[HPforGrownups] Etymology of "Death Eater" (was Re: With enemies like these.....)

[Christopher Nehren]

No: HPFGUIDX 116599


On Wed, Oct 27, 2004 at 22:46:57 EDT, Alla scribbled these
curious markings:
> I always wondered how "Death Eaters" eat death exactly. Did 
> Voldemort somehow use all his followers in his experiments with 
> immortality? Is that what still attracts Lucius and Co?

There's symbolism in certain cultures which states that if you take
something into your body -- e.g., eat it -- you gain its powers,
abilities, or you gain resistance to it. I can't think of any in
particular, but I remember learning about this either in my senior year
in high school in English Literature or through my browsing of sites
like http://www.sacred-texts.com . This gives literal meaning and value
to the term, but doesn't answer the question of "how", and for that I
apologise. :)

Now that I think of it, this very symbolism is present in HP: consider
the dark ritual that Wormtail and Voldemort perform at the end, with
Harry. Voldemort takes part of Harry, his blood, and apparently gained
the same protection that Harry has. There's also the issue of Harry
being imbued with Voldemort's traits, like the parseltongue ability.

Christopher

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