she only mildly expresses her disapproval.
* MeaningfulName: [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alecto Alecto]] is one of the Erinyes, or Furies, a group of primordial Goddesses that hounded and tormented wrongdoers in Greek Mythology. Alecto roughly translates to "unceasing anger", and Alecto Carrow certainly has a great deal of rage at her disposal.
* OffstageVillainy: Neville says they "make Umbridge look tame," but in terms of the admittedly little that we actually see, she's worse by far.
* SadistTeacher: According to Neville, they are ''even worse than Umbridge'' in this regard.
* ScrewThisImOuttaHere: In the sixth book, Alecto books it the minute [=McGonagall=] gains the upper hand. Her brother follows suit shortly after when Harry sends him flying.
* SiblingsInCrime: Both are Death Eaters and always work together in this role.
* TooDumbToLive:
** Amycus seems to think that he can convince Voldemort that a group of students ambushed Alecto and for some reason decided to force her into touching her dark mark. Granted, this was probably just a desperate attempt to protect Alecto from Voldemort's wrath, but still.
** When finding Harry in the Ravenclaw common room, Alecto could have stunned or cursed him from behind before summoning her master. Instead, she taunts him, allowing Luna Lovegood to stun her and the good side is able to prepare ahead of time for battle.
* TortureTechnician: Deliberately placed at Hogwarts in ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'' to scare and beat the next generation into line with Voldemort's way of thinking. Other Death Eaters torture too, but these are the ones who do it ''for a living''.
* WouldHurtAChild: They have zero qualms about physically hurting and torturing students as young as first years. Neville mentions that the only reason they aren't even worse is that they don't want to [[PragmaticVillainy accidentally kill pureblooded wizards]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Corban Yaxley]]
[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/yaxley.jpg]]
-->'''Portrayed by:''' Creator/PeterMullan
-->'''Voiced by:''' Creator/RaulAnaya (Latin American Spanish), Ronaldo Júlio (Brazilian Portuguese)
-->'''Appears in:''' ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince Half-Blood Prince]]'' | ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]''

->''"Spare us. The brats of Mudbloods do not stir our sympathies."''

