Who are the Lestrange brothers?
The first time we see them is at their trial. Rodolphus and Rabastan are mentioned together three times in the series; the two times they're mentioned by name, Rodolphus is mentioned first. Therefore, since there's no other way to make a guess, I might guess that Rodolphus is the first man mentioned in the trial scene and Rabastan is the second.
Neither of them get much of a physical description: Harry doesn't note their hair color, their skin color, or any defining facial features, even though he does note these for Bellatrix and Barty (and before either of them start speaking, so it's not that).
Harry sees them again in the newspaper when they escape from Azkaban, and again he does not give them any physical description, or even really seem to notice them at all. Same with their photos that are on the shops at Hogsmeade. They're at the Department of Mysteries, but Harry doesn't recognize them and/or bother to note who they are.
Rodolphus is of much more interest to me than Rabastan because of his relationship with Bellatrix, so I'm just going to talk about him but you can apply certain things to Rabastan too.
The trial is the only time in the entire series that Bellatrix verbally acknowledges Rodolphus's existence, when she refers to the four of them as 'we' and 'us,' and implies that Rodolphus (and Rabastan and Barty) is in Voldemort's high favor and that Voldemort will rescue all of them together:
Bellatrix does not mention Rodolphus when she's in Spinner's End, nor do either of the other characters—on the contrary, she spends much of the chapter talking about Voldemort. Rodolphus doesn't come up any of the times Narcissa mentions her own husband (like being angry at Bellatrix for blaming Lucius), he doesn't come up when Bellatrix speaks of her hypothetical sons (and she says if I had sons, as if Rodolphus doesn't even exist), Snape doesn't bring up Rodolphus's imprisonment or failure at the DoM to mock Bellatrix. Narcissa defends Lucius, references her helplessness with Lucius in Azkaban, references Lucius's opinions to convince Snape to help her; Bellatrix does not reference Rodolphus once. Lucius's name is mentioned eight times in this chapter; not once do any of the characters even allude to Bellatrix being married. Rodolphus is treated by all three characters like he does not exist.
The combination of Bellatrix not even acknowledging Rodolphus's existence, and then proceeding to, presumably in front of Rodolphus both times, tell another man he is her highest pleasure and speak to him as if to a lover, is really telling of how she sees Rodolphus. Does Bellatrix not mention Rodolphus perhaps because she's just really private, or just not an affectionate person? No, because of how she interacts with Voldemort.
Rodolphus is not mentioned at the Death Eater meeting in The Dark Lord Ascending. I hadn't thought about this until I saw Lady_Escapist write about it on AO3, but Tonks is also Rodolphus's niece, yet Voldemort ignores him completely like he's not there. I’m talking about your niece, Bellatrix. And yours, Lucius and
Narcissa... AND RODOLPHUS! And Rodolphus failed to get the prophecy; Voldemort would have every reason to mock and humiliate him too. But he doesn't. Or, perhaps, does he, when he responds to Bellatrix's initial statement? Maybe, but I don't see how that would excuse him from the Tonks comment. It doesn't seem to me like Voldemort is interested in humiliating Rodolphus, which makes me think the 'no higher pleasure' exchange is not something that would offend Rodolphus.
We know Rodolphus is at the Battle of the Seven Potters, since Tonks mentions him:
He was fighting alongside Bellatrix, the same as in the Department of Mysteries. It seems they typically work together, since Lucius automatically pairs them together, and then they work together in a second unrelated situation where Lucius is not in charge. One could conclude from this that Rodolphus is a very strong duelist—Bellatrix would not do this otherwise (ie out of obligation), since we see that she does not seem to consider them a unit outside of DE work. It could also be that he is weaker, and the DEs get assigned with one strong fighter in each pair/group. But since Voldemort speaks very highly of 'the Lestranges' in the graveyard, and Rodolphus had a high ranking place in the DE circle (more below), I would guess that it's the former, and he's a very competent DE.
I've seen some people interpret that 1. Rodolphus intentionally took a curse for Bellatrix, and 2. that the quote below is about Rodolphus. There's no evidence for either of these, I don't think. But either is plausible, if you like to believe it—the second one less so, since we know that Tonks identifies Rodolphus by name when she speaks of him. Also given that the Death Eaters were consistently stopping to save each other when they fell off their brooms, getting Stunned is not necessarily a sign of an injury. These read to me like two different people.
It's of note that Rodolphus doesn't directly appear anywhere in the Deathly Hallows. He's not one of the DEs at the cafe, at Xenophilius Lovegood's; he's not the one who almost catches them going to Gringotts; he doesn't get named or described at the Battle of Hogwarts. He doesn't have a presence in Harry's life.
Similarly, he doesn't have a presence in the lives of the other Death Eaters or Voldemort. When the trio is captured at Malfoy Manor, Rodolphus does not seem to be there, even though we know his wife lives there. Maybe they don't live together, or maybe Rodolphus doesn't go insert himself into situations he's not part of and was simply somewhere else in the house, or maybe he was just not home. Who knows.
At Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix refers to 'my vault.' We learn later from Griphook—and from the goblin that comes to speak to Voldemort—that it's actually 'the Lestranges' vault.' Again, Bellatrix speaks as if her husband does not exist.
