When is bellatrix introduced

At some point, she received training in the Dark Arts from Voldemort himself. However, he never returned her feelings as he was incapable of understanding love and disliked the idea of being emotionally attached to anyone. The pair remained loyal to the Dark Lord throughout the war, even after he was "defeated" by the infant Harry Potter. Bellatrix is tried before the Council of Magical Law , along with her husband, her brother-in-law, and Barty Crouch Jnr.

After the Dark Lord's fall on 31 October , , Bellatrix and a group of Voldemort's followers, including Rodolphus, her brother-in-law Rabastan , and Barty Crouch Jnr , managed to avoid capture or execution by Aurors. Seeking to find and revive their master, the group kidnapped Aurors and Order of the Phoenix members Alice and Frank Longbottom , just new parents to Neville Longbottom.

She and her partners used the Cruciatus Curse to torture the couple for information on Voldemort's whereabouts, until the two captives were driven into insanity when they refused to divulge anything. This happened when Neville was only a baby. Frank and Alice were placed in the Janus Thickey Ward for irrevocable spell damage at St Mungo's Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries and, due to them undergoing extreme torture, were rendered unaware that they had a son together.

Bellatrix while imprisoned in Azkaban. This crime caused a wave of fury upon the wizard community of such ferocity that the Ministry of Magic were critically pressured to find the culprits. When the four were captured, they were tried before the Council of Magical Law and sentenced to life imprisonment in Azkaban.

Unlike many other Death Eaters , Bellatrix didn't lie about her loyalty — she proudly claimed that she was loyal to Voldemort and that she would wait for his return. Marked as Prisoner 93, Bellatrix was sentenced to life in Azkaban with no chance of release. For her actions, she later described herself as the Dark Lord's most loyal follower and even Lord Voldemort, whom she admired the most, gained a considerable amount of respect for her.

Her fifteen years in a maximum security cell took a toll on her mentally, as it did with so many, as well as hollowing out her appearance until only the faintest traces of her familial beauty remained. Harry Potter later witnessed Bellatrix's trial in in a memory of Professor Dumbledore's. When Voldemort returned to power in June , he said that Bellatrix, Rodolphus, and Rabastan Lestrange were faithful members of his inner circle and should be rewarded, as they didn't denounce him after they were captured and tried.

In January , a mass breakout from Azkaban set ten long-imprisoned Death Eaters loose. Bellatrix was one of the ten who escaped in the mass breakout and rejoined Voldemort, as well as the Dementors whom Albus Dumbledore correctly predicted would side with Voldemort. The Daily Prophet probably with encouragement from the Ministry of Magic reported that the escaped criminal Sirius Black must be responsible for the incident. These ten were considered to be some of the most dangerous and highly guarded convicts due to their crimes being brutal and legendary.

As a result, Bellatrix and her allies became wanted witches and wizards, living in hiding to avoid being captured by the Ministry. Neville Longbottom threatening Bellatrix in the Hall of Prophecy. She was enraged when Harry spoke Voldemort's given name and mentioned his true status as a half-blood.

This enraged her so much that she actually tried to stun him before Lucius deflected her spell with a Shield Charm , not wanting to inadvertently harm the prophecy they were sent to retrieve. She was very condescending when dealing with the six D.

Bellatrix tried unsuccessfully to retrieve the prophecy from Harry Potter via a Summoning Charm , as her efforts were stopped by Harry's quick use of his own Shield Charm. However, she was willing to do whatever it took to get the prophecy from Harry, including gleefully and sadistically threatening to torture fourteen year old Ginny Weasley with the Cruciatus Curse while he was forced to watch. When the Order of the Phoenix members arrived, Bellatrix duelled and defeated her niece, Nymphadora Tonks.

She then began fighting her cousin Sirius Black who proceeded to taunt her during the course of their duel but she then struck him with a spell that sent him through the veil in the Death Chamber, killing him. After Sirius's death, Bellatrix defeated Kingsley Shacklebolt before deciding to flee. Driven into a rage at the loss of his godfather, Harry pursued her all the way to the Atrium in an attempt to avenge him. After hideously mocking his relationship with Sirius, Harry attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse on her but only knocked her over causing her a few seconds of pain.

Dropping her jeering manner, Bellatrix disdainfully lectured him on his failure to execute the curse effectively inadvertently teaching him how to do it properly in the future before resolving to torture him herself with it in order to demonstrate the full potency of the curse. After unsuccessfully attempting to attack Harry, she discovered to her horror that the prophecy had been destroyed and proceeded to panic, repeatedly attempting to summon it in vain from Harry who laughed at her efforts and dismissed her pleadings for leniency from her master due to being unaware that the latter had just arrived at the Ministry.

