Death Eaters are fictional characters in the Harry Potter series of novels and films. They are a group of wizards and witches, led by the dark wizard Lord Voldemort, who seek to purify the Wizarding community by eliminating the Muggle-borns (wizards or witches born to non-magical parents). They also try to create a new order through the Ministry of Magic and cause fear among the Wizarding community by terrorising and killing important officials and other enemies of the Death Eaters, chiefly the members of the Order of the Phoenix.
According to author J. K. Rowling, the original working name for the Death Eaters was "The Knights of Walpurgis."
Death Eaters recognise one another by the Dark Mark on their left forearm, a sign created by Voldemort to summon him instantly to them or vice-versa. Their typical attire includes black hooded robes and masks. The Death Eaters, as a group, first appeared in the novel Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, although individual members of the group, such as Lucius Malfoy, Peter Pettigrew, and Severus Snape, had appeared in earlier books in the series.
Famous quotes containing the words death and/or eater:
“In the whole vast dome of living nature there reigns an open violence, a kind of prescriptive fury which arms all the creatures to their common doom: as soon as you leave the inanimate kingdom you find the decree of violent death inscribed on the very frontiers of life.”
—Joseph De Maistre (1753–1821)
“If ye had not plowed with my heifer, ye had not found out my riddle.”
—Bible: Hebrew Samson, in Judges, 14:18.
To the men who had answered his riddle, “Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”