Cornelius Fudge

"You fail to recognize that it matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be!"

- Albus Dumbledore

Cornelius Oswald Fudge was the Minister for Magic from 1990 to 1996. Despite being a persuasive, confident and intelligent individual, he often valued bureaucracy over pragmatism. He was dismissed due to his unwillingness to believe that Lord Voldemort had returned, which led to great losses against the Death Eaters. He was replaced by Rufus Scrimgeour, but stayed in an advisory capacity.

Early years
In the years before he became Minister, Fudge was previously the Junior Minister in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. In 1981, he was one of the first on the scene after Sirius Black "killed" Peter Pettigrew; but, unknown by anybody else, Black had been framed by Pettigrew himself. Fudge watched Sirius laughing maniacally, and remembers to this day the giant crater in the street.

Albus Dumbledore was the top candidate to succeed Millicent Bagnold as the next Minister for Magic, as many people requested him to accept the position, but he refused multiple times. Therefore, Barty Crouch was favoured to be the next Minister for his effective methods on fighting the Death Eaters, but due to imprisoning his own son, he had a huge drop in popularity and Fudge was the one to replace Bagnold instead. However, Fudge never forgot how much popular support that Dumbledore received during the selection.

Minister For Magic
"A Fair Deal for Wizards Who Deal Fair with Muggles."

- Cornelius Fudge's campaign slogan

1990
In 1990, Fudge was appointed Minister for Magic, and had his first meeting with the Muggle Prime Minister to introduce himself and to explain the existence of the Wizarding World. Fudge cheerily hoped that the pair would never need to meet again.

In Fudge's early days as Minister for Magic, it is said that he was not very self-confident and constantly asked for advice from Albus Dumbledore.

According to the magazine, The Quibbler, Fudge desired to conquer the Gringotts Wizarding Bank, and in order to do this, he had goblins killed in many ways, some of which are ridiculous, such as drowning them, dropping them off buildings, poisoning them, and cooking them in pies, earning him the epithet "Goblin-Crusher". However, as The Quibbler is a tabloid magazine, this theory is debatable.

1993
Because of the four attacks on Muggle-born witches and wizards, Fudge arrived at Hogwarts in the spring of 1993 to remove Rubeus Hagrid to Azkaban prison; not as a punishment, but as a precaution. Fudge assured Hagrid that he would be released immediately if another person was found to be responsible. Dumbledore tried to convince Fudge that taking Hagrid would make no difference, but Fudge would not be dissuaded. Eventually, it was proven that Hagrid was indeed innocent, and he was released.

That summer, Sirius Black escaped from Azkaban, which unhinged Fudge and started him on a downward spiral of poor decisions. The night Black escaped, Fudge visited him at Azkaban, and was unnerved at how "normal" Black seemed, in relation to the other prisoners.

Convinced Black would be caught quickly, Fudge alerted the Muggle Prime Minister of the situation, and asked that the Muggles keep an eye out for Black, as well; the Ministry set up a special hot line for the Muggles to call with any information. Because of Black's connection to Harry Potter, Fudge was reluctant to inform Harry of the truth, something to which Arthur Weasley voiced his opposing opinion.

When Harry left the Dursleys' after blowing up his Aunt Marge, Fudge intercepted him outside the Leaky Cauldron. Fudge assured Harry that the problem had been dealt with; Marge had been punctured by members of the Accidental Magical Reversal Squad, and her memory modified by Obliviators. When Harry asked what would happen to him, Fudge told him not to worry, and that he would forgo punishment, since the circumstances had changed. The truth was, Fudge had let Harry off because he had been relieved to find him alive. Fudge then asked that for his protection, Harry stay at the Leaky Cauldron for what remained of the summer, and not to venture back into Muggle London. Harry agreed, and then asked Fudge if he would consider signing his Hogsmeade permission slip, to which Fudge uncomfortably declined. Fudge then bid Harry goodbye, and left the room.

As a misguided attempt to protect the students, Fudge posted Dementors around the school, which nearly produced tragic results. The teachers, as well as Madam Rosmerta in Hogsmeade, found the creatures' presence distracting, and Harry was a frequent target of the dementors' actions.

