| “ | Potter, you cannot win against me! I was and am the Dark Lord's most loyal servant. I learned the Dark Arts from him, and I know spells of such power that you, pathetic little boy, can never hope to compete! | „ |
| ~ Bellatrix Lestrange, taunting Harry Potter during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. |
Bellatrix Lestrange (née Black), also known as Bella by Lord Voldemort and Narcissa Malfoy, is the secondary antagonist of the Harry Potter franchise, starting from Order of the Phoenix. She makes her first appearance during the Goblet of Fire novel and was already created before, like most Harry Potters characters. She is a pure-blood witch who was the sister of Narcissa Malfoy and Andromeda Tonks (who was disowned for marrying a Muggle-born Wizard), the wife of Rodolphus Lestrange, the cousin of Sirius and Regulus Black, the aunt of Draco Malfoy, the mother of Delphini, and a loyal follower of Lord Voldemort.
In the films, much like in book, Bellatrix serves as a supporting antagonist in Order of the Phoenix and assumes the role of the tertiary antagonist of Half-Blood Prince, the technical main antagonist of Deathly Hallows Part 1 (since Harry didn't cross paths with Voldemort there) and the secondary antagonist of the Deathly Hallows Part 2. She is also the secondary antagonist in the series overall due to her being Voldemort's most loyal, evil, violent, and destructive supporter. Her role is expanded a bit in the films, although she does not appear in the trial scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, with Karkaroff testifying against Barty Crouch Jr., the only Death Eater equal to Bellatrix in insanity and loyalty to Voldemort, who took part in the torture of Frank and Alice Longbottom. Bellatrix was the main torturer, as mentioned by Neville.
She was portrayed by Helena Bonham Carter who also played Red Queen, Skynet + Dr. Serena Kogan and Mrs. Lovett.
Appearance
Bellatrix was described as being highly attractive in the pensieve, with heavily-lidded eyes, and sleek, thick, shining black hair. She was tall and proud. After Azkaban, Bellatrix was still beautiful, but hollowed out.
Biography
Past
Bellatrix Lestrange on the Black Family Tree.
Bellatrix Lestrange was born to Cygnus and Druella Black in 1951. After graduating from Hogwarts, she became one of Voldemort's most important, and possibly most sadistic, followers, known as the Death Eaters. Bellatrix was one of the few females in the group, and was the wife of Rodolphus Lestrange. In 1981, she, along with her husband, brother-in-law and Barty Crouch Jr. was imprisoned in the wizard prison Azkaban after torturing Frank and Alice Longbottom into insanity using the Cruciatus Curse, her specialty spell.
In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Bellatrix was broken out of Azkaban by Voldemort and some of his Death Eaters, along with Antonin Dolohov and eight other Death Eaters. Bellatrix and her brother-in-law Lucius Malfoy later led the Death Eaters in the Department of Mysteries to take the Prophecy from Harry when Voldemort tricked him into retrieving it. Eventually, Sirius arrived with Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, and Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody, and he and Harry defeated Lucius and Dolohov. Bellatrix then killed Sirius with the Avada Kedavra curse, blast him into the archway and disappeared, but in the book, she knocks Sirius through the veil with an unknown curse. An enraged Harry attempted to use the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix, but was unable to perform the spell correctly as, according to her, he had to "mean it." When Albus Dumbledore arrived to duel Voldemort, Bellatrix escaped through the fireplace instead.
In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Bellatrix and her sister Narcissa Malfoy had Severus Snape make the Unbreakable Vow to protect Narcissa's son Draco and kill Dumbledore should Draco fail to do so. She also burned down the Burrow at one point, although it was later rebuilt afterward. After Snape killed Dumbledore, Bellatrix attacked Hogwarts Great Hall and Hagrid's hut, setting it on fire despite it being made of stone, but in the book she doesn't appear in the battle.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1, Bellatrix wanted to kill Harry, but Voldemort said that he must be the one to kill him. At some point before his death, knowing that Voldemort wished to possess the belongings of the four founders of Hogwarts, Dumbledore gave a fake Sword of Gryffindor to Snape, who gave it to Voldemort, who entrusted it to Bellatrix, who kept it in her high-security vault at the wizards' bank Gringotts.
When Snatchers, led by Scabior (in the book they were led by Fenrir Greyback, took Harry, Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger to Malfoy Manor, Bellatrix saw the Sword of Gryffindor and thought that Harry had broken into her vault. Furious that the Sword of Gryffinor are in the trio's hands, she stunned whole snatchers present, and planned to kill them later. Bellatrix proceeded to tortured Hermione for information. The wrathful witch carving the word "Mudblood" into her arm. Then she questioned the goblin Griphook about the sword and decided to kill Hermione; however, Ron disarmed her before she could. Later, Dobby sent a chandelier crashing down toward Bellatrix just as she uses her dark mark to summon Voldemort, who avoided it, and as Dobby disapparated with Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Griphook, Bellatrix threw her knife at him, killing him.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hermione later disguised herself as Bellatrix to get into her vault in Gringotts, which was guarded by a dragon; Bellatrix never knew of this. J.K. Rowling said that Bellatrix was the one who killed Tonks as in the book, since Tonks's death is never shown on-screen.
