Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing notorious mass-murderer Fenrir Greyback as well as the events of the Deathly
Hallows. More specifically, we’re going to be discussing what happened to Greyback
after the war. Was he punished? Let free? Let’s dive in to it.
The most important thing that you need to know about Fenrir Greyback is that he was
a Lycanthrope- one who suffers from Lycanthropy. The term Lycanthrope refers to those who are
able to transform in to a werewolf- whether willingly or by a curse. With that said, the
life of a werewolf is said to be cursed in and of itself- with a considerable amount
of societal stigma directed at the werewolf population.
When Fenrir himself was at one stage infected with Lycanthropy- he made it his mission to
infect as many people as possible so that others could feel his plight. As he grew older
he was able to rally his fellow werewolves and start a movement- a revolution with the
goal of bringing werewolves to power.
However, with that said, in the second wizarding war Fenrir and the werewolves ended up allying
with Voldemort and the death eaters. In the second wizarding war Voldemort saw an opportunity
with Fenrir- a way to capitalize on his notoriety and incite fear in the wizarding population.
However, despite being a valuable weapon in Voldemort’s arsenal- Fenrir was never granted
‘death eater’ status, and likely would have been disposed of by Voldemort later on
in the event that the Death Eaters won the war. I say this because Voldemort did not
think highly of most magical beasts- stigma towards werewolves was not exclusive to the
good guys.
Okay- so, if Voldemort and the bad guys had won then Fenrir would have likely been disposed
of. But- they didn’t win, the good guys did. So, what came of Fenrir Greyback? What
happened to him after the Battle of Hogwarts?
The first thing to point out is that Fenrir’s fate could be interpreted differently from
book to film. In the film, we last see Fenrir in the Deathly Hallows part 2, when he is
blasted by Hermione’s stunning spell and sent flying off in to the ravine below- presumably
to his death. Hermione fired the spell at him after discovering him mauling Lavender
Brown. However, this scene from the film actually contradicts the book, as in the book Greyback
shows up again later in the battle. Hermione did hit him with a blasting curse, but it
never killed him, and probably didn’t send him ‘flying’ as far as is shown in the
film.
‘NO!’ shrieked Hermione, and with a deafening blast from her wand Fenrir Greyback was thrown
backwards from the feebly stirring body of Lavender Brown. He hit the marble banisters
and struggled to return to his feet. Then, with a bright white flash and a crack, a crystal
ball fell on the top of his head and he crumpled to the ground and did not move.
Though it sounds as if this was the end of Greyback, chapter 36 reveals that this is
in fact not the case- as ultimately, Ron and Neville were responsible for taking down the
notorious werewolf.
[Harry] saw Ron and Neville bringing down Fenrir Greyback, Aberforth Stunning Rookwood,
Arthur and Percy flooring Thicknesse, and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through
the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.
And this is the last we hear of him. What does ‘brought down’ really mean? Did Ron
and Neville fire a killing curse? What did they do to him? In my opinion, Ron and Neville
would not have killed him- simply stunned him, which leaves two reasonable explanations
for what could have happened to him.
The first possibility is that Greyback was simply picked up off the ground (still stunned)
after the battle, put to trial, and sent to Azkaban. And it would be in Azkaban that Greyback
would spend the remainder of his years. Okay, so that could very well be a possibility,
but somehow it just doesn’t seem right to me.
I can’t explain why, but I think that Greyback escaped. He’s an elusive werewolf that lurked
in the shadows for most of his life- furthermore, being a werewolf, he was particularly resilient
and would have been able to take much more of a beating than say, a normal wizard. After
the battle of hogwarts, I think he slipped away and regrouped with other werewolves,
taking a step back and biding their time before ultimately plotting to attack the wizarding
world once again.
What do you guys think? Let me know in the comment section below
If you enjoy the content please LIKE the video and SUBSCRIBE to the channel
Until next time
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live