"Most faithful servant"? (Was: Fathers (was: A message?)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 178998

Laura Lynn Walsh wrote:
><snip>
> It puzzles me that Voldemort later called Barty Jr. his most trusted
> servant.  VM must know from Bella that Barty Jr. claimed at his
trial that he didn't do anything.  What was Barty trying to pull? Was
he claiming that he didn't do anything so that his father would
release him and he could then seek out Voldemort again?

Carol responds:

As others have pointed out, Voldemort couldn't have known that Barty
Jr. had falsely claimed innocence in a futile attempt to avoid being
sent to Azkaban, and by the time she could inform him of Barty's
cowardice and disloyalty, it would have been pointless to do so since
he was already soul-sucked.

There can be no question of his fanatical loyalty later, however, and
LV would have been very happy to learn from poor Bertha Jorkins that a
devoted follower he had thought dead was hiding under an Invisibility
Cloak in his (the follower's) house. That the father was an important
Ministry employee in charge of the upcoming TWT was, no doubt, an
added attraction.

Barty himself never claims to be LV's *most* faithful follower though
that appears to be his ambition given his prediction of Voldemort's
view of him after he has killed Harry: "I will be honored beyond all
other Death Eaters. I will be his dearest, his closest supporter . . .
closer than a son" (678). Except for the reference to "a son," surely
a reflection on Barty's disturbed and disturbing relationship with the
father her murdered, he uses almost the same language in that
Bellatrix uses to describe her own (perceived) relationship with LV in
"Spinner's End"--see below).

Elsewhere, Barty contrasts his own loyalty with the "disloyalty" of
those like Lucius Malfoy who "never suffered for [his] master" and
never tried to seek him (686). He says that LV was looking for "a
faithful servant" and that his own greatest ambition was "to serve
[LV], to prove [him]self to him" (688). That he had once cried out
that he was not guilty of Crucioing the Longbottoms and didn't want to
be sent to Azkaban has conveniently slipped his mind.

Voldemort's references refers to Barty Jr. (whom he does not identify
by name) are virtually identical to Barty's own. He refers to him as
"my most faithful servant . . . who has already reentered my service,"
more faithful than the DEs who showed up at the graveyard but never
tried to find their master after Godric's Hollow, as well as the
coward Karkaroff and the one he believes has left him forever, Snape
(651). He informs the DEs that "that faithful servant" is at Hogwarts
and that Harry is present in the graveyard thanks to his efforts
(652). Later he becomes "a faithful Death Eater" (655) and then "my
one faithful Death Eater" and "my Death Eater" (657), reinforcing the
idea that those present in the circle (with the belated exception of
Wormtail) failed to seek him after he lost his body (653).  

Barty Jr. has become the one faithful Death Eater, the most faithful
servant, largely by default. Standing beside a gap in the circle,
Voldemort says, "The Lestranges should stand here, but they are
entombed in Azkaban. they were faithful. They went to Azkaban rather
than renounce me. When Azkaban is broken open, they will be honored
beyond their dreams" (651)--Voldemortian rhetoric, of course, since
that honor consists of participating in the DoM fiasco and, in the
case of Rodolphus and the ever-overlooked Rabastan, being arrested
again, and in Bella's case, rescued by LV but disgraced. My
impression, however, is that if the Lestranges, particularly
Bellatrix, were present in the circle, Barty Jr. would have some
competition for the title of "most faithful Death Eater." As it is,
Barty is the most faithful DE still (for the moment) at large, both
because he went after the Longbottoms with the Lestranges and was sent
to Azkaban for it and because of his services at Hogwarts in arranging
to get Harry to the graveyard and contribute his blood to the
resurrection potion.

Once Barty is soul-sucked, Bellatrix (whose only failing is to somehow
allow the Prophecy to be shattered) has the title all to herself since
neither Rodlophus nor Rabastan (both silent in the Pensieve scene)
ever claims it. The only competition is Snape, whom Narcissa refers to
as "the Dark Lord's favorite, his most trusted advisor" (HBP Am. ed.
34), but Snape (understandably) makes no claim to the title, only
sneering slightly at Bellatrix when she asserts that the Dark Lord
"shares everything" with her and calls her "his most loyal, his most
faithful--" (HBP 29). Perhaps she would have conceded that title to
Draco had he succeeded in killing Dumbledore, but not to anyone else.
She's still demonstrating her devotion until her last breath. To her
husband, injured in LV's service (DH Am. ed. 76), she seems not to
devote a single thought.

At any rate, while I don't for a moment question Barty Jr.'s fanatical
devotion, maintained despite an Imperius Curse for twelve years and
amply demonstrated during his lengthy impersonation of Mad-Eye Moody,
I think that the title of most loyal follower rightly belongs to
Bellatrix, whose cruelty and sadism so nearly match those of the evil
master she worshipped and for whose sake she did, indeed, go to
Azkaban--not silently like the male Lestranges or tearfully protesting
like Barty, but arrogantly and defiantly."We alone were faithful," she
says (GoF), but perhaps "I alone was faithful" would be nearer the truth.

Carol, by no means admiring Bellatrix but noting that her loyalty
matches any Hufflepuff's and her courage, though she's fighting for
the wrong cause, is also great