sparsely opining

Color me a skeptic when I come across depictions of Tom as this stoic, stone-cold ice prince of Slytherin.

That was what he tried to project himself as, but at his core, Tom Marvolo Riddle is like a ripe fruit, almost about to burst with pent-up emotions.

I fully endorse the headcanon that deep down, Tom takes after the Gaunts more than the Riddles.

He did a grand job aping their distinguished disposition and glacial aura (his aristocratic looks helped too), but scratch the surface, and he's a Gaunt, a slave to his passions.

Apathy is not his Achilles heel. Avarice and arrogance are.

He's not immune to emotions. On the contrary, he's at their mercy. He's not the type to hide his emotions for long. At the first opportunity, he will make sure the world knows about his feelings, whether it wants to or not. Have you seen him monologue his entire life story and unresolved daddy and mummy issues to his prophesied enemy?

There’s nothing measured, controlled, or austere in my Tom.

He is prone to excess. Just as his Gaunt forefathers thoughtlessly squandered their immense wealth, he too wasted his brilliance, his genius, and his remarkable talent and shredded his soul to pieces in the pursuit of immortality.

The Weasleys were Harry’s favorite family in the world.

Loves his wife openly, using adorably corny pet names and showing consistent affection

Takes visible pride in his children. They respect him deeply and look to him for moral guidance

Continues to write laws protecting Muggles even a decade after Voldemort’s defeat, proving his commitment to justice is not reactive but soemthing he honestly believes in

One of the few characters shown consistently working toward systemic reform, not just opposing Voldemort, but striving to make the wizarding world more equitable, regardless of personal or political cost.

A highly principled and motivated public servant who does meaningful work despite being undervalued by the Ministry and overlooked by many readers

Though not formally part of the Order during the First Wizarding War, it’s clear Arthur had deep ties to its members and supported their efforts. He references Mundungus Fletcher as early as Chamber of Secrets, and Moody trusts him enough that he gets called in during Goblet of Fire when Moody has the home disturbance.

Exceptionally intelligent and curious. He enchants Muggle objects on his own time and shows a love for discovery, invention, and humor and not enough people talk about how these traits are clearly reflected in Fred and George.

He doesn't hesitate to confront Lucius Malfoy in public, ready to physically defend his family without a second thought.

He and Molly create a true sanctuary for others—a home filled with food, warmth, and unconditional acceptance. Their hospitality is essential to the emotional core of the Order.

Finds ways to support his children's interests and autonomy even if he doesn't fully agree with their methods (cough Fred and George)

Values compassion even when people are assholes - stuck around to help the terrified Dursleys, who were being very rude and nasty to him, because they can't deal with magic by themselves.

Still has hard moral limits. One of the first people to stand up for Harry against the Dursleys - and has no patience for Lucius Malfoy's bullshit.

Despite being overworked and undervalued - has made meaningful connections with other people and makes time, space and money to spend doing special things with his family.

Immensely brave. Tackles danger head-on, even if he isn't known to be the strongest Wizard in the world.

Genuine interest in Muggle culture and things. Fandom and the Movies give him shit, portraying him as eccentric and daft, but he shows deeper knowledge and keener understanding of Muggle things no other Pureblood shares. Having a plug collection is so real of him, me too dude He gets words he only occasionally gets to hear spoken wrong (fellytone) but he knows how its used (makes successful phonecalls - and knows you don't need to yell into it) Can DRIVE A CAR on Muggle roads.

Has a Weasel as a patronus. A WEASEL. THAT'S SO CUTE!!!

Burrow-making animal that fights monsters far bigger than itself...

