Lucius Malfoy
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| Harry Potter character | |
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| Lucius Malfoy | |
| Gender | Male |
| Hair colour | White-Blond |
| Eye colour | Grey |
| House | Slytherin |
| Parentage | Pure-blood |
| Allegiance | Death Eaters, Lord Voldemort |
| Actor | Jason Isaacs |
| First appearance | Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets |
Lucius Malfoy is a fictional character in the Harry Potter novels by J. K. Rowling. The head of a pure-blood wizarding family, until 1996 he lived with his wife and son at the Malfoy estate in Wiltshire. He was a governor of the famous Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, until he was fired for making the other governors suspend the school's headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, by threatening their families. He is currently incarcerated at the island prison of Azkaban, having been caught attacking the Department of Mysteries with the Death Eaters, a wizarding organisation that believes the wizarding world should be ruled by purebloods only, led by Lord Voldemort, the series' main villain.
Forbes magazine states that Lucius Malfoy is currently number 12 on their fictional wealthiest characters list. [1]
In the Harry Potter film series, Malfoy is played by Jason Isaacs.
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[edit] Background
Lucius Malfoy, the son of a wizard named Abraxas Malfoy (who died of dragon pox while his grandson, Draco, was a child), was born in 1954 and educated at Hogwarts School, presumably where he met his wife Narcissa Black, as well as many other Slytherin students who became Death Eaters. He later married Narcissa and together they had one son, Draco.
Through giving money to charitable causes like St Mungo's and the Ministry of Magic, Lucius has become very well connected and frequently uses his political influence to further his own ends. At one time, Lucius Malfoy was a governor of Hogwarts.
[edit] Name origins
The name Lucius, being one of the most common Roman names, is a probable allusion to the Roman Dictator Lucius Sulla, who extrajudiciously executed his rivals. His name could also be a reference to the Roman Emperor Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also known as Nero. In addition, it may have been inspired by the Roman tragic poet Lucius Accius (170 BCE) who wrote "oderint dum metuant", 'let them hate, so long as they fear' which would fit quite well with this character. There is also Saint Lucius (Lucius of Britain), mythical king of the Britons whose death caused his subjects to rebel against Rome. Lucius is also the legendary Roman Emperor who fights against King Arthur. The name also echoes "Lucifer", a name for the Devil. Lucifer is also translated to "Bringer of light".
The surname Malfoy is derived from the French mal foi or mal foy, meaning bad and faith respectively.
[edit] Loyalty
He abandoned the Death Eaters after Voldemort was defeated by one-year-old Harry Potter. Malfoy claimed that he had been 'bewitched' by Voldemort, and had not meant to serve him - 'Professor Moody' later explained this 'bewitchment' as the Imperius Curse. Though this explanation was accepted by the Ministry of Magic, some, such as Arthur Weasley, thought he was lying.
[edit] Role in the books
Just before Draco and Harry's second year at Hogwarts, Malfoy planted an old school diary belonging to Tom Riddle (Voldemort's real name), which he had been given shortly before the fall of Voldemort, in Ginny Weasley's potions cauldron while she was shopping for school supplies at Flourish & Blotts book store. It was an elaborate plot to use her to reopen the Chamber of Secrets, which would lead to attacks on muggle born students. Malfoy knew the diary was cleverly enchanted, with the ability to influence others, but in fact it was also one of Voldemort's Horcruxes, containing a part of the Dark Lord's soul. Malfoy intended to use the opening of the Chamber of Secrets by Ginny to discredit her father, Arthur Weasley, who was the Head of the Misuse of Muggle Artefacts Office of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at the Ministry of Magic (as well as to personally devastate Mr Weasley, and to generally persecute Muggle-born students). Weasley, who is also a Muggle sympathiser, had proposed the Muggle Protection Act, and Malfoy intended to shame Weasley and overthrow his Act.
Malfoy's plan was initially successful, even though Malfoy's house-elf, Dobby, sneaked off to warn Harry of the impending crisis. After the Chamber was opened, several students, along with Argus Filch's cat Mrs Norris, and even a school ghost were systematically petrified by the Chamber's Basilisk, which was controlled by Riddle through Ginny, who was used as a dupe by Riddle. Malfoy used the resulting terrors to influence the school's Board of Governors to discredit and dismiss Dumbledore as Hogwarts' Headmaster.
Ginny eventually stopped trusting the enchanted diary and threw it away, only to have it discovered by Harry. Malfoy's plan to discredit Dumbledore and Arthur Weasley began to unravel when Riddle used the situation to go after Harry, rather than just attacking the Muggle-borns in the school. Riddle forced Ginny to enter the Chamber, knowing Harry would attempt to rescue her. Harry not only rescued Ginny, but in the process also destroyed the Horcrux and the fragment of Voldemort's soul contained in it (though Dumbledore only became fully aware of the diary's true nature after having seen its exercise of a sinister will of its own, an ability no ordinary memory could possibly possess[HP6]). Harry and Dumbledore discovered the truth behind Ginny's "attacks", proving her innocence and implicating Malfoy, who was consequently fired as a school governor. Harry also tricked Malfoy into setting Dobby free, by handing Malfoy the diary stuffed inside a filthy sock, which he threw at Dobby. This constituted giving Dobby "clothes", which set the house-elf free. Malfoy then attacked Harry, but was blocked by Dobby, who threw him down a flight of stairs using house-elf magic.[HP2]
When Voldemort rose again and summoned his Death Eaters, Malfoy rejoined him, claiming that he had done everything he could all along to find Voldemort and help him rise again. Voldemort, who was skilled at Legilimency (the ability to read minds and detect deception) appeared at the time to accept this claim. Although Harry had witnessed Malfoy's declaration of loyalty to Voldemort, the Ministry of Magic refused to believe him, and the wealthy Malfoy maintained strong ties in very high places in the Ministry, most prominently through his generous financial support.[HP4]
Malfoy was also present during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries as the apparent leader of the squad sent to recover a crucial prophecy from Harry. He was seen by many Ministry officials summoned to the scene by Dumbledore, and now with irrefutable evidence pointing to his identity as a Death Eater, Malfoy was finally sent to Azkaban prison.[HP5]
Malfoy's failure to retrieve the prophecy at the Department of Mysteries combined with accidentally causing the destruction of a part of Voldemort's soul with the diary of Tom Riddle resulted in Malfoy and his family becoming the subjects of the Dark Lord's wrath. Malfoy himself, still imprisoned, was not harmed in the progress of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince; however, his family were less fortunate. Voldemort demanded Malfoy's son, Draco, complete a certain task, threatening to kill the boy and his mother, Narcissa, if he did not. In fear, and hoping also to redeem his father in the eyes of the Dark Lord, Draco agreed to it. Draco's hope that he could redeem his father is less likely by the end of The Half-Blood Prince, however, since Draco fails to complete his task.[HP6] Dumbledore hints to Draco that, if he changes sides, protection will also be given to Lucius and Narcissa.
[edit] Family tree
Lucius Malfoy is connected to the Black Family by marriage: his wife's maiden name was Narcissa Black. A full version of the Black Family tree can be found here.