One of the inner-circle Death Eaters. He helps orchestrate Voldemort's coup by placing an Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse and becomes a central figure in Voldemort's new regime, acting as the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement.
----
* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Though he makes a lot of progress towards the Ministry coup, Voldemort is far more impressed with Snape's information about Harry Potter. Ironically, Yaxley is loyal to Voldemort, while Snape [[spoiler:is truly loyal to Dumbledore and the memory of Snape's true love Lily Potter.]]
* AmbiguousSituation: He speaks of having a wife to Reg Cattermole but in context, his statement can also be taken to be purely hypothetical.
* BadBoss: Is this to the Ministry officials, if his attitude towards Reg Cattermole is anything to go by. Harry was reasonably convinced that even Runcorn (who he was currently disguised as) would probably land himself into trouble if he tried to interrupt one of the Muggle-Born trials despite Yaxley otherwise approving of the man. He also can be quite harsh to lower-ranking Death Eaters, as seen when he aggressively ordered Draco to kill Dumbledore, and when he blasted Fenrir Greyback for defying his orders (though Greyback was a werewolf and wasn't an official Death Eater).
* TheBully: Abuses his power to bully anyone under it, like Reginald Cattermole and Muggle-borns. Not even lower-ranking Death Eaters are immune to his abuse.
* CoDragons: Sort of. Though he and Dolores Umbridge officially seem to be this to Pius Thicknesse, Yaxley is the one who is truly in control (see DragonInChief), whereas Umbridge actually answers to him. Technically speaking, Thicknesse and Umbridge were actually CoDragons to Yaxley.
* TheDon: Peter Mullan's portrayal gives off this impression. Naturally, it's made him a hit with the fans.
* DragonInChief: To Pius Thicknesse in the last book when Voldemort takes control, since Thicknesse is the puppet Minister of Magic, while Yaxley's the Head of Magical Law Enforcement. Justified because Thicknesse is under Yaxley's control (at least in the book).
* DudeWheresMyRespect: A downplayed example, but he practically begs Voldemort for acknowledgement during the meeting at Malfoy Manor. To his irritation, Voldemort is only mildly impressed at his putting an Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse and instead seeks counsel from Snape. The other Death Eaters present, however, are very impressed and congratulatory.
* EvilerThanThou: When Muggle-born wizards are being detained, Yaxley expresses an explicit disgust that the Death Eaters aren't doing enough about blood purity and not jailing half-bloods with them.
* FantasticRacism: Obviously as a Death Eater he's this, but once the Death Eaters take control of the Ministry he practically makes a career out of it.
* TheGhost: While threatening Reg Cattermole about interrogating his wife, he mentions his own wife, whom we never see. Though given the context, it's possible that he isn't really married and was merely speaking hypothetically.
* GoodCopBadCop: With Dolores Umbridge when interrogating Muggle-Born wizards and witches. While she acts in her falsely sweet manner, he's very harsh and aggressive to them.
%%* HateSink: Moreso in the book.
* HyperCompetentSidekick: Yaxley was the one who was ultimately responsible for the Death Eater takeover of the Ministry of Magic (something the Death Eaters have been trying to do for eleven years when they were at their most powerful) due to his role of placing Pius Thicknesse and several other Ministry officials under the Imperius Curse. He's also the one who keeps the Ministry running smoothly while Voldemort pursues other ambitions. Lastly, he's responsible for discovering the Trio's hideout, forcing them out into the open.
* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He tells Reginald Cattermole (Ron Weasley in reality) that he's going to interrogate his wife and he starts off making it seem like he would protect his wife were she in Mary's situation, but this is quickly subverted where he says that if she were accused of being Muggle-Born, he would just do his job. However, he also made it quite clear that he would never marry anyone who could even be mistaken as a Muggle-Born.
* KnowledgeBroker: Thanks to being the head of the wizarding Gestapo.
* {{Jerkass}}: To anyone he sees as being beneath him, which is mostly everyone.
* ManOfWealthAndTaste: Peter Mullan's portrayal gives off this impression. Just look at the picture!
* MookLieutenant: He seems to be in charge of the group of Death Eaters who invade Hogwarts at the end of the sixth book until Severus Snape shows up that is. His role is taken by Bellatrix in the film. He's also the one in charge of the Death Eater-controlled Ministry of Magic, via his Imperius Curse on Pius Thicknesse.
* NoNameGiven: Was referred to as "The Brutal-Faced Death Eater" until he was properly introduced in the next book. Unlike Rowle however, his name's mentioned in passing before he even appears, we just aren't sure that they are the same character until the following book.
* NoNonsenseNemesis: Unlike Greyback and the Carrows, Yaxley doesn't take part in taunting Dumbledore and instead encourages Draco to kill him immediately so that they can flee before reinforcements arrive. Dumbledore himself doesn't bother trying to rile him up like he does the others.
* NoSell: Overlaps with OffscreenMomentOfAwesome. But after Harry stunned him at the Ministry, he recovered relatively quickly and managed to walk through a room with several riled dementors unscathed, just in time to witness Harry (disguised as Runcorn) freeing the last of the muggleborns present.
%%* OminousWalk: In ''Deathly Hallows: Part I''.
* SecretPolice: He turns the Department of Magical Law Enforcement into a Nazi-like version of this.
* SmallRoleBigImpact: Yaxley appears very little, but is responsible for affecting the plot significantly via two events:
** Him putting Thicknesse under his control laid the foundation for the Ministry coup. Voldemort not acknowledging it thoroughly irritates him, though several of his fellow Death Eaters do.
** He also manages to break through the magical defenses of [[spoiler:Grimmauld Place]] by hanging onto Hermione mid-Apparition, costing a useful hideout for the heroes.
* TakenForGranite: In ''Half-Blood Prince'', Harry shoots him InTheBack with Petrificus Totalus.
* UnholyMatrimony: At one point he mentions having a wife, though it's equally possible that he was speaking hypothetically.
* VillainousFriendship: He and Dolohov show signs of this a few times. Dolohov claps him on the back when he announces that he has placed Pius Thicknesse under his control, and the two are seen cordially conversing while standing guard in the Forbidden Forest.
** Downplayed with Albert Runcorn. Though he approves of the man's actions in the Ministry and treats him far more pleasantly than other Ministry employees, Harry (while disguised as Runcorn) suggests that this only goes as far as Runcorn toes the line, and doubts very much that Runcorn could get away with interrupting a trial.
* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's not known what becomes of him after the conclusion of the Battle of Hogwarts.
[[/folder]]
----

'''[[Characters/HarryPotterOrderOfThePhoenixMembers Order of the Phoenix Members]]''' ([[Characters/HarryPotterMarauders Marauders]] [[[Characters/HarryPotterSiriusBlack Sirius Black]]])\\

[[Characters/HarryPotterTheWeasleyFamily The Weasley Family]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterMinistryOfMagic Ministry of Magic]] ([[Characters/HarryPotterDoloresUmbridge Dolores Umbridge]])\\

'''[[Characters/HarryPotterHogwartsStudents Hogwarts Students]]''' ([[Characters/HarryPotterGryffindor Gryffindor]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterSlytherin Slytherin]] [[[Characters/HarryPotterDracoMalfoy Draco Malfoy]]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterRavenclaw Ravenclaw]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHufflepuff Hufflepuff]])\\

* TheDreaded: Not to the extent of her boss but she's still considered one of the most dangerous Dark Witches alive for damn good reason. Most of the Death Eaters including several of her own ''relatives'' are afraid of her. Even Narcissa, who she seems close with, immediately backs down when Bellatrix grows dangerously erratic - [[AxCrazy even for her]] - in Malfoy Manor. Beyond her deranged and psychotic behaviour this reputation was earned by torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity, something that horrified the entire wizarding world and demonstrated just what Bellatrix is capable of.

