Alastor Moody

From Harry Potter Wiki

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody (d. July 27, 1997) was arguably the most renowned Auror of all time, and a pivotal member of the Order of the Phoenix during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Moody served with distinction during the first conflict, gaining a considerable reputation, as well as losing an eye, leg, and part of his nose while fighting the Dark Arts. To this end, Moody became overly-cautious and paranoid about his security. Nevertheless, Moody remained a constant and valuable ally to the assembled forces of good during their battles with Lord Voldemort, until Battle over Little Whinging in which he was killed by Lord Voldemort.

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Early Life 1.2 First Wizarding War 1.3 Between the wars 1.3.1 Kidnapped by Barty Crouch Jr. 1.4 Second Wizarding War 1.4.1 Battle of theDepartment of Mysteries 1.4.2 Battle over Little Whinging and death 1.5 Post-Mortem 2 Magical Abilities and Skills 3 Personality and traits 4 Physical Description 5 Possessions 6 Relationships 6.1 Nymphadora Tonks 6.2 Albus Dumbledore 6.3 Harry Potter 7 Etymology 8 Behind the scenes 9 Appearances 10 Notes and references

Biography

Early Life

Little is known about Alastor's early life, but he studied at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and he gained at least five N.E.W.T.s in subjects, Potions, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Transfiguration, Charms, and Herbology, all with a grade no lower than "Exceeds Expectations" to go on to become an Auror. He would also have had a clean criminal record and been able to undergo a series of physical tests.

First Wizarding War

Moody, during his time as an Auror, served the Ministry of Magic and fought the Death Eaters under Voldemort's command. He was an important member of the Order of the Phoenix, serving under Albus Dumbledore, in the struggle to defeat the most infamous Dark Wizard of all time and personally ensured half the cells in Azkaban were filled with fugitive Death Eaters. During the war, and in efforts to round up Death Eaters after its conclusion, Aurors were granted the power to use the Unforgivable Curses; as such, Moody killed some of Voldemort's followers, including Evan Rosier, although he never killed if it could be avoided.

It is more than likely that it was during the First Wizarding War and his time as an Auror that Moody lost his leg and replaced it with a wooden replacement and that he also lost his eye. At some point, Moody retired from active service, though by this time he was considered the greatest Auror of all. In addition, he took Nymphadora Tonks as his protege. ^[1]

Between the wars

In 1994, Moody was convinced to come out of retirement by Albus Dumbledore and serve as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's latest Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.^[1]

Kidnapped by Barty Crouch Jr.

Before the school year began, however, Moody was attacked in his home by Barty Crouch Jr. and Peter Pettigrew, at Voldemort's order, and was subsequently over-powered and imprisoned in his own magical trunk. This was done as part of Voldemort's plan to regain power. To this end, Barty Crouch Jr used Polyjuice Potion to take on Moody's form in order to replace him at Hogwarts, successfully fooling staff and pupils alike. Moody's habit of drinking from his own hipflask allowed Barty Crouch Jr. to take the Potion regularly without raising suspicion, as well as Barty Crouch Jr successfully acted as Moody by expressing many of his normal eccentric habits. All the while, Crouch did his part in Voldemort's plan.^[1]

Working incredibly hard and using all of his cunning, Crouch-as-Moody ensured Harry Potter would get into the Triwizard Tournament and ascend to the Third Task. Upon doing so, Voldemort used Harry Potter to rise to power once again. When Crouch learned of this upon Harry's return, he attempted to kill him, but Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape stopped him. The professors waited patiently for the Polyjuice Potion to wear off, revealing Crouch's true form. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he admitted everything, and Moody was free from his trunk. After recuperating in the Hospital wing, Moody returned to health, but was much more paranoid for his safety than before and his eye occasionally got stuck from Crouch wearing it.^[1]

Second Wizarding War

In 1995, Moody joined the reformed Order of the Phoenix, and was part of the Advance Guard that took Harry from 4 Privet Drive to the Order of the Phoenix'es Headquarter in 12 Grimmauld Place.^[2] He later showed up for the party Molly Weasley threw for Ron and Hermione to celebrate them becoming Prefects, mentioning that Albus Dumbledore must have assumed Ron was good at resisting spells or he wouldn't have put him in authority. He checked that something inside a writing case was indeed a boggart. Moody also showed Harry an old picture of the original Order of the Phoenix and described the members. He seemed to think it was very interesting, although Harry was a little disturbed. ^[2]