Once Harry realised that Voldemort was indeed present, Bellatrix pleaded with her master not to be punished and tried to warn him that Dumbledore was nearby, but he ignored her and concentrated on attempting to kill Harry. As the Killing Curse blasted from the end of his wand towards Harry, Dumbledore arrived and enchanted the statues of the Fountain of Magical Brethren to protect Harry, act as reinforcements, and to ensure that Bellatrix couldn't intervene as she was then pinned to the ground by the newly sentient witch statue.

However, she was the sole Death Eater to escape being captured by effectively blocking the spell that he had attempted to cast upon her. Before duelling Voldemort, Dumbledore summoned Cornelius Fudge and several Aurors to the Ministry using the statues as messengers via the fireplaces along the Atrium wall.

After a failed attempt at possessing Harry, Voldemort grabbed Bellatrix before Apparating away but not before being seen by Fudge and the Aurors. With the rest of the Death Eaters immobilised and caught by the Ministry only moments later, Bellatrix was the only Death Eater not to be apprehended due to Voldemort intervening on her behalf, a testament to his acknowledgement of her loyalty to him.

Once there, Bellatrix interrogated Snape and voiced her distrust of him. Snape's calm, reasonable, and logical answers to her aggressive questioning rendered her dissatisfied, but temporarily without retort. However, Narcissa proceeded to beg Snape to look after her son Draco 's welfare while he attended Hogwarts and tried to fulfil Voldemort's orders to kill Dumbledore. Snape shocked Bellatrix by asking her to bind him and Narcissa with an Unbreakable Vow to assist Draco.

Furthermore, Bellatrix assisted her nephew in his task by teaching him Occlumency , a tool he used against Snape in order to conceal the details of his mission. By the next year, Bellatrix was living with Narcissa at Malfoy Manor.

She was the only resident of the manor who was actually pleased that Voldemort was staying there, telling him that there was " no higher pleasure ". Despite her unwavering loyalty, her master humiliated her and the Malfoys by mentioning the marriage of Nymphadora Tonks , the daughter of their sister, to the werewolf Remus Lupin. However, Bellatrix insisted that she and Narcissa didn't consider Nymphadora to be their niece, as they had disowned their sister for marrying a Muggle-born.

Voldemort eventually stopped the teasing and advised Bellatrix to continue to "prune" her "family tree", which she eagerly agreed to do as soon as possible. Despite her proclaimed loyalty towards her master, even Bellatrix hesitated when Voldemort said that he would need to borrow a wand from them in order to circumvent the problem of his own wand refusing to kill Harry, looking much like her colleagues " as though he had asked to borrow one of their arms ".

When the Death Eaters subsequently attacked the Order of the Phoenix while they were moving Harry Potter from 4 Privet Drive , Bellatrix and her husband pursued a disguised Ronald Weasley and Tonks, whom Bellatrix tried very hard to kill. However, Rodolphus was injured in the pursuit and Tonks escaped. Soon afterwards, a copy of Godric Gryffindor's Sword was secured in Bellatrix's family vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank with Bellatrix and the Death Eaters unaware that it was merely a copy.

The goblins who ran the bank noticed at once that it was not the genuine article, but neglected to mention it to Bellatrix owing to their disdain at the new wizard control of their bank.

Bellatrix sees the Sword of Gryffindor and retaliates against the Snatchers who possess it. In March , when Harry Potter , Ron Weasley , and Hermione Granger were captured by a group of Snatchers and brought to the manor, Bellatrix was at first eager to make sure that Voldemort was informed right away and she and Lucius briefly argued over who would summon him. When she spotted Godric Gryffindor's Sword amongst the trio's captured possessions, however, she at once flew into a panic because the sword as far as she knew was hidden in her vault.

This led Harry to deduce that there could be something of great importance in her vault which ended up being one of Voldemort's Horcruxes: Helga Hufflepuff's Cup. Bellatrix, coming out of her panicked state, ordered the Snatcher holding the sword to hand it over to her and stunned the man when he refused.

The other Snatchers turned on her at once, but even though it was four on one, they were no match for her and she quickly stunned three of them and forced Greyback to his knees, demanding to know where he had found the sword. He then informed her that the sword had been found in the Trio's tent. She then took charge of the situation by resorting to torturing Hermione into revealing how the sword was in the Trio's possession and demanded that the rest of the prisoners be taken into the cellar temporarily, while ordering the Stunned Snatchers to be placed in the courtyard to be disposed of by her personally at a later time.

