Bellatrix is âânot Mad
Today we're talking about an interesting aspect of the saga: there are many antagonists who stand between Harry and a peaceful life in the wizarding world. We know this well: that poor, shaggy-haired boy can't even walk around the castle without a mad criminal trying to kidnap him. But beyond Voldemort, who is clearly obsessed with killing Harry, many of his followers have other goals. As Dumbledore explains:
"They were a motley collection; a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty."
But Bellatrix Lestrange is a special case. Many fans over the years have called Bellatrix mad, perhaps misled by Helena's portrayal in the films, which, as much as I adore her, made the character more explosive in certain moments. By analyzing her, we can see that there's a certain logic behind everything she does. Certainly, in some cases, her logic is distorted and unacceptable, but there is no madness in her, no more than in Lucius Malfoy or other Death Eaters like her husband Rodolphus. The only thing that drives Bellatrix is ââher fanaticism towards Voldemort and the pure-blood cause. Her distorted love for the Dark Lord leads her to destruction; even after he has been defeated, ending the First Wizarding War, she tries to discover his whereabouts, tortures the Longbottom Aurors to the point of madness, and never renounces Voldemort, unlike other fellow Death Eaters. She is imprisoned for 14 years in Azkaban, yet she is not mad, as canon proves. The first time Bellatrix appears is in a memory of Dumbledore's inside the Pensieve in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. CHAPTER 30
âBring them in,â he said, and his voice echoed through the silent dungeon. The door in the corner opened yet again. Six dementors entered this time, flanking a group of four people. Harry saw the people in the crowd turn to look up at Mr. Crouch. A few of them whispered to one another. The dementors placed each of the four people in the four chairs with chained arms that now stood on the dungeon floor. There was a thickset man who stared blankly up at Crouch; a thinner and more nervous-looking man, whose eyes were darting around the crowd; a woman with thick, shining dark hair and heavily hooded eyes, who was sitting in the chained chair as though it were a throne; and a boy in his late teens, who looked nothing short of petrified. He was shivering, his straw-colored hair all over his face, his freckled skin milk-white. The wispy little witch beside Crouch began to rock backward and forward in her seat, whimpering into her handkerchief. Crouch stood up. He looked down upon the four in front of him, and there was pure hatred in his face. âYou have been brought here before the Council of Magical Law,â he said clearly, âso that we may pass judgment on you, for a crime so heinous ââ âFather,â said the boy with the straw-colored hair. âFather . . . please . . .â ââ that we have rarely heard the like of it within this court,â said Crouch, speaking more loudly, drowning out his sonâs voice. âWe have heard the evidence against you. The four of you stand accused of capturing an Auror â Frank Longbottom â and subjecting him to the Cruciatus Curse, believing him to have knowledge of the present whereabouts of your exiled master, He- Who-Must-Not-Be-Named ââ âFather, I didnât!â shrieked the boy in chains below. âI didnât, I swear it, Father, donât send me back to the dementors ââ âYou are further accused,â bellowed Mr. Crouch, âof using the Cruciatus Curse on Frank Longbottomâs wife, when he would not give you information. You planned to restore He-Who-Must-Not- Be-Named to power, and to resume the lives of violence you pre- sumably led while he was strong. I now ask the jury ââ âMother!â screamed the boy below, and the wispy little witch beside Crouch began to sob, rocking backward and forward. âMother, stop him, Mother, I didnât do it, it wasnât me!â âI now ask the jury,â shouted Mr. Crouch, âto raise their hands if they believe, as I do, that these crimes deserve a life sentence in Azkaban!â In unison, the witches and wizards along the right-hand side of the dungeon raised their hands. The crowd around the walls began to clap as it had for Bagman, their faces full of savage triumph. The boy began to scream. âNo! Mother, no! I didnât do it, I didnât do it, I didnât know! Donât send me there, donât let him!â The dementors were gliding back into the room. The boysâ three companions rose quietly from their seats; the woman with the heavy-lidded eyes looked up at Crouch and called, âThe Dark Lord will rise again, Crouch! Throw us into Azkaban; we will wait! He will rise again and will come for us, he will reward us beyond any of his other supporters! We alone were faithful! We alone tried to find him!â
