What does your character think about the end of the war?
Thurstan believes that the war will be finished in a few years, with the Dark Lord’s victory. He thinks that after the Dark Lord has delivered the message to the necessary amount of people, an equilibrium will be reached. Only a few periodic executions to display the Dark Lord’s power will be necessary and the war will be over.
Which side do they honestly believe will win?
There is no doubt in his mind that the Dark Lord will be victorious. It is impossible for him to comprehend how a side that is limited by petty moral principles and a compassion for people who were simply created inferior might triumph. The few times were he contemplated being on the losing side of the war, it was more of a mental exercise than a possibility he actually considered, as he doesn’t see how a cause that is so flawed may reach a victory.
Have they ever thought about changing teams?
Never. Thurstan doesn’t see anything remotely worthy about the other side, and would rather die than betray The Dark Lord.
Where does your character think they’ll be at the end of the war? Do they think the war will end? Will they survive to see it?
Again, although Thurstan believes the blood traitors will soon cease to be a threat and become a nuisance, he doesn’t think they will actually disappear. There will be the need to cut the dangerous ideas at the root, which will lead to a few massacres and confrontations to keep people in line, but he hardly considers that system a war. Whether or not he will survive to see the end of it is still unclear to him.
What would they do to end the war?
At this point, anything, including sacrificing himself. He does not dread the war, but whatever helps the Dark lord achieve his goal of a perfectly structured society is worth the sacrifice, and he would do anything that might grant his approval. It would be incredibly satisfying for him to see the final product of their work, but it is also a cause that he is willing to die for.
How have their expectations for the end changed as the war has progressed?
They have actually changed very little, with the exception of the level of resistance he was expecting. Thurstan had thought people would be much less reluctant to accept a conception of society that assigned each individual to their rightful purpose in a hierarchy and placed such a brilliant individual above everyone. Despite that, he is familiar with human stupidity and still thinks the death eaters will eventually win and manage to create the world he desires.
What hopes, dreams, ambitions do they have for their life following the end of the war?
Thurstan wants nothing but to serve the Dark Lord to the best of his abilities. He longs to fully devote himself to doing his master’s bidding, abandoning his job and mundane pursuits. The Dark Lord’s mere presence is enough to feel him with a sort of euphoria he rarely experienced before, one that exceeds even the one he feels while witnessing pain and distress. Therefore, his greatest aspiration is to be recognized by The Dark Lord himself as a loyal and devoted servant while maintaining the order he fought to achieve.
How do their expectations compare to what you know actually happens to your character?
Thurstan never gets to fulfill any of his goals. His cause does not triumph and he lives a bitter, empty life but his psychotic nature never even fully allows him to recognize it.
If they live to see the end of the war, what will they do when it comes? If they don’t live, how would they feel to see it play out from “King’s Cross Station”? Was their sacrifice worth it?
Thurstan lives to see the end of the war and, during the first few years, often wishes that he hadn’t. His master’s defeat strikes him incredibly hard. After an extremely violent outburst in which he destroys the muggle storage unit in which he kept trinkets of his victims, he retreats to his apartment and spends the first few days dressed in his death eater’s robes and waiting for a knock on his door from someone coming to arrest him as his neighbors loudly celebrate. He doesn’t kill them, not out of new-found restraint or compassion but because he is genuinely too devastated to consider doing anything at all. For a while, he considers turning himself in, but decides against it. The Dark Lord is gone, and he isn’t willing to sacrifice himself in a display of solidarity for people he never actually cared for.
Unable to return to his previous life, Thurstan retreats to his childhood home after a few weeks. Fearing for her life, his mother eventually agrees to take him in and he spends the years after the war in blissful seclusion, occasionally abducting some unsuspecting muggle and torturing them in increasingly gruesome manners that remind him of “the good old days”. He is extremely resentful of the death eaters who managed to move on with their lives as if nothing had happened and often leaves them “messages” to remind them of their previous associations. Despite that, even Thurstan finds other obsessions to occupy his time, devoting himself to his love of mechanical devices and dark magic. He is unsatisfied with this frugal lifestyle, often taking his frustrations out on his mother until the woman finally commits suicide.
At the beginning of the second war, someone does knock on his door, but not for the reason he expected. Thurstan is, of course, ecstatic to hear of the Dark Lord’s survival, fully devoting himself to the cause once again in an effort to prove his loyalty. He is even more confident of their victory this time, fully convincing himself that the Dark Lord is truly immortal and disregarding the order as a pitiful mix of children and tired old men.
At the Battle of Hogwarts, he never fully realizes who sent him the lethal curse, dying with the blissful though of victory on his mind and a cold sensation on his limbs.
