Did voldemort mean to allow the DEs to be captured?

[justcarol67]

No: HPFGUIDX 86685

Chris wrote:
Something that struck me as odd about OOP was the suspicouly easy  
defeat of a group of adult, experienced, evil death eaters by a group 
of school children, who, with the possible exception of harry, 
don't have anything like as much power.  So I started to wonder, could 
Voldemort have planned it on purpose?

He gets rid of the ambitous and cunning L. Malfoy and the 
incredibuly stupid Crabbe and Goyle Senior.  
 
Further, it places the Malfoy fortune into the hands of a voldemort
worshipper (draco), who lacks the brains to be a threat and has the
hatred of Harry to support Voldemort without asking questions.

On a different note, a few death eaters in the new wizard prison 
or Hogwarts could be very useful when voldemort attacks. 
 
Jen R responded:
The Incompetent!DE's bothers me as well, although I can't 
think of what purpose it serves for them to be captured. <snip>

Goyle doesn't appear at the DOM, and surely LV would just AK them if 
they became too much of a hindrance, rather than invent such an 
elaborate scheme (although he does like extremely complicated plans).

Carol:
Jen is right that Goyle Sr. apparently was not present at the raid on
the MoM. (I started a thread on this topic a while back.) It could be
a Flint but it's also possible that for whatever reason, he simply was
not sent to the MoM with his usual companion Crabbe. At any rate, his
name is not among those Malfoy lists on p. 788 (Am. ed.) I thought
that he might be the Baby-Headed DE caught in the bell jar time warp,
abandoned like the injured Nott, but the the bell jar incident happens
later (790). Goyle Sr.'s absence could have interesting ramifications
if Draco's father and Vincent Crabbe's are in Azkaban and Gregory
Goyle's is not. (Lucius Malfoy's treatment of Nott may also have
repercussions, but I suppose that's a topic for a different thread.)

Jen R. wrote:
<snip> Azkaban? I wonder who or what is 
in control of Azkaban now? Is it just protected with 
spells/enchantments? As Draco tells Harry the DE's won't be in there 
long without the Dementors, so either the protection is limited or 
he's just posturing for Harry. My guess is Draco is right and 
Azkaban has a very limited purpose without the Dementors--acting as 
a temporary holding cell at best.

Carol:
New wizarding prison, Chris? Have I overlooked something? I thought
that they were sent to Azkaban, which is not without its defenses even
with the Dementors gone. It's surrounded by water, for one, and Sirius
was able to swim to shore only because he could transform himself into
a dog. Maybe Mad Eye Moody will take a temporary post as guard there?

Regarding the Malfoy fortune being in Draco's hands, it won't be. His
father isn't dead and Draco won't be of age until he's seventeen (and
that may simply be the age at which young wizards are allowed to
appartate and practice magic outside of school rather than the age of
full majority). I very much doubt that Draco would take advantage of
his own father's imprisonment, if only because he knows his father is
likely to escape and would be seriously displeased if he found that
Draco had dared to lay hands on the family fortune.

In any case, I don't think Voldemort intended for the DEs to be
captured. He clearly wanted the prophecy and had made at least two
previous attempts to snatch it (Podmore and Bode). He probably assumed
that Harry would be alone and easily overwhelmed by a dozen Death
Eaters, but the fact that he sent more than just Lucius and Bellatrix
suggests that he anticipated interference from the Order. I seriously
doubt that he expected to be deprived of the services of half of his
remaining Death Eaters in one night, and there's no indication that
any of them, even his "slippery friend" Lucius, had in mind anything
other than fulfilling Voldemort's orders and capturing both the
Prophcy and Harry.

Carol