After this sentence, Barty Jr. again begs his father to spare him, but the four are taken out by the Dementors and taken back to Azkaban. Here, Bellatrix is ââquite lucid, confirming her loyalty to Voldemort but not appearing mad. The fact that she doesn't bow, that she doesn't appear fearful, but rather sits in the chair to which she is chained as if it were a throne, perfectly captures her personality. She is a proud woman, convinced of her own beliefs; she doesn't deny what she did, which, however terrible, was right in her eyes. She tortured enemies to find her master, to save him, at least in her mind. The fact that she drove the Longbottoms mad doesn't make her mad, but rather, ready for anything. She is shown to us as a sadistic and unscrupulous person, yes, but she isn't in a state of derangement, in fact, as we will see later in the saga, Bellatrix seems to tend to take command of the situation when there is danger. We see it in Deathly Hallows, when at Malfoy Manor she fears that Voldemrot will discover the theft in her Gringotts vault. She doesn't think twice and begins issuing orders to the Malfoys. Even during the trial, it's she who speaks, not her husband or the other two companions. She displays a mask of confidence that requires extreme clarity. Another interesting point that is too often overlooked is her implicit attitude towards Kreacher. The second time Ballatrix is ââmentioned is in the fifth book, where Harry discovers her relationship with Sirius and shortly thereafter sees the house-elf's hiding place, where he is desperately trying to hide photos and mementos belonging to the Black family, to prevent Sirius from throwing them away. We are explicitly told that his favorite photograph is precisely the one of Bellatrix alone. It's the photo he cleaned and tried to repair most carefully, placing it on the top shelf of her hiding place. This point is very fascinating: Kreacher is not an evil creature, he is a house-elf who has been mentally manipulated for decades; his entire species has been enslaved for centuries to serve wizards. To a certain extent, he has inherited the Blacks' racist and classist heritage, but it's interesting to discover how loyal he actually is to Regulus, who treated him with respect and literally sacrificed himself for him. Just as Kreacher was loyal to Walburga, who, although portrayed in fandom as a madwoman who tormented her children, was not in canon. Kreacher tends to be loyal to those who are kind to him; just look at how his behavior drastically changes in Deathly Hallows when Harry gives him Regulus' fake locket and he begins to treat him with respect. This, combined with his desperate desire to belong to Bellatrix after Sirius's death, as made clear at the beginning of the sixth book, are a clear indication of Bellatrix's attitude toward him. Even though the house-elves have been manipulated, they can still tell if someone is being kind to them. This means Bellatrix wasn't mistreating Kreacher for fun. Then, Bellatrix's first real interaction with Harry shows her mocking the boy for falling into Voldemort's trap. She uses a childish tone and mocks Neville, but once again, she's very clear-headed. The only time she explodes is when Harry dares to mention Voldemort's name and reveals that he, too, is a half-blood. This triggers her, so much so that she is about to strike Harry, but Lucius stops her.
She demonstrates her understanding of Voldemort's plan when she explains to Harry why he didn't come to get the prophecy himself. Shortly afterward, she threatens Ginny and then Neville with torture to convince Harry to hand over the prophecy. She is described as: âpossessed, quivering with excitement, as her gaze went from Harry to Neville.â This is how Harry sees her, but in practice she doesn't do anything truly senseless. Her sadism drives her to be very skilled at using the Cruciatus, but in the context of war or battles, this works in her favor. Every time she threatens to torture someone in the series, she does so to convince someone else to do what she wants. The Longbottom Aurors were tortured for information, and in the first draft, it was written as if Alice, Neville's mother, had been tortured to force her husband to cooperate. Just like when Bellatrix threatens Ginny and Neville here, or later, as she will with Hermione. What she does is functional. In the next book, the Half-Blood Prince Bellatrix appears only in the second chapter, and here she shows concern for her sister Narcissa, who has decided to disobey Voldemort's secrecy order and actually goes to Snape for help, revealing the task assigned to Draco. Here Bellatrix interrogates Snape to understand why he didn't try to reunite with Voldemort sooner. She asks sensible questions that all fans have asked at least once. Snape tries to deflect the questions, answering without ever providing any concrete proof, justifying himself by saying he gave them to the Dark Lord, and Bellatrix notices. She's smart enough to figure out what Snape is doing, but her sister's desperation prevents her from continuing to bombard Snape with questions, because apparently she's had all the answers. Furthermore, it's Bella who changes the subject after Snape reminds her that they owe Sirius's death to her. He offers her a silent toast for this, but she doesn't smile, doesn't appear pleased, but instead changes the subject, as if she doesn't want to think about it.
