Voldemort addressing Pettigrew as "Wormtail"

[erisedstraeh2002]

No: HPFGUIDX 54249

Stickbook wrote:

> Does anyone know why Voldemort addresses Peter Pettigrew 
> as "Wormtail"?    

Now me:

I've wondered the same thing, Stickbook.  IIRC, Voldemort always 
refers to Pettigrew as "Wormtail."  With the other DEs, Voldemort 
calls most of them by their last name (Avery, Nott, Crabbe, Goyle, 
McNair, the Lestranges), with the notable exception of Lucius Malfoy, 
who is referred to as "Lucius."  I can't think of another DE who is 
referred to by a nickname.

The fact that Malfoy is referred to by his first name leads me to 
speculate that he may have had a higher standing in the DE circle 
during Voldemort's first reign of terror.

I also wonder about the way in which Voldemort addresses Harry in the 
graveyard.  Sometimes it's "Harry Potter," sometimes it's "Potter," 
and sometimes it's "Harry."  I can understand "Harry Potter" 
and "Potter," but "Harry" seems a bit too familiar given the 
relatively few occasions on which Voldemort and Harry have had to 
interact (and given the nature of these interactions!).

Stickbook again:

> In the DE circle, he calls all the other DE's present by their 
> names when addressing them. I thought at first, maybe Voldemort did 
> that to keep his DE's compartmentalized, but that can't be true 
> after saying all those names in the DE circle.

Me again:

In Ch. 33 of GoF, it states "Some of the Death Eaters he [Voldemort] 
passed in silence, but he paused before others, and spoke to them."  
So not *all* of the DEs are identified.  So your "compartmentalized" 
theory could be right on target.

I'm currently listening to Dale's rendition of the graveyard scene on 
tape, and a question occurred to me for the first time - how is 
Voldemort able to identify each DE, given that they're all masked and 
hooded?

~Phyllis