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Well, for a relative definition of "good." She cannot understand why Narcissa would be hesitant for Draco to accept the task of [[spoiler:killing Dumbledore]]. Bellatrix even says that if she had sons, she'd be proud to give them up in the service of the Dark Lord.

* FantasticRacism: She's one of the truest believers in Voldemort's pure-blood ideology and hates Muggle-born wizards, actively seeking to kill any of her family members connected with Muggle-borns like Ted Tonks. She also seems to despise magical creatures; she's enraged when Dobby -- a house-elf -- attacks her and is disgusted at werewolf Fenrir Greyback's presence, going out of her way to force him to his knees before her in Malfoy Manor when he slights her. She goes even further than the typical level of Death Eater bigotry by openly despising ''half-blood'' wizards as she calls Harry a "filthy half-blood" in the Department of Mysteries and flies into a rage when Harry points out that Voldemort is a half-blood too. (While half-bloods are typically treated as inferior to pure-bloods and erased from pure-blood family trees along with their "blood traitor" parent, other pure-blood supremacists haven't really been shown possessing nearly the same amount of scorn toward half-bloods as Bellatrix did).

* {{Foil}}: To Molly Weasley, according to Rowling. [[spoiler:Their battle in ''Deathly Hallows'' was supposed to illustrate the differences between the two women: Bellatrix puts her ideas before the people in her life, whereas caring for and loving others is what's most important to Molly – and what drives her to kill Bellatrix.]] Narcissa could also be seen as her foil; they share the same cause, but Narcissa's devotion to her husband and son and desire to protect them above all else are what keep her from going as far as her sister does. It's even lampshaded in some scenes where Narcissa's reluctant to let Draco take on certain tasks and Bellatrix can't understand why.

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: In Deathly Hallows, her [[VillainousBreakdown terrified reaction]] when she sees the Gryffindor's sword helps Harry to realize that one of the Horcruxes is located in her vault in Gringotts, resulting not only in that particular Horcrux's destruction but also to the last unknown Horcrux being located and destroyed and Voldemort being finally defeated.

** In the end, they both died unnaturally for the men they loved at a very young age, Eva at 33 and Bellatrix at 46.

* OhCrap: During her final battle against an angry Mrs. Weasley. At first, Bellatrix doesn't take her seriously until Mrs. Weasley proves herself to be quite powerful - '''too powerful'''. Her manic battle lust rockets off as Mrs. Weasley pressures her with powerful attacks until one particular spell freezes Bellatrix and a second ''shatters'' her. The last expression on her face is one of shock and terror.

* PsychicBlockDefense: We are told that she's quite skilled at Occlumency, being the one who taught Draco the art. We never see her using this ability, nor do we learn how she'd hold up against a skilled Legilimens (see InformedAbility).

* RevengebyProxy: In Order of the Phoenix, she threatens to torture Ginny and Neville so Harry gives her the prophecy.
* {{Sadist}}: She enjoys inflicting pain upon the enemies of her Cause. It's part of what makes her so good at using the Cruciatus Curse: she explains to Harry that the spell draws from the pure desire to inflict pain upon others; righteous, justified anger [[spoiler:like Harry's grief over Sirius]] won't work.

* ThickerThanWater: Inverted. Bellatrix feels that it's her duty to kill the members of her family who are on the wrong side in the war, [[spoiler:beginning with her cousin Sirius Black]]. During the Battle of the Seven Potters in the seventh book, she targets her niece Tonks and [[spoiler:later kills her during the FinalBattle.]]

* AdaptationalHairstyleChange: It was frequently mentioned that he and Draco looked quite similar to each other, implying that Lucius had his hair short. The films, however, had his hair long. He ''was'' going to have it short, but the actor suggested otherwise, reasoning a proud wizard like Lucius would not want to look mundane.

* ButtMonkey: Becomes this for Voldemort after his failure with Tom Riddle's diary, and after the destruction of the prophecy. He has his home taken over and unceremoniously turned into the Death Eater's main hideout, has his wand taken by Voldemort, who mocks him by saying he "has no use for one", and overall drops from the Dark Lord's implied second-in-command to somebody barely treated better than Peter Pettigrew.

* InformedAbility: Readers are informed that during the First Wizarding War, he was one of Voldemort's most dangerous and skillful lieutenants. One could understandably be skeptical of this given his [[GeneralFailure awful track record]] in the series proper. He's outwitted by a twelve-year-old Harry and spectacularly screws up the Hall of Prophecy mission when his initial opposition is six teenagers. Most tellingly he serves as a SpannerInTheWorks by essentially paving the way for Dumbledore to discover Voldemort's secret of immortality -- all over a petty vendetta against Arthur Weasley.[[note]]To be fair, Voldemort didn't ''tell'' him it contained a piece of his soul, though Lucius probably shouldn't have used ''anything'' from his master for a petty scheme.[[/note]] Perhaps Malfoy was competent enough in the First Wizarding War but suffered BadassDecay by the time the Second Wizarding War began.