In October, Fudge was alerted to Black's entry into Hogwarts on Halloween night. Convinced Black was hiding either in or around Hogsmeade, Fudge had the dementors search the area, calling it a necessary precaution. In December, he journeyed to the school, and stopped at the Three Broomsticks with Professors McGonagall, Flitwick, and Hagrid. Inviting Rosmerta to join them, Fudge proceeded to explain Black's connection to Voldemort, and that it was Black who told him where the Potters were hidden. Fudge then admitted that he believed Black's eventual plan was to find Voldemort and return him to power. After this, Fudge left the pub for a meeting with Dumbledore.

1994
In June, Fudge arrived at Hogwarts again, this time for two reasons: (1) to check on the Black situation, and (2) to witness the execution of Buckbeak the Hippogriff. At two o'clock, Fudge attended Buckbeak's appeal, but the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures did not reverse its decision. At five that evening, Fudge returned to Hagrid's cabin to witness the execution; but when Macnair stepped outside to perform the act, he noticed that Buckbeak had disappeared.

When Severus Snape returned Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Black to the school after the events in the Shrieking Shack, Fudge informed him that for his actions, Fudge would try to wangle an Order of Merlin, First Class for him. Moments later, Fudge entered the hospital wing after hearing Harry's shouts; Harry and Hermione attempted to convince Fudge that Peter Pettigrew was still alive. Several minutes later, when Professor Dumbledore arrived to speak privately with Harry and Hermione, Fudge decided to meet the dementors and rendezvous with Dumbledore later.

When they learned Black had escaped again, Fudge returned with Snape and Dumbledore to the hospital wing, where Snape ordered Harry to explain his involvement. However, Fudge seemed to think Harry being involved was impossible, and left to inform the Ministry about the situation, and agreed to remove the Dementors from the grounds.

During the summer holiday, Fudge had two tasks to organize, with help from Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch: the final of the Quidditch World Cup, and the Triwizard Tournament.

Fudge met again with the Muggle Prime Minister, to inform him of the magical creatures he was bringing into the country for the Tournament.

At the World Cup, Fudge greeted Harry in a fatherly fashion, and introduced him to several foreign wizards, including the Bulgarian Minister for Magic. Fudge also extended friendly greetings to the Malfoy family.

After the match ended, Fudge was irritated to learn that the Bulgarian Minister could speak English, and that his own need to communicate through sign language had not been necessary. Along with the Bulgarian Minister, Fudge then shook hands with the two teams.

1995-1996
In the spring of 1995, Fudge was asked to fill in for Mr. Crouch as a Triwizard judge; having stopped coming to work, no one knew where Crouch was, or what had happened to him.

When Harry exited the Triwizard maze holding Cedric Diggory's dead body, Fudge informed the crowd, and then tried to get Harry to release him. Fudge suggested Harry go to the hospital wing, but Dumbledore refused, wanting Harry to remain where he was.

When Fudge was informed the Death Eater responsible had been caught, he felt his personal safety was in jeopardy, and summoned a Dementor to accompany him into the castle; the said Dementor then sucked out Barty Crouch Jr's soul, leaving him an empty shell of his former self, unable to give testimony about Voldemort's return. This lack of testimony helped Fudge discredit Dumbledore the following year.

Suspicious that Dumbledore may have had designs on the role of Minister himself, Fudge refused to believe the warning that Voldemort had returned. Fudge's decision was also influenced by one of Rita Skeeter's articles about Harry, suggesting that he may have been having hallucinations. Seeing Dumbledore's suggestions of removing the Dementors from Azkaban and sending envoys to the giants as ludicrous (fearing he would be forced out of office for even suggesting it), Fudge and Dumbledore accepted that they had reached a parting of the ways; Fudge was left to act as he saw fit, while Dumbledore acted immediately to reactivate the Order of the Phoenix.

"Laws can be changed if necessary, Dumbledore!"

- Cornelius Fudge

Over the summer, Fudge made it clear that anyone in league with Dumbledore can be considered dismissed from the Ministry. He also made several massive changes in the laws to give himself advantages and benefits, making a simple case of underage magic would be dealt with by the entire Wizengamot in a courtroom, and in his great haste to withhold certain laws, he ended up neglecting a few. He also invited Percy Weasley to become his Junior Minister, in an attempt to spy on the Dumbledore-loyal Weasley family, but even though Percy accepted, he defected from his family due to a quarrel.

When Harry was accused of using magic illegally in the presence of a Muggle, Fudge took a leading role in Harry's prosecution before the Wizengamot, and actively sought to discredit Harry, going so far as to change the time and location of the hearing in an attempt to make him miss it, and during the actual hearing, introduce irrelevant considerations and highly biassed accusations while seeking to deny Harry's right to a fair chance to present his own version of events. Only the intervention of witness Arabella Figg and Dumbledore himself spared Harry from expulsion.



