Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Cornelius Fudge
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Cornelius Oswald Fudge | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | Unknown |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Related Family | Unknown |
| Loyalty | Self, bureaucracy |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Cornelius Oswald Fudge is the Minister for Magic, which makes him the senior government official of the Wizarding world.
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Philosopher's Stone
Cornelius Fudge is entirely off-stage in this book. It is mentioned that he is perpetually summoning Professor Dumbledore to London for consultation, and that Fudge became Minister for Magic when Dumbledore turned down the offer.
[edit] Chamber of Secrets
Fudge appears briefly in this book, only long enough to accuse Hagrid of opening the Chamber of Secrets, and place him under arrest. Fudge's behavior in this vignette is already enough to show him as a pompous bureaucrat.
[edit] Prisoner of Azkaban
When Harry arrives at The Leaky Cauldron after catching a ride on the Knight Bus, Fudge meets him at the door, much to Harry's shock. Apparently, Fudge has been involved in some effort to find Harry, and is relieved that he has appeared. Fudge takes him to a private room, has the innkeeper, Tom, bring tea, and tells Harry, who has been dreading punishment for his unauthorized use of magic, that it could have happened to anyone, and that it will be forgotten. He goes on to ask if Harry would spend the remainder of his summer vacation there at the Leaky Cauldron, and in Diagon Alley, staying clear of the Muggle side of the inn. He also suggests that Harry should expect to stay at Hogwarts over Christmas and spring breaks, and is politely disbelieving when Harry says he would much rather do that. However, when Harry, taking courage from Fudge's apparent expansiveness, asks Fudge to sign his Hogsmeade permission slip, Fudge refuses, fumbling out some sort of excuse.
Fudge re-appears in Hogsmeade at Christmas, where we see him discussing the current state of affairs with Professor Flitwick, Professor McGonagall, Hagrid, and Madam Rosmerta. Harry, who is in Hogsmeade without permission, must hide under the table. When Rosmerta complains the Dementors are affecting her business, Fudge explains they are necessary because Sirius Black is so dangerous. Rosmerta mentions that Sirius and James Potter were great friends once, always in the Three Broomsticks together. This surprises Harry. Fudge says that not only was Sirius James' best friend, but also best man at his wedding and Harry's godfather. As the conversation continues, it is learned that James and Lily knew Lord Voldemort was hunting them and went into hiding. They used the Fidelius charm to conceal themselves and appointed Sirius their Secret-Keeper. Dumbledore, aware someone close to them was leaking secrets, offered to be their Secret-Keeper, but they declined. Barely a week later, Voldemort killed James and Lily, although he met his own demise in baby Harry. Obviously Black, tired of playing double agent, had thrown his lot in with Voldemort but, after his defeat, had to flee for his life. Peter Pettigrew, another Potter friend, caught up to Black the next day and accused him of betraying James and Lily. Black killed him and twelve Muggle bystanders with a single curse. Only Pettigrew's bloodstained robes and a severed finger were left. Black was sentenced to Azkaban, where he remained until his escape. It is believed he is now trying to reunite with Voldemort, perhaps after killing Harry to prove his loyalty.
Finally, when Sirius Black is captured, Fudge appears again to take custody of him. He accepts Professor Snape's version of the story at face value, refusing to believe Harry's and Hermione's protestations of Sirius' innocence and the presence of Peter Pettigrew. After Black escapes, Snape returns to the hospital wing with Fudge alongside, insisting that Harry had something to do with Sirius' escape. Harry states that he was locked into the hospital wing for the entire time that Snape was away, and Fudge expresses the belief that Snape has become somewhat unhinged. Professor Dumbledore, who is present, says that Snape has just suffered a disappointment.
[edit] Goblet of Fire
We first see Fudge when we enter the Top Box at the Quidditch World Cup with Harry and the Weasley family. Fudge is exasperated because his opposite number, the minister for magic from Bulgaria, apparently speaks no English, and Fudge has been trying to communicate with him by sign language all day. Also present is Lucius Malfoy, there as Fudge's guest, in gratitude for a large donation that Malfoy has just made to St. Mungo's Hospital. At the end of the match, the Bulgarian minister comments that it was a good match, and says that he had not told Fudge that he spoke English because it was so comical watching him try to act out his meaning.
We see Fudge again when Bartemius Crouch appears on the outskirts of the Forbidden Forest, apparently insane, and then vanishes. Foul play is suspected, of course, and Fudge apparently arrives at the school in order to use Dumbledore's and Professor Moody's input to support placing blame. Harry, standing outside Dumbledore's office door, hears Fudge suggesting that Madame Maxime, the headmistress of Beauxbatons Academy, may be at fault, because of her parentage. Harry is caught eavesdropping, and says that Madame Maxime was nowhere in sight, and she would be hard to miss after all. Fudge, Moody, and Dumbledore depart to look at the place where Mr. Crouch had been seen, leaving Harry alone in Dumbledore's office.