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: In Pottermore, it's revealed that [[spoiler:he hasn't quite let go of the mindset and beliefs that made him such a loyal servant of the Dark Lord. Draco withholds him and Narcissa interacting with their grandson as much as possible as a result.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Despite everything he's done throughout the series, he never gets what he deserves. This is primarily due to [[spoiler:his wife's actions.]] Probable subversion, however, as Creator/JasonIsaacs believes he will be estranged from society and his family, never completely forgiven for what he put them through. The Pottermore entry on Draco Malfoy's post-Hogwarts life confirms that while Draco did love his father, family gatherings were tense because Draco's wife Astoria refused to tolerate the elder Malfoys indoctrinating Scorpius with their pureblood anti-Muggle nonsense. In addition, his actions as a Death Eater coming to light destroyed his (and by extension, the Malfoy family's) reputation as a respectable part of wizarding society, which is what he prized above all else.
* KnowWhenToFoldEm: At the end of ''Deathly Hallows'', as soon as he realizes that the winds of fortune are blowing against Voldemort, he takes his family and buggers off.
* LockedOutOfTheLoop: [[spoiler:Dumbledore speculates that Lucius had no idea that Riddle's diary contained Voldemort's soul -- only that it would reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Had he known what it really was, he'd have never pawned it off to Ginny Weasley.]]

* MoneyIsNotPower: In the "old" wizarding world he claimed to so despise, Lucius had it made: for those situations where other wizards weren't awed by his noble lineage (e.g., Minister of Magic Fudge), there was never a problem he couldn't buy his way out of. Then he put himself and his family in thrall to a sociopathic tyrant, whose new world would be based solely on power - specifically, Voldemort having all and making sure nobody else had any.

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: This he trades on to get out of prison the first time. [[spoiler:Subverted, years later, where, much to the reader's satisfaction, he's exposed as a servant of Voldemort and spends time in Azkaban for a year. He's more sober after that.]]

* SharpDressedMan: He is ''always'' dressed in a snappy suit, fancy cloak, and ornate cane-wand to flaunt his wealth and social status. [[spoiler:Following his return to the Death Eaters in Deathly Hallows after having been arrested in Year 5, he looks much shabbier and much more unkempt, symbolizing his fall from Voldemort's favor and his general status in the Wizarding World.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: A subtle one, but it exists nonetheless in the movies. As the series goes on, watch Lucius closely, and you can see [[BeingEvilSucks the stress that being a member of Voldemort's inner circle causes him:]] His clothing is no longer quite as immaculate, his hair isn't as neatly combed, his eyes grow red and puffy, and he acquires PermaStubble. By his final appearance at the Battle of Hogwarts -- which he, his wife, and his son [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere decline to join]] -- he's [[BreakTheHaughty no longer his confident, imperious self]] but a man who is worn out and just wants to keep his family safe.

* HateSink: Two of the most vile characters in the series they make Neville miss UMBRIDGE! Remember not even Bellatrix was vile enough for Harry to succeed in the performing the Cruciatus curse, which by the way is extremely satisfying.

* HateSink: Moreso in the book where he has none of his film counterparts EvilIsCool quriks. For more information check out his other tropes.

* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Amycus fires several curses at Ginny, but none of them hit her. This is justified since Ginny had recently consumed Felix Felicis (liquid luck). Given that his curses were described as barely missing her, and his own insistence that she couldn't dodge forever, he's probably a decent shot otherwise.

'''[[Characters/HarryPotterTheTrio The Trio]]''' ([[Characters/HarryPotterHarryJamesPotter Harry James Potter]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterRonBiliusWeasley Ron Bilius Weasley]] | [[Characters/HarryPotterHermioneJeanGranger Hermione Jean Granger]])\\

* ArchEnemy:

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Done to present each character in a way suitable to his or her personality. Her first appearance is in Goblet of Fire, where she's sitting on the chair binding her as if it's a throne and proudly proclaims her unwavering loyalty to Voldemort.

* EvilAunt: To Tonks. Not only are they on the opposite side of the Wizarding War, Bellatrix ends up murdering her own niece during the Battle of Hogwarts.

* ForcedToWatch: She plans to torture Ginny Weasily with the [[AgonyBeam Cruciatus Curse]] right in front of Ron and Harry during the Ministry Of Magic fight. Luckily, she is stopped in time.
* {{Foil}}: To Molly Weasley, according to Rowling. [[spoiler:Their battle in ''Deathly Hallows'' was supposed to illustrate the differences between the two women: Bellatrix puts her ideas before the people in her life, whereas caring for and loving others is what's most important to Molly -- and what drives her to kill Bellatrix.]] Narcissa could also be seen as her foil; they share the same cause, but Narcissa's devotion to her husband and son and desire to protect them above all else are what keep her from going as far as her sister does. It's even lampshaded in some scenes where Narcissa's reluctant to let Draco take on certain tasks and Bellatrix can't understand why.

* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: The one redeeming trait of the Malfoys is that even though they all agree with the Death Eaters' philosophy -- and two of them are Death Eaters -- they are a close family who genuinely love each other.