During the final battle, she was the last Death Eater standing excluding Voldemort in the book, but in the film she isn't. She was only fighting Ginny instead of fighting also Luna Lovegood and Hermione Granger. She tries to cast a Killing Curse on Ginny, but fails and only enticing Molly Weasley's fury. Molly fights Bellatrix in a rage, and in the end, Molly emerges victorious. Bellatrix never thought that Molly would defeat and kill her and avenging Sirius, Tonks and Dobby also the muggles she had killed. In book version, this ultimately infuriated Voldemort to the point where he began to focus his rage on Molly until Harry, whom revealed that has feign dead all along, came to interfere. She never lived to see that his mistrust to Snape is valid and her master's death.
In Harry Potter and The Cursed Child, it is revealed that through the affair between Voldemort and Bellatrix, resulted in the birth of a child that later named Delphini. After learned that she was the daughter of the Dark Lord and Bellatrix, Delphini believed that Voldemort should succeed in his goal to conquer the world. So, she sought to use the Time Turner to alter the past where coincidently, Albus Severus Potter (Harry Potter's son) and Scorpius Malfoy (Draco Malfoy's son) possessed one where they previously used it to alter the past so they can improve their current reputations in the current timeline, but decided to undo everything that they did as the consequences of their action resulting the creation of two alternative realities, with the first seeing Hermione the bitter Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher while Ron was in a less happy marriage to Padma Patil, and the second seeing a world where the Order of the Phoenix and Dumbledore's Army lost the Battle of Hogwarts.
After many attempts, including Albus being erased by their changes, Scorpius managed to restore the correct timeline, and decided to destroy Time-Turner on their own, not trusting the Ministry to destroy it. She blackmailed them to get the Time Turner for herself and have them helplessly watch as she alter the course of history so the second reality that the boys previously created would come true. Fortunately, Harry, Ginny, Draco, Ron, and Hermione, whom learned Delphini's plans, showed up and foil her plan and save the boys.
Gallery
Trivia
- During the filming of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Helena Bonham Carter also filmed The King's Speech. She was glad about this because at those moments, she could spare her voice and didn't have to scream all day.
- Bellatrix's death was the last scene that Helena Bonham Carter filmed for Harry Potter.
- Bellatrix was also released in many Lego Harry Potter sets as a Lego mini-figure.
- In movie, Bellatrix's last battle against Molly until her death and moments where she corners Ginny was depicted very different, though in both cases, she starts off corners Ginny with Killing Curse:
- In the movie, Ginny was cornered after using a shield charm (which it's provided protection amplified by Harry's sacrificial protection that he put on every single one of his allies in Hogwarts whilst let himself killed by Voldemort's Killing Curse in order to destroy Horcrux inside his body) that powerful enough to dissipates Bellatrix's Killing Curse blast before it hit her, but severely weaken her from continuing the battle that prompt Molly to took over the fight so Ginny could recover. In the book, Ginny was cornered along with Hermione and Luna Lovegood and survived the Killing Curse simply by avoid it an inch.
- Bellatrix's battle was more intense in the book, as the book describes ground below them cracks and hotter, shows that spells that they used to attack each other are more destructive than in the movie. Bellatrix even mocks Molly over Fred's death, which was her very fatal mistake due to being overestimate her opponent.
- Bellatrix's death was different, as while in the movie her body shown destroyed after being petrified by Molly, whom later blasted and fell into pieces, her body was remain intact instead in the book as Molly merely blast her in the chest with a curse that presumably damage her heart, causes her death with a frozen smile (much like The Joker's death in Batman: Arkham City).
- Bellatrix is very similar to Harley Quinn. They're both devoted, mentally unhinged women who have absolute devotion to their bosses (Joker and Voldemort), who are the archenemies of the protagonists (Batman and Harry Potter). However, neither of their bosses return this affection, even using physical violence against them. Unlike Harley however, Voldemort does deeply trust and care for Bellatrix (particularly in book version where he saved her at the conclusion of the Battle of the Department of Mysteries) to some degree, but given that Voldemort was incapable to feel love, their relationships won't be able to improve further like Bellatrix wanted, even after she conceived a child.
- WatchMojo.com listed Bellatrix Lestrange as #2 on their Top 10 "Most Evil Harry Potter Characters" list.
- Bellatrix is also similar to Nyra
- Both are villainesses
- Both are the second-in-command of their group (Death Eaters and Pure Ones).
- Both are close to their group's leader (Voldemort and Metal Beak).
- Both later have a child with their leader (Delphini and Nyroc).