With Crouch missing and Percy Weasley, his assistant, in some disgrace, Fudge himself takes on the task of judging the Third Task of the Triwizard Tournament. When Harry and Cedric Diggory emerge from the maze, Fudge tries to disguise the fact that Cedric has been murdered, saying he is only injured. Summoned to Professor Moody's office to interrogate Barty Crouch Jr., Fudge feels that he must bring a Dementor with him; the Dementor administers the Kiss to Crouch immediately, making it impossible for Fudge to hear his confession directly. He then dismisses Harry's story of the return of Voldemort, saying that it can't be true. At one point, talking to Dumbledore, he almost seems to plead with him, asking Dumbledore to confirm that it can't have happened; but when Dumbledore remains unshakable, Fudge decides that Dumbledore has chosen to stand against the Ministry.
[edit] Order of the Phoenix
Fudge rightly believes that if Lord Voldemort has returned, his tenure in office will end. In order to deny what Albus Dumbledore, Harry Potter, and Severus Snape have told him and shown him, Fudge has to come up with an alternate explanation; and the explanation he apparently comes up with is that Dumbledore has decided to become Minister for Magic and has set himself up as an enemy of the Ministry. To defend himself against this contrived threat, Fudge must discredit Dumbledore and Harry, so he apparently engineers the removal of Dumbledore from the Wizengamot, replacing Dumbledore himself. He also leans on the Daily Prophet so that they will print stories that disparage Harry and Dumbledore, thus attempting to ensure that anything that they say can be easily discredited.
All of this is happening behind the scenes. The first time we actually see Fudge in the story is when Harry is at his hearing for his unauthorized use of magic. Fudge has apparently convened the full Wizengamot for the hearing, and is acting as combination head judge and prosecutor. He has decided Harry's guilt, and even in the face of evidence from Dumbledore and Arabella Figg that there were Dementors present, thus making the use of magic justified under the law, insists on bringing up irrelevant information that he feels bolsters the Ministry case against Harry. In the end, however, the panel of judges rules that Harry's use of magic was justified, and Fudge sullenly declares him cleared of all charges, and leaves. As Harry departs the courtroom with Arthur Weasley, they run into Fudge and Lucius Malfoy, who is evidently about to make a large donation for something. After exchanging a few barbs with Mr. Weasley, Lucius suggests that he and Fudge should adjourn to Fudge's office, and let Arthur go about his business.
Fudge does not directly appear through much of the rest of the book; instead, he arranges the passage of Educational Decree Number Twenty Two, providing that the Ministry can appoint teachers to fill vacancies at Hogwarts when the Headmaster is unable to fill them himself. Using this decree, Fudge appoints Dolores Umbridge to the school as teacher of Defence Against the Dark Arts. Umbridge apparently has been given the prime mission of preventing the students from learning any useful jinxes, as the class is taught theory only, and apparently from a book that stresses negotiation rather than defence. Harry guesses that this is because Fudge fears that Dumbledore wants to become Minister for Magic himself, and so he is trying to prevent Dumbledore's school from creating an army that can be used against Fudge; Sirius Black later confirms this belief. Fudge also acts to increase his control over Hogwarts indirectly, by issuing new Educational Decrees that grant ever more powers to Umbridge.
He returns directly to our story at the point where Harry's Defence Against the Dark Arts group, "Dumbledore's Army", is broken up by the actions of Marietta Edgecombe. Umbridge calls him in to witness the capture and punishment of the group, who are supposedly meeting in direct violation of Educational Decree Number Twenty-Four, which prohibits unapproved student groups. Fudge is dismayed to find that the only meeting of which they have direct evidence actually occurred before the Decree was made, and therefore is not in violation, and is further upset when Miss Edgecombe refuses to repeat the story she had told Professor Umbridge, instead maintaining that there had been no meetings since the first. However, Umbridge does finally retrieve the Dumbledore's Army membership list, and Dumbledore quietly agrees that, as Fudge had supposed, Dumbledore was creating a private army. However, when Fudge demands that he give himself up, Dumbledore refuses; in the ensuing, brief battle, Fudge, along with Umbridge and the Aurors Fudge has brought, are rendered unconscious and Dumbledore escapes. Fudge, on regaining his senses, runs off thinking that he is chasing Dumbledore.
At this point, Fudge manages to get Umbridge appointed Headmistress. However, she is unable to enter the Headmaster's office, remaining in her original office.
Finally, at the end of the battle at the Ministry, Fudge actually sees the returned Voldemort, who is rescuing Bellatrix Lestrange, one of his supporters. Fudge blusters at Dumbledore, but eventually must concede that Dumbledore was right all along, and that Voldemort has returned.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
At the beginning of this book, we find out that Cornelius Fudge has been fired as the Minister for Magic in favor of Rufus Scrimgeour, though he has stayed on as Scrimgeour's assistant. He appears in the Muggle prime minister's office at the start of the book, to brief the Muggle Prime Minister on the current state of affairs in the Wizarding world and introduce Scrimgeour. When the Prime Minister asks why they can't eliminate the threat by using magic, it is Fudge who points out that the other side has magic also. He has very little additional role to play in this book, though he does attend Dumbledore's funeral.
[edit] Strengths
[edit] Weaknesses
Cornelius Fudge is first and foremost a politician. His primary concerns are the viability of his post and his popularity. When faced with the inconvenient truth of Voldemort's return, Fudge chooses to deny the danger to the Wizarding World. Instead, he labors to discredit those who, in his opinion, threaten his political power. Ultimately he shows himself to be paranoid, self-centered and without scruples.