* FantasticRacism: Like all the other Malfoys, he has a narrow-minded view of the people he dislikes, not just muggleborns, but also to the Weasley as well.

* IWasQuiteALooker: Gets progressively more and more disheveled and unhealthy-looking as the series goes on.

* OnlySaneMan: Especially when working along with Bellatrix and the more AxCrazy Death Eaters. Not therefore more competent than them, though, and in some cases, the complete opposite.
* OpportunisticBastard: Lucius is out for himself and his family and will take any chances that come his way, first to increase their power, and then to save their skins. He doesn't usually have a plan either -- he'll let somebody else do the thinking and try to benefit from their work. In the backstory, he joins [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] for the power involved, and also because its [[ANaziByAnyOtherName racist cause]] adhered with his prejudiced mindset. After Voldemort's power is shattered and the Dark Lord disappears, Lucius abandons his master and pretends his deeds were because of brainwashing, allowing him to escape justice. Perhaps the best example of Lucius's "planning capabilities" is how he orchestrated the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. He simply [[spoiler:plopped Tom Riddle's diary into Ginny Weasley's lap, let Tom Riddle do all the work]], and sat back, taking advantage of the chaos for his own ends. When Lord Voldemort returns to power in ''Goblet of Fire'', Lucius goes back to Voldemort to avoid incurring the Dark Lord's wrath, and once again carries out Voldemort's will. Throughout the series, Lucius only has one consistent loyalty and that's [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes to his family.]] Eventually, [[spoiler:when Voldemort's cause endangers his son's life, Lucius defects from the Death Eaters for Draco's safety.]]

** Surprisingly, he does have ''one'' moment -- in his youth, he welcomed Snape as soon as the latter was sorted into Slytherin, even though Snape was working-class and a half-blood. Later in life, he continues to speak highly of Severus Snape, according to Dolores Umbridge.

* BullyingADragon: Bellatrix Lestrange has a habit of taunting her enemies, especially when she's made things personal for them, such as Neville or Harry, though at least she has more than enough power to get away with it. [[spoiler: Until she tries to kill Ginny, causing one very angry Molly Weasley to kill her.]]

** Bellatrix, the Death Eater responsible for torturing Neville's parents, appears in person. [[spoiler: She outright critiques Harry's grief-driven attempt at Cruciatus, noting that righteous anger isn't enough to make it work.]]

* TheDragon: To Voldemort after Lucius' fall from grace in ''Order of the Phoenix''. The narration in ''Deathly Hallows'' describes her as Voldemort's "best lieutenant". Played with in an interesting way; Snape most definitely fit this trope after his [[spoiler: mercy killing of Dumbledore, but given his status as a double agent Bellatrix fits this role as far as hierarchy of actual villains goes.]]

* EasilyForgiven: Bellatrix makes the same mistakes as Lucius, yet Lucius is punished much more intensely, bearing the marks from his punishment months later whereas Bella is described as looking completely unscathed except for battle. There's no evidence of her being punished physically in the books. Even after all of her mess ups, Voldemort still reacts with rage (and possibly even some sense of grief) [[spoiler: when she's killed by Molly Weasley]].

* FatalFlaw: Her arrogance. Bella loves to not only inflict excruciating pain on others but taunt their loved ones about it. This leads to [[spoiler: her own demise when [[TooDumbToLive she decides that taunting an enraged Mrs. Weasley about the death of her son Fred after nearly killing her daughter Ginny is a good idea. Spoiler alert: it isn’t]].]]

* OpponentInstruction: After she [[spoiler: kills Sirius]], Harry in his fury attempts to use the Cruciatus Curse on her but fails. Bellatrix tells him that righteous anger isn't strong enough to fuel an Unforgivable Curse; he needs a sadistic urge to make his target suffer. Later, Harry successfully uses the Cruciatus Curse on Amycus Carrow for trying to curse [=McGonagall=] and comments, "I see what Bellatrix meant. You need to really mean it."

* PsychoKnifeNut: The mentally unstable Bellatrix shows a lot of skill with a knife, which she uses to torture and threaten Hermione with and later [[spoiler: kill Dobby]].

* TheQueenpin: She's one of the only two known female Death Eaters and according to Rowling, the Death Eater par excellence. She's shown to be one of Voldemort's two most trusted followers, the other being Snape, [[spoiler: who's actually Dumbledore's mole]].

* {{Sadist}}: She enjoys inflicting pain upon the enemies of her Cause. It's part of what makes her so good at using the Cruciatus Curse: she explains to Harry that the spell draws from the pure desire to inflict pain upon others; righteous, justified anger [[spoiler: like Harry's grief over Sirius]] won't work.

* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: [[spoiler: She kills Dobby this way, although Bellatrix was aiming for Harry.]]
* ThickerThanWater: Inverted. Bellatrix feels that it's her duty to kill the members of her family who are on the wrong side in the war, [[spoiler: beginning with her cousin Sirius Black]]. During the Battle of the Seven Potters in the seventh book, she targets her niece Tonks and [[spoiler: later kills her during the FinalBattle.]]

