Death Eaters recognise one another by the Dark Mark, a sigil branded on each of their left forearms that allows Voldemort to summon any of them instantly.
[1] The Death Eaters first existed over 11 years before the events of the Harry Potter novels, torturing and murdering Muggles (non-magical people), as well as anyone who opposed them.
When a deadly curse from Voldemort rebounded off Harry Potter and disembodied the Dark Lord, the Death Eaters largely disbanded and vanished.
Early in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, a group of Death Eaters gathers at the Quidditch World Cup, which spreads chaos and fear amongst the wizarding community.
Examples of this are pure-blooded members of the Order of the Phoenix such as Sirius Black, the Prewett brothers, who were murdered because of their loyalties, and the entire Weasley family.
In reality, the idea of blood purity is a misnomer – Voldemort himself is a half-blood – and it is unlikely that all of them could be pure-bloods, as very few, if any, such people could exist given the small gene pool.
[2] They are also not above recruiting creatures they deem inferior, as proven by werewolf Fenrir Greyback and the giant clan from continental Europe, as long as they help further the larger Death Eater agenda.
The Death Eaters seek complete power and control over the entire Wizarding world, wishing to restrict leadership to a small band of pure-bloods.
[3] In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Alecto and Amycus become "teachers" at Hogwarts, severely disciplining students who oppose Voldemort.
To do so, he puts Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire, bewitches Viktor Krum to attack Cedric Diggory in the maze, and stuns Fleur Delacour.
When Harry and Cedric simultaneously touch the Triwizard Cup, which is a portkey, it transports them to the graveyard in Little Hangleton, home of the Riddle family.
When Harry reappears at Hogwarts, the still-disguised Crouch Jr hopes to succeed where his master failed; however, Dumbledore, Snape, and McGonagall foil his plot.
Although he is closely guarded so he can later repeat his testimony, a Dementor acting as bodyguard to Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge attacks Crouch and sucks out his soul before anyone can stop it.
Igor Karkaroff (Cyrillic: Игор Каркаров) is the Headmaster at Durmstrang Institute, one of the three schools (together with Hogwarts and Beauxbatons Academy) that enter the Triwizard Tournament.
[7] Although he is talked down and agrees to stay, he nevertheless shows evident favouritism towards the Durmstrang champion, Bulgarian Quidditch player Viktor Krum.
[8] In the sixth novel, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Remus Lupin states that Karkaroff was found dead in a shack with the Dark Mark hovering over it, an indication that he was killed by other Death Eaters.
Bellatrix is portrayed as paranoid, insane, sadistic, and fanatically devoted to Voldemort, seeing service to him as the noblest duty for any true wizard or witch.
He debuts as the main antagonist in Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, in which just before Draco and Harry's second year at Hogwarts, Lucius plants Tom Riddle's diary in Ginny Weasley's potions cauldron while she is shopping for school supplies at Flourish & Blotts, in a plot to use her to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, which would lead to attacks on Muggle-born students.
In Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, when Voldemort rises again and summons his Death Eaters, Malfoy rejoins him and asserts that he had done everything he could to help his master, who however remains unimpressed.
Voldemort treats him with great contempt by hijacking his house for Headquarters, and is forcing his son to do dark deeds against his nature, sparking sympathy for the notorious family for the first time in the series.
Despite his long-standing position as a Death Eater and Voldemort's advocate of pure-blood supremacy, Lucius decides his love for his family is more important than his involvement in the war.
Scenes with Tony Coburn as a teenage Lucius were recorded for Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, but were cut from the final movie.
Isaacs also states that Lucius would become a shell of his former self, lose the respect of his wife and son, protect himself with his money, and drink himself into an early grave.
Although Pettigrew appears in the first two books in the form of Scabbers, his identity is not revealed until Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he is the main antagonist.
When a photograph of the Weasley family appears in the Daily Prophet newspaper, Sirius recognises Pettigrew's Animagus form and escapes from Azkaban to track him down.
Pettigrew (almost always referred to as "Wormtail" hereafter) assists Barty Crouch Jr in overpowering Mad-Eye Moody, setting up the events in the fourth book, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
Upon his return to corporeal form, Voldemort replaces Pettigrew's missing hand with a silver one that possesses five intact fingers and great strength.
Severus Snape is characterised as a person of considerable complexity, whose coldly sarcastic and controlled exterior conceals deep emotions and anguish.
As the series progresses, Snape's portrayal evolves from that of a malicious and partisan teacher to that of a complex, pivotal character of moral ambiguity, whose true loyalties are not revealed until the end.
The Mexican heavy metal band Velvet Darkness released the song "Death Eaters" in 2015 as part of their debut EP Delusion.