Draco the Death Eaters and Voldemort (was: Re: Draco's culpability...)

[horridporrid03]

No: HPFGUIDX 139684

> >>Betsy Hp:
> > Even if Draco *does* have the mark he still didn't *choose*.
> > <snip>

> >>a_svirn:
> Now you have me totally baffled.
> <snip>

Betsy Hp:
Yeah, I'm starting to get confused myself. <g>  Let me try and lay 
out exactly what I think about Draco's relationship with the Death 
Eaters and Voldemort.

There were two questions I raised. It might be best to take them one 
at a time.  The first is rather simple:

* Is Draco a Death Eater? *

Of course, that leads to a second question: What is a Death Eater?  
I understood a Death Eater to be one who has been marked by 
Voldemort with the Dark Mark upon his or her forearm.

In message # 139317 a_svirn defined a Death Eater thusly:

"He acknowledges Voldemort as his Master, he embraces his ideology 
(or at least what he thinks this ideology is), and he looks forward 
to the final victory of the Dark. Most importantly, he pledged 
himself to his cause and carries Voldemorte's orders out diligently."

I agree with a_svirn's definition, however, I believe that when a 
Death Eater "pledges" themselves to Voldemort they receive a Dark 
Mark.  The Dark Mark then becomes the physical manifestation of that 
pledge.  In GoF, Snape tells Fudge:

"Every Death Eater has the sign burned into him by the Dark Lord." 
(scholastic hardback p.710)

So it follows, for me, that Voldemort must *accept* the hopeful's 
pledge before they can call themselves a Death Eater.

Draco, in HBP, certainly seems to acknowledge Voldemort as his 
master.  Throughout the first five books he seems to embrace the 
Death Eaters ideology and look forward to Voldemort's ultimate 
victory. However, I seriously doubt Draco was allowed to make a 
pledge to Voldemort and receive the Dark Mark.  

For one, I believe that the Mark and rank of Death Eater is seen as 
a distinction by Voldemort's minions.  A distinction Voldemort would 
hardly waste on cannon fodder, IMO.  Or on the child of a disgraced 
Death Eater, for that matter.

For another, Draco is never shown to have the Mark.  JKR is quite 
coy about the whole thing.  She could have answered the question 
very easily during the Tower scene, but she doesn't.  The fact that 
JKR leaves the question open leaves me to believe that he most 
likely *doesn't* have the Mark.  After all, a Mark-less Draco would 
be more of a surprise to Harry.

The final reason I doubt Draco has the Mark is that we are told, a 
few different times, that he's too young to be recruited.  Of 
course, Voldemort is probably unconcerned with the WW's laws.  But I 
think it's important that even if Draco *did* become a Death Eater 
during his sixteenth summer the WW would consider him too young to 
legally make that sort of decision.  And I wonder if the weight of 
that tradition isn't felt by the Death Eaters themselves.  (Would 
they consider the rank of Death Eater too prestigious to waste on a 
child?)

So, to answer the first question, I believe that Draco is *not* a 
Death Eater.  He may well have been eager to become one in the 
beginning of HBP, but I doubt Voldemort took him on.  Which leads us 
into the second question:

* Is Draco a volunteer? *

For me, this is the most important question.  It even outweighs 
whether or not Draco was marked as a Death Eater, IMO.  Did Draco 
ask for his mission?  Was he given a choice?

The answer, to my mind, is an obvious no.  Because while Draco has 
been steeped in the Death Eater philosophy since birth, though he's 
been parroting the ugliest sort of Pure-blood propaganda since the 
second book, though he's been set against Harry Potter from the 
first book, Draco is not a fool.  And he's certainly not foolhardy 
(more a Gryffindor trait, that).  I cannot, for the life of me, 
imagine Draco eagerly volunteering to kill Dumbledore.  

Think up a new Death Eater fight song?  Sure!  Put together some 
really neat posters?  Draco's your guy.  Annoy the hell out of Harry 
Potter and throw a monkey wrench into all of his plans?  Draco would 
be there with bells on.  But assassinate the WW's most powerful 
wizard?  The Draco of the first five books would take one giant step 
*backwards*.

It is painfully clear to all who knew the plan that Draco was not 
expected to succeed.  That was the entire impetus for the meeting in 
chapter two of HBP, "Spinner's End".  Draco would either attempt to 
kill Dumbledore and die in the attempt (thereby punishing Lucius).  
Or he'd attempt to kill Dumbledore, fail, and get killed by 
Voldemort (thereby punishing Lucius).  Win-win for Voldemort; lose-
lose for the Malfoy family.  Since Voldemort's main goal was 
punishing Lucius, I seriously doubt Draco was given a choice in the 
matter.  I doubt Draco was given a chance to say no.

We are told by Bellatrix that Draco is excited when he first 
receives his assignment.  And I believe her.  I can totally buy that 
Voldemort and Bellatrix gave the best spin possible and seduced 
Draco into thinking killing Dumbledore would be a breeze. Especially 
since Draco has been raised to believe Voldemort is the best thing 
since flying brooms.  Because, while I don't think Draco is 
foolhardy I do think he was naive, especially when it came to 
Voldemort and the Death Eaters.

Draco certainly puts a good spin on his assignment to his fellow 
Slytherin's on the train to Hogwarts.  And he's certainly focused on 
his goal, sacrificing quidditch and his grades to the task he's been 
given.  But the blush comes off the rose fairly quickly into the 
game, I think.

By the first trip to Hogsmeade Draco starts making flailing attempts 
to kill Dumbledore. (Dumbledore, himself, describes them as rather 
feeble attempts.)  And his usual swagger is gone before Christmas 
break.  Even Harry notices that Draco is a mess.

[It's interesting to me that Draco's major effort is fixing the 
Vanishing Cabinet.  It has nothing to do with killing anybody, but 
that's the work he throws himself into.]

After Christmas Voldemort has to resort to base threats to keep 
Draco moving on his assignment.  If Draco fails not only his life is 
forfeit, but his family's as well. So much for "diligently" carrying 
out Voldemort's orders.  And I'll bet by the time Draco's sobbing in 
the boys' room he's not so keen on Voldemort's ultimate success, 
either.

So, in answer to the second question, I believe Draco is *not* a 
volunteer; he's been assigned his task.  And though he may have 
wanted to serve Voldemort in some fashion before HBP, this is not 
the service he would have chosen.  By the end of HBP I think Draco 
wants nothing to do with Voldemort or his Death Eaters. Which should 
have interesting repercussions in book 7.

Betsy Hp, who apologizes for the length and hopes this states her 
view more clearly