Battle of theDepartment of Mysteries

Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood, and Ginny Weasley all went to the Ministry of Magic in 1996 in an attempt to rescue Sirius Black, who they believed was being tortured by Lord Voldemort. This was actually a lure to get Harry Potter into the Department of Mysteries to retrieve a prophecy, and after discovering this the members of Dumbledore's Army fought back against the Death Eaters and attempted to escape. After his friends were injured, Harry Potter was about to surrender the prophecy to Lucius Malfoy, who had been leading the group of Death Eaters, but then Sirius Black, Nymphadora Tonks, Remus Lupin, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Alastor Moody himself, all members of the Order of the Phoenix, arrived, and the battle resumed. During the battle Moody duelled with Antonin Dolohov and was injured. Sirius Black was killed by his cousin Bellatrix Lestrange when she hit him with a spell that knocked him through the veil in the Death Chamber. Following this battle, Albus Dumbledore arrived and duelled Voldemort himself. Cornelius Fudge witnessed Voldemort fleeing the scene, and was forced to finally admit the Dark Lord had returned.^[2]

In 1997 Hogwarts was invaded by Death Eaters in an attempt to assassinate Albus Dumbledore, although they were once again battled by several members of Dumbledore's Army and the Order of the Phoenix. Severus Snape was believed to be a traitor after killing Dumbledore (although it had actually been on his own orders), and Moody personally put extra protections on 12 Grimmauld Place to prevent Snape and the other Death Eaters from entering.^[3]

Battle over Little Whinging and death

As it turned out, Moody's over-protectiveness of Harry would be his doom. Shortly before Harry's 17th birthday, Moody and a team from the Order of the Phoenix attempted to move Harry away from 4 Privet Drive to The Burrow, using a series of broomsticks, Thestrals and a flying motorcycle to reach a network of carefully-placed Portkeys, when the original plan proved useless following Pius Thicknesse's subversion. Moody was partnered with Mundungus Fletcher.^[3]

The team was ambushed by Death Eaters upon take-off. Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour witnessed and reported what had happened: Moody and Fletcher were heading north, close by Bill and Fleur, after the Order members scattered. Voldemort, using his ability to fly, went straight for them as he believed Moody to be the greatest wizard. Fletcher panicked, crying out, and Moody tried to stop him, but he Disapparated, leaving Moody vulnerable to attack. Voldemort fired a Killing Curse the second Mundungus disapparated, and hit Moody full in the face. Moody fell backwards off his broom and down to the ground, and even if he survived the curse (which is highly-doubtable), Moody fell about 1000 feet with no wand, making his death a certainty. Because half-a-dozen Death Eaters were on their own tail, Bill and Fleur could do nothing.^[3]

Post-Mortem

The Ministry, meanwhile, did not report Mad-Eye's death, due to Rufus Scrimgeour not wanting to admit the truth about Voldemort's power, or the recent Azkaban breakout (which had resulted in the large numbers of Death Eaters attacking the order).^[3]

Moody's broken body was quickly retrieved by the Death Eaters, who were prompt in tidying up after themselves. To this end, they Transfigured Moody's body and stuffed it down an unknown location. While Bill and Remus Lupin left to recover it, they failed to recover his body, as it had been difficult to know where he might have fallen, given the darkness and the confusion of the battle. As such, The Order were unable to hold a funeral for Moody. While Ron Weasley held out hope for Moody's survival, Harry promptly pointed out the flaws in his logic, and so all, in the end, accepted the truth, but the shock and sadness were great for all.^[3]

Mad-Eye's magical eye, however, was salvaged by the Death Eaters, and then, following the fall of the Ministry, given to the new head of its Muggle-Born Registration Commission Head Dolores Umbridge, possibly as a gift. It was set in the wood of her office door and used to aid her in spying on her workers. When Harry, Hermione and Ron infiltrated the Ministry to find the locket Horcrux, Harry discovered the eye and, disgusted by how it was being used, stole it. Doing so, however, raised the alarm. After escaping, Harry, early the next morning and before the other two were awake, left the tent they were staying in to search the woods around them for the oldest, most gnarled and resilient-looking tree he could find. Then in its shadow, he buried the eye and marked the spot by gouging a small cross in the bark with his wand. While it wasn't much, Mad-Eye Moody was given a proper burial.^[3]

Magical Abilities and Skills

• Magical Mastery: Alastor Moody was known as the most powerful Auror of his time. He was a master of both offensive and defensive magic, the hallmarks of the Auror's trade, which he employed so effectively that he personally ensured that half the cells of Azkaban were filled with Death Eaters. He was also capable of placing powerful protective enchantments and curses on the headquarters of the Order as a means of warding off Death Eaters.
• Charms Mastery: Moody was capable of performing the Disillusionment Charm, a charm which apparently required a certain amount of skill as not many could do so; he did not require an Invisibility Cloak to make himself and Harry Potter invisible when acting as a member of the Advance Guard.
• Expert Duellist: Lord Voldemort himself considered Moody an extremely skilled duellist, and targeted him first of all the other capable wizards acting as protectors during the battle over Little Whinging. In the midst of the First Wizarding War and in its aftermath, Moody fought and defeated (and in some cases killed) dozens of skilled Death Eaters. Even together, Peter Pettigrew and Barty Crouch Jr. found it difficult to subdue Moody, despite him having been in retirement for many years.

Personality and traits

"Moody" means "temperamental" or "sulky" and the members of the Order would agree Moody had his mind constantly on dark things. As a person, Moody was described as being "never one to shy away from danger, rather, he almost seemed to revel in it". Harry looked up to him as being "so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor".

Moody, despite his eccentric nature, had quite a lot of friendships, such as Arthur Weasley, who thought very highly of him, and Auror Nymphadora Tonks, who became his favourite colleague and protégée at the Ministry. All were devastated at his death.

He was also very overprotective, and mistrusted everything: he wouldn't even let Harry carry his wand in his back pocket saying that "better wizards than him have lost buttocks" (with slight implications that he was speaking from experience). Moody's paranoia has led him to brutalize a witch who shouted "Boo" at him during a April Fools Day trick, as well as destroying a carriage clock that he received as a birthday present, thinking it was a cleverly disguised basilisk egg. Moody prepares his own meals and drinks out of his personal flask, in case of the enemy would try to poison him. These overly safety measures has led many people to consider Moody to be delusional.

Physical Description

Moody was described, by Harry, as looking as though his face was carved from wood by an untalented person. Due to injuries from his long career as an Auror, it was covered with scars, and a chunk of his nose was missing. He had dark grey, grizzled hair. He also had a wooden leg.

His eyes, however, were his most shocking feature: one was small and dark, normal eye while the other was a vivid, electric blue magical eye and moved around independently from his normal eye. Thanks to his magical eye, he was able to see through objects, Invisibility cloaks, and even the back of his own head. His eccentric eyes gave him the nickname of "Mad-eye Moody."^[1]

Possessions

• Magical Eye: Moody's magical eye, which is electric blue and what earned him his nickname "Mad-Eye", allows him to see through practically anything, such as wood, invisibility cloaks, and the back of his head. Ever since it was worn by Barty Crouch Jr., the eye tends to get stuck in its socket.
• Invisibility cloaks: Moody possessed two invisibility cloaks, though he lent one to Sturgis Podmore, which was never returned.
• Magical trunk: Moody possesses a magical trunk, with seven compartments (one in which Barty Couch Jr hid the real Moody during his year at Hogwarts), along with the keys for each compartment.
• Foe-Glass: Shows the images of foes when they approach Moody.
• Sneakoscope: Moody's Sneakoscope is large, and he disabled it because it keeps whistling for too many students are lying around it.
• Secrecy Sensor: Detects secrets.
• Walking Stick: In the movies, his walking stick has magical capabilities.
• Silver Drinking Flask: Moody's paranoia leads to him believing an enemy may be poisoning his food behind his back, so he drinks from his personal flask to prevent that from happening. Barty Crouch Jr. filled it with Polyjuice Potion during his year in disguise, and was able to drink without arousing suspicion.

