[HPforGrownups] DE Name Origin, & some Dark Mark

[porphyria at mindspring.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 36484

Amanda suggested:

<I think the Death Eaters were the Inner Circle, the true believers, and not all followers of Voldemort *were* DEs. And I think the bond symbolized by the Mark is far more than it seems. I think it ties the Death Eaters to Voldemort for life and more; I think it likely that part of the bond is that if Voldemort dies, they all will, too.>

This is an interesting idea, but I have some hesitations about it.

For one thing, after Voldemort disappeared it was disputed whether he was dead or not (according to what Hagrid explains to Harry). You would think that if Voldemort had informed all his Death Eaters that their lives depended on his welfare that it would have become more common knowledge over 10 years later that he must have still been alive. After all, there were former Death Eaters who were willing, for one reason or another, to tell what they knew about their situation: people like Karkaroff would give the MOM any information they were asked and there were several spies working for Dumbledore, not just Snape. So if the MOM had proof that Voldemort was still alive, I'm wondering why that would have been kept secret 

Also, when Voldemort confronts the Death Eaters in GoF, he at least implies that they might have thought he was dead: "And then I ask myself, but how could they have believed I would not rise again? They, who knew the steps I took, long ago, to guard myself against mortal death?" Then he accuses them of paying allegiance to Dumbledore. It seems odd that he would suspect them of supporting someone they thought could defeat him if they all knew this would spell their own doom.

I guess also I'd wonder why no other Death Eaters (besides, the Lestranges, Barty and the other guy) tried to seek out Voldemort after his disappeared. Surely, if they all thought their life depended on his that they'd be a little more concerned about his rotting away in Albania or whatever they imagined was going on.

Voldemort's own name means stealing death (or flight of death). I thought Death Eater might have some similarity to that; it's both an embracing of death (maybe other people's?) and a conquering of death. It's certainly an enigmatic and evocative term.

Oh, speaking of 'the other guy,' Elkins just wrote, regarding the Fourth Man is Avery theory:

<Well, Porphyria once agreed to join us, but I think that she was probably just being polite>

And why is my loyalty being impugned?!?!? All this time I have been happily imagining Avery slaving under Mrs. Lestrange's imperio, forced to polish her boots over and over and over...and *now* somehow there's not enough room for me in your kayak. Is your 'drove' of supporters so unwieldy that the prospect of increasing your ranks by 33 1/3% daunts you? Or am I just not bloodthirsty enough to fit in? Hmmmph. There's just no pleasing you Abject Neurotics. ;-)

~~Porphyria, still somehow landlocked.


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