* TortureTechnician: She was sent into Azkaban for ''[[spoiler: torturing Neville Longbottom's parents into insanity]]'' to find out Voldemort's whereabouts, and is noted by Dumbledore to enjoy "[[ColdBloodedTorture playing with her food]]". In fact, the Cruciatus Curse seems to be her signature M.O., though she isn't afraid to use more mundane methods of torture, as shown in Deathly Hallows, where she [[spoiler: carves "Mudblood" into Hermione's flesh with a knife]].
* TragicDream: She wants her Cause to succeed and for Voldemort to win, but he's destined to be killed by Harry.

** "What will happen to your children when I've killed you? When Mummy's gone the same way as [[spoiler: Freddie]]?" [[spoiler: This taunt does [[MamaBear ''not]]'' end well for her.]]

** In Deathly Hallows, her terrified reaction when she sees the Gryffindor's sword helps Harry to realize that one of the Horcruxes is located in her vault in Gringotts, resulting not only in that particular Horcrux's destruction but also to the last unknown Horcrux being located and destroyed and Voldemort being finally defeated.

* BadassDecay: In-universe. His status among the Death Eaters plummets after what they regard, with some justice, his EpicFail, [[spoiler: his defeat at the hands of a gang of barely-trained school students, and moreover total failure of the mission and compromise of Voldemort's return to power.]]

* BreakTheHaughty: He's introduced as a smoother, more competent version of his son and someone with real menace in the second book. [[spoiler: In the course of that book, he gets outfoxed by a 12-year-old wizard and his own House Elf. A few years later, he's leading a squad of dangerous Death Eaters tasked with recovering a precious MacGuffin, loses to a gang of barely-trained school students, then gets caught and sent to Azkaban, where Voldemort lets him stew for a year.]] When he's out, he's regarded as a has-been with zero respect, with his house unceremoniously hijacked as Voldemort's SupervillainLair.

* GetIntoJailFree: Invoked by Dumbledore about Lucius's circumstances in ''The Half-Blood Prince'': [[spoiler: given Voldemort's fury with him for inadvertently getting Tom Riddle's diary destroyed, spectacularly failing to get hold of the prophecy, which in turn announced Voldemort's return to the Wizarding World at large, and got several prominent Death Eaters captured in the process, Dumbledore speculates Lucius might be glad to be in Azkaban, as it keeps him out of reach of Voldemort's wrath for the time being.]]

* HeelFaceTurn: Nominally. [[spoiler: After his wife betrayed Voldemort to protect Draco, the Malfoys stop fighting for him altogether. After his defeat, Lucius and his family were pardoned after helping arrest his fellow Death Eaters. However, as ''Pottermore'' reveals, he never lets go of his prejudice against Muggle-Borns.]]

* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: In Pottermore, it's revealed that [[spoiler: he hasn't quite let go of the mindset and beliefs that made him such a loyal servant of the Dark Lord. Draco withholds him and Narcissa interacting with their grandson as much as possible as a result.]]
* KarmaHoudini: Despite everything he's done throughout the series, he never gets what he deserves. This is primarily due to [[spoiler: his wife's actions.]] Probable subversion, however, as Creator/JasonIsaacs believes he will be estranged from society and his family, never completely forgiven for what he put them through. The Pottermore entry on Draco Malfoy's post-Hogwarts life confirms that while Draco did love his father, family gatherings were tense because Draco's wife Astoria refused to tolerate the elder Malfoys indoctrinating Scorpius with their pureblood anti-Muggle nonsense. In addition, his actions as a Death Eater coming to light destroyed his (and by extension, the Malfoy family's) reputation as a respectable part of wizarding society, which is what he prized above all else.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: [[spoiler: Dumbledore speculates that Lucius had no idea that Riddle's diary contained Voldemort's soul -- only that it would reopen the Chamber of Secrets. Had he known what it really was, he'd have never pawned it off to Ginny Weasley.]]

* TheManBehindTheMan: For ''Chamber of Secrets'', since [[spoiler: he planted Tom Riddle's diary among Ginny's books, fully intending for the basilisk to get loose and to spite Arthur Weasley.]]

* MoralGuardians: ''Literature/TheTalesOfBeedleTheBard'' has Dumbledore recount how Lucius attempted to have a story that ends in a muggle/witch marriage banned from the Hogwarts library. Dumbledore managed to defend the book's continued presence and from there Lucius began his campaign to have Dumbledore fired. [[spoiler: Lucius is only temporarily successful and ultimately his own folly and Harry Potter causes him to stop being Voldemort’s favorite lieutenant.]]

* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[spoiler: Thanks to Malfoy hijacking Voldemort's Horcrux (Riddle's diary)]], Dumbledore, who had probably suspected that Voldemort had used Horcruxes, not only had definite proof but could put two and two together that there were more, and since it was made in Riddle's schooldays, was able to get a rough time frame of when and where Voldemort made the rest. Furthermore, had he not done this, [[spoiler: the Chamber of Secrets would have never been reopened, denying the heroes what would end up being their greatest weapon against the Horcruxes, namely the basilisk's venom.]]

