Alastor Moody

"Constant Vigilance!"

- Alastor Moody

Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody was arguably the most renowned Auror of all time, and a pivotal member of the Order of the Phoenix during the First and Second Wizarding Wars. Moody served with distinction during the first conflict, gaining a considerable reputation, as well as losing an eye, leg, and part of his nose while fighting the Dark Arts. To this end, Moody became overly-cautious and paranoid about his security. Nevertheless, Moody remained a constant and valuable ally to the assembled forces of good during their battles with Lord Voldemort, until Battle over Little Whinging in which he was killed by Lord Voldemort.

The First War
Moody, during his time as an Auror, served the Ministry of Magic and fought the Death Eaters under Voldemort's command. He was an important member of the Order of the Phoenix, serving under Albus Dumbledore, in the struggle to defeat the most infamous Dark wizard of all time and personally ensured half the cells in Azkaban were filled with fugitive Death Eaters. During the war, and in efforts to round up Death Eaters after its conclusion, Aurors were granted the power to use the Unforgivable Curses; as such Moody killed some of Voldemort's followers, including Evan Rosier. At some point, Moody retired from active service, though by this time he was considered the greatest Auror of all. In addition, he took Nymphadora Tonks as his protege.

The Triwizard Tournament
In 1994, Moody was convinced to come out of retirement by Albus Dumbledore and serve as Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry's latest Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher.

Before the school year began, however, Moody was attacked in his home by Bartemius Crouch Jr. and Peter Pettigrew, at Voldemort's order, and was subsequently over-powered and imprisoned in his own magical trunk. This was done as part of Voldemort's plan to regain power. To this end, Barty Crouch Jr used Polyjuice Potion to take on Moody's form in order to replace him at Hogwarts, successfully fooling staff and pupils alike. Moody's habit of drinking from his own hipflask allowed Barty Crouch Jr to take the Potion regularly without raising suspicion, as well as Barty Crouch Jr successfully acted as Moody by expressing many of his normal eccentric habits. All the while, Crouch did his part in Voldemort's plan. Working incredibly hard and using all of his cunning, Crouch-as-Moody ensured Harry Potter would get into the Triwizard Tournament and ascend to the final task. Upon doing so, Voldemort used Harry Potter to rise to power once again. When Crouch learned of this upon Harry's return, he attempted to kill him, but Dumbledore, Minerva McGonagall and Severus Snape stopped him. The professors waited patiently for the Polyjuice Potion to wear off, revealing Crouch's true form. Under the influence of Veritaserum, he admitted everything, and Moody was free from his trunk. After recuperating in the Hospital wing, Moody returned to health, but was much more paranoid for his safety than before and his eye occasionally got stuck from Crouch wearing it.

The Second War
In 1995, Moody joined the reformed Order of the Phoenix, and was part of the Advance Guard that took Harry from Privet Drive to the Order of the Phoenix'es Headquarter in Grimmauld Place.

He later showed up for the party Molly Weasley threw for Ron and Hermione to celebrate them becoming prefects, mentioning that Albus Dumbledore must have assumed Ron was good at resisting spells or he wouldn't have put him in authority. He checked that something inside a writing case was indeed a boggart. Moody also showed Harry an old picture of the original Order of the Phoenix and described the members. He seemed to think it was very interesting, although Harry was a little disturbed.

Moody was among the Order members who came to the rescue of Harry, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger, Neville Longbottom, Luna Lovegood and Ginny Weasley during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. The old Auror proved himself to be still capable in battle, and survived a duel with Death Eater Antonin Dolohov.

After Severus Snape was believed to be a traitor (after killing Albus Dumbledore on his own orders), Moody personally put special protections on Number 12, Grimmauld Place.

Battle over Little Whinging
As it turned out, Moody's over-protectiveness of Harry would be his doom. Shortly before Harry's 17th birthday, Moody and a team from the Order of the Phoenix attempted to move Harry away from Privet Drive to The Burrow, using a series of broomsticks, Thestrals and a flying motorcycle to reach a network of carefully-placed Portkeys, when the original plan proved useless following Pius Thicknesse's subversion. Moody was partnered with Mundungus Fletcher.

The team was ambushed by Death Eaters upon take-off. Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour witnessed and reported what had happened: Moody and Fletcher were heading north, close by Bill and Fleur, after the Order members scattered. Voldemort, using his ability to fly, went straight for them as he believed Moody to be the greatest wizard. Fletcher panicked, crying out, and Moody tried to stop him, but he Disapparated, leaving Moody vulnerable to attack. Voldemort fired a Killing Curse the second Mundungus disapparated, and hit Moody full in the face. Moody fell backwards off his broom and down to the ground, and even if he survived the curse (which is highly-doubtable), Moody fell about a thousand feet with no wand, making his death a certainty. Because half-a-dozen Death Eaters were on their own tail, Bill and Fleur could do nothing.

Aftermath
"Harry could not quite comprehend it. Mad-Eye dead; it could not be...Mad-Eye, so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor"

- Harry's reaction on Moody's death

The Ministry, meanwhile, did not report Mad-Eye's death, due to Rufus Scrimgeour not wanting to admit the truth about Voldemort's power, or the recent Azkaban breakout (which had resulted in the large numbers of Death Eaters attacking the order).

