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Harry Potter is unarguably one of the most famous novels and movie series ever. One reason for its immense success is its portfolio of well-written characters. One of such iconic characters was Bellatrix Lestrange. She was a pure-blood sadist witch who was a Death Eater and one of the most dangerous members of Lord Voldemort’s army. She’s notorious for her battles against the members of the Order of Phoenix.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Bio: Quick Facts
- Full Name: Bellatrix Lestrange (nee Black)
- Date of Birth: 1951
- Birthplace: Great Britain
- Alias: Bella, Bellatrix Black, Madam Lestrange, Voldemort Last Best Lieutenant
- Date of Death: 2nd May 1998
- Death Place: Great Hall, Hogwarts Castle, Highlands, Scotland, Great Britain.
- Zodiac Sign: Gemini
- Siblings: Narcissa Malfoy, Andromeda Tonks
- Children: Delphini
- Partner/Spouse: Rodolphus Lestrange(husband), Lord Voldemort( love interest)
- Magical Heritage: Pure-blood
- Hogwarts House: Slytherin
- Wand: 12¾” inches long, made of walnut wood, with a dragon heartstring core
- Actor who played it: Helena Bonham Carter
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Birthplace and Heritage
Bellatrix was born into The Black Family, one of the Twenty-eight sacred families, in 1951. She lived with her father, Cygnus Black the Third, and her mother, Druella Rosier, in Great Britain. Bellatrix had two younger siblings, namely Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks. The Black Family was notorious for their firm belief in Pure-Blood Supremacy. They hated anyone and everyone who favored muggles or muggle-borns, regardless of if they were part of their own family.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Physical Appearance
Since she was born into a wealthy and renowned family, she had all the world’s luxuries at her fingertips. Furthermore, she was blessed with remarkable beauty, praiseworthy tall height, a slim and slender figure, beautiful curly black hair, and captivating dark eyes. She was glamorous, to say the least, a fact echoed by her peers during her school life at Hogwarts. Ironically, she shared these looks with her younger sister Andromeda, whom she despised for marriage to a muggle-born.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Hogwarts Years
Bellatrix started her Hogwarts journey in either 1962 or 1963. There the Sorting Hat placed her in the Slytherin House. She met her future husband, Rodolphus Lestrange, and the future headmaster of Hogwarts, Severus Snape, alongside Evan Rosier, Wilkes, Mulciber, and Avery. At Hogwarts, she was considered a beautiful, glamorous but arrogant witch. Along with her friends, she later joined Voldemort’s army and became a Death Eater.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Life After Hogwarts
Participation In The First Wizarding War
During the First Wizarding War, Bellatrix proved to be one of the bravest followers of Lord Voldemort, with her husband Rodolphus and brother-in-law Rabastan. Later, with the defeat of Voldemort at the hands of the then-infant Harry Potter, the first wizarding war officially came to an end. Many Death Eaters were captured and executed by Aurors. However, Bellatrix was among the few Death Eaters who were able to fight the Aurors and escape imprisonment.
To find out about the whereabouts of Lord Voldemort, she, along with Death Eaters, who escaped with her, went to Frank and Alice Longbottom. The two Aurors were severely tortured by them. Bellatrix was known for casting the Cruciatus Curse skillfully and effortlessly. She launched the Curse on the Longbottoms to cause them severe body pains and torture them so that they surrender. However, the Longbottom couple refused to give in despite all the torture, and the Curse eventually drove them into insanity.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Trial
Bellatrix was finally defeated and arrested by the Aurors on the charges of torturing Alice and Frank Longbottom. She was brought in front of the Council of Magical Law and was chained to her chair. However, Bellatrix refused to look Weak and fragile and thus remained confident throughout the trial. Unlike many other Death Eaters who left Voldemort’s side after his defeat, she claimed her loyalty to Lord Voldemort. She then proudly let out that she would remain Loyal no matter the circumstances. She was sentenced to life imprisonment for her heinous crimes and sent to Azkaban for her crimes.
Imprisonment At Azkaban
At Azkaban, she was prisoner 93 and was kept in a maximum-security cell. During her time in Azkaban, the imprisonment badly affected her, both physically and mentally. Bellatrix spent fifteen years there, from 1981 to 1996, until Lord Voldemort came back into power, and she finally managed to escape Azkaban with his help.
Battle Of The Department Of Mysteries
In 1996, the Department of Mysteries battle was fought between the Death Eaters, Harry Potter, and his allies. Bellatrix was the Second-Hand Commander of the Death Eaters. She led them to get Sybill Trelawney’s Prophecy concerning Lord Voldemort’s downfall. During the battle, Bellatrix showed her courageous self. She showed her loyalty towards Lord Voldemort and that she could go to any extent to achieve her goal. She tortured Neville Longbottom to blackmail Harry to surrender and give her the Prophecy.