* OpportunisticBastard: Lucius is out for himself and his family and will take any chances that come his way, first to increase their power, and then to save their skins. He doesn't usually have a plan either -- he'll let somebody else do the thinking and try to benefit from their work. In the backstory, he joins [[BigBad Lord Voldemort]] for the power involved, and also because its [[ANaziByAnyOtherName racist cause]] adhered with his prejudiced mindset. After Voldemort's power is shattered and the Dark Lord disappears, Lucius abandons his master and pretends his deeds were because of brainwashing, allowing him to escape justice. Perhaps the best example of Lucius's "planning capabilities" is how he orchestrated the opening of the Chamber of Secrets. He simply [[spoiler: plopped Tom Riddle's diary into Ginny Weasley's lap, let Tom Riddle do all the work]], and sat back, taking advantage of the chaos for his own ends. When Lord Voldemort returns to power in ''Goblet of Fire'', Lucius goes back to Voldemort to avoid incurring the Dark Lord's wrath, and once again carries out Voldemort's will. Throughout the series, Lucius only has one consistent loyalty and that's [[EvenEvilHasLovedOnes to his family.]] Eventually, [[spoiler: when Voldemort's cause endangers his son's life, Lucius defects from the Death Eaters for Draco's safety.]]
* OriginalPositionFallacy: One of the earliest Death Eaters, he thought that joining Voldemort would allow him to finally put the screws to all the Muggles, Muggle-borns, and non-purebloods who were poisoning his fantasy of a "pure" world dominated by wizards, of which purebloods like himself and his family would naturally be the rulers. After a few hard moments in his HumiliationConga, he wakes up to the fact that his overlord is a murderous psychopath who doesn't sort the world between purebloods and other wizards, or even between wizards and Muggles, but only between "useful to me" and "not useful to me."

* ScrewTheRulesIHaveConnections: This he trades on to get out of prison the first time. [[spoiler: Subverted, years later, where, much to the reader's satisfaction, he's exposed as a servant of Voldemort and spends time in Azkaban for a year. He's more sober after that.]]

* SharpDressedMan: He is ''always'' dressed in a snappy suit, fancy cloak, and ornate cane-wand to flaunt his wealth and social status. [[spoiler: Following his return to the Death Eaters in Deathly Hallows after having been arrested in Year 5, he looks much shabbier and much more unkempt, symbolizing his fall from Voldemort's favor and his general status in the Wizarding World.]]

* SpannerInTheWorks: Much to Voldemort's fury, Lucius proves to be this. [[spoiler: His hijacking of Voldemort's teenage diary (which he didn't know was a Horcrux) for his essentially petty vendetta against Arthur Weasley not only leads it to being destroyed but provides Dumbledore damning intelligence to track down all the rest of Voldemort's Horcruxes.]]

* VillainExitStageLeft: [[spoiler: In the film adaptation of ''Deathly Hallows Part II'' at least (in the books, he and his family simply awkwardly sit around in the Great Hall post-battle), he, Draco, and Narcissa decide to cut their losses and simply get the hell out of dodge during the final battle rather than stick around and deal with the aftermath.]]

* TheAce: This guy is Snape's only real competition when it comes to the third-most-skilled wizard in the series, after Dumbledore and Voldemort. He's a MasterActor able to fool [[spoiler: Dumbledore]], a wizard powerful enough to confound an ancient artefact like the [[spoiler: Goblet of Fire]], very skilled in curses, knowledgeable about different branches of magic, and likely a strong Occlumens -- and keep in mind that Dumbledore was always depicted as, at least, a little more skilled than Voldemort [[spoiler: and fooling Voldemort is Snape's greatest achievement.]] Essentially, the only advantage Snape has over him is [[SanityHasAdvantages sanity]], and this is all after more than a decade of different and horrible types of mental torture that Barty endured.

** In the books, [[spoiler: Barty was freed from Azkaban by his parents.]] In the film, this is never mentioned and it appears that he escaped under his own power.

* BadassLongcoat: In the films, he wears a black leather knee-length duster and is one of Voldemort's most competent Death Eaters. [[spoiler: The tan duster he wears while impersonating Moody also counts.]]

