Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing the infamous Death Eater Bellatrix Lestrange and the Mirror of Erised.
Bellatrix Lestrange was one of the most feared witches in the wizarding world. Her fear-inspiring
name and bloodthirsty reputation were well-deserved, and she was known to have murdered and tortured
numerous witches and wizards (including Neville Longbottom’s parents). Her magical capabilities
were more than impressive, and she was widely considered to be one the most powerful and
dangerous witches of her time. Bellatrix was of course a death eater, and perhaps Lord
Voldemort’s most Loyal follower. She was a frightening pure-blood witch that came from
the Lestrange family, a long line of powerful witches and wizards with a twisted agenda.
Bellatrix was a known proponent of the cruciatus curse, and she derived considerable pleasure
from torturing people- finding the suffering of others to be ‘amusing’.
The mirror of erised is a magical mirror that shows us the ‘deepest, most desperate desires’
of our hearts. This is reflected in the mirror’s name, no pun intended, as ‘Erised’ flipped
around reads as ‘desire’.The mirror itself was made sometime before the end of the nineteenth
century, and is located in the room of requirement in Hogwarts.
In the Harry Potter books and films, it’s never really revealed what many of the characters
would see in the mirror. Given that Bellatrix was so fond of the suffering and torturing
of others, you might expect that whatever she witnessed in the mirror would involve
the suffering of others in some capacity. But, there is actually a lot more depth to
Bellatrix’s character, and I am of the impression that she would see something very different,
something-sentimental.
Whether you want to accept it as Canon or not, we know from the cursed child that Voldemort
and Bellatrix eventually conceive a child- Delphini. Delphini’s conception occurred
sometime in the mid to late 1990s, in secret, at the Malfoy Manor. This meant that her birth
coincided with the events of the original books - we just never had any indication of
it. Her birth was kept a secret by her parents because they feared that their infamous reputations
would place her in danger, especially in the event of their deaths.
Why Bellatrix and Voldemort would go on to conceive a child is unknown, though I suspect
that it was more of a ‘functional’ conception - a way of Voldemort carrying on the bloodline
of his ancestor, Salazar Slytherin. The confusing part about Delphini’s conception was that
Bellatrix was a married woman - she was married to Rodolphous Lestrange. My thought is that
he never had any objection to Bellatrix and Voldemort having a child because it was a
source of pride for him. He was first and foremost a follower of lord voldemort, and
a husband to Bellatrix second.
Voldemort was born with an incapability of feeling love- this was because he was conceived
under the influence of a love potion.The relationship between his mother and father wasn’t genuine-
they didn’t actually love each other, which meant that he could never understand love
himself. Even though Voldemort kept a group of loyal death eaters close, in the end he
didn’t truly care for them. They were just people that he could manipulate in order to
achieve a larger goal. Voldemort is intelligent, cunning and manipulative- and can make others
believe that by doing his bidding, they are becoming closer to him. In reality, Voldemort
is only focused on one thing, and that is power. If Voldemort were ever to face a crossroads,
where down one path he could save a companion, and down another he could more quickly achieve
power, he would always choose power. Even Bellatrix, who he had a child with, and who
was more devoted to him than anyone else, would meet the same fate as anyone else. Voldemort
didn’t feel affection, and wasn’t drawn toward anyone, with the exception of POSSIBLY
Nagini, to whom he showed a touch of affection.
But even though Voldemort never loved Bellatrix, I am of the impression that Bellatrix loved
HIM very much. She was a devoted servant to him, and Voldemort was fine to keep the relationship
that way, but I think that she always wished for more. Though she was evil, unlike Voldemort
she DID have the capacity to feel love- to feel emotion. Bellatrix didn’t just follow
Voldemort because they shared similar goals- she also followed him because she was enamoured
with him.
So, I think that if Bellatrix were to have looked in to the mirror of erised during the
height of the second wizarding war, she would have seen herself with Voldemort. The pair
would have achieved their goal of establishing pure-blood dominance, and they could be seen
ruling over the wizarding world-together.
And that’s it for this video! What do you guys think? What do YOU think Bellatrix would
see in the Mirror of Erised? Let me know down in the comment section below.
Until next time,
YER A WIZARD ARRY