Throughout the scene, Snape subtly insults her and denigrates her actions. She responds by insulting him back, but doesn't threaten violence. Of course, it could be because Snape enjoys Voldemort's favor at this point in the story, but he's clearly capable of controlling himself; he doesn't throw unprovoked outbursts, even against someone he openly despises like Snape. What's more interesting, however, is that she admits to Narcissa that she thinks Voldemort is wrong to trust Snape. She, his most loyal Death Eater, openly questions her master, and despite not trusting Snape, she follows Narcissa and helps her forge the Unbreakable Vow. This is a betrayal, as she herself reminds us in the book:
"We were told not to discuss the plan with anyone. This is a betrayal of the Dark Lord..."
She is willing to "betray" Voldemort to some extent, or go against his direct orders, if it means protecting her family, which in this case is Narcissa and, by extension, her nephew Draco. And she is unwilling to raise her wand against her younger sister, even after she has clearly threatened her.
âLet go, Bella!â snarled Narcissa, and she drew a wand from beneath her cloak, holding it threateningly in the otherâs face. Bella merely laughed. âCissy, your own sister? You wouldnât ââ âThere is nothing I wouldnât do anymore!â Narcissa breathed, a note of hysteria in her voice, and as she brought down the wand like a knife, there was another flash of light. Bella let go of her sisterâs arm as though burned. âNarcissa!â But Narcissa had rushed ahead. Rubbing her hand, her pursuer followed again, keeping her distance now, as they moved deeper into the deserted labyrinth of brick houses.
Bellatrix Lestrange, the cruel, heartless Death Eater who could have easily stunned her sister so she wouldn't betray the Dark Lord, simply begs her to come back and lets her threaten her openly? She clearly shows that she can and will hold back; if it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have allowed the wand to be held under her chin. After this chapter, Bellatrix doesn't appear again throughout the book; contrary to what is shown in the film, she doesn't take part in the raid on Hogwarts at the end of the year, she doesn't witness Dumbledore's death in the Astronomy Tower, she doesn't destroy the Great Hall, or set fire to Hagrid's hut; in the book, another Death Eater does the latter. The fact that she doesn't appear here, in the book canon, could lend support to the theory that she was pregnant at the time. In hindsight, after the release of The Cursed Child, this might be credible, but a hypothetical chronology of events would need to be studied to judge its credibility. It remains that in canon, Bellatrix is âânot present on the night of Dumbledore's death, nor does she attack the Burrow during the Christmas holidays. These are scenes created by the film but which in no way reflect their book counterparts. And so, all that remains is for us to move on to the last book in the saga, in which Bellatrix appears significantly more. We see her from the first chapter at the Death Eaters' meeting, here she appears eager to lean forward towards Voldemort, unlike her sister, who is clearly intimidated, she hangs on the dark wizard's every word, seeks his consent and when he taunts her using as a pretext the recent marriage of her niece Nymphadora with Remus Lupin who is a well-known werewolf she is quick to repudiate that relationship.
âMany of our oldest family trees become a little diseased over time,â he said as Bellatrix gazed at him, breathless and imploring. âYou must prune yours, must you not, to keep it healthy? Cut away those parts that threaten the health of the rest.â âYes, my Lord,â whispered Bellatrix, and her eyes swam with tears of gratitude again. âAt the first chance!â
This is why Bellatrix will kill Tonks during the Battle of Hogwarts. When she confronted her at the Ministry years earlier, she didn't kill her, nor her sister Andromeda, who was disinherited shortly after finishing Hogwarts. As much as Bellatrix believes in the purist cause, she never truly "pruned" her family tree as Voldemort intended. She simply distanced herself from those she deemed impure traitors, but she didn't kill them. Sirius's death wasn't intentional at the Ministry. After Voldemort's order, however, it becomes urgent for her, at least on the surface. But for years, she didn't have this desire. During the pursuit of the seven Potters, it seems that Bellatrix specifically pursued Nymphadora:
âSo what kept you? What happened?â Lupin sounded almost angry at Tonks. âBellatrix,â said Tonks. âShe wants me quite as much as she wants Harry Remus, she tried very hard to kill me. I just wish Iâd got her, I owe Bellatrix. But we definitely injured Rodolphus. . . . Then we got to Ronâs Auntie Murielâs and weâd missed our Portkey and she was fussing over us-â A muscle was jumping in Lupinâs jaw. He nodded, but seemed unable to say anything else.