* EvilCannotComprehendGood: "Decent people are so easy to manipulate, Potter." Crouch also believed that the care Winky showed for him was nothing more than pity, and was perfectly happy to abuse that trust [[spoiler: at the Quidditch World Cup.]]
* EvilGenius: He's very intelligent, and it's he who played a major part in Voldemort's return. For context: if there's any truth to his father's ramblings, Barty Jr. earned twelve Outstanding [=OWLs=]; Hermione, the gold standard for intelligence and "brightest witch of her age," only earned ten. (In a case of WritersCannotDoMath, JK Rowling originally wrote Hermione as receiving eleven, later editions corrected this to ten.) Arguably the horrifying result of what can be accomplished by a ''competent'' Death Eater. Voldemort indeed admires Barty's loyalty and smarts and prizes him above all his Death Eaters. [[spoiler: It's fridge brilliance when you realize that he had to get his soul sucked because the later books would have been harder for the heroes had he remained functional.]]
* EvilGloating: Oh, does he get his fair share of it. [[spoiler: Once you know that Mad-Eye Moody is, for most of the book/movie, actually Barty Jr. a lot of what he says winds up being this. Showing off the Unforgivable Curses in class? An example of how well he can use them. Causing a scene after the champions' names come out of the Goblet of Fire and presenting a plausible, if slightly outlandish sounding, scenario for how Harry's name could've gotten in, which just happened to be exactly what he did? Basically the equivalent of a SarcasticConfession. His legitimate moment of explaining his masterstroke to Harry, right before getting bitten in the ass by karma and revealed? Seriously, only Voldemort loves gloating evilly more than Barty Jr. does.]]

* ExactWords: [[spoiler: Crouch as Moody tells Harry the thing he despises most is a Death Eater that walked free. Harry naturally assumes he speaking from being an ex-auror. But really, he means he hates said Death Eaters because they denounced and betrayed Voldemort to avoid Azkaban when he had to go.]]

* ForgottenFallenFriend: While Voldemort speaks fondly of him during his resurrection scene, calling him his most loyal follower, he pays Crouch Jr. absolutely no thought after the latter [[spoiler: gets the Dementor Kiss.]] Which is of course very in-character for [[BadBoss Voldemort]].

* FromNobodyToNightmare: Was once just a promising model student. Then he became a Death Eater who managed to help [[spoiler: revive Voldemort.]]
* GoodPowersBadPeople: [[spoiler: He has enough strength of character, a trait commonly associated with good characters, to fight off an Imperius Curse. Too bad he's a Death Eater.]]

* SanitySlippage: In the film, when he starts to lose his cool (and when the Polyjuice Potion starts to wear off), he gets an ominous twitch, and his tongue-flicking habit returns. In one scene, this starts to happen in the presence of his father, who's noticeably alarmed at recognising the mannerism [[spoiler: on a Hogwarts teacher.]] More so in the novel, as the Dementors and the Imperius curse pretty much destroyed his mind and drove him to insanity.

* TheSociopath: Most definitely. Extremely AxCrazy and sadistic, excellent actor ([[spoiler: playing the part of Mad-Eye Moody with near-pinpoint precision]]), and with an utter absence of empathy.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: Several characters dismiss him as a kid who merely fell in with the wrong crowd. [[spoiler: While disguised as Moody, he hangs a lampshade over the fact that it would have taken an extremely powerful Confundus Charm to trick an ancient magical object like the Goblet of Fire, showing that he's no slouch as a wizard.]]

* VillainsOutShopping: [[spoiler: His protracted undercover stay at Hogwarts produces a few of these moments for him; particularly at the Yule Ball in the fourth book and film, where he's shown dancing with Professor Sinistra and lightly enjoying himself and humming/tapping along to the music.]]

* AlwaysSomeoneBetter: Though he makes a lot of progress towards the Ministry coup, Voldemort is far more impressed with Snape's information about Harry Potter. Ironically, Yaxley is loyal to Voldemort, while Snape [[spoiler: is truly loyal to Dumbledore and the memory of Snape's true love Lily Potter.]]

** He also manages to break through the magical defenses of [[spoiler: Grimmauld Place]] by hanging onto Hermione mid-Apparition, costing a useful hideout for the heroes.

* ForcedToWathch: She plans to torture Ginny Weasily with the [[AgonyBeam Cruciatus Curse]] right in front of Ron and Harry during the Ministry Of Magic fight. Luckily, she is stopped in time.

* TheAce: She's so powerful that only six months after her escape from Azkaban she defeats Nymphadora, kills Sirius, has Kingsley Shacklebolt writhing on the floor in seconds, and deflects a spell from Dumbledore's Elder Wand casually. She takes out four snatchers at once, not even giving them the time to retaliate. She duels Hermione, Ginny, and Luna at once and is better than all three of them. She's extremely intelligent and is the only person in the wizarding world to figure out where Snape's loyalties lie solely through deduction, when even Voldemort himself could not. She's also described as being extremely beautiful and retaining much of her great good looks even after more than a decade in Azkaban. J.K. Rowling called her 'the Death Eater par excellence'. Also, it is stated that Snape would have beaten her due to his excellence skills as a wizard duelist.

%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1404492079030138900&page=222#5526

[[caption-width-right:350:'Gold!' laughed Bellatrix, still attempting to throw off her brother-in-law, her free hand groping in her pocket for her wand. 'Take your gold, filthy scavenger, what do I want with gold? I seek only the honour of his – of –']]

* OhCrap: During her final battle against an angry Mrs. Weasley. At first, Bellatrix didn't take her seriously until Mrs. Weasley proven to be very powerful. Bellatrix realized too late that Mrs. Weasley is very powerful. Mrs. Weasley managed to use a spell to freeze Bellatrix and she used another spell to shattered her and thus killing Bellatrix.