Before we start this video I want to quickly shoutout my Mythology channel- Mythology Explained-
where I post all kinds of extra content.
Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video we’re going to
be discussing The Goblet of Fire, Barty Crouch Jr., Mad-Eye Moody, and the fabled Marauder’s
Map. More specifically- we’re going to be addressing a couple of lingering questions
that fans like yourselves might have about the nature of the map and how it goes about
divulging information.
Question 1 is: Why didn’t Mad-Eye Moody (who was trapped in a magical trunk) show
up on the Marauder’s Map?
And Question 2 is: Why wasn’t the Marauder’s Map able to identify Barty Crouch Jr? Surely
simply spotting him on the map would have made everyone’s life a lot easier, right?
The map simply referred to him as ‘Bartemius Crouch’.
Also, while we’re on the subject, I should mention that I’ve previously made a video
on why Dumbledore wasn’t able to figure out that Moody was a fake- so if you’re
wondering about THAT question, check out my old video which I’ll link in the description.
Anyway, let’s dive in to the 2 questions above:
When the 94 school year began, like with any other year, all of the students gathered to
the great hall at the beginning of term. This was an opportunity for Dumbledore and any
professors to address the student body at the beginning of the year- announcing anything
pertaining to the upcoming school year. 1994 was the year that, once again, a new Defence
Against the Dark Arts teacher took over- famed death eater captor Alastor ‘Mad Eye’ Moody.
From the moment he first enters the great hall, students are transfixed by him:
“A man stood in the doorway, leaning upon a long staff, shrouded in a black travelling
cloak. Every head in the Great Hall swivelled towards the stranger, suddenly brightly illuminated
by a fork of lightning that flashed across the ceiling.He lowered his hood, shook out
a long mane of grizzled, dark grey hair, then began to walk up towards the teachers' table.
A dull clunk echoed through the Hall on his every other step.”
The lightning had thrown the man's face into sharp relief, and it was a face unlike any
Harry had ever seen.It looked as though it had been carved out of weathered wood by someone
who had only the vaguest idea of what human faces were supposed to look like, and was
none too skilled with a chisel. Every inch of skin seemed to be scarred. The mouth looked
like a diagonal gash, and a large chunk of the nose was missing. But it was the man's
eyes that made him frightening.
​'May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,' said Dumbledore brightly,
into the silence. 'Professor Moody’.
Alastor ‘Mad-Eye’ Moody was a Scottish Pure-blood wizard born in to the ‘Moody’
family- a family known for producing a plethora of amazingly talented aurors. His reputation
certainly preceded him, which is perhaps ONE of the reasons that students and professors
alike GAWKED at him.
But, while it was Alastor Mad-Eye Moody that was INTENDED to teach at the school that year,
and while it certainly APPEARED to be Moody- it really wasn’t. Instead, it was infamous
dark wizard and Death Eater Barty Crouch Jr.
You see, before term began Moody was captured by Barty Crouch Jr- who, in 1982, had been
given a life sentence to Azkaban. However, what many did not know was that Barty Crouch
Jr had escaped shortly after his sentencing, which meant that he was out and about for
13 years- something entirely unknown to the general population. This allowed him to fly
under the radar and, ultimately, capture Moody. After trapping Moody in his own magical/bewitched
trunk, Barty Crouch Jr went on to impersonate Moody for the school year- teaching Defence
Against the Dark Arts in his stead (and quite well, I might add. Certainly better than Umbridge.)
In the previous school year, however, we must remember that Harry came in to the possession
of the Marauder’s Map - a magical map which, due to the Homonculous charm, is able to track
the movements of every person in the castle. This begs the question - why on earth wasn’t
Harry able to see that Moody was a FAKE? While Barty Crouch Jr gallivanted around the castle,
the real Moody was trapped in a 10 foot compartment inside of his own magical trunk.
Well- the short answer is that the map isn’t entirely foolproof. For example, one of the
hidden passageways in Hogwarts isn’t shown on the map- this is referenced in chapter
29 of the Deathly Hallows:
“How long’s this been here?” Ron asked as they set off. “It isn’t on the Marauder’s
Map, is it, Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of school?”
The Map also fails to disclose locations which are hidden by magic- places like the Chamber
of Secrets (which would have certainly sparked Fred & Georges curiosity if it were visible).
And while the map IS able to penetrate things like invisibility cloaks (which we know from
chapter 17 of the Prisoner of Azkaban):
“The point is, even if you’re wearing an Invisibility Cloak, you’ll still show
up on the Marauder’s Map."
It certainly doesn’t mean that the map can’t be tricked, or that the map’s magic can’t
be overpowered- like with the Room of Requirement. Hermione says the following in Chapter 21
of the Half Blood Prince:
“I think it’ll be part of the magic of the room,” said Hermione. “If you need
it to be Unplottable, it will be.”
Moody’s bewitched magical trunk was an advanced magical item, and Moody was trapped within
a compartment hidden by the ‘undetectable extension charm’. In short, the magic of
the trunk far outweighed the magic of the Marauder’s Map.
But this still leaves one very potent question: Why wasn’t the Marauder’s Map able to
identify Barty Crouch Jr?
It’s a major plot point in the Goblet of Fire that the Marauder's map identifies Bartemius
Crouch Jr. just as ‘Bartemius Crouch’ which leads to all kinds of confusion as Barty
Crouch JR is named after his father and ministry official Barty Crouch SR. So, what’s the
deal? Why isn’t the map able to distinguish between two people with the same name? If
they were standing next to each other, would the map simply show ‘Bartemius Crouch’
and ‘Bartemius Crouch’?
Well, as it turns out- YES, this is simply a flaw within the workings of the map. The
Marauder’s Map is undoubtedly a powerful magical artifact- but is it perfect? No. The
map appears to be designed to show the full FIRST and LAST name of every person within
range, but because ‘Jr’ is not an actual part of his name, and simply an affectation
(the same goes for Sr.), there is no way that the map could reasonably distinguish between
the two men.
When the map was being created it’s likely that this was just never considered, as it’s
HIGHLY unlikely that two people with the same name would ever be at Hogwarts at the same
time. Furthermore, the Map was created for mischief, which makes these specific distinctions
like ‘jr’ vs ‘sr’ a little bit irrelevant. The map is 99.99999% effective but not 100%,
and it just so happens that the Harry Potter plot highlights a time that it wasn’t. To
add to this even further, naming conventions among wizardkind are ALL OVER THE PLACE- which
makes the likelihood of 2 people having the same name infinitesimal. For this reason,
it simply wasn’t considered.
HOWEVER- with ALL of that said, ‘Bartemius Crouch’ appearing on the map and not ‘Moody’
was still a bit of a red flag. In fact, Barty Crouch Jr himself admitted that it nearly
‘ruined everything’.
"I used the map I had taken from Harry Potter. The map that had almost ruined everything.”
And the reason he said this was because, while ‘Moody’ was absent on the map it, it certainly
didn’t mean that Harry wouldn’t be able to see ‘Bartemius Crouch’ right there
where ‘Moody’ was standing.
And that’s it for this video! I hope that sufficiently answers the two questions posed
at the beginning. Again, if you want to know more about WHY Dumbledore wasn’t able to
identify Barty Crouch jr- then go and check out the video linked in the description.
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down below.
Until next time
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live