Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing Lucius Malfoy, the death eaters, and whether or not Lucius was able to cast
a patronus charm.
We know Lucius Malfoy as the father of Draco Malfoy and son of Abraxas Malfoy. He was a
proud pure-blood wizard that hailed from the ‘Malfoy’ family, and had every intention
of living up to his pure blood status. To the Malfoys, and Lucius to a significant degree,
reputation was everything-and it was this obsession with ‘image’, keeping up appearances,
and preserving the population of ‘pure’ blood witches and wizards, that drove Lucius
to join the Death Eaters.
The forerunners to what would eventually become the Death eaters were once described by Dumbledore
as:
“a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking glory, and the thuggish
seeking a leader who could show them more refined cruelty”
The death eaters became known as a group of pure-blood radical supremacists that served
lord voldemort in the name of preserving blood purity. They made their perspective very clear:
they didn’t want muggle born wizards or half-bloods-they wanted to keep the blood
lines pure.
This ‘supremacist’ viewpoint requires a very particular type of person - a bad person.
So, this opens up the question of whether or not any of them are able to conjure a patronus
charm- a very ‘pure’ piece of magic.
Before we jump in to this further, let me clear up what exactly a Patronus is. In essence,
a Patronus is the result of a witch or wizard casting the Patronus charm. There are two
types of patronus charms, corporeal and incorporeal. The more basic form of the spell is the incorporeal,
which assumes no animal form and simply resembles a burst of white vapour or smoke. The more
advanced form of the spell is the conjuring of a corporeal patronus. The ability to successfully
cast a corporeal patronus is considered an impressive feat in the wizarding world The
corporeal patronus assumes the form of the witch or wizards ‘spirit animal’, and
varies extensively from witch to witch or wizard to wizard. While casting spells that
create your very own spirit animal is probably fun, there is a purpose, and that purpose
is to ward off dementors or lethifolds- dark creatures that feed on human happiness and
incite a feeling of despair in anyone that gets close to them. The patronus charm is
the ONLY known way of dealing with a dementor, and so it’s a gravely important thing for
a witch or wizard to know. The patronus represents everything that a Dementor doesn’t: hope,
happiness, survival and purity. As the patronus itself does not feel despair or hopelessness,
as a human might, the dementors can’t hurt it and are repelled by its presence.
It should be mentioned, however, that because death eaters are evil themselves- they actually
share a lot of traits that dementors have. This makes them less likely targets for a
Dementor’s attack, but it doesn’t mean they are safe from them- and this is why they
are still used to keep death eaters and other dark wizards inside of Azkaban. But, can death
eaters cast a patronus charm in the event that they ARE attacked by a dementor? Can
Lucius Malfoy, snivelling death eater, conjure one?
To cast a patronus, you need to hone your positive emotions- hope, happiness, and desire
- and in my opinion, I don’t think that Lucius Malfoy had the capacity to effectively
hone these emotions. Sure, him and his family defected from the death eaters eventually,
but it was for entirely selfish reasons - they wanted to stay alive and they wanted to avoid
imprisonment. Lucius sort of loves his family, but in a lot ways they are just pawns in his
life- ways that he can sustain the pure-blood Malfoy blood line. He needs a son to keep
the Malfoy name alive, and he needs a wife to have a son. Did he love them? Sure, somewhat-
but was it love in its purest form? I don’t think so. Lucius is actually quite an evil
man, and while he did show some form of regret for what he did as a death eater (in part
due to what it did to his family), his motivations were still mainly related to sustaining his
image. And while Lucius was quite evil, he was equally less-brave, and was unable to
speak up when the dark lord placed his own son in danger. He should have defected right
then and there, but he was too much of a coward. And it’s Lucius’ cowardice that is his
downfall, and probably the reason that he would never be able to effectively conjure
a Patronus.
For most of his life, Lucius allied himself with the worst people imaginable. He engineered
mass child murder in the second and fifth books (though they both failed), tortured
muggles, and took joy in the humiliation, torture, and death of people he hated. At
one point in the Order of the Phoenix it’s mentioned that Lucius was ‘jeering’ at
the sight of 14 year old Harry being tortured. He fundamentally lacks the capacity to hone
the emotions necessary to conjure a patronus- his heart is not pure enough. Additionally,
it has been revealed by JK Rowling that Snape is in fact the only Death Eater able to produce
a patronus, and no dark wizard, not even lord voldemort, has been able to successfully produce
one.
Okay, so Lucius can’t cast a Patronus - but IF he could..what would it be? I have a theory..One
creature that Lucius has always shown an affinity for in canon were peacocks. This is interesting,
because Peacocks are known for..well ‘peacocking’, and showing off- does this remind of you of
someone?
When Snape and Yaxley meet at the Malfoy manor for a death eater meeting, a Peacock on the
Malfoy manor grounds alarmed Yaxley:
It rustled the bushes as it strutted, alarming Yaxley, who drew his wand, but put it away
once he saw the noise's source.
"He always did well for himself, Lucius. Peacocks." - he remarked
While the peacock on the grounds was white, many made the assumption that the peacock
itself was a corporeal patronus. However, it was later revealed by Rowling that the
peacock was in fact albino. Regardless of this fact, I think that IF Lucius were to
able to cast a patronus - the corporeal form would match the bird that walked the malfoy
manor grounds.
And that’s it for this video! If you enjoy the content, please like the video and subscribe
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Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY