Draco Malfoy
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| Harry Potter character | |
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| Draco Malfoy | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair colour | White-blond |
| Eye colour | Light grey |
| House | Slytherin |
| Parentage | Pure-blood |
| Allegiance | The Inquisitorial Squad, Death Eaters (presumed) |
| Actor | Tom Felton |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone |
Draco Malfoy (born 5 June 1980[1]) is an antagonist and villain in J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter books and Harry Potter's principal rival at Hogwarts.
Tall and slender, Draco has a pale, sharp-featured face, sleek white-blond hair, and cold, light grey eyes. His family is wealthy, and Harry considers him spoiled, arrogant, and selfish. Draco (usually known simply as 'Malfoy' by the other students at Hogwarts) frequently taunts Ron Weasley about his family's poor financial standing and treats Hermione Granger with disdain for being Muggle-born, frequently calling her a "Mudblood". He and his family believe magic should be kept within all wizarding families and shun those they consider "unworthy" to study magic.
Tom Felton plays Draco Malfoy in the first four Harry Potter films and will appear in the upcoming Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
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[edit] Background and role in the story
Draco is the only child of Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy and is related to the Black family by his mother, who is a cousin of Sirius Black. He is the scion of two old magical families, at least one of which (the Malfoys) is wealthy.
Malfoy is Harry's antagonistic rival at school, although as he matures, he becomes more sinister, eventually joining the Death Eaters. He is also the inheritor of generational racism. His father, Lucius, is a supporter of Lord Voldemort, although after the Dark Lord's downfall, he claimed he was bewitched by a mind control spell . He returns to the Dark Lord's service when Voldemort acquires a new body. Draco's mother, Narcissa, supports her husband and Voldemort's goals. It is uncertain if she is a Death Eater.
Draco frequently serves as a foil for Harry, as they are often set up as reverse images of each other. He is the books' most visible adolescent representative of Slytherin House and sometimes acts as a conduit for information, and, more rarely, provides comic relief. Although Draco often employs bullying tactics to get what he wants, he is also an intelligent and powerful wizard who cunningly wields magic to achieve his goals.
[edit] Name
Draco is a Latin word meaning "dragon and serpent". Like many Black family names, it is also the name of a constellation, in this case the constellation Draco.
"Draco" was the first lawgiver of Athens, who enforced a harsh legal code. The English adjective draconian, meaning "cruel", is inherited from him. Variations on the name "Draco" are also translated to "devil" in some biblical and other ancient texts. The name is related to "Dracula", which means son of the dragon/devil.
"Malfoy" is derived from Old French "mal foi" or "mal foy", which means "bad faith", or "bad trust" and in Indonesian Malfoy means a man who loves Ikha. The Old French mal foy itself is derived from Latin mala fide, which as a judicial term means intentional mischief, ill will or evil intentions.
[edit] Draco in the books
[edit] Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
Eleven-year-old Malfoy makes his first appearance in Diagon Alley at Madam Malkin's robe shop, in contrast to the film where Harry first meets him when arriving at school. Malfoy, remarkably, is the only magical person to attempt to befriend Harry without knowing who he is, although he immediately alienates Harry with his arrogant conversation. When he says is planning to persuade his father to buy him a new racing broom, it strongly reminds Harry of his spoiled cousin Dudley Dursley. Draco also disparages Hagrid, whom Harry has already befriended. Finally, Malfoy asks if Harry's parents are "our kind" (wizards), then tells him that he thinks "the other sort" (Muggleborns) shouldn't be allowed at Hogwarts because "they've never been brought up to know our ways." Unknown to Malfoy, Harry, although the son of two magical parents, is such a person. They part without introductions, but meet again on the Hogwarts Express. After Malfoy ridicules Ron Weasley's family, Harry rejects his offer of friendship and their mutual dislike is born.
Draco is portrayed as a rather cowardly bully who uses psychological manipulation and verbal taunts to denigrate his victims. He is frequently accompanied by two Slytherins, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle, who are often compared to bodyguards and follow his every order.
Despite his cockiness, Malfoy is physically nonviolent, and his sharp tongue often gets him into trouble when Crabbe and Goyle are not around to protect him.
Malfoy is the favourite of Severus Snape, the Potions Master and Head of Slytherin House. As such, Draco often gets away with behaviour in Potions class that would land Harry in detention.
[edit] Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Draco is now 12 years old and is the new Seeker for the Slytherin Quidditch team. Hermione speculates that his father bought his way in by donating high-quality Nimbus 2001 brooms to the Slytherin team - to which Malfoy then retorts with a snide jibe which reduces Hermione to tears. The new brooms allow the Slytherin team to outscore the Gryffindor chasers in the year's first match, but ultimately Harry beats Malfoy to the Snitch, winning the match for Gryffindor.
Malfoy introduces open prejudice against Muggle-born wizards by calling Hermione Granger a Mudblood, which is the word's first appearance in the series. Because of his expressed contempt for Muggle-borns, Harry and his friends suspect Malfoy is the Heir of Slytherin who opened the Chamber of Secrets. Harry and Ron, using Polyjuice Potion to assume the forms of Crabbe and Goyle, discern that Malfoy is not the Heir. (Though he would like to find out who the REAL heir is, so he can help them).
[edit] Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
At the start of Book 3, Malfoy has turned 13 years old. During new instructor Hagrid's first Care of Magical Creatures class, the hippogriff Buckbeak attacks Malfoy after he deliberately insults it. Malfoy milks the "injury," giving Slytherin a chance to postpone their match against Gryffindor until later in the year. He and his father also use the incident in an attempt to get Hagrid fired. Although Hagrid is cleared, Buckbeak is sentenced to death (but is later rescued by Harry and Hermione). Hermione slaps Malfoy when he mocks Hagrid for crying over Buckbeak's sentence.
[edit] Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
14-year-old Draco Malfoy meets him on the train to Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and asks if Harry is going to leave this chance of showing off or not. When he realises that Harry, Ron, and Hermione doesn't know about the Triwizard Tournament, he insults Ron's father by saying that maybe they don't speak about important stuff in front such junior staff. After Harry is chosen as one of the Triwizard Tournament Champions he creates the "Support Cedric Diggory" badges for the Triwizard Tournament and shows them to Harry. When the badges are touched, they switch phrases to read, "Potter Stinks." He also gives malicious and often false information about Harry Potter and Hagrid to Rita Skeeter, a journalist and illegal Animagus who uses unethical methods to gain information for her stories, often eavesdropping while in her animagus form. At the Yule Ball, Malfoy is accompanied by Pansy Parkinson and wears dark robes with a high collar, which, in Harry's opinion, makes him look like a vicar.
[edit] Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
Draco Malfoy is now 15 years old. He has been selected as a Prefect and joined Headmistress Umbridge's Inquisitorial Squad, which plays an important part in the exposure of Dumbledore's Army, led by Harry. Malfoy personally caught Harry, hitting him with a trip jinx and alerting Umbridge, which earned Slytherin fifty house points. He also caught Harry trying to break into Umbridge's office and looks eager to see Harry punished, although he has no way of knowing that Umbridge plans to subject Harry to the Cruciatus Curse. After the events at the Department of Mysteries, during which Malfoy's father and several others are captured and sentenced to Azkaban prison, Malfoy twice attempts to corner Harry to get revenge. In the first instance, he is interrupted by the arrival of Professors Snape and McGonagall; in the second attempt on the Hogwarts Express, he is jinxed by several members of Dumbledore's Army.
[edit] Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Malfoy is 16 years old during his sixth year at Hogwarts. Before school starts, Harry encounters Malfoy in Diagon Alley at Madame Malkin's Robes shop, after which Malfoy and his mother, Narcissa Malfoy, leave, refusing to buy from an establishment serving Muggle-borns and their sympathisers. Harry and his friends, hidden by Harry's Invisibility Cloak, later see Malfoy at Borgin & Burkes, a shop featuring dark artifacts. His activity there leads Harry to suspect Draco has been branded with the "Dark Mark," the Death Eaters' sign. On the Hogwarts Express, Harry uses his Invisibility Cloak to spy on Malfoy and four other Slytherins-Crabbe, Goyle, Pansy Parkinson, and Blaise Zabini and overhears him discussing a task given to him by Lord Voldemort. Malfoy discovers Harry, and after everyone else in the compartment leaves, immobilizes him and breaks his nose, leaving Harry stranded on the train to later be saved by Nymphadora Tonks.
Harry spends much of the school year spying on Malfoy using the Invisibility Cloak and the Marauder's map, but finds he is unable to track his movements once Malfoy enters the Room of Requirement. When Katie Bell is nearly killed by a cursed necklace bought from Borgin & Burkes and Ron Weasley is poisoned by mead intended for Dumbledore, Harry suspects Draco is behind both attacks. Harry later finds Malfoy sobbing to Moaning Myrtle in her bathroom; when Malfoy sees Harry, the two attempt to jinx each other. As Malfoy attempts to cast the Cruciatus Curse, the quicker Harry uses the obscure Sectumsempra spell on Malfoy, slashing his face and torso and causing him to bleed heavily. Snape arrives almost immediately thereafter and takes him to the infirmary.
When Harry and Dumbledore return to Hogwarts from a journey to find a Horcrux - during which Dumbledore was weakened by the effects of an unnamed potion found at the site of the Horcrux - they find the Dark Mark hovering over the Astronomy Tower. After landing on the tower, Malfoy ambushes and disarms Dumbledore, although Dumbledore had a crucial second to first immobilise Harry under his Invisibility Cloak to keep him safe. Dumbledore calmly converses with Malfoy and gets him to reveal the ways he attempted to murder him during the year. Malfoy explains that Lord Voldemort ordered him to murder Albus Dumbledore, and that he had been mending the broken Vanishing Cabinet in the Room of Requirement to allow Voldemort's Death Eaters to enter through it and invade Hogwarts. Dumbledore correctly surmises that as the school year progressed, Draco believed he would be unable to fix the cabinet. In desperation, he unsuccessfully attempted to curse and then poison the headmaster, nearly killing Katie Bell and Ron Weasley in the process. Finally successful, he tells Dumbledore that several Death Eaters have entered the school and set off the Dark Mark to lure Dumbledore to the tower. Dumbledore tells Draco that he knows that he is unwilling to kill the Headmaster, despite having him cornered and defenseless. Even after he is joined by several older Death Eaters, Malfoy makes no move to kill Dumbledore and lowers his wand. Instead, Snape arrives on the scene and he shoves Malfoy out of the way and kills Dumbledore himself. He and Draco, initially pursued by Harry Potter, escape the school. Harry (correctly) believes Draco would have spared Dumbledore, and even though he still dislikes his rival, Harry feels sympathetic towards Draco and realizes he was forced to do Voldemort's bidding or face the potential murder of himself and his family.
[edit] Harry Potter fandom
Draco Malfoy has developed a large following among many Harry Potter fans as a popular figure in fan fiction, where he is often portrayed as the anti-hero in a romantic relationship with Hermione[2], Ginny, Pansy, Harry (in fics depicting Draco as homosexual), or even the writers' own original characters. Actor Tom Felton escalated the character's claim to fame among fans by giving them a visual portrayal of Harry's nemesis. Felton received more fan mail than the other actors (including the protagonist's actor) yet ironically had never read any Harry Potter books until after the filming of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets[citation needed].
Author J. K. Rowling also has attributed Draco's popularity to the "bad boy" persona he has on film: "The trouble is, of course, that girls fancy Tom Felton, but Draco is NOT Tom Felton!" Rowling said in an interview[3]. Most people familiar with the fandom dismiss this notion, however, because he was already a very popular character before Tom Felton was even cast.
[edit] J. K. Rowling on Draco Malfoy
Below are the author's quotes about her character from the Connection Interview (October 1999, transcribed by Catwoman at SQ) and the Leaky Cauldron/Mugglenet Interview 2005.
"He is the bully of the most refined type in that, unlike Dudley, Harry's cousin, who is a physical bully, but really not bright enough to access all of your weak points, Draco is . . . a snob. He's a bigot and he's a bully, and as I say, in the most refined sense, he knows exactly what will hurt people."
"I think Draco would be very gifted in Occlumency, unlike Harry. I thought of Draco as someone who is very capable of compartmentalising his life and his emotions, and always has done. So he's shut down his pity, enabling him to bully effectively. He's shut down compassion — how else would you become a Death Eater? So he suppresses virtually all of the good side of himself."
"But then he's playing with the big boys, as the phrase has it, and suddenly, having talked the talk he's asked to walk it for the first time and it is absolutely terrifying. And I think that that is an accurate depiction of how some people fall into that kind of way of life and they realise what they're in for. I felt sorry for Draco. Well, I’ve always known this was coming for Draco, obviously, however nasty he was."
"Harry is correct in believing that Draco would not have killed Dumbledore, which I think is clear when he starts to lower his wand, when the matter is taken out of his hands."
| Preceded by: Terence Higgs |
Slytherin Seeker September, 1992 - |
Succeeded by: Unknown |
[edit] References
- ^ "JKRowling.com Archives: Birthdays" from MuggleNet
- ^ Opposites Attract Why ... do so many passionate shippers still write and read about a possible romance between Harry's best friend and worst enemy?
- ^ World Day Chat (March 2004 Interview)