Other noteworthy items include his wand, a broomstick, a wooden leg to replace his lost one, and a black travelling cloak.^[1]

Relationships

Nymphadora Tonks

Moody had a close relationship with Nymphadora Tonks. She was his protégée at the Ministry and they remained close in their time as members of the Order of the Phoenix. Both seemed at ease with each other and Tonks often made jokes in his presence. When Mad-Eye was killed, Tonks was extremely upset about it and cried in front of many others.

Albus Dumbledore

Alastor Moody was one of Albus Dumbledore's closest friends. They fought along in many battles, but Moody teased Dumbledore for hating Dementors. In 1994, Moody accepted Dumbledore's offer to teach Defence Against the Dark Arts, but was captured and imprisoned by Barty Crouch Jr., who impersonated him during the 1994–1995 school year, in order to send Harry Potter to Lord Voldemort. Dumbledore and Moody fought along in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. Moody was the next member of the order to die after Dumbledore.

Harry first met Alastor Moody in 1994, during his fourth year at Hogwarts. In fact, it wasn't the real Alastor Moody, but a very dangerous Death Eater, Barty Crouch Jr.. Harry realised that in the end of the year, and also realised that the real Moody was imprisoned in his own magical trunk.

Harry Potter

Harry originally met Moody a year after he was impersonated by Barty Crouch Jr., when Moody came to 4 Privet Drive with other Order of the Phoenix members known as the Advance Guard. Upon first meeting the "real Moody", Harry thought that Moody was a little mad and overprotective, as he suspected everybody, and didn't even let Harry carry his wand in his back pocket, saying that better wizards than him had lost buttocks.

When Moody was killed by Lord Voldemort during the Battle over Little Whinging, Harry was devastated by his death, as were the other Order of the Phoenix members.

Later, when Harry, Ron and Hermione went at the Ministry of Magic, to steal Salazar Slytherin's Locket from Dolores Umbridge, Harry found Alastor's magical eye in Umbridge's office, and buried it under a tree, and marked the spot by gouging a small cross in the bark with his wand. While it wasn't much, Mad-Eye Moody was given a proper burial.

Etymology

"Alastor" is the Scottish form of Alexander. It means defender of mankind or avenger. ^[4]

Behind the scenes

• In the film version of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire Alastor Moody has an Irish accent whilst being impersonated by Barty Crouch Jr., however when the real Moody is discovered he is portrayed to have a strong English accent. Despite this when the real Alastor Moody returns in the film version of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix he has the Irish accent that Barty Crouch Jr. had instead of the British accent he had when he was discovered.
• Moody was portrayed in the fourth and fifth films by Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, and was portrayed considerably different from his literary counterpart. Differences between his description in the book and his portrayal on film include his magical eye being held in place by an eye patch-like strap and brass ring, having a less mutilated face, including a full nose instead of a piece of it missing. Additionally, in the book Moody's magical eye replaced his right eye, in the film adaptation the magical eye replaced Moody's left eye.
• He also has red hair rather than grey, and is somewhat overweight. His artificial leg in the films is made of metal rather than wood.
• He also speaks with Gleeson's natural Irish accent, although his nationality in the books is never said to be anything other than British.
• In the film adaptation of Order of the Phoenix, Moody has a specialized broom and his wand is either concealed in his walking stick or is the stick itself.
• Also in the film adaptation of Order of the Phoenix, during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries scene, Alastor Moody can be momentarily glimpsed in the background duelling two Death Eaters wielding not only his staff in his right hand, but what appears to be a wand in his left.^[5](Exact time in reference 1:53-1:57)
• Noble Collection also made a replica of Alastor's wand, as seen in the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
• In the film version of Order of the Phoenix, it is Sirius not Moody who gives Harry the picture of the original Order of the Phoenix members.
• A keychain replica of Moody's magical eye was also released.

Appearances

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
• Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (film)

Notes and references