Death Eaters

[severelysigune]

No: HPFGUIDX 120280


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "jennifer_maccherone" 
<jennifer_maccherone at y...> wrote:
> 
> I've been thinking about why Voldemort didn't die.  JKR always 
> chooses names that are significant.  What exactly does "Death 
Eater" 
> mean?  How does one "eat" death?  Death Cheaters seems to make more 
> sense or even Those Who Like to Cause Death for Fun.  Did 
> Voldemort's followers do (eat?) something to help him gain 
> immortality?  Is this in anyway related to the Dementors sucking 
> souls?  Can anyone explain the Death Eater name to me?
> 
> 
> "jennifer_maccherone"

Sigune:

Hi Jennifer,
I have been thinking about that, too. Some time ago on this list, 
Anne/Silverthorne posted a good supposition of what Dark Arts might 
be, based on what folklore considers 'Dark'. I copied the post for my 
own files, but was stupid enough not to write down the number. In any 
case, here is what she had to say about Death Eating:

"Brain Eaters (Also called...*gasp* Death Eaters)--a subset of 
Necromancy—the practitioner eats the brains of the dead in order to 
gain knowledge and/or power."

I have heard of this kind of practice before - it's why headhunters -
er- headhunt. They kill in order to absorb their rivals' power into 
themselves. It's not just a practice from the more unexplored corners 
of the Southern hemisphere; the Celts reasoned similarly, even 
though, as far as I know, they didn't literally eat the brains - they 
kept the skulls, or in Ireland (at least in the story of Cormac 
McArt) they prepared the brains and kept them stored somehow.

This puts a nice, sinister spin on Death Eater practices, doesn't it? 
And it certainly makes 'Death Eater' (even if in JKR's universe they 
might *not* eat brains) a lot more frightening than 'Knight of 
Walpurgis'...

Yours severely,

Sigune