Hey everyone, welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re
going to be discussing the order the phoenix, the death eaters, and the battle of the department
of mysteries. This battle was one of the most important in the series-and one of the most
action packed on screen. It was also quite tragic as it highlighted Sirius Black’s
last moments- first being struck by a curse from Bellatrix and then falling in to the
veil.
The department of mysteries is on level nine of the ministry of magic, and this department
is responsible for studying the mysteries of the wizarding world - mysteries associated
with love,space, thought, time and death, among other things. Perhaps most importantly,
within the walls of the department of mysteries lies the hall of prophecy.
"They were there, they had found the place: high as a church and full of nothing but towering
shelves covered in small, dusty, glass orbs. They glimmered dully in the light issuing
from more candle brackets set at intervals along the shelves. Like those in the circular
room behind them, their flames were burning blue. The room was very cold"
And it was in the hall of prophecy that Harry Potter, among others, were suddenly faced
with a hoard of death eaters- and the battle that would ensue would be the first major
conflict of the second wizarding war. Harry was lured to the department of mysteries by
Voldemort, who sought to come in to the possession of a prophecy that foretold his defeat at
the hands of Potter. When Harry, Ron, Hermione, Neville, Ginny
and Luna showed up, death eaters were waiting for them, and the fight began. The order of
the phoenix show up later to help fight alongside Dumbledore’s army, but one thing that I’ve
always found peculiar is 6 hogwarts students were able to fight off some of the dark lords
most powerful servants. They were outnumbered, and honestly, if you factor in that death
eaters like Bellatrix and Dolohov were there- outclassed.
"Harry put his ear close to the door to listen and heard Lucius Malfoy roar: "Leave Nott,
leave him, I say, the Dark Lord will not care for Nott's injuries as much as losing that
prophecy - Jugson, come back here, we need to organize! We'll split into pairs and search,
and don't forget, be gentle with Potter until we've got the prophecy, you can kill the others
if necessary - Bellatrix, Rodulphos, you take the left, Crabbe, Rabastan, go right - Jugson,
Dolohov, the door straight ahead - McNair and Avery, through here - Rookwood, over there
- Mulciber, come with me!"
Here we see, very clearly, that the death eaters were ordered to KILL everyone except
for Harry. But from what we can extract from the text, the death eaters very clearly use
ineffective, non-fatal and in some cases SILLY spells.
"And what about Ron?" said Harry fearfully, as Ron continued to giggle, still hanging
off the front of Harry's robes. "I don't know what they hit him with," said
Luna sadly, "but he's gone a bit funny, I could hardly get him along at all...."
Also
Its owner was lying on his side, bleeding from the head, and his attacker was now bearing
down upon Harry and Neville: Dolohov, his long pale face twisted with glee.
"Tarantallegra!" he shouted, his wand pointing at Neville, whose legs went immediately into
a kind of frenzied tap dance, unbalancing him and causing him to fall to the floor again.
"Now, Potter -"
So, this begs the question - why are they holding back? Why are they using Tarantallegra
and not Avada Kedavra? Crucio? Aren’t the death eaters stone cold killers?
I think that there may be a few reasons for this.
First of all, they were just kids - and I honestly think that the death eaters, knowing
that they both outnumbered and outclassed the kids, held back a bit because they were
toying with them. Sure, the members of Dumbledore’s army proved themselves as valiant fighters,
but realistically-how could they expect to contend with vast numbers of superior witches
and wizards? I think that they were casting spells like Tarantallegra for a bit of a laugh-to
have some fun. At that point in time, they didn’t expect the order of the phoenix to
show up, and would have likely felt quite comfortable. Additionally, death eaters are
quite sadistic, so it’s highly likely that they would want to humiliate them before finishing
them off. As I mentioned before, this was the first major conflict of the second wizarding
war -and this would have been the first opportunity that they had had in a while to do what they
love - battle.
My next theory is that the death eaters used whatever spell was quick and accessible for
them in the heat of battle. Channeling a spell like avada kedavra, in the heat of the moment,
might not always be the best option. It was a fast paced firefight that required split
second decisions, and they may have just cast what felt most natural for them. Sure tarantallegra
is silly, but it does serve a purpose, even if it’s just a precursor to a spell that
would serve as the finisher. We see this with Harry, who time and time again resorts to
expelliarmus, which is certainly not the most powerful spell in his arsenal. However, it
clearly worked for him time and time again, as with it he was able to escape from the
stickiest of situations. I honestly think that a lot of it comes down to convenience
and comfort- use the spells that are guaranteed to work.
What do you guys think? Why was an outnumbered Dumbledore’s army able to fend off a plethora
of Death eaters? Let us know down in the comment section below.
Until next time,
YER A WIZARD ARRY