1. He Went to School with Snape

2. Got taught by Snape

3. Became part of the Staff like Snape

And the Fact that he's acting like he knew shit about potions is hilarious cause you just got Snape in the corner like

Snape is 31

Hagrid is 63

Professor Mcgonagall is 56

Lupin and Sirius and Peter (3rd movie/book) 33

Dumbledore is 112

We know that Harry was a victim of the bystander effect throughout his entire early life, which ingrained in him a desire to never, ever be a bystander when someone else is in trouble (his “saving people thing”). And we see this in action throughout the entire series. There aren’t really any times I can think of when Harry doesn’t at least have a desire to help someone in danger — he even saves Draco Malfoy in the Battle of Hogwarts (twice!), right after Draco, Crabbe, and Goyle almost got him killed in the Room of Requirement.

So when Harry is put in a position when he is not only a bystander, but he is forced to inflict suffering on someone he cares about...that really affects him. There wasn’t much else he could do in that situation. He could refuse to do it, but Dumbledore only agreed to bring him along on the condition that he obey every order Dumbledore gave him. If he refused, that would be breaking his word to Dumbledore. And there was no other way to get to the horcrux anyway. Harry knew Dumbledore would just find a way to do it without him. So whichever way it went, Harry was forced to be a bystander while someone he cared about suffered. And not only was he a bystander, he was the one inflicting the suffering.

When we are first introduced to the stories around Sirius, we get this:

Anyway, they cornered Black in the middle of a street full of Muggles an' Black took out 'is wand and 'e blasted 'alf the street apart, an' a wizard got it, an' so did a dozen Muggles what got in the way. 'Orrible, eh? An' you know what Black did then?" Stan continued in a dramatic whisper.

"What?" said Harry.

"Laughed," said Stan. "Jus' stood there an' laughed. An' when reinforcements from the Ministry of Magic got there, 'e went wiv em quiet as anyfink, still laughing 'is 'ead off. 'Cos 'e's mad, inee, Ern? Inee mad?"

And this laughter gets contextualised in the ending chapters of POA:

"He's got dark powers the rest of us can only dream of!" Pettigrew shouted shrilly. "How else did he get out of there? I suppose He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named taught him a few tricks!"

Black started to laugh, a horrible, mirthless laugh that filled the whole room.

In the second scene, he is laughing at the sheer gall of Peter to accuse him after everything.

I have interpreted this contrarian impulse as a habit from his home life - designed to piss people off when they accuse him of something, most likely unjust. And it is the same response that happens in his breakdown over James and Lily's death on the street - it is the mirthless laughter that begins because of audacity of Peter, the situation he found himself in, and it goes into breakdown over James's death.

But you know who else carries these impulses? Harry! There are many small moments in Dursley chapters where Harry has to fight the desire to laugh in a highly tense situation. Sample:

The Dursleys rounded on Harry like a pair of angry wolverines.

What is this?” growled Uncle Vernon. “What’s going on?”

“They — they’ve tried to get here by Floo powder,” said Harry, fighting a mad desire to laugh. “They can travel by fire — only you’ve blocked the fireplace — hang on — ”

But there are more. Here is after Sirius' death, quite a parallel to Sirius' own response, isn't it? Go after who is responsible and then laugh in a hopeless situation:

"Well, you’re going to have to kill me, because it’s gone!” Harry roared — and as he shouted it, pain seared across his forehead. His scar was on fire again, and he felt a surge of fury that was quite unconnected with his own rage. “And he knows!” said Harry with a mad laugh to match Bellatrix ’s own.

(....)

"LIAR!” she shrieked, but he could hear the terror behind the anger now. “YOU’VE GOT IT, POTTER, AND YOU WILL GIVE IT TO ME — Accio Prophecy ! Harry laughed again because he knew it would incense her, the pain building in his head so badly he thought his skull might burst.

And we see it here too. Boy has morbid streak like his godfather:

For the first time, Harry imagined Mad—Eye’s body, broken as Dumbledore’s had been, yet with that one eye still whizzing in its socket. He felt a stab of revulsion mixed with a bizarre desire to laugh.

somewhere among the seven sisters in east sussex:

why?

because the cave is the location in which he hides the only horcux which connects him to his mother.

