Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In today’s video, we’re going
to be discussing The Goblet of Fire, Albus Dumbledore, Barty Crouchr Jr, and Alastor
Mad Eye Moody. More specifically- I’m going to be addressing the question of whether or
not Dumbledore REALIZED that Moody was indeed a fake.
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.
Despite his outwardly striking and intimidating appearance, Moody was one of the good guys.
He was in the business of capturing dark wizards, and business was booming. The prospect of
having Alastor Moody teaching ‘defence against the dark arts’ was exciting-I mean, he was
an expert after all, but at the same time there was something odd about 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.
He reached the end of the top table, turned right and limped heavily towards Dumbledore.
Another flash of lightning crossed the ceiling. Hermione gasped.
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.
​He stretched out a hand that was as badly scarred as his face, and Dumbledore shook
it, muttering words Harry couldn't hear.
​'May I introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher,' said Dumbledore brightly,
into the silence. 'Professor Moody’. It was usual for new staff members to be greeted
with applause, but none of the staff or students clapped except Dumbledore and Hagrid. Both
put their hands together and applauded, but the sound echoed dismally into the silence,
and they stopped fairly quickly. Everyone else seemed too transfixed by Moody's bizarre
appearance to do more than stare at him.
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. In his youth
he attended Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, and later on in his life and
career, true to his family name, went on to become one of the most famous and respected
aurors of all time. Aurors are of course members of an elite and highly-trained unit of magical
law enforcement. They work for the department of magical law enforcement in the ministry
of magic, and are trained to investigate dark crimes, and detain dark witches and wizards.
His reputation certainly preceded him, which is perhaps ONE of the reasons that students
and professors alike GAWKED at him. Another reason was his physical appearance- human
but hardly resembling one. However, what noone knew at the time was that this wasn’t even
the real Moody.
You see, Moody was always meant to teach at Hogwarts that year- but before term started
he was captured by Barty Crouch Jr, a british pure-blood wizard and the son of ministry
of magic official Bartemius Crouch Sr. Crouch jr joined the death eaters in his teens, and
was an impressive wizard in his own right- being the first wizard ever to escape from
Azkaban prison in its 300 year history. Before term started, Crouch Jr trapped Moody in his
own magical trunk- and it wasn’t until the fake Moody was ousted that he was released.
Interestingly enough- Crouch Jr did not only impersonate Moody (via Polyjuice potion)-
but successfully managed to teach as Defence Against the Dark Arts professor for most of
the school year- legitimately acting in the role of teacher. The only real giveaways that
could have revealed that it wasn’t the real Moody were some questionable lessons surrounding
the unforgivable curses- but then again, even the real moody was an oddball and noone would
have put it past him. I wonder if being a ‘fake’ Moody attracted additional attention
at the start of the year- of if Moody would have had that general effect on people anyway.
Anyway, on to the important stuff. Did Dumbledore- ever-wise and seemingly omniscient- somehow
overlook the fact that Moody was an imposter? Dumbledore is extremely intelligent- which
is why I’ve often questioned whether or not he knew something that we didn’t. When
everyone else is lost, Dumbledore seems to always have an answer- so, how could he messed
have this up? Not only that, but the real Moody is supposed to be a good friend of Dumbledore-so,
surely he would have recognized the differences in his friends behaviour, right?
In order to assume the form of Moody, Crouch Jr used a polyjuice potion- which, as we know,
is limited to changing ONLY physical appearance:
“The Polyjuice Potion, which is a complex and time-consuming concoction, is best left
to highly skilled witches and wizards. It enables the consumer to assume the physical
appearance of another person, as long as they have first procured part of that individual's
body to add to the brew (this may be anything — toenail clippings, dandruff or worse — but
it is most usual to use hair).”
So, how was Barty Crouch Jr able to so CONVINCINGLY behave just like Moody? He seemingly fooled
one of the greatest wizards of all time.
As much as I hate to say it, I genuinely don’t think that Dumbledore knew that he was an
imposter. Maybe Dumbledore is just getting old, or maybe he wasn’t paying much attention,
but he certainly didn’t know- and if he did know, then it would have been massively
irresponsible for him to let Crouch jr run free- causing all sorts of chaos in his wake.
If he knew, he could have prevented things like the death of Cedric Diggory- not only
that, but he probably would have wanted to have saved the real Moody- his good friend.
Here’s why I think Dumbledore overlooked everything. First of all, Dumbledore hadn’t
seen Moody for a VERY long time and we know this because he is described as an ‘old
friend’ of Dumbledore’s. Even if you’re extremely close with someone, not seeing them
for years can cause you to forget their little mannerisms and subtle behaviours. By the time
Dumbledore saw Moody again, he probably either a. Forgot about a lot of these subtle behaviours
or b. Assumed he changed. After all Moody is described as someone who ‘doesn’t trust
anyone anymore’ which almost suggests he’s a bit loopy. The moody we’re introduced
to in the Hogwarts banquet hall is certainly unorthodox, and Dumbledore may have just assumed
that it was the way that he had become.
There are also a few other things to consider. Barty Crouch jr was an extremely powerful
wizard- possibly one of the most powerful death eaters- he captured Moody after all!
This meant that, in addition to the Polyjuice potion, he likely used additional spells and
enchantments to further mask his real identity- effectively turning himself in to the closest
possible thing to the real Alastor Moody. Not only that, but Crouch Jr could have accessed
the real Moody in the chest at any point- meaning that he could have basically asked
him anything. I doubt that Moody would be willing to part with any information about
himself without a fight, but I’m sure that Crouch Jr is aware of the necessary torture
methods to get information out of people.
In short- Dumbledore didn’t know. He hadn’t seen Moody for a long time, Crouch Jr did
a great job at impersonating him, and Dumbledore also probably had a lot of other stuff on
his mind.
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Until next time
“MARVELOUS CREATURES, DRAGONS, AREN'T THEY?”