That sword is meant to be in my vault at Gringotts.
How did you get it?
[CRYING]
Did you and your friends take it from my vault?
I didn't take anything.
This is Bellatrix Lestrange.
Despite being introduced in the fourth book and fifth Harry
Potter film, she's become one of the most iconic characters
from the franchise.
Bellatrix, on the surface, seems to be
a purely evil, vindictive character who relishes
being unrelentingly sadistic.
But beneath that, Helena Bonham Carter
gives her little moments and quirks
to show just how cunning she truly is.
And how she's so fully dedicated to Voldemort,
she's like a child with a crush, possibly
making her an even more dangerous and unhinged villain
than he is.
Each movie in the Harry Potter franchise
is good at creating villains that have a memorable presence.
From Professor Quirrell, to Barty Crouch, Jr.,
to Peter Pettigrew, all of whom are
memorable in their own right.
Then, along comes the fifth film,
and we see the roster of villains
expand greatly as Voldemort starts reuniting
his old army of death eaters.
The new member who stands above the rest
is Bellatrix, who is introduced to us
as Sirius's deranged cousin.
Her first appearance gives you everything
you need to know about her.
That dirty, disgusting prison cell she's in
and her licking her Dark Mark tattoo.
She's clearly both wildly obsessed with one thing,
as well as unbound by common conventions.
After being broken out of Azkaban Prison,
Bonham Carter sends chills into the audience
with her maniacal laugh--
[MANIACAL LAUGH]
--as Bellatrix is finally able to wreak havoc on the world,
as she has so desperately craved.
It's a fairly chilling opening, with Carter imbuing her
with a sense of unpredictability,
leaving the audience with no idea what she's capable of.
But that whatever she does, we know
she'll take pleasure in it.
The next time we see her, we see a fully formed Bellatrix,
and she knows exactly what buttons
to push to get people to do what she wants.
She can read people better than almost anyone in the Harry
Potter film series, which makes her manipulation
that much more terrifying.
The scene starts with Lucius trying
to convince Harry to give him what he needs,
but Harry bites right back at him with his own threats.
If you do anything to us, I'll break it.
[LAUGHTER]
One of the first things Bellatrix does
is laugh at Harry trying to bargain and ask
how Neville's mentally handicapped parents are doing.
Taunting them like a child picking
a fight on a schoolyard.
How's mom and dad?
Better now they're about to be avenged.
We hear and see her laughing throughout the ensuing battle,
culminating in her effortlessly killing Sirius Black.
The smile she gets from killing the only family Harry,
and to an extension her, had left is chilling.
She relishes his anguish, but it's more than that.
It's the way Carter starts laughing after, that suggests
she's doing it for Harry's attention,
to get him to act irrationally.
I killed Sirius Black.
[LAUGHING] You coming to get me?
Crucio!
She can read people probably better than anyone,
besides Dumbledore.
And every moment she spends with someone,
she's searching for the best way to get in their heads.
That's her real magic, tearing people
apart from the inside more than the outside.
Other Potter villains imposed less of a presence
on our heroes.
From Pettigrew to Crouch, to even Lucius Malfoy,
they all seem, in a way, useless without Voldemort there.
Almost acting lost when their plans
have failed without Voldemort to bail them out.
But Bellatrix is able to think on the fly.
Not giving up so easily and continuing
to read any situation to figure out her best move.
In the Department of Mysteries battle,
it isn't Lucius's words that get into Harry's head.
It's Bellatrix's actions, and Harry's perception of them,
that get him to let his guard down.
She uses that perception of insanity to her advantage,
undermining both heroes and villains alike,
wherever she can.
The best example of this is her opening scene
in the Half-Blood Prince.
She and Draco Malfoy's mother visits Snape's house
to persuade him to watch over Draco as he
attempts to kill Dumbledore.
Immediately, Bellatrix starts surveying the environment,
looking for clues and using the guise of immaturity
to explore the space.
Hey, put it down, Bella.
We mustn't touch what isn't ours.
She then calls into question why Voldemort even trusts Snape.
Still, he holds firm.
She's on edge, looking for a way to make sure Dumbledore dies.
Then, as Snape says he might be able to help Draco,
and she spots her opportunity.
