| “ | Igor Karkaroff: You must understand that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named operated always in the greatest secrecy…we never knew the names of every one of our fellows — He alone knew exactly who we all were — Alastor Moody: Which was a wise move, wasn't it, as it prevented someone like you, Karkaroff, from turning all of them in. |
„ |
| ~ Karkaroff turns in his fellow Death Eaters in front of the Wizengamot. |
| “ | Igor Karkaroff: Severus, you cannot pretend this isn't happening! It's been getting clearer and clearer for months. I am becoming seriously concerned, I can't deny it — Severus Snape: Then flee. Flee — I will make your excuses. I, however, am remaining at Hogwarts. |
„ |
| ~ Karkaroff and Snape, discussing Voldermort's return. |
Igor Karkaroff is a major character in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He is a former Death Eater and the former headmaster of Durmstrang Institute. As a Death Eater, he was involved in terrorism and the torture of many muggles and those who didn't support the cause of the Death Eaters.
He was portrayed by Predrag Bjelac.
Biography[]
Not much is known about Igor's early life other than the fact that he has a favorable opinion of Hogwarts which indicates he has visited it in the past.
He served as a Death Eater and assisted Antonin Dolohov in the torture of non-magical people, muggle-borns, and wizards who didn't uphold the ideology of Voldemort. The Auror Alastor Moody eventually ended up apprehending Karkaroff to which he was later sent to Azkaban.
Succeeding Voldemort's first fall from power, Karkaroff was called to appear before a trial in the Ministry of Magic, at the time led by Bartemius Crouch Sr. He used his cunning to convince many he felt great remorse for his crimes as a Death Eater. He gave many names of Death Eaters who were either killed, incarcerated or defected. This showed his desperation due to the uselessness of the revelation of these names. Despite his previous efforts proving to be useless, he ended up appeasing the court when he gave the name Augustus Rookwood, a Ministry official who was working as a spy on the side of the Death Eaters.
After some time, he manages to become the headmaster of Durmstrang Institute. As headmaster, he instilled fear into his students by encouraging an environment of intimidation. He was also extremely biased towards Victor Krum, Durmstrang's participant in the tournament and an extremely popular student.
During the year of the Triwizard Tournament, Karkaroff was outraged of Harry Potter's name being put in the Goblet of Fire and showed this contempt by purposefully lowering Harry's scores, displaying his bias as a judge.
Since Karkaroff was a former Death Eater, he bore a Dark Mark that grew darker as Voldemort gradually became more powerful. This lead to Karkaroff fleeing for his life during the night of Voldemort's return, with the fear of retribution by the Death Eaters for his betrayal. Karkaroff managed to survive for a year in hiding until he was tracked down in the north and killed by Death Eaters, and it was suggested by Dumbledore and Snape that it was only Voldemort being too busy with rising back to power that Karkaroff lasted as long as he did.
Personality[]
| “ | One, too cowardly to return... he will pay... | „ |
| ~ Voldermort on Karkaroff not meeting with the Death Eaters upon his return. |
Karkaroff was a terribly vile person who had no problem with torturing others. He didn't seem to care at all for his students as he tried to instill an atmosphere of fear and he eventually decided to abandon them all to flee from Death Eaters. He was extremely cowardly, tragic, arrogant, and backstabbing with the first example being explained in the sentence before, and the second being the fact that he sold out a fellow Death Eater to be free from Azkaban Prison. As shown in his trial before the Council of Magical Law, he was also quite manipulative with his attempts to convince the trial that he felt extreme remorse. Had his betrayal not been so heavy, it is likely that he would have rejoined his master.
Much like the Death Eaters, Karkaroff utterly despised Muggle-borns. Even after his release from Azkaban, Karkaroff's prejudices remained and sought a way to maintain them on his professional area by becoming Headmaster of Durmstrang, a wizarding school which didn't accept Muggle-born students. When Viktor Krum, his prize student, fell in love with the Muggle-born witch Hermione Granger during the Triwizard Tournament, Karkaroff evidently disapproved the relationship.
Trivia[]
- Karkaroff's disapproval of Hermione and Krum's relationship was never shown nor mentioned in the movie adaptation of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
- The mention of Igor Karkaroff's murder during the events of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince is never brought up in the film adaptation, leaving Karkaroff's fate unspecified in the film canon. However, there is an image in Harry Potter Limited Edition of a Daily Prophet article talking about Karkaroff's death. This may have been designed for the film, but possibly dropped as Karkaroff's mention wasn't relevant nor had any effect in the story at all.
- In the film, if one examines closely once Harry survives the challenge against the merefolk, Karkaroff can be seen with his hand on Neville Longbottom's shoulder. This may be an implication that he holds some sympathy for Neville after what happened to his parents-considering that Karkaroff was the one who exposed Barty Crouch Jr. for said crime.