"the seven sisters" is a term used to refer not only to these cliffs, but to the pleiades star formation.

and one of the stars of the pleiades...

With some help of @tedwardremus and @siriuslychessi, I've been geeking out again.

In short, I think there were about 50-100 dark mark bearing Death Eaters at the height of the war. So let's get into it:

Those we know escaped punishment: c30 DEs

…and what use would it be to deprive Voldemort of his wand, even if he could, when he was surrounded by Death Eaters, outnumbering at least thirty to one?

In the graveyard in GOF, there were about 30 DEs (if we take Harry’s 30 to 1 statement literally). Of those, we know the following seven were present: Lucius Malfoy, Walden Macnair, Avery, Crabbe, Goyle, Nott, and Peter Pettigrew.

Additionally, in ‘Spinner’s End’ (HBP) we learn from Snape that he was among the many Death Eaters who did not go to Azkaban for their crimes. The three(/four) examples given were: Lucius Malfoy, the Carrows, and Yaxley. Apart from Lucius, that adds three more Death Eaters that, since they weren’t in Azkaban, would likely have Apparated to Voldemort's side in the graveyard; the Carrow siblings, Alecto and Amycus, and Corban Yaxley.

Those we know got killed: c 3 DEs

“Rosier and Wilkes — they were both killed by Aurors the year before Voldemort fell.”

“[Evan] Rosier is dead,” said Crouch. “He was caught shortly after you were too. He preferred to fight rather than come quietly and was killed in the struggle.”

Evan Rosier is a separate Rosier from "Rosier and Wilkes" because Evan Rosier was killed after the McKinnon's and the Prewetts were murdered.

Those we know got imprisoned and escaped Azkaban in OOTP: 10

…she spread the newspaper on the table in front of them and pointed at ten black-and-white photographs that filled the whole of the front page, nine showing wizards’ faces and the tenth, a witch’s.

Of those, seven are referenced/seen in ‘The Pensieve’ (GOF) being sent to Azkaban: Antonin Dolohov, Augustus Rookwood, Mulciber, and Travers; as well as the three Lestranges, Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Rabastan.

Defectors: 3

Igor Karkaroff—was a Death Eater during the first war, but chose to make a deal with the ministry and ran for it when Voldemort returned.

Severus Snape—was a Death Eater during the first war, turned spy for Dumbledore

Regulus Black—was a Death Eater during the first war, died trying to destroy a horcrux

Death Eaters we don’t know the origin of

We also know the name of some Death Eaters that either might have gone to Azkaban, or might have been present at the re-birth of Voldemort or might have joined in the second war.

If the four were part of the first wizarding war, they would have either been in the graveyard or they would have been imprisoned, and therefore does nothing to the total count of Death Eaters we know operated during the first war. I've merely added them for completeness:

Jugson—Jugson was definitely either at the rebirth or in Azkaban because he’s mentioned in passing when Lucius yells out every Death Eater’s name when chasing Harry and the group in the DOM. At this point, Voldemort is operating in secret, and there’s no way he will have recruited new DEs yet.

Gibbon—Remus recognises him during the Battle of the Astronomy Tower, which some take to believe means he was likely on a wanted poster of the Azkaban escapees more than a year previous, and I am inclined to agree this is probable. In any case, I suspect he must have been part of the first wizarding war for Remus to recognise him so easily (unless Remus ran into him at school or something).

Throfinn Rowle—”That’s Dolohov. I recognize him from the old wanted posters. I think the big one’s Thorfinn Rowle.” (Ron, DH) The fact that Ron recognises Dolohov from the wanted poster, and not Rowle, suggests he wasn’t amongst the ten escapees, but I’ve heard the counter argument that there’s no other way for Ron to have recognised Rowle but the wanted posters. 

