Voldemort's recruitment . Was: Precious little to celebrate for 11 years...

[huntergreen_3]

No: HPFGUIDX 128844

Betsy wrote:
>> And I think the reason all the surviving Death Eaters are from a
similar social circle is because they all followed Lucius Malfoy's
lead. I think that we can cautiously start thinking that Lucius is
pretty much in charge of this surviving band of evil brothers, and
that would further explain why Voldemort didn't Crucio Lucius. <<

Rebecca:
Ah, now that makes sense. After all, when Kararoff [sic?] was on trial 
and throwing out names, all of them had been caught already. In those 
dark times, probably being openly anti-muggle was pretty suspicious and 
it wouldn't be hard to connect certain people to certain crimes. It 
also explains why Malfoy appears to be in such a high position with 
Voldemort (though he might not be), when he was only 16 when Voldemort 
first rose to power. Though, on the other hand, there were only three 
missing DEs who were not mentioned specifically ('three dead in my 
service') other than the ones who we know (or can assume) to be Crouch 
Jr., Snape and Karkaroff. Unless there's another empty place in the 
circle no mentioned, only three DEs from an older generation is pretty 
small. 

There's the issue of the Lestranges as well. Why weren't they caught 
right away? Was Bellatrix's loyalty more hidden right after Voldemort's 
demise than it was at the trial? We don't know exactly how much time 
passed between the two events though, it could be they were looking for 
her (and her brother-in-law and husband) and didn't find them until the 
attack on the Longbottoms. She doesn't seem the type to just turn tale 
and listen to Malfoy's advice about fake cases of being imperio-ed.

a_svirn wrote:
>>We don't know for sure if indeed something happened to them. There
were about 30 DE in the Graveyard, and we've been told only about a
dozen names. Maybe the rest of the lot is the older and wiser ones,
who unlike these young hotheads hadn't got caught during the wars.<<

Rebecca:
Were there 30 in the graveyard? From the description in the book it 
seems like 20 at the most, though I could be mistaken. Even so, the 
only person there who isn't of the younger generation is Nott (almost 
forgot about him again), only one older Death Eater in attendance 
points to some severe losses on his side during the beginning of VW1. 
If he lost a large amount of DEs coming to power, that would explain 
why he was so interested in dark wizards right out of Hogwarts. 

a_svirn continued:
>>My guess is that there was a kind of coup d'êta at some point of the
DE history, when LV disposed with his old school friends with the
assistance of the younger generation. It would also explain why most
of those we do know about are from such a close-knit social circle.
If originally DE were not such an authoritarian organization<<

Rebecca:
That's an idea. From what we've seen, Voldemort is not a pleasant 
person to work for. It would have been difficult to have peers tolerate 
that type of totalitarian behavior. It makes sense that once he decided 
(or once he had enough power to) become an unquestioned leader of the 
group that he purged all the members who wouldn't give him that sort of 
respect. After all, you don't just "quit" being a death-eater, and he 
certaintly can't leave any room for an internal uprising. (a note here, 
I always wonder why anyone would choose the "bad" side in these types 
of stories, when the bad-side leader is so willing to kill or torture 
you at the drop of a hat...you'd have to REALLY hate muggle-borns, I 
suppose).


-Rebecca / HunterGreen