If Rodolphus is present when Voldemort finds out the cup was stolen, he doesn't note him. In fact, he doesn't seem to think he had anything to do with it:
A grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy... AND RODOLPHUS!
Voldemort only speaks of Rodolphus once, in the graveyard:
He speaks of him positively, in terms of both past and future. Again, Rodolphus has a high rank in the DE circle; the Lestranges are right next to Lucius. Well I guess this is just my interpretation, but it seems like Wormtail gets placed at the very end of the circle (back beside Lucius) and then Lucius is by Bellatrix, I just think it makes sense that this is a ranking system. It may not be. The fact that it's specified in what order they're standing clues to me that there's a reason for it.
Anyway, Voldemort speaks positively about Rodolphus the one time he speaks of him. Rodolphus has—perhaps indirectly, but nonetheless—been entrusted with a horcrux. Voldemort breaks Rodolphus out of Azkaban twice (and the first time Rodolphus is broken out, Voldemort feels the happiest he's been in 14 years—I don't read these as related, as I read this being about Bellatrix, just a note because technically it could be). Voldemort does not mock Rodolphus at the DE meeting, he does not blame him when the cup is stolen. Their relationship feels somewhere on the spectrum of 'Voldemort likes Rodolphus a lot' to 'Voldemort considers Rodolphus irrelevant and forgets he exists.'
How does Rodolphus feel about Voldemort? He tortures the Longbottoms for information; he goes to Azkaban quietly and willingly. Voldemort—a very powerful Legilimens—leaves the cup in Rodolphus's access throughout the entirety of Deathly Hallows. He trusts him. I conclude from this that Rodolphus is not offended at how Bellatrix interacts with Voldemort, or at whatever relationship they have. Perhaps he simply doesn't have a relationship with Bellatrix that would provoke him to be offended; perhaps he is even proud of having a close relation be so close to Voldemort and feels it brings him honor.
The combination of this and that Bellatrix doesn't seem to consider them a unit leads me to guess that Bellatrix and Rodolphus don't function as a partnership outside of DE work.
This is supported by the fact that Bellatrix refers to her 'family' only once in the series (though she does acknowledge individual blood relations like Narcissa and Sirius), in The Dark Lord Ascending ('our family's house'), and this is not about Rodolphus, just the Malfoys (and, it indirectly ropes Voldemort sort of into this category by his presence there). If Bellatrix considers Rodolphus her family, we never see her acknowledge it.
However, they probably have ongoing, established, and stable trust and respect between them, considering they choose to fight together against people who are trying to kill them (Tonks). I see no evidence of bad blood, but rather a positive professional relationship, and likely separate personal lives (whether somewhat or entirely). Whether or not they are friends is ambiguous.
Compare this also to the established and stable trust that Voldemort has for Rodolphus. Rodolphus is a noble and trustworthy person who is unwavering in his loyalty to his wife (she allows him in a position where he may have to defend her life) and to his master.
There are a number of explanations for all these things, anything from Rodolphus is so madly in love with Bellatrix (who barely remembers he exists) that nothing else matters, to Rodolphus being so loyal to Voldemort that whatever Voldemort and Bellatrix are doing doesn't matter in comparison, or they were never a romantic couple, or many other things. Rodolphus can be reasonably written in fics in many many different ways.
In summary, Rodolphus (and Rabastan, as applies):
-was loyal enough to Voldemort in the First War to seek him out after his disappearance (Who among the Lestranges and Barty, if anyone, knew about the horcrux(es)? Did Rodolphus know, as Bellatrix seems to at Malfoy Manor? If so, a huge sign that Voldemort trusts him very much), and to go to Azkaban quietly and without protest. He is spoken about positively but minimally by Voldemort, and is ranked highly among the DEs.
-is a competent enough duelist to fight with Bellatrix multiple times, though not at the level of Bellatrix, as he doesn't avoid capture or injury.
-has a quiet, missable presence; has no real physical features or mannerisms of great note beyond being thickset and blank, or thin and nervous; doesn't speak or make himself noticeable; doesn't appear in any direct action (though this is partly just coincidence that Harry doesn't run into him in the DoM or somewhere in DH, because clearly he is present and an active DE).
-is not offended by the way Bellatrix speaks and acts with Voldemort, even when it's in front of him and public.
When I've written Rodolphus, I characterize him as calm, quiet, and having a very high tolerance for unpleasantness (as we see at his trial) and low reactivity. He simultaneously keeps himself a bit in the background while still being a high ranking Death Eater. There's something interesting about the combination of these character traits with someone who has tortured multiple people until they lost their minds. I write him as having a pretty much entirely positive relationship with Voldemort, but being less relevant in each other's lives than much of the rest of the DE inner circle are to each other. And I write Rodolphus and Bellatrix as having a good relationship, but not being romantically involved.
I characterize Rabastan mostly based on the description of being thinner and more nervous-looking than his brother, because there's not much to work with. But similarly to Rodolphus, Rabastan keeps himself a little out of the action, and has substantially less of a relationship with Voldemort than DEs like Bellatrix or Lucius do—and yet, he still has so much faith in Voldemort that he wants to find him when he disappears even at great personal cost. Despite being visibly nervous at his trial, he keeps himself together, and he rises quietly from his chair to go to Azkaban.
For a character we never really see, Rodolphus in particular really does have a lot of information on him in the series, you just have to look for it.
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