“ | Mary Cattermole: They're frightened, they think that I might not come home- Corban Yaxley: Spare us. The brats of Mud-bloods do not stir our sympathies. |
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~ Corban Yaxley's callousness in the face of Mary Cattermole's pleas. |
Corban Yaxley is a minor antagonist in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince and a major antagonist in both Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows as well as its 2010 film adaptation Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1. He is a high-ranking member of Lord Voldemort's Death-Eaters.
He is portrayed by Peter Mullan, who also played General Sitacles in Hercules.
Biography[]
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince[]
In the sixth Harry Potter book, Yaxley is one of the Death Eaters invading Hogwarts. He is present when Dumbledore is killed and fights in the battle before leaving the castle with his fellow Death Eaters.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows[]
Yaxley serves as one of Voldemort's spies inside the Ministry of Magic. He places Pius Thicknesse under the Imperius Curse on Voldemort's orders, so Thicknesse can kill the previous Minister for Magic (Rufus Scrimgeour). His usurping the role of Head of Magical Law Enforcement as well as cursing Minister Thicknesse proved to be essential to Voldemort gaining control of the Ministry of Magic.
Yaxley appears at the table during the Death Eater's meeting held at the Malfoy Manor. He confidently informs Voldemort that he overheard the date of when Harry Potter is going to be moved from Privet Drive, the house of his aunt and uncle.
However, Severus Snape corrects Yaxley that The Order of the Phoenix tricked him by rumouring a false move date, allowing Yaxley to think he'd figured them out.
As Yaxley is the Head of Magical Law Enforcement, he also has a hand in the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, a position he is clearly unashamed of, as he openly threatens Reginald Cattermole's wife, Mary, over a minor disagreement at the Ministry of Magic. We later find him at Mary Cattermole's trial with Dolores Umbridge, the Head of the Muggle-born Registration Commission.
The trial is interrupted, however, when Reginald Cattermole (Ronald Weasley in disguise), Albert Runcorn (Harry Potter in disguise), and Mafalda Hopkins (Hermione Granger in disguise) rescue Mary by unleashing Dementors and flee the courtroom. Although Ron does manage to stun Yaxley, he recovers quickly and gives chase. Leaving Mary with her real husband in the atrium, the trio accesses the Floo Network, but not before Yaxley grabs hold of Hermione. She had already begun to apparate to Grimmauld Place and brought him with them.
Realizing the mistake and danger, Hermione quickly disentangles herself from him and takes Ron and Harry to safety, leave Yaxley on the front stoop of 12 Grimmauld Place. He later fights in the Battle of Hogwarts and he's present when Voldemort attacks Harry in the Forbidden Forest. His exact status after the Battle of Hogwarts is unknown; it can be presumed he was either killed in the battle, or later captured and imprisoned under Kingsley's Shacklebolt's de-corrupted Ministry of Magic, along with all other Death Eaters and their allies.
Villainous Acts[]
- During the First Wizarding War, Yaxley committed multiple acts of murder and terrorism, towards the end of the war murdering Fabian and Gideon Prewett. For this act, he was sentenced to Azkaban, but managed to escape during the mass breakout in 1996.
- He took part in the first Death Eater assault of Hogwarts and was one of the accomplices of Dumbledore's assassination's group.
- He put Pius Thicknesse under the Imperius Curse under Lord Voldemort's orders, and tortured him and helped Voldemort murder Rufus Scrimgeour during the former's takeover of the Ministry of Magic.
- As the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, he was able to prosecute innocent Muggle-borns, sentencing them to Azkaban, none of which survived.
- He threatened to murder Mary Cattermole, if Reginald Cattermole (who, unbeknownst to him, was the disguised Ron Weasley) didn't stop the raining from his office.
- He tried to kill the fugitive Undesirable No. 1 Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, and Muggle-born Hermione Granger.
- In the movie version, he personally tracked the house of Hermione's parents in a failed attempt to kidnap them to use them against the trio, and possibly interrogate them.
- He fought in the Battle of Hogwarts, and was defeated by Hagrid.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- On the DVD version of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Yaxley is seen in one of the deleted scenes where he enters the Grangers' house, only to find it empty (Hermione obliviated her parents and manipulated their memories to not only remove all traces of herself, but instill the idea that moving to Australia was a lifelong dream).