The Harry Potter novels explore the battle between good and evil, personified by Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Voldemort’s followers, the Death Eaters, are a hand-picked group of witches and wizards who commit acts of terror on his behalf. They wear black robes, masks, and a mark of the Dark Mark on their arm. It is suggested that Death Eaters must be pure-blood wizards and are often associated with evil. The exact number of Death Eaters is unknown, but they may be a worldwide organization.
One of the important themes of the Harry Potter novels is the idea of good versus evil, personified by the battle between Harry Potter and Lord Voldemort. Each individual has a following of individuals who champion their cause: in the case of Harry Potter, these individuals comprise most of the wizarding world, fighting to avoid takeover by Voldemort. Lord Voldemort, however, has a hand-picked band of witches and wizards known as Death Eaters to carry out his wishes and further his goal of eventual domination of magical society. To be considered a Death Eater, someone must be loyal to Lord Voldemort and willing to commit acts of terror on his behalf. Furthermore, once accepted as a Death Eater, an individual cannot remove themselves from the organization except by death.
The exact number of people known as Death Eaters is unclear in the books, although it appears to be a small group. Lucius Malfoy is known to be a Death Eater, along with other members of pure blood families, and many children of Death Eaters attend Hogwarts. Many of these children are in Slytherin House, but JK Rowling has indicated that other houses may also contain Death Eater children, suggesting that Voldemort’s organization may be extremely widespread. There are also indicators that the Death Eaters could be a worldwide organization, given Igor Karkaroff’s membership and the foreign names of some other Death Eaters.
It is assumed that a wizard or witch must be pure blood to be a Death Eater, because Voldemort wants to eliminate families with a Muggle heritage, even if his father was a Muggle. Certainly, most Death Eaters take pride in being pure-blood wizards and despise wizards of mixed blood. It is also suggested that being a Death Eater goes hand in hand with being evil, because Death Eaters regularly carry out acts of terror including murder and torture for entertainment. Many Muggle murders are linked to Death Eaters, who are seen tormenting a Muggle family in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. Most Death Eaters also performed Unforgivable Curses and consequently spent some time in Azkaban, the wizarding prison. It may take some twisted sensitivity to be a successful Death Eater.
The Death Eaters’ uniform appears to be a black robe with a hood and a white or silver mask that obscures the upper face. Additionally, each Death Eater wears a mark of the Dark Mark, Voldemort’s symbol, on his arm. Voldemort can use the dark marks to communicate with his followers, as they will turn black when he requests their presence. The Dark Mark combines two symbols associated with Voldemort: a grinning skull and a snake, and is also used to mark homes that have been visited by Death Eaters, in the form of a large illuminated Dark Mark that hovers over the place.
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