Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter/Characters/Igor Karkaroff
From Wikibooks, the open-content textbooks collection
| Muggles' Guide to Harry Potter - Character | |
| Igor Karkaroff | |
|---|---|
| Gender | Male |
| Hair color | silver |
| Eye color | Unknown |
| Related Family | Unknown |
| Loyalty | previously Voldemort |
Contents |
[edit] Overview
Igor Karkaroff is the headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute, one of the three top Wizarding schools in Europe. (The others are Beauxbatons, and of course Hogwarts.)
[edit] Role in the Books
[edit] Goblet of Fire
We first meet Igor Karkaroff when the representatives from Durmstrang Institute arrive at Hogwarts to take part in the Triwizard Tournament. After disembarking from their ship which has surfaced in the lake, Karkaroff greets Albus Dumbledore civilly enough, but his smile doesn't reach his eyes, which stay cold and watchful. He asks if they could proceed indoors as one of his students, Viktor, seems to be catching a bit of a cold.
As they depart after dinner, Karkaroff happens to bump into Harry Potter. He is evidently quite taken aback to realize who he has run into, and as he has halted in the doorway, he is preventing anyone from getting past him. The logjam is broken up by Alastor Moody, who Karkaroff evidently recognizes; they quite plainly don't like each other, and Karkaroff seems to be somewhat afraid of Moody.
When Harry's name comes out of the Goblet of Fire, making him the fourth of the three Triwizard Champions, Karkaroff is angry, saying that either Durmstrang (and Beauxbatons) should be allowed to submit additional names, until each school has two champions, or he will depart from the contest with all his school. Moody again interrupts him, saying that just as Harry is bound to compete, so is Viktor Krum, the Durmstrang champion; and Ludo Bagman, one of the two Ministry judges, says that the Goblet has gone out and will not re-ignite until the next Tournament.
When Harry looks into the Pensieve, the first of Dumbledore's memories that Harry experiences is Karkaroff attempting to bargain his way out of Azkaban. Before the full Wizengamot, he names several people as Death Eaters: Travers, who he also accuses of the death of Marlene McKinnon and her family, Mulciber, and Antonin Dolohov, each time being met with the statement that the Wizengamot has already arrested them. He also names Severus Snape, though Dumbledore refutes this, saying that Snape had turned against the Death Eaters before Voldemort fell. He does eventually name Augustus Rookwood, the first name which the Wizengamot is not aware of.
[edit] Half-Blood Prince
On Harry's birthday, we hear that the body of Igor Karkaroff has been found in a shack in the North, with the Dark Mark floating over it.
[edit] Strengths
[edit] Weaknesses
[edit] Relationships with Other Characters
[edit] Analysis
[edit] Questions
- Where did Karkaroff's loyalties lie? Was he still loyal as a Death Eater, or had he turned to the good side, like the Malfoys had claimed about themselves? Or is there a third alternative? What does his death at the hands of the returned Death Eaters suggest?
