Harry Potter: Why Voldemort Never Made Fenrir Greyback A Death Eater

Fenrir Greyback was one of Voldemort’s top servants in the Harry Potter saga, yet he was never made a Death Eater through the Dark Mark – here’s why. During both the First and Second Wizarding Wars, Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes) gathered a vast array of followers, humans and dark creatures alike. Greyback (Dave Legeno), who was by Voldemort’s side in both wars, was arguably neither human nor creature, as he let his lycanthropy fully take control of his person, gradually turning into a cannibalistic beast. This ties into Voldemort’s refusal to give him the Dark Mark, even though Greyback wore Death Eater robes.

The Death Eaters’ origins lie in Tom Riddle’s Hogwarts gang (initially called “The Knights of Walpurgis“), which Dumbledore describes as “a mixture of the weak seeking protection, the ambitious seeking some shared glory, and the thuggish gravitating toward a leader who could show them more refined forms of cruelty.” The goal of the Death Eaters was to achieve pureblood authority and oppress Muggles, but as Voldemort’s group of followers grew, it became more heterogenous: not all followers were purebloods. In this category was Greyback, who was infected with lycanthropy as a child. Remus Lupin (David Thewlis), who was bitten by Greyback as a child himself, tells Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) that Greyback “regards it as his mission in life to bite and contaminate as many people as possible.” Greyback fully embraced his lycanthropy, earning a beast-like appearance as a human, too. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Death Eaters placed a great stigma on werewolves, and Greyback was no exception.

Voldemort’s obsession with blood status meant that he could not accept non-human magical beings into his inner circle. Although Greyback was one of his most trusted servants, Voldemort (who may appear again in Fantastic Beasts 3) never gave him the honor of bearing the Dark Mark. This shows Voldemort’s hypocrisy, as he used Greyback as much as most of his inner circle, and he clearly saw value in him, but Voldemort’s prejudice against werewolves held him back from making Greyback a Death Eater, viewing the werewolf as a servant, not an equal. Moreover, Greyback was a savage, famous for targeting children and who enjoyed hurting people so much that he didn’t even need a full moon to let his wolf side loose. While cold-blooded murder wasn’t a problem for the Dark Lord, Greyback’s wild, unpredictable behavior was: the werewolf’s uncontrollable urge to kill for pleasure could very well interfere with Voldemort’s orders.

Disturbingly, Voldemort promised Greyback “sons and daughters” in return for his services. He knew Greyback wanted to bite children as young as possible, to “raise them away from their parents, raise them to hate normal wizards.” Greyback’s threats to Hermione in The Deathly Hallows (“Reckon she’ll let me have a bit of the girl when she’s finished with her?”) had both cannibalistic and sexual overtones, hinting that Greyback had forsaken his humanity long ago, becoming a truly disturbing beast. However, Voldemort does not condemn Greyback’s foul behavior, yet he disapproves of Greyback’s lycanthropy – this goes to show just how morally corrupt and hypocritical the Dark Lord is.

Greyback joined Voldemort in order to have better access to his victims and hoping for a better life, as opposed to being oppressed, like all werewolves, by the Ministry of Magic. Greyback knew Voldemort would never consider him a true Death Eater, which is why he never sought Voldemort after his defeat in 1981. None of the Death Eaters accepted Greyback as one of them either, due to their bigotry against werewolves and their disgust for his savage and perverse behavior. While Greyback didn’t seem to care about this, he did appear ashamed at not being granted the honor of the Dark Mark. In The Deathly Hallows, Scabior (Nick Moran) asks Greyback if he will summon Voldemort, and Greyback says “No, I haven’t got –” but quickly changes the subject. His unease with Voldemort’s prejudice against werewolves doubles down on the tragedy of lycanthropy in the Harry Pottersaga.

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