Bellatrix brutally torturing Hermione Granger with the Cruciatus Curse. Bellatrix proceeded to brutally torture Hermione with the Cruciatus Curse , asking her again and again about the Sword and if they had taken anything else from their vault. Even in extreme pain, Hermione managed to lie, claiming the real sword was only a copy. Griphook also managed to lie, obeying Harry's request to not tell Bellatrix the truth, keeping the trio's secret safe.

After Peter Pettigrew who had been sent to check on the prisoners after hearing a suspicious noise was strangled to death in the cellar with his own silver hand given to him by Voldemort after showing mercy to Harry and Ron escaped the cellar and proceeded up the stairs to aid Hermione. Bellatrix threatened Hermione with her knife, after Harry stunned Greyback and Lucius and Ron disarmed her.

While holding the knife to an unconscious Hermione's throat, Bellatrix demanded that the prisoners drop their wands, and then pressed her Dark Mark , calling Voldemort. However, Dobby who had been sent by Aberforth Dumbledore to rescue Harry and his friends created a diversion by causing the chandelier to fall from above Bellatrix's head, making her release Hermione and jump out of the way. She lashed out at the house-elf in complete disbelief of his rebellious action to his "former masters". Dobby claimed he was a "free elf" and Disapparated.

As the house-elf Disapparated with Harry, Bellatrix threw a silver knife at them in a desperate attempt to prevent their escape, and the Apparition sucked up the knife with it, wounding Dobby in his chest, who then died. She also lost her wand in the skirmish. Bellatrix and her relatives were severely punished by Voldemort for allowing Harry to escape. After the incident at Malfoy Manor , Hermione used a hair of Bellatrix that had fallen on her while she was torturing her to change herself into Bellatrix using Polyjuice Potion , therefore letting her sneak into Gringotts , as Diagon Alley was infested with Death Eaters.

During the Battle of Hogwarts on 2 May , Bellatrix finally succeeded in murdering Nymphadora Tonks , her estranged sister 's daughter. Bellatrix eagerly asked Voldemort if she could check Harry for signs of life, but was refused again and he instead sent her younger sister to confirm his death.

When Narcissa had lied and told Voldemort that Harry was dead, Bellatrix and the other Death Eaters followed Voldemort to Hogwarts to announce Harry's "death", gloating at the despair of the survivors. When the battle resumed, Bellatrix fought Hermione Granger , Ginny Weasley , and Luna Lovegood all at once, having become the last Death Eater standing aside from Voldemort, who was also fighting three opponents.

It was said that despite all three young witches being skilled and working in tandem, together they did not outclass her. She cast a Killing Curse at Ginny, which narrowly missed its mark by an inch; the act was witnessed by both an invisible Harry, who was infuriated enough to actually target Bellatrix over Voldemort, and Molly Weasley. The Weasley matriarch, having already lost one child that night and distraught at the prospect of losing her only daughter, promptly threw off her cloak and shouted a vocal challenge to the Death Eater as she charged forward, causing Bellatrix to cackle with laughter at her.

However, Bellatrix's reckless, arrogant laughter quickly turned to rage as Molly began to attack, making her realise her opponent was more formidable than she had expected. The two began to duel with the intensity of their powers being stated as causing the ground beneath them to become hot and cracked due to their intent to finish the other off once and for all.

Despite this, Bellatrix continued to laugh and mock her opponent with sadistic glee even as Molly's powerful curses missed her by inches, eventually providing an opening for Molly to strike her in the chest with a curse which proved fatal.

As her body toppled to the ground, an outraged Voldemort turned on Molly, which prompted Harry who had watched the battle unfold beneath his Invisibility Cloak to reveal himself. The final showdown between him and Voldemort ensued, but Bellatrix didn't live to find out that her mistrust of Snape had been valid or see her master's final defeat moments later. During the Calamity which occurred in s across the wizarding world , a portrait of Bellatrix escaped Malfoy Manor as one of the many Foundables , for unknown and mysterious reasons.

Bellatrix had the classic "great good looks" and arrogant bearing common for members of the House of Black : She was a tall woman with long, thick, shiny dark hair. Her face had a strong jaw, [5] a thin mouth, [4] and heavily lidded eyes with long eyelashes. However like her cousin Sirius Black , her lengthy imprisonment in Azkaban took a toll on her appearance - her face became gaunt and skull-like, but she still managed to retain vestiges of her great beauty.

