Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing JK Rowling, the Harry Potter books, and the mysterious group that preceded the
death eaters.
Now, we know the Death Eaters as the loyal servants and followers of the dark lord, Lord
Voldemort. Becoming a death eater means that you bear the dark mark, a symbol that is representative
of their group. The group even uses the dark mark as a way of inciting fear in the general
population- projecting it into the sky using the curse ‘Morsmordre’.
Arthur Weasley expresses his fear of the symbol in the goblet of fire:
"...You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed.
The terror it inspired... you have no idea, you’re too young. Just picture coming home
and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you’re about to
find inside... Everyone’s worst fear... the very worst."
In essence, the death eaters were a group of pure-blood radical supremacists, intent
on cleansing the world of muggleborns and half-bloods, in the pursuit of a ‘purer’
wizarding community. But, one thing that is worth mentioning, is that the death eaters
that we come to know in the books and films were not always operating in the way that
we are familiar.
In an old interview with Newsround from 2003, Rowling reveals a snippet of information about
a group that preceded the death eaters:
"And these scraps of paper which you've filed elegantly in a carrier bag, they're plot ideas
or…"
"Well some of them are totally redundant now because its been written and I keep them out
of sentimentality's sake, I suppose. But some of it has backstory in it like this - in here
is the history of the Death Eaters and I don't know that I'll ever actually need it - but
at some point - which were once called something different - they were called the Knights of
Walpurgis. I don't know if I'll need it. But I like knowing it. I like to keep that sort
of stuff on hand."
So, The Knights of Walpurgis? What’s that all about? Who were they?
When Tom Riddle was just a boy, he attended Hogwarts, just like everyone else, and he
was in Slytherin house. Riddle’s cunning and manipulative nature eventually meant that
he would form a ‘gang’ of sorts- a group consisting of his fellow Slytherin students.
The gang that Riddle formed was 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”. And interestingly enough, it was the members of
this gang that were considered to be the forerunners to what we now know as the death eaters. With
that in mind, I think that we can fairly safely put a label on Riddle’s gang, how about,
Oh I don’t know: The Knights of Walpurgis.
So, the Knights of Walpurgis were fellow Slytherin students that were classmates of Tom Riddle,
sure. But, how do they come up with a name like that? What is the significance of such
a name? I was intrigued, so I did a bit of digging:
From what I’ve been able to find, the closest thing relating to ‘Walpurgis’ that makes
sense is ‘Walpurgisnacht’ or ‘Walpurgis Night’, which is a pagan holiday that falls
on the eve of the feast of Saint Walpurgis, a saint of the Roman Catholic Church
Put quite simply: “Walpurgis Night was when, according to
the belief of millions of people, the devil was abroad—when the graves were opened and
the dead came forth and walked. When all evil things of earth and air and water held revel.”
Additionally, Walpurgis Night has always been associated with witchcraft, and witches for
that matter. In German folklore, for example, on Walpurgis night witches from all over the
land would gather for a great sabbath on top of the Brocken (also known as the Blocksberg),
the highest peak of the Harz mountain range. Expanding on the fact that Walpurgis Night
was a night when witches and other evil entities were roaming freely around the land, it should
also be worth noting that certain practices were developed to keep them at bay. For example,
on Walpurgis night in Germany people would dress up in costumes and make loud noises.
I found the whole history of ‘Walpurgis Night’ very interesting, and just from looking
in to it vert briefly, I can really understand where Rowling was coming from with regards
to the name of Riddle’s gang. The close associations with witches, witchcraft, the
devil, and the dead, seem fitting for a group that would eventually go on to become ‘death
eaters’. I also found it interesting that German people would dress up in costumes to
keep the evil entities at bay, as I think that this may perhaps loosely allude to the
attire that we end up seeing the death eaters wearing.
What do you guys think? Is there anything else that we know about the Knights of Walpurgis
that I’ve missed? Did you know about the history of Walpurgis already?
Let us know down in the comment section below
Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY