How can the Death Eaters ever be a threat to the Wizarding World?

[Zorro]

Originally Posted by RemusLupinFan

To me, the most threatening thing about the Death Eaters is that they are fanatics- they believe in pureblood supremacy and the inferiority of Muggles. Fanatics, no matter what they believe, are always dangerous because they are willing to go to any lengths to carry out and convert others to their beliefs. I'd have to agree that the prospect of Voldemort's followers recruiting more people for his cause is very threatening, as is the idea that the Death Eaters possess terrible methods of persuasion, such as the Unforgivables. Voldemort and his Death Eaters use fear tactics in their dealings, whether it be recruiting new followers or discouraging others from opposing them. Therefore, while the number of Death Eaters Voldemort has employed in his service may not be enough to physically take over the wizarding world, they are enough to have a significant negative impact in the magical community.

Great post, as usual...
I agree that they are fanatics. I also get the feeling that they really get pleasure out of doing what they do. The way they behaved at the Quiditch World Cup for one, is a good example.

[simplybecky]

Zorro, you're probably remembering the discussion between Dumbledore when he's telling Harry about the prophecy.

"You were in more danger than perhaps anyone but myself realized. Voldemort had been vanquished hours before, but his supporters - and many of them are almost as terrible as he - were still at large, angry, desperate, and violent..."
(my emphasis added)

Hope that helps

[Jesus_is_Good]

I think they held the fear that Voldemort did. The people hear the terrible things that the death eaters are doing to people and they are scared. The fear is also generated by the fact that most were undercover and could be working amongst you and your friends.

[UESC]

I got the impression that in the first war there were at least hundreds, but probably more like thousands, of death eaters.

There were, what, 100,000 wizards at the world cup? That's quite a few, and unless the entire magical world stops functioning for a day, there will be quite a few more wizards in the world than that! I mean, if there were only 500,000 wizards total in the world, that means one in every five would be at the cup! Could you imagine if one out of every 5 people in the US went to the superbowl? There wouldn't be enough people to run many businesses, or the government if that were the case! I would imagine the total number of wizards in the world would be in the low millions.

Anyway, with that many wizards in the world, it would seem you'd need a lot more than a few dozen or a few hundred to cause panic in millions on the level it did. I mean, dividing people who've been friends their whole life, and making people afraid to even say your name takes more than just a few people!

[Hermyowninny]

^That's exactly what I was wondering. But I mean, where was the rest of the world during the early Holocaust? Maybe that's what Jk was getting at. Such evil doers wouldn't be in power if someone hadn't stood by and allowed it.

[Greeney]

1. Death Eaters are willing to kill and torture
2. When someone becomes a Death Eater you have no idea who it is and understand they'd do anything for power, old friendships, promises, etc... don't matter, you also don't know if these people act under the imperius curse
3. Few people are as skilled as people who Voldemort teach.
4. People don't want to openly support nor denounce one side, like the (insert bad word meaning an 'illegitimate child' in your head, so I won't get warned) bystanders in WWII
5. As mentioned earlier, there's still the werewolves, dementors, and giants which are all bad enough.

[Bootey]

I think that its because of the extent of what they do to make people afraid of them. You have to remember that these are people who have no problem what so ever with killing people (and even whole families if they have to) so i think that this would make most people afraid of them. Also the fact that they use the Unforgivable curses like theres no tomorrow also sparkes a bit of fear!

[Sprout1962]

A few can disrupt many, if fear is part of the equation. If there are 100 DE's, and each threatens 25 witches/wizards sufficiently (as in ,"I'll kill your children if you don't stay out of this battle"), that's 2500 witches/wizards on the sidelines. The numbers keep going up as DE's threaten, torture, or kill additional victims.

In most wars, proportionately few individuals are fighting for the rights and freedoms of many. This is seen today in the sizes of armies, navies, etc. in relation to the populations of the countries in the world. Voldemort's DEs are no different, in theory. Plus, the DE's have fearsome alliances - werewolves, giants, dementors, etc. These "helpers" can influence the outcomes of many situations.

The DE's operate in stealth mode, which (to me) is more frightening than confronting someone in broad daylight.

[ateenangel]

It's like gorilla war fare. They don't take on everyone at once. They pick on people with smaller numbers or less power. Plus there is no countercurse to the Unforgivables.

[xyrax]

First of all, keep in mind we're talking just Britain so far. Also, the DEs at the graveyard were just Voldemort's inner circle. Like Karkaroff said, Voldemort did not allow anyone to know everyone. And... um... why couldn't 50-60 DEs do much damage?

[bellatrixL612]

I think th reason they are so feared is that they will kil; with no hesitation. They could kill an innocent young child just for the fun of hearing it scream. If you even rub them slightly the wrong way, they would take no thought at using an unforgivable. Even thought there are very few, they keep recruiting more. I thinkt hat they are so feared because they are so incredibly cruel.

[Freaky]

The DE's are only the inner circle. They imperius good wizards and witches and even though they are not DE's they are doing the evil things that the DE's would be doing. V has ways and means of creating armies, he doesn't just rely on his DE's.

[lil_snuffles]

because they are more powerful, and most likely Voldemort trains them.

[caledonia]

I think that beacuse the Death Eaters have no boundries to what they will use to achieve their goals then this makes them much more of a threat than an ordinary wizard. Its also just the threat of them, they are feared just as Voldemort is so it doesn't really matter that there are so few of them.

[Uriel]

I think the danger stems from the fear that no one knows when or where they will meet a DE. They may have Voldemort's protection, although I doubt that Voldemort would be too protective of them when they are not by his side. And that can make people very scared.

[pauli]

Well there are a few details. #1 Dementors. #2 Giants. #3 All the other evil allies that voldemort has. Its not the brute force of the actual death eaters, there is much more to it. Its like the inner core of a secret society, the society controls many minions and people.

I don't believe that the death eaters rely solely on stregth aswell, they controlled many wizards in the ministry of magic.

[Kimagine]

Here's the thing: you don't need a thousand homicidal maniacs on the loose to terrorize a community - a nation, for that matter. It just takes one. And I say the DEs are homicidal maniacs not because I am a learned psychologist, but simply because they are perfectly willing to kill anyone (children included, clearly) to get what they want. Some of them, like Bellatrix, actually enjoy it. So looking at it that way, Britain and the wizarding world as a whole are dealing with dozens of DEs with easily as much muscle or ability or money (or whatever makes them useful to Voldemort) as the everage witch or wizard. I'd say they are a pretty fair threat.

[WMLizard]

The impression I've gotten from the books is that the Death Eaters are a small group in themselves, but it doesn't mean they don't have additional support. I always thought that the DEs were a core group of Voldemort's followers, while there were other "Dark" witches and wizards who also supported him, but were not core members. Then there are the people like Sirius' parents, who think LV's plans are pretty good, though they don't actively support him. You would also have people who want to remain neutral (too wrapped up in their own lives), who don't like LV but don't have the guts to actively oppose him, and who oppose LV but don't have the skill to really fight. So the number of people willing and able to fight against LV and the Death Eaters dwindles.

[charmed100]

I think that the death eaters in GOF were just the inner circle if you like I think there are others, they just weren't important enough to come to the re-birth cermony. Also I think that they are dangerous as they will do anything,, they have no morals and don't care who they hurt, people like that are always dangerous.

[Wab]

Fifty or sixty known members. Like the Klan (explained by a former Grand Wizard) there's more than what's on the surface:

"See, you have two different types of members of the KKK. There's the secret members and there's the open members. Secret members hide behind the sheets, open members will tell everybody they're a Klansman."

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/enoughrope/...s/s1453904.htm

And below that level in cases like the IRA and Hamas are the sympathisers and fund-raisers who claim not to actually be members but support their aims and will shelter them through sympathy or fear.