There was a remarkable resemblance between Bellatrix and her sisters - at first glance, Harry mistook Andromeda Tonks for Bellatrix, being was only upon closer observation did he notice the differences Andromeda had lighter brown hair, a kinder face, and wider eyes. Besides this, Narcissa Malfoy was as fair as Bellatrix was dark. Bellatrix was an intensely sadistic witch with brutal, violent tendencies.

Bellatrix was one of Voldemort 's cruellest Death Eaters , always eager to inflict the Cruciatus Curse on enemies. Harry Potter noted that she was as " mad as her master.

She believed to have proven her loyalty by her time in Azkaban , an event which had seemingly furthered her mental decline. She did not trust Severus Snape , and believed that Voldemort was mistaken in doing so, though she showed shame and fear when expressing this. Bellatrix sadistically laughing at the announcement of Harry Potter 's "death". Overall, Bellatrix was obsessed with blood purity and took immense pride in the aristocracy of her family since a young age.

Like all the rest of Lord Voldemort's followers, she was vehemently against all half-bloods , Muggle-borns , Muggles , and half-breeds.

She had a particular disdain for blood traitors , not being above killing members of her own family who displeased her, including her cousin Sirius and her younger sister's daughter Nymphadora , whom she sought to kill with great determination.

Given her reaction to Harry's words that Voldemort is a half-blood, it is likely that she didn't know that her master wasn't a pure-blood or at least was in denial. Bellatrix was intelligent and a natural leader, taking charge in tricky situations. The latter event was a mark of her decisiveness and ruthlessness, as she took no unnecessary prisoners preferring to kill them instead , as she planned to do with a group of Snatchers who attempted to defy her.

Bellatrix was also egotistical and arrogant, described by Harry as " treat[ing] everyone like scum" in a rather taunting way. She had immense confidence in her skills and never hesitated to jump into battle against any auror or Order of the Phoenix member.

Furthermore, she was immensely proud of her status as the most loyal and devoted follower of Lord Voldemort. In the Department of Mysteries, it is noted that the other Death Eaters present seem disturbed by Bellatrix' intensity, and, at one point, Lucius Malfoy must restrain her.

Though she is married to Rodolphus Lestrange, Bellatrix has long harbored a passionate desire for Lord Voldemort. It is unclear whether she is truly in love with him or merely besotted by his power, but regardless, her obsessive lust leads her to being among his most devoted and fanatical Death Eaters.

However, her feelings are hardly reciprocated, as Voldemort believes love is a weakness, nor is he even capable of experiencing that emotion.

Though Voldemort utterly trusts and relies on her, he would likely sacrifice her, as he did Snape, if it served his evil purpose. The three women's father is Cygnus Black, who is Sirius Black's uncle. The extensive inbreeding within the "pure-blood" wizard lines can be measured by examining the Black family tree , which shows that Bellatrix is related distantly to many major players in the story, including: the Weasleys, both directly and via the Prewetts; the Tonks; the Longbottoms; the Macmillans; the Crouches; and even Harry himself.

Note that though related to the Tonks clan by Andromeda's marriage to Ted Tonks , Bellatrix has disavowed the relationship and has expunged Andromeda from the family tree, and even physically attacked Andromeda's daughter, her own niece, Nymphadora Tonks. Bellatrix has few personal relationships, though she appears to be close to her other sister, Narcissa Malfoy, and dotes on her only nephew, Draco, Narcissa's son, though she and her brother-in-law, Lucius Malfoy, also a Death Eater, seem barely cordial with one another.

It is unknown what Bellatrix's and her husband's marriage is like, as they are rarely seen interacting with one another, nor does she mention him. Their union is childless. Bellatrix strongly distrusts Severus Snape. Given that she is sufficiently skilled as an Occlumens to be teaching the technique to Draco, we can imagine that this suspicion is partially due to Snape's own ability in that field.

Bellatrix no doubt has attempted to use Legilimency on Snape and had been blocked, though she may have been unaware. Her ongoing distrust regarding Snape may largely be due to her inability to read his motives, along with the fact that Snape seems to have replaced Bellatrix in Voldemort's councils. It is possible that the two got along at least slightly better when they were younger, and that the distrust stems from relatively recent events.

We note that Sirius mentions they were friends or at least acquaintances during their Hogwarts years. As much as Bellatrix loves Lord Voldemort, she equally hates Harry Potter, considering him the greatest threat to Voldemort and his plans. She will do anything to assist the Dark Lord's desire to defeat Harry.

Even by most Wizarding world standards, Bellatrix is considered more than slightly insane. In Dumbledore's Pensieve, we see her screaming defiance at the Wizengamot. After finding her portrait that Kreacher had hidden away at Grimmauld Place , Harry remarks on her insane appearance. Of all the Death Eaters in the battle in the Ministry of Magic , she alone is restrained from attacking Harry before he has relinquished the Prophecy. She also wants to torture Neville , just as she did to his parents many years before, to force Harry into yielding the Prophecy.