"Fudge isn't in his right mind. It's been twisted and warped by fear."

- Remus Lupin



Driven by paranoia, Fudge sought to undermine Dumbledore's credibility and authority both at Hogwarts and at large in the wizarding world, which he accomplished, first by ensuring that Dumbledore was presented in the news as a crackpot. Soon afterwards, Fudge's Senior Undersecretary, Dolores Umbridge, was installed at Hogwarts as the school's new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. By means of numerous Ministry decrees, Fudge gradually extended her powers until he was able to remove Dumbledore from Hogwarts, and handed control to Umbridge. When the mass breakout of Azkaban took place, Fudge continued to refuse to believe Harry and Dumbledore, and instead suggested Sirius Black was the leader of the breakout. It was Fudge's ignorance and poor decisions that allowed Voldemort and his Death Eaters to rebuild their forces with little detection and interference.



Fudge's term ended in 1996 when, shortly after the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, he and several other Ministry officials saw Voldemort for themselves in the Ministry Atrium. Forced to accept the truth, Fudge was pressured by the public and media, and resigned within two weeks of the incident for failing to see the danger at hand and act on it.



Prior to his dismissal, he made desperate attempts to remain in office, and tried to have Dumbledore to arrange a meeting with Harry to tell the wizarding world that the Ministry have been doing a good job in maintaining order and security. This failed, as Dumbledore refused to persuade Harry to do so, but the idea did not die out when Rufus Scrimgeour took over. Also, prior to his dismissal, Fudge was threatened by Voldemort to stand aside as Minister, or a mass murder of Muggles would take place. Fudge refused, which resulted in the collapse of both the Brockdale Bridge and the Millennium Bridge.

He stayed on as an adviser and messenger to the Muggle Prime Minister for Scrimgeour, as Scrimgeour was too busy to contact the Muggle Minister himself.

In 1997, Fudge was one of the many citizens of the Wizarding world to attend the funeral of Albus Dumbledore.

Legacy
"Take the steps I have suggested, Cornelius, and you will be remembered, in office or out, as one of the wisest and greatest Ministers of Magic we have ever had. Fail to act, and you will go down in history as the man who let Lord Voldemort run free."

- Albus Dumbledore

Several persons, including Rubeus Hagrid, considered Fudge a well-meaning but ineffective bumbler while he was in office. This failed to worry many, as long as he was willing to accept advice from others, particularly Albus Dumbledore. When the full consequences of his actions (or rather, lack of action) after Lord Voldemort's return became known, the wizard community issued a virtually unanimous condemnation of his tenure. Fudge would later comment sadly that he had never known the wizard community to be so united on any other issue during his administration. Given this universal disapproval, he was likely memorialised as one of the least effective Ministers in British history.

It is unknown what happened to Fudge after Lord Voldemort took over the Ministry of Magic, but he lost his position as messenger between the Minister and the Muggle Prime Minister, as the Death Eaters have no use for Muggle alliances.

Physical appearance
Fudge is described as "portly little man," with rumpled grey hair. He is recognizable by his rather bizarre dress style: pinstriped suit, scarlet tie, long black travelling cloak, pointed purple boots, and lime green bowler hat. In 1992, Fudge's hair was curly and rather thick, as well as being long enough to put into a small ponytail. However, from the next year onward his hair was quite short and thin.

Personality and traits
"He is gonna get us all killed just because he can't face the truth."

- Hermione Granger's reaction about Cornelius Fudge interview to the Daily Prophet about the Azkaban Mass Breakout of 1995

As Minister for Magic, he appeared in the early years as a bumptious, good-natured wizard trying to manage and smooth over the occasional crisis, such as Harry Potter's misuse of magic to inflate his Aunt Marge in 1993.

Fudge also seem to favour people born with high status, particularly the Malfoys, over lower class, such as the Weasleys, as seen in his friendship with Lucius Malfoy and neglect of Arthur Weasley. Also, despite being accepting towards Muggles, Fudge favours pure-bloods. He also thought Squibs are not worthy of his attention, as he doubted Arabella Figg's testimony during Harry's disciplinary hearing, and acted like she had no connection towards the wizarding world. Fudge's prejudice towards low-status people was always resented by Dumbledore.

Although Fudge started out as a well-meaning man, he favoured peace and tranquility for the sake of his own position over revealing the truth, if it means disruption of that peace. As long as he deems the evidence to the otherwise as insufficient, Fudge would lie through his teeth in order to cover up the truth, and was perfectly willing to ruin the reputation of those who dared to oppose him, even if it meant abusing the powers of his position and making changes in the laws to do so. Ironically, this ultimately ruined his own reputation instead. Even prior to his dismissal, Fudge attempted to persuade Harry to lie to the wizarding world that the Ministry is performing well in security and maintenance, despite how he mistreated Harry for an entire year, as well as how he was the one who endangered the entire world by denying Voldemort's return. This proves that Fudge is willing to use lies and slander even when he does acknowledge danger to maintain his own position, as well as being shameless and asking favours from people he has offended.

Fudge appeared to be more reactive than proactive; he would often wait for a solution to appear, rather than take the initiative and create a solution. Because of his indecisive nature, he would often ask Dumbledore for advice in his early days as Minister. Unfortunately, when Fudge did take the initiative and made his own decisions in attempt of accomplishing his job, they were all misguided and led to disastrous consequences, as seen when he sent Rubeus Hagrid to Azkaban for supposedly opening the Chamber of Secrets, only because Hagrid's record is against him, despite Dumbledore's insistence. Fudge also placed Dementors to Hogwarts to recapture Sirius Black, which led to students' being traumatized. He insisted on summoning a Dementor to Barty Crouch Jr.'s interrogation for his own protection, despite knowing that Barty has been tied up and guarded by Professor McGonagall, and the possibility that Dementor would attack the prisoner on sight (which did happen) and the destruction of their one evidence at that time. However, Fudge's ultimate mistake is when he led a smear-campaign against Dumbledore and Harry Potter, denying the Wizarding world the chance to protect themselves and effectively allowing Voldemort a full year to build his forces unhindered.

Fudge also grew more and more paranoid over the years, believing himself is the smart one and Dumbledore is a troublemaker who conspires to overthrow him for the post of Minister for Magic. This is partly due to Fudge remembering Dumbledore's superiority and popularity in the past and present. This paranoia was usually kept suppressed, as Fudge continued to respect Dumbledore over the years, and accepted many of Dumbledore's eccentric decisions.

As he became more and more overwhelmed, however, his paranoia rose and began to cloud his judgement; by ignoring Dumbledore, Fudge had metaphorically shot himself in the foot. His declining lack of preventive action affected his popularity with the wizarding world: by the summer of 1996, he had left from office in disgrace and replaced by the more proactive Rufus Scrimgeour.

Albus Dumbledore
In Fudge's early days as Minister For Magic, he was forever bombarding Albus Dumbledore for help and advice. The bombarding of Dumbledore resulted in Fudge getting more and more paranoid over the years, as he believed that Dumbledore wanted to be Minister for Magic. This paranoia was kept suppressed, as Fudge continued to respect Dumbledore over the years and accepted his decisions, despite their eccentricity. However, in 1995, after Dumbledore told him that Voldemort had returned, Fudge refused to believe him, even when Severus Snape showed him the reactivated Dark Mark, as he finally succumbed to his paranoia. As a result, Fudge started a smear campaign to discredit and ruin Albus's reputation. As an attempt to wrest control of Hogwarts from Dumbledore, he appointed Dolores Umbridge as the Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher against the headmaster's will, and empowered her greatly. After seeing Voldemort's return in the Ministry, Fudge was forced to accept it all, as well as reinstate Albus' reputation. After this, Fudge resigned as Minister in disgrace because he refused to take the steps Dumbledore offered him.

Harry Potter
Initially, Fudge treated Harry Potter like a favourite nephew, and gave him lenience when the underage boy inflated his aunt Marge from anger, rather than expel him, despite a previous offence. This was partly due to the Azkaban escapee Sirius Black, who Fudge believed to be after Harry. This kindness continued until the end of the Triwizard Tournament, when Harry brought back Cedric Diggory's corpse and claimed that Voldemort had returned. Fudge, in fear that this would jeopardise the peace of his community and his seat as Minister for Magic, refused to believe Harry and Dumbledore, and spread a smear campaign to make it look like they were liars and nutters who were trying to gain attention, as well as take over the Ministry. To this end, Fudge was intensely biassed against Harry during a hearing of underage magic used to defend against Dementors, and allowed Umbridge to punish the boy extensively. When the truth of Voldemort was revealed, Fudge tried to persuade Harry to tell the world that the Ministry was doing a good job in security, but failed, as Harry still resented Fudge's actions from the previous year.