When Harry called her master’s name and informed her that Lord Voldemort himself was half-blood, she became infuriated. She then cast a spell to stun him to punish him for disrespecting her master. However, Lucius Malfoy stopped her on time because he didn’t want to destroy the Prophecy for which they came. During the battle, Bellatrix effectively showed her mastery over magic dueling. She dueled her niece Nymphadora Tonks and defeated her. She bravely fought her cousin Sirius Black and successfully killed him in the Chamber of Secrets. She then fought and defeated Kingsley Shacklebolt.
She was also the only follower of Voldemort who managed to block Albus Dumbledore’s spell, which helped her escape. However, witnessing her Godfather’s death infuriated Harry, and he followed Bellatrix to the Atrium to get revenge. He was so angry that he didn’t retreat from casting the infamous unforgivable Curse on Bellatrix. But he could only cause a few seconds of pain to Bellatrix. This made Bellatrix taunt him about his inability to perform such a powerful spell and laugh at him for his failure.
She then cast the Cruciatus Curse on Harry to teach him a lesson. She wanted to show him how the spell was launched and how strong the Curse was. However, on learning that the Prophecy had been destroyed, she panicked. When Voldemort came, Bellatrix began to plead with her master not to punish her. However, Voldemort was angry with her failure to bring back the Prophecy to him without being shattered. He told her to keep quiet and didn’t listen to her when she told him the Dumboldore was nearby.
Voldemort tried to kill Harry, thereby casting the Killing Curse. However, Dumbledore arrived on time and saved Harry’s life. He launched a spell to charm the statues of the fountain of Magical Brethren so that they could protect Harry’s life and, at the same time, pin down Bellatrix. Dumbledore also called Cornelius Fudge and other Aurors there so that they could see Voldemort with their own eyes. By the time they all arrived, many Death Eaters were defeated. However, Voldemort grabbed Bellatrix and fled the scene but not before being seen by Aurors. After this, the Aurors finally accepted Dumbledore and Harry’s claims of Voldemort’s return to power.
Meeting With Severus Snape
When Voldemort ordered Draco Malfoy to kill Albus Dumbledore, Draco’s mother, Narcissa Malfoy, got worried about his safety. Despite Bellatrix’s reservations about Snape, Narcissa’s maternal love for Draco forced her to go to Snape. Bellatrix, though, was not a caring person at all. Still, she had a soft spot for Narcissa and thus agreed to accompany her to Snape’s childhood home in Cokeworth. Upon reaching there, Bellatrix didn’t shy away from expressing her distrust of Severus Snape. She bluntly questioned him about why he left Voldemort’s side during his downfall and why he was unavailable during their previous battles. However, Snape gave logical answers to all her questions.
Upon Narcissa’s request to help Draco, Snape said that though he cannot change the Dark Lord’s mind, he promised to help Draco in his mission. Furthermore, Bellatrix challenged him to perform the Unbreakable Vow as, according to her, Snape’s promise was nothing but just empty words. However, Snape asked her to take out her wand and cast the spell, much to her shock. Later on, Bellatrix took the task of teaching Draco Occlumency. So that he could later use it to prevent anyone from influencing him or getting access to his thoughts.
Battle Of The Astronomy Tower
Bellatrix participated in this Battle in June 1997, in which Snape killed Dumbledore. After hearing this news, Bellatrix was thrilled. This shows how cruel and cunning Bellatrix was and how much satisfaction she used to get from someone’s pain or even death. She left Hogwarts through the Great Hall, but not before scaring many young first-year students.
Stay At The Malfoy Manor
She stayed at Malfoy Manor in the following year while Lord Voldemort visited. The Malfoys were not happy with Voldemort’s stay there, as he used to keep on insulting them and mocking them in the name of their niece Nymphadora Tonks who was an Auror.
Though both Bellatrix and Narcissa maintained that they had nothing to do with Tonks, especially after her marriage to a werewolf, Remus Lupin, the mocking never stopped. Bellatrix was the only one excited about Voldemort’s stay at the Manor among the family members. It might be because of her extreme loyalty toward her master or her obsession with him. The Death Eaters and Snape informed Voldemort about the transfer of Harry Potter from Dursly’s House. Upon hearing this, Bellatrix was the first to request that he allow her to kill the ‘Potter boy.’ However, Voldemort declined her request and said he would kill Harry himself.
Furthermore, Bellatrix happily agreed to kill Nymphadora Tonks on the order of Voldemort. When the Order of Phoenix members transported Harry out from the Dursley house, Bellatrix and Rodolphus mainly attacked Tonks. She tried her best to kill Tonks, but much to her disappointment Tonks managed to escape while Rodolphus got injured in the duel. Later on, on the orders of Lord Voldemort, a copy of Godric Gryffindor’s Sword was kept at Bellatrix family Vault at Gringotts Wizarding Bank to keep it safe there. Unfortunately, both Bellatrix and Lord Voldemort were unaware that the sword was not real but a mere copy.