Selwyn—”Behind him came another scream, ‘Your wand, Selwyn, give me your wand!’” (Battle of the seven potters, DH) We know Selwyn was an active DE in the second war even before the Ministry fell, but we have no idea if he was part of the first wizarding war.

Total bottom-up count:

We know there are at least 40 Death Eaters in the second war, who were active during the first war, plus 3 defected (Karkaroff, Snape, Regulus) plus 3 Death Eaters that got killed (Rosier, Rosier and Wilkes).

There is also the case of the potentially missing Mulciber. We know there’s at least one Mulciber active during the second war, but there were two in the first war—Muliciber Snape’s friend and Mulciber Sr who went to the Hogs Head with a group of Death Eaters back when Voldemort cursed the DADA position.

“Then if I were to stop in the Hog’s Head this evening, I wouldn’t find Nott, Rosier, Mulciber and Dolohov waiting for your return?”

It’s possible one of the Mulcibers got killed or arrested (if so I’d bet on it being before Karkaroff’s trial, as Crouch never asks him to specify which Mulciber), and subsequently died in prison. 

In any case, we’re looking at about 46-47 Death Eaters.

Total top-down count:

However, we also have this number from Remus:

“... you weren’t in the Order then, you don’t understand, last time we were outnumbered twenty to one by the Death Eaters and they were picking us off one by one...”

Which begs the question: How many members were there in the Order of the Phoenix?

In the Order Photograph: 20

Alastor Moody; Dedalus Diggle; Marlene McKinnon, Frank and Alice Longbottom; Emmeline Vance; Remus Lupin; Benjy Fenwick; Edgar Bones; Sturgis Podmore; Caradoc Dearborn; Rubeus Hagrid; Elphias Doge; Gideon Prewett; Aberforth Dumbledore; Dorcas Meadows; Lily and James Potter, Peter Pettigrew and Sirius Black

The old crowd: +2

“You are to alert Remus Lupin, Arabella Figg, Mundungus Fletcher — the old crowd. Lie low at Lupins for a while; I will contact you there.”

In addition to the Order photo, we know Figg and Fletcher were part of the Order

Others: +2

And let us not forget Albus Dumbledore. Plus, I think we all assume Fabian Prewett was part of the Order, but just not available for the picture.

Meaning there are about 24 Order members in the original order.

If we take Remus’ statement literally there should be c480 Death Eaters. Given about 30 escape punishment, and 10 survives Azkaban long enough to escape it in OOTP, that would mean 440 Death Eaters got caught and either killed or died in Azkaban. The maths isn’t mathing. But it doesn’t have to.

Now, given Death Eaters are often described as Voldemort’s inner circle:

“And when You-Know-Who disappeared,” said Fred, craning around to look at Harry, “Lucius Malfoy came back saying he’d never meant any of it. Load of dung — Dad reckons he was right in You-Know- Who’s inner circle.”

“Malfoy’s dad must have told him,” said Harry, ignoring Ron. “He was right in Voldemort’s inner circle — ”

Harry thought he knew why Greyback was not calling Voldemort. The werewolf might be allowed to wear Death Eater robes when they wanted to use him, but only Voldemort’s inner circle were branded with the Dark Mark: Greyback had not been granted this highest honor.

I don’t think we can assume Remus is being entirely literal when he says they were outnumbered 20-1 with Death Eaters. It’s more likely he is referring to the broader group of Voldemort’s supporters: Werewolves, giants, snatchers and those allowed to wear Death Eater robes (like Fenrir) without bearing the mark.  That does probably amount to about 500, given:

By the time the four friends [Remus, Peter, Sirius and James] left school, Lord Voldemort’s ascendancy was almost complete. True resistance to him was concentrated in the underground organisation called the Order of the Phoenix, which all four young men joined.

If we can't take Remus' number literally, we're going to have to rely on logic. My guess is that we’re looking at about 50-100 Dark Mark bearing/inner circle Death Eaters.