Interestingly, while at Snape's home in Spinner's End, she is the voice of moderation, urging Narcissa to avoid getting into trouble by seeking Snape's help against Voldemort's wishes. Like Voldemort, Bellatrix does not understand love.

She has an obsession with Voldemort, which she may mistake for love, but it is not reciprocated: he regards his followers as servants and tools for his own ends. When meeting with Narcissa Malfoy and Snape to discuss Draco's mission, she does not understand why Narcissa is so worried about Draco.

She says that if she had children of her own, she would gladly sacrifice them to do Voldemort's work. Rowling wrote elsewhere that her defeat at the hands of Molly Weasley is a symbolic victory of Molly's motherly love over Bellatrix's obsessive love.

Study questions are meant to be left for each student to answer; please don't answer them here. Much like Charlie Weasley , Bellatrix seems to have two canon ages given in the series.

Originally Sirius mentioned that she and her husband were friends of Snape's when they were at Hogwarts together. Over the next few books however we learn that she is the oldest of her sisters, both which seem to be a bit older than both Snape and Sirius.

Andromeda, her younger sister, has a daughter Nymphadora Tonks who's said to be about 22 when she was first introduced, and about by the time of her death. This would make Andromeda at least 40 by the time Nymphadora was introduced if we assume that she didn't have a child until after Hogwarts which would make Bellatrix 40 or older.

She's on his right when she tries to help him up, and when she's pushed away, she gets up and returns to his right. It's a fascinating and subtle filmmaking decision, one that makes you immediately want to rewatch the film while you're at it, why not rewatch all of the Harry Potter movies? In the scene in which Bellatrix tortures Hermione and interrogates her about Godric Gryffindor's sword, she carves " mudblood " into Hermione's arm with a knife.

Bellatrix comes from a proud pure-blood family that hates all non-pure-bloods. This is a way for her to taunt and shame Hermione for her muggle-born heritage. This moment wasn't in the script. The carving of " mudblood " is the final step in Bellatrix's torture, and it's what gets to Hermione the most. In the film, we see her lying on the floor. When she looks at her arm with a drop of blood trickling down, she starts to cry.

Filming Hermione's torture was so intense for the two actresses involved that Helena Bonham Carter approached Emma Watson after it to make sure their relationship was still okay. Occlumency is the art of magically closing your mind against Legilimency, or mind-reading.

It's a rare and difficult skill. Snape calls it "An obscure branch of magic, but a highly useful one" in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. She trains him in using non-verbal spells and the Unforgivable Curses as well. She was a great teacher: Draco successfully prevents Snape from learning his thoughts. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix , Snape teaches Harry Occlumency, and we learn that in consists of making your mind blank so as to hide all thoughts from an Legilimens.

One can also suppress only some thoughts, leaving others so that the Legilimens doesn't suspect the use of Occlumency. Wands with dragon heartstring produce the most flamboyant spells and easily are turned to the Dark Arts.

Harry shows it to Mr. Ollivander, who remembers every wand he's ever sold, and the wandmaker identifies it as Bellatrix's, calling it "unyielding.

Hermione reluctantly used the wand after Bellatrix lost it because her own had been confiscated by Snatchers after Harry accidentally broke the Taboo curse by saying Voldemort's name and they were exposed. Hermione doesn't like using the wand because of the evil associated with it. However, it came in handy when she impersonated Bellatrix using a Polyjuice Potion. Bellatrix was then forced to get a second wand, which we don't know much about.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child dropped a major revelation: Bellatrix and Voldemort have a secret illegitimate daughter together. That means Bellatrix cheated on her husband Rodolphus.

Delphini also known as Delphi was conceived sometime after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, but before Bellatrix and Voldemort's death at the Battle of Hogwarts. She was born at Malfoy Manor. Delphini is a half-blood, since Bellatrix is a pure-blood and Voldemort is a half-blood. And she was an orphan, just like her father.

Bellatrix was probably ecstatic about having a child with Voldemort, since she was in love with him. Voldemort, however, doesn't feel the need for love and doesn't like to be emotionally attached to anyone. Delphini was raised by Euphemia Rowle. Rodolphus is the one who informed her of her heritage.

Esther Smith played Delphini in the original West End production. In the play, she meets Albus Potter and Scorpius Malfoy.

Do you have any little known facts to share about Harry Potter 's maddest and baddest witch? Drop them in the comments!