Skirmish At The Malfoy Manor
In 1998, Hermoine Granger, Ron Weasly, and Harry Potter got the real Godric Gryffindor’s sword. They were then caught by the snatchers during their hunt for muggle-borns on Ministry’s orders. They were brought to Malfoy Manor, where Bellatrix was residing. Seeing the sword in their hands, Bellatrix panicked because, in her mind, the sword was in her well-protected vault. To find where the trio got the sword, she first defeated the snatchers but left them there with a plan to kill them later on.
She tortured Hermoine with her signature spell, Cruciatus Curse. However, when Hermione refused to give in, Bellatrix even carved the word ‘mud-blood’ in her forearm to torture her further. This incident also points to her extreme obsession with pure hatred and much she looks down upon the muggles or muggle-borns. Hermione then tried to misguide her by lying that their sword was a fake. To find out whether she is telling the truth, she ordered Griphook to come and check the sword. Harry had only convinced the goblin to lie to save Hermione’s life by this time. Griphook kept his word and told Bellatrix that the sword was fake.
When the trio tried to escape the Manor, Bellatrix again held Hermione and placed a dagger in her throat. She threatened Harry and Ron that if they didn’t drop their wands, she would slit Hermione’s throat. She asked Draco to call the Dark Lord, but when he couldn’t do it due to fear, Lucius came forward to do the task. But when he was just about to touch the Dark Mark to call his Lord, Dobby came to the scene and caused the Chandelier to fall. This made Bellatrix throw Hermione, who was caught by Ron and run to the side to save herself. She then scolded Dobby for going against his masters, upon which Dobby replied that he was now a free elf and no longer had a master.
This angered Bellatrix, and she threw the dagger toward them. Everybody except Dobby managed to escape, who was killed by Bellatrix’s silver dagger. The dagger hit him in the chest and killed him instantly.
Battle Of Hogwarts
On 2nd May 1998, the Battle of Hogwarts took place. During this battle, Bellatrix showed many of her skills, including Dark Art, Non-Verbal Magic, and Dueling. She dueled many powerful wizards, including her niece Nymphadora Tonks and killed her.
During the duel between Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter, she stood by her master when he cast the Killing Curse on Harry. She was delighted with the thought of Harry dying, and her master was coming into full power. After Harry’s supposed death, she volunteered to examine Harry to find out if he was really dead or not. However, Voldemort stopped her and instead asked Narcissa to check Harry. When Narcissa lies that Harry was indeed dead, Bellatrix and other Death Eaters accompany the Dark Lord to Hogwarts to announce Harry’s defeat at the hands of Voldemort.
Much to their shock, when they reached Hogwarts, they realized that Harry was, in fact, alive. The war continued between the Hogwarts wizards and the Death Eaters. Bellatrix alone fought with Hermione Granger, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasly, all at once. Though all three were trained and powerful witches, they were not a match in front of Bellatrix. She then cast the Killing Curse on Ginny Weasly, which enraged her mother, Molly Weasly. Molly had already lost her son, Fred, in the battle, and she didn’t want to lose her only daughter.
When Molly attacked Bellatrix, Bellatrix first didn’t take it seriously and kept mocking her. She somewhat became overconfident that Molly was also not a match in front of her like the other three witches. She greatly underestimated Molly, fuelled with grief over Fred’s death. This overconfidence of Bellatrix led to her downfall. When Molly kept on attacking Bellatrix, she stopped laughing and began to retaliate. However, she kept on mocking Molly about Fred’s death. This enraged Molly further, and the battle between the two powerful witches intensified. Molly then used a lethal spell which ultimately killed Bellatrix.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Death
During the duel between Bellatrix and Molly, Bellatrix doesn’t take Molly seriously. She kept taunting her about her son Fred’s death, which infuriated Molly and intensified the fight. Molly then shot a Curse at her, which hit her in the chest. The Curse proved fatal, and Bellatrix died on the spot, moments before the death of Voldemort at the hands of Harry Potter.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Magical Abilities And Skills
Bellatrix was a powerful, skillful and dangerous witch. Lord Voldemort himself trained her.
- Dark Art: She had mastered Dark Arts. She was an expert in Cruciatus Curse, which was her signature spell. She took pleasure in torturing her victims with the Curse instead of instantly killing them. She was also skilled in the Killing Curse.
- Expert Duellist: She was a talented duellist. She participated in several duels in the first and second Wizardry wars. She was also the only follower of Lord Voldemort, who managed to block Dumbuldore’s spell and escape the powerful wizard.
- Unbreakable Vow Bonder: Bellatrix was capable of performing the unbreakable vow. When Narcissa asked for Snape’s help in helping her son Draco, Bellatrix completed the unbreakable vow so that Snape didn’t go back on his words.