Moody's broken body was quickly retrieved by the Death Eaters, who were prompt in tidying up after themselves. To this end, they Transfigured Moody's body and stuffed it down an unknown location. While Bill and Remus Lupin left to recover it, they failed to recover his body, as it had been difficult to know where he might have fallen, given the darkness and the confusion of the battle. As such, The Order were unable to hold a funeral for Moody. While Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger held out hope for Moody's survival, Harry promptly pointed out the flaws in their logic, and so all, in the end, accepted the truth, but the shock and sadness were great for all. "All right, If you want him to be dead."

- Ron Weasley to Hemione Granger

Mad-Eye's magical eye, however, was salvaged by the Death Eaters, and then, following the fall of the Ministry, given to the new head of it's Muggle-Born Registration Commission Head Dolores Umbridge, possibly as a gift. It was set in the wood of her office door and used to aid her in spying on her workers. When Harry, Hermione and Ron infiltrated the Ministry to find the locket Horcrux, Harry discovered the eye and, disgusted by how it was being used, stole it. Doing so, however, raised the alarm. After escaping, Harry, early the next morning and before the other two were awake, left the tent they were staying in to search the woods around them for the oldest, most gnarled and resilient-looking tree he could find. Then in its shadow, he buried the eye and marked the spot by gouging a small cross in the bark with his wand. While it wasn't much, Mad-Eye Moody was given a proper burial. There was much debate between Ron and Hermione as to whether or not Moody actually perished during the Battle over Little Whinging

Personality


"Moody" means "temperamental" or "sulky" and the members of the Order would agree Moody had his mind constantly on dark things. As a person, Moody was described as being "never one to shy away from danger, rather, he almost seemed to revel in it". Harry looked up to him as being "so tough, so brave, the consummate survivor".

Moody, despite his eccentric nature, had quite a lot of friendships, such as Arthur Weasley, who thought very highly of him, and Auror Nymphadora Tonks, who became his favourite colleague and protegee at the Ministry. All were devastated at his death.

He was also very over protective, and mistrusted everything, he wouldn't even let Harry carry his wand in his back pocket saying that "better wizards than [him] have lost their buttocks".

Nymphadora Tonks
Moody had a close relationship with Nymphadora Tonks. She was his protege at the Ministry and they remained close in their time as members of the Order of the Phoenix. Both seemed at ease with each other and Tonks often made jokes in his presence. When Mad-Eye was killed, Tonks was extremely upset about it and cried in front of many others.

Magical Abilities and Skills
Magical Mastery: Alastor Moody was known as the most powerful Auror of his time. He was a master of both offensive and defensive magic, the hallmarks of the Auror's trade, which he employed so effectively that he personally ensured that half the cells of Azkaban were filled with Death Eaters. He was also capable of placing powerful protective enchantments and curses on the headquarters of the Order as a means of warding off Death Eaters.

Charms Mastery: Moody was capable of performing the Disillusionment Charm, a charm which apparently required a certain amount of skill as not many could do so; he did not require an Invisibility Cloak to make himself and Harry Potter invisible when acting as a member of the Advance Guard.

Expert Duelist: Lord Voldemort himself considered Moody an extremely skilled duelist, and targeted him first of all the other capable wizards acting as protectors during the battle over Little Whinging. In the midst of the First Wizarding War and in its aftermath, Moody fought and defeated (and in some cases killed) dozens of skilled Death Eaters. Even together, Peter Petigrew and Barty Crouch Jr. found it difficult to subdue Moody, despite him having been in retirement for many years.

Dark Detectors and other items
Along with his magical eye, wooden leg, and wand, Moody has many useful items in his possession. He had two Invisibility Cloaks, though he lent one to Sturgis Podmore, which was never returned. He also possesses a magical trunk with seven compartments (one in which Barty Couch Jr hid the real Moody during his year at Hogwarts), along with the keys for each compartment. He had many items known as Dark Detectors; among these detectors were a Foe-Glass, a large Sneakoscope, and a Secrecy Sensor. He also had a black traveling cloak, a long staff, and a silver drinking flask.

Physical Description
"But it was the man's eyes that made him frightening."

- Harry Potter's impression of Moody

Moody was described as looking as though his face was carved from wood by an untalented person. It was covered with scars and a piece of his nose was missing. His hair was dark gray and grizzled. It was his eyes that were his most surprising feature, a feature that earned him the nickname "Mad-Eye". One was small and dark while the other was a vivid electric blue and moved around independently from his normal eye. Moody also had a wooden leg.

Etymology
"Alastor" is the Scottish form of Alexander. It means defender of mankind or avenger.

Behind the scenes

 * Moody was portrayed in the fourth and fifth films by Irish actor Brendan Gleeson, and was portrayed considerably different from his literary counterpart. Differences between his description in the book and his portrayal on film include his magical eye being held in place by an eye patch and it is not electric blue eye, having a less mutilated face, including a full nose instead of a piece of it missing. Additionally, in the book Moody's magical eye replaced his right eye, in the film adaptation the magical eye replaced Moody's left eye.


 * He also has red hair rather than gray, and is somewhat overweight. His artificial leg in the films is made of metal rather than wood.


 * He also speaks with Gleeson's natural Irish accent, although his nationality in the books is never said to be anything other than British.


 * In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film), Moody has a specialized broom and his wand is either concealed in his walking stick or is the stick itself.


 * Also in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film), during the Battle of the Department of Mysteries scene, Alastor Moody can be momentarily glimpsed in the background dueling two Death Eaters wielding not only his staff in his right hand, but what appears to be a wand in his left. (Exact time in referance 1:53-1:57)

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
 * Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Alastor Moody Аластор Грюм