If he's truly committed, why not bet his life on it?
This clearly unnerves Snape, as he cannot blow his cover
as a spy for Dumbledore, and Bellatrix sees it.
She starts wrapping herself around him like a snake,
trying to get him to promise something he's hesitant to.
And Snape knows if he doesn't do it,
he'll look weak in front of the two death eaters.
Word will spread, and his loyalty
will be in question from Voldemort himself.
So he takes the Unbreakable Vow.
And in the very last moment of the scene,
Snape draws a sigh and Bellatrix has
the subtlest of smiles, knowing she's won and Snape has lost.
It's some classic manipulation techniques,
both moving the goalposts of what is acceptable for Snape,
and playing on fear and insecurities
to force him into an action he doesn't want to do.
Her lack of restraint and manipulation
comes partially from her sense of entitlement.
She's fully committed to the cause of Voldemort's grasp
for power, scolding the likes of Harry
for even mentioning his name with impure blood.
You filthy half blood!
She even places herself above his followers.
Carter said in an interview, "Bellatrix
thinks she's better than everyone
and that she's the most faithful 'cause she
went to prison for 14 years.
Whereas, someone like Snape is a coward trying
to keep both sides happy."
She is essentially controlled by her deification of Voldemort.
Just watch the way she recoils every time Voldemort speaks.
She's extremely apologetic every time
she suggests something Voldemort says no to.
She wants to do anything to stand out
above the rest of the followers because, in her mind,
none of them are as devoted to Voldemort as she is,
and she just has to make him see that.
There is literally no limit to the things
she'll do to get the Dark Lord's bidding done.
In the Malfoy Manor in Deathly Hallows: Part 1,
we see her desperately trying to get Draco to confirm
Harry is, in fact, Harry.
She's not as controlled as in previous scenes.
Now that Voldemort has essentially
been back in power for a year, she's no longer special to him.
Her whole identity as Voldemort's most loyal
follower, the one he cares for and trusts the most,
is dissipating.
Without it, she feels like she has no identity, nothing
to live for.
She wants so badly to do something to impress him,
she's willing to do whatever to get that position back.
For almost the entirety of her scenes in the Deathly Hallows:
Part 2, she is resigned to cowering behind Voldemort,
asking if he's all right, and laughing only when he laughs.
And who might you be, young man?
Neville Longbottom.
[LAUGHTER]
She's star struck and heaps praise
at everything he's doing, but he consistently
keeps tossing her aside like she's nothing.
You're hurt.
I don't need your help.
No, no.
She's unraveling more and more as the series progresses,
so desperate for Voldemort's attention.
Even during his speech after Harry dies,
she gets on a platform right next to him.
Basically saying, look at me, I'm just like you.
She's dealing with so much rejection
from the man she loves most.
And deep down, she knows there is
no way she can get him to love her the way she loves him,
causing her to need to inflict pain and torture on
as many others as she can.
It's all she knows how to do, and she just
has to hope for that, sooner or later,
Voldemort will notice and appreciate her for it.
In her desperate bid for his attention,
she eventually loses that which made her the most villainous,
leading to her inevitable downfall.
Bellatrix really is like a selfish, cruel child
in a lot of ways, with the sole desire
to impress a boy she likes, with little comprehension
of the consequences of her actions.
She's acutely aware of the vulnerabilities
of everyone around her.
Yet, is able to willfully untether herself
from a moral code in order to get what she wants.
And finds a perverse sense of enjoyment in the suffering
of those she deems lesser.
How dare you defy your masters?
No matter what she does to them it's
justified by the desired outcome.
Voldemort is everything she grew up idolizing
and that led her to never really growing out
of a child's mindset.
It's not as much that she doesn't
understand her actions are wrong,
it's that she doesn't care.
She's very similar to someone like Homelander in The Boys.
Feeling completely vindicated from guilt,
as those she comes across are less than she is.
They're just in her way.
While she enjoys her actions, she
feels they are not without purpose.
There is a method to her madness,
making her all the more unpredictable.
And hey, thank you guys so much for watching.
Let us know what you think of Bellatrix
and if there's any other Harry Potter villains you think
are just as terrifying, or even more so.
[MUSIC PLAYING]