Something about theHarry Pottervillain Barty Crouch Jr has always bugged me, but I think I’m finally starting to make sense of him. As far as Dark wizards that Harry came in contact with, he was the most surprising. Not because Barty Jr himself wasn’t a known Death Eater, but because he had been disguised as Mad-Eye Moody for the entirety ofHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. While the final chapters revealed a great deal about who this character really was, there’s still a lot we don’t know. What’s more, I never entirely got Barty’s motivations.
Barty Crouch Jr was the son of Barty Crouch Sr, a Ministry official who was the head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement during the First Wizarding War. Crouch Sr was infamous for his harshness against anyone believed guilty of Dark magic or following Lord Voldemort, which made the reveal that his son was a Death Eater all the more shocking.InHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry unknowingly spent a great deal of time with Crouch Jr, who played the part of Mad-Eye Moody well. So well, in fact, thathis motivations as a villain become a bit confusing.
Every Harry Potter In Order (And & How Long Their Runtime Is)
While the story of Harry Potter has ended, it seems like the end is nowhere in sight yet for The Wizarding World. Let’s look at every movie so far.
Barty Crouch Jr’s Crimes & Motivations In Harry Potter Have Always Been Confusing
Crouch Jr Hated Death Eaters Who Denied Serving Lord Voldemort - But He Did Just That
It was easy to loveMad-Eye Moody inHarry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, making the fact that he was a villain in disguise hard to swallow. This also meant that, in the end, I closed the book without a thorough understanding of either Mad-Eye or Barty Crouch Jr—it was hard to tell where one started and the other began. Of course, tidbits about Crouch Jr’s past were revealed throughout the story, and his interrogation with Dumbledore filled in the gaps. We ultimately learn thathe was obsessed with Lord Voldemort—devastatingly loyal—but then why did he deny him?
Barty Crouch Jr’s arrest scene was drastically changed in theHarry Potter and the Goblet of Firemovie, where he didn’t try to deny the charges against him.
When Crouch Jr was sent to Azkaban, he begged his father to set him free, crying that he was innocent and had done nothing wrong. Harry witnessed this through the Pensive and felt pity for the young man. However, we later learn thatCrouch Jr hated nothing more than when Voldemort’s Death Eaters denied their masterand, therefore, avoided Azkaban. It was for this reason that he was so effective at impersonating Mad-Eye since they both hated nothing more than a Death Eater who got away. Despite this, Crouch Jr himself tried to do just this.
The Harry Potter Books Hint That Crouch Was Different From The Other Death Eaters
Crouch Jr Didn’t Care About Muggles Or Muggle-Borns
While rereadingGoblet of Fire, I searched for clues regarding Crouch Jr’s motivations. Sure, he wanted to bring Voldemort back, but it didn’t seem to be because he cared about wizard supremacy or the oppression of Muggles. He never mentioned anything about this. All he wanted was to be by his master’s side—despite having denied being Voldemort’s follower during his court hearing. Crouch Jr wasn’t the same as Lucius Malfoy or even the loyal Bellatrix Lestrange (who never denied her part in the Longbottoms' torture). Instead, I found thathis motivations for following Voldemort were far more tragic.
After Barty-Crouch-as-Mad-Eye told Harry that he had put his name in the Goblet of Fire, he began to monologue about how, after killing Harry, he would beVoldemort’s most honored Death Eater,calling himself “his closest supporter . . . closer than a son.“Crouch Jr didn’t care about Muggles or Muggle-borns because all he had ever wanted was his father’s love. However, Crouch Sr was obsessed only with Dark wizards, and what better way to get the man’s attention than to become one?
Crouch Sr was obsessed only with Dark wizards, and what better way to get the man’s attention than to become one?
This is why Crouch Jr. begged for his father’s mercy once he was caught and why he hated Death Eaters who were never imprisoned. He had been desperate for Crouch Sr to acknowledge that he was his son andhated anyone his father had set free because the man hadn’t done this for his own child. While Crouch Jr once tried to reject Voldemort, he became his most loyal servant, not because he revered him as a god but because he loved him as a replacement father.
There’s A Lot We Still Don’t Know About Barty Crouch Jr
Barty Crouch Jr’s Life Was Short & Tragic
The efforts to mislead readers about Barty Crouch Jr means that a great deal of his own story was rather confusing. Many of his acts of kindness while pretending to be Mad-Eye Moody were unnecessary to his mission and, therefore, made his past crimes confusing. His actions during his hearing and his words to Harry at the end ofGoblet of Fireare contradictory, which makes it challenging to understand precisely who this character is. Add in the fact that theHarry Pottermovies cut nearly everything about Crouch Jr’spast, and there’s a lot of uncertainty here.
Typically, J.K. Rowling would have expanded on a character like this onPottermore(nowWizarding World), but nothing has been explicitly written on Barty Crouch Jr, soI must content myself by reading between the lines. Crouch Sr revealed that his son had been a top student at Hogwarts, and young Barty’s mother loved him enough to sacrifice her own life for him, taking his place in Azkaban Prison. I find it heartbreaking that he had so much potential and that, unlike other villains inHarry Potter, Barty Crouch Jr didn’t turn to Voldemort for power. He just wanted a father.
Harry Potter
Harry Potter is a multimedia franchise about an orphaned boy who enrolls at Hogwarts School of Wizardry, where he learns the truth about himself, his family, and the terrible evil that haunts the magical world. Adapted from the novels, Harry Potter is an eight-episode film saga that follows the journey of Harry Potter and his friends, Hermoine Granger and Ron Weasley, as they navigate the tricky world of growing up, school life, and magic. Starting from year one and moving to their seventh year, the films chronicle the students' time at Hogwarts while unfurling a sinister plot that centers around the unsuspecting Harry. With the return of the dark wizard, Voldemort, the students and professors at Hogwarts will fight to carry on as the world around them may change forever. Harry Potter has expanded beyond the world of its films and novels with several video games, a spin-off film series titled Fantastic Beasts, and even attractions at Universal Studios.