Now I'll venture my own interpretation: "Bellatrix tried her hardest to kill me." As much as I LOVE Tonks and as much as she is canonically an excellent duelist, it seems incredibly unlikely that Bellatrix, despite trying her hardest, couldn't finish her off, or at least unseat her without a wand. Let's remember that they were all flying, and the reason Harry was recognized was because he decided to disarm Stan Picket but not to kill him, because if he had dropped him without a wand, the boy would have died. Do you really mean to tell me that Bellatrix wasn't even able to knock Tonks off her broom despite trying with all her might? This seems unlikely to me. It looks more like a measured use of force, which, let's reiterate, requires self-control. There's no sign of madness here, but rather a clear attempt to circumvent Voldemort's order. And even if she succeeds at the end of the book, it's interesting to see how months pass. Nymphadora, from what Remus tells us, was staying at her mother, Andromeda,'s house while she was pregnant, and the Death Eaters knew where they lived. Nymphadora was stigmatized for having married a werewolf. It doesn't seem like she was hiding, but rather, like Mr. Weasley, she continued to appear in public to keep up appearances. The Death Eaters then visited Tonks' house after Harry, Ron, and Hermione ran away from Bill and Fleur's wedding. Remus tells us on the call:
â...they (Death Eaters) used the Cruciatus Curse on Tonksâs family. Again, trying to find out where you went after you visited them. Theyâre all right â shaken, obviously, but otherwise okay.â
They tortured them but didn't k**l them, this is an important point. Although Bellatrix professes to Voldemort that she wants to eliminate her family's traitors, even though she has the chance, she doesn't do so unless she finds herself in direct conflict with Voldemort nearby. Bellatrix is ââno stranger to this; throughout the saga, she speaks differently to the Dark Lord, almost having to flaunt her devotion and loyalty, but the facts speak for themselves. The next time we see her, she's again at Malfoy Manor when the trio is taken there by the Snatchers. (Chapter 23) And this is the moment when she seems most upset. If when she first appears, she's merely curious and later argues with Lucius about who should summon the Dark Lord, as soon as she realizes that a Snatcher has Gryffindor's sword, she becomes agitated and, as she has done in the past, takes control of the situation, attacks the Snatchers and has Draco throw them out, silencing her sister's complaints. Here Bellatrix is ââdescribed as frightening and mad, but precisely because she knows the whole family is in grave danger. She tortures Hermione for information, does the same with Griphook, and only when she's sure the sword is a copy is she ready to call on Voldemort. If it hadn't been for Dobby's intervention, her behavior would have led to the trio's demise. Killing Dobby, after he actively tried to harm them all to free Harry and his friends, is also consistent with her character. She insults him and orders Narcissa to kill him, but this doesn't conflict with her aforementioned relationship with Kreacher. She certainly considers other creatures inferior according to pureblood education, but she is wise enough to treat Kreacher kindly, out of a sense of mutual respect, something that is clearly lacking with Dobby. Simply put, like the elf in the Black family's service, she is also kind to him, who, obviously, from Harry's perspective, are very few people in the saga. And here, too, Bellatrix is ââfar from mad.
Before the final battle, we learn (chapter 32) that Remus was dueling Dolohov, and Tonks rushes to help him. We don't know exactly when they died, but initially it seems that Dolohov killed them both, which would suggest that Bellatrix never obeyed Voldemort's order to kill them. At no point is Bellatrix seen fighting her niece or her niece's husband during the final battle. Only later, in an interview, did the author state that it was Bellatrix who killed her niece, without explicitly stating this in the book. This would be one of those details that is still taken as canon, like many others.
We meet Bellatrix in person in Chapter 34 as she waits with Voldemort and the other Death Eaters in the forest for Harry's arrival. Here, she's shown sitting next to Voldemort, and later, worried as he passes out in Chapter 36, when Narcissa lies and says Harry is dead. Bellatrix rejoices like everyone else, but nothing more. Even later, as they face the resistance of Hogwarts, she doesn't react particularly, and when it comes to the final battle, she engages in a duel with three opponents near Voldemort. Molly takes the place of Ginny, Luna, and Hermione and barely manages to kill Bellatrix, who has made the same mistake as Sirius: underestimating her opponent. Throughout the entire saga, there's never a single moment in which Bellatrix behaves insanely or without motivation. She always has reasons for what she does, and in her mind, they're more than legitimate. I find it vaguely sad that many fans over the years have distorted her character by describing her as a maniac, but she isn't. On the contrary, she's a very interesting character who deserves to be explored more deeply, not trivialized. So no, Bellatrix Lestrange isn't crazy.
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