- Non-Verbal Magic: She was an expert in non-verbal magic, especially dark charms. She had struck several non-verbal curses at Harry at the Ministry of Magic.
- Occlumency: She was an experienced Occlumens. When Draco was given orders to kill Ddumboldore by Voldemort, Bellatrix herself trained him. With Bellatrix training, Draco could block Snape on at least one occasion.
- Transfiguration And Flying: She was also good at transfiguration and flying. She was able to transfigure a part of her wand into a whip and conjure a snake around Greyback’s neck at lightning speed.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Wands
First Wand
Bellatrix’s first wand was roughly 12 inches and 2 cm long. It was made of walnut wood with a dragon heartstring core. It was created by Garrick Ollivander, and Bellatrix bought it from his shop, Ollivanders in Diagon Alley. Hermione Granger later stole this wand during her last battle at the Malfoy Manor.
Second Wand
Not much is known about her second wand. Bellatrix got it after Hermione stole her original wand in the battle at the Malfoy Manor. She used her second want throughout the Battle of Hogwarts until her death.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Family And Relationships
Rodolphus Lestrange
Bellatrix first met Rodolphus at Hogwarts alongside other future Death Eaters who shared their ideologies about pure-blood supremacy. Bellatrix and Rodulphus were never in love, and neither did they really care about each other. However, both were members of two of the Twenty-Eight Sacred Families; thus, they were arranged to marry each other to keep their family tree ‘pure.’ Bellatrix and Rodulphus also never had any children. This also showed that their relationship was merely for social status and not like any other loving couple. Though they never loved each other, they were highly loyal to Lord Voldemort. Their loyalty towards Lord Voldemort was actually one of the very few common things between them.
Lord Voldemort
Bellatrix proved her love for Lord Voldemort time and again many times despite being married to Rodolphus. Voldemort never returned her feelings, but she didn’t care. For her, just the thought of being around her master was enough. Bellatrix never left any opportunity to please her master. She didn’t care if she had to save someone she didn’t like or kill someone from her own family if it was for the sake of her master’s happiness.
She would always stay by Voldemort’s side in every battle, regardless of the circumstances. In 1981 when Voldemort was defeated, and many Death Eaters left his side, Bellatrix continued to prove her loyalty to him, going as far as proudly claiming that she was his servant and would wait for his return during her trial.
Seeing her loyalty towards him, even Voldemort began to respect her. In the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, she was the only one who Voldemort grabbed and escaped before the Aurors arrived. Voldemort never wanted an heir; still, he allowed Bellatrix to bear his child as a reward for her loyalty.
Delphini
Delphini was born in the late 1990s. She was Bellatrix’s only daughter, who she illegitimately conceived with Lord Voldemort during his stay at the Manor. She was just an infant when both her parents died, and she was adopted by Euphemia Rowle. Euphemia only took her in because of greed as a certain amount of gold was offered to her. Later on, Delphini fooled Albus Potter and Scorpio Malfoy into helping her steal the time-turner. She went back in time to change the past and save Voldemort.
Trivial And Fun Facts About Bellatrix Lestrange
- Bellatrix craving Mud-blood into Hermione’s arm was not a part of a script.
- J. K Rowling always wanted Molly Weasly to kill Bellatrix despite various speculations of Neville killing her.
- Bellatrix would have been the successor to the Black Family fortune if Sirius had not written a will.
- The house-elf Kreacher had a great fondness for Bellatrix.
- Helen Mccrory was initially cast as Bellatrix; however, she opted out because of her pregnancy. The role went to Helena Bonham Carter.
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Appearances In The Book
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
Bellatrix Lestrange’s Appearances In The Film Series
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 1
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2
Frequently Asked Questions
Answer: Dumbledore was the only wizard that scared Bellatrix. One of the main reasons behind this fear was that Dumbledore was known to be one of the most powerful wizards, and he had the Elder Wand. Despite this, Bellatrix was the only Death Eater who managed to block a spell from Dumbledore. That’s why she was highly ranked in Voldemort’s Army, as she was able to fight one of the greatest wizards of all time.
Answer: Bellatrix belonged to the prestigious Black Family. Being the eldest of three sisters, she was first in line to get the Black Family inheritance. She was also married into an equally wealthy prestigious Lestrange family. Her possessions were present in her Vault at Gringotts, and a dragon guarded it. The belongings included towers of gold, jewels, and treasures.
Answer: When Bellatrix killed Sirius, Harry cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix in anger. However, he could only knock down Bellatrix and cause pain for only a few seconds. Bellatrix then mocked him for his inexperience with the spell. She then told him that one has to really mean it to cast the unforgivable Curse. She then threw the same spell on Harry to torture him and show him its full potency.
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