Dolores Umbridge
Dolores Umbridge is Fudge's right-hand woman, being his Senior-Undersecretary, and he trusts her greatly to place her into Hogwarts to control it. He granted her many powers through Educational Decrees, and full-heartedly agreed with all of her comments and mockeries against Dumbledore and Harry. Fudge seems to be unaware of Umbridge's sadistic and dark nature. In return, Umbridge was loyal to Fudge only because of the power he is offering her, and felt no true attachments to the misguided man. She was also willing to break the law behind the Minister's back to achieve results, such as summoning Dementors in an attempt to expel Harry, as well as using the illegal Cruciatus Curse for interrogation, all the while stating that "what Cornelius doesn't know won't hurt him". In short, Umbridge used Fudge to further her lust for power. When Fudge was dismissed, Umbridge stood beside the new Ministers instead.

Lucius Malfoy
Due to Lucius Malfoy being a wealthy and respectable pure-blood, as well as giving "generous" donations of gold, Fudge treats Lucius as a great friend, and grants him many privileges, such as favours of delaying laws and classified information. This friendship was what led to Fudge to neglect weaker families, such as the Weasleys. When Harry reported that Lucius was a renewed Death Eater, Fudge took this as a great offence, and absolutely refused to believe it, and continued to treat Lucius with great respect. When Lucius' son, Draco, captured Harry for being in the illegal Dumbledore's Army, Fudge commented that his father must be informed of this achievement. However, there is at least one occasion in which Fudge disagreed with Lucius, when the twelve school governors suspended Dumbledore for not being able to prevent the Chamber of Secrets incident; this was when Fudge still respected the headmaster. Fudge is completely oblivious to Lucius' dark nature, and accepted his story of being under the Imperius Curse when serving Voldemort. Lucius, in turn, used this to his advantage and manipulated the gullible Minister to delay laws and other factors that would benefit the Death Eaters.

Percy Weasley
In 1995, Fudge promoted Percy Weasley to become his Junior Minister. This was an attempt to spy on the Weasley family, but Percy's defection from his family made it pointless. However, Percy commented in his letter to his younger brother Ron that the Minister would not be more gracious to him for this defection, and he agreed with Fudge on that Harry was violent and disturbed and Dumbledore is plotting to overthrow Fudge when the Ministry began publishing articles, leading to a quarrel with his family. Over the final year of Fudge's term as Minister, he kept using Percy as the court scribe for both Harry's disciplinary hearing and the discovery of Dumbledore's Army. Percy, during both moments, heartily agreed with Fudge's decisions, and laughed when Fudge made insulting mockeries at Harry and Dumbledore.

Etymology

 * Cornelius is an old Roman clan's name, possibly related to the Latin word cornu (horn). Name of early Christian saints with a medieval cult in the Low Countries.
 * Oswald is of old German origin, and means "God's power". This is a reference of Fudge's political power amongst the British wizarding world is the highest, to the point of god-like. The name Oswald has had negative connotations since the 1930's due to British Fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley - and ally of Adolf Hitler's - as well as Lee Harvey Oswald - assassin of U.S. President John F. Kennedy - since the 1960s. Both can allude to Fudge's negative impact upon the wizarding world, the former due to his blood purity and social elitism as exemplified by his favouritism of Lucius Malfoy, and the latter due to his attempt to assassinate Dumbledore's reputation.
 * Fudge (Verb) To alter something from its true state, as to hide a flaw or uncertainty. Always deliberate, but not necessarily dishonest or immoral.
 * (intransitive) To try to avoid giving a direct answer; to waffle or equivocate.
 * "Fudge," besides being a delicious chocolate confection, can mean "nonsense." As a verb, it means to "evade" or to "falsify." In technological jargon, it means "to perform in an incomplete but marginally acceptable way." We've seen the former Minister "fudge" a story many times during the series.

Behind the scenes

 * Fudge was portrayed in the Harry Potter films by Robert Hardy.
 * While Fudge avoids using Voldemort's name throughout the series, to the point of being rude to the Muggle Prime Minister when he began to read it aloud, Fudge calls him "Lord Voldemort" in the fourth book.
 * Several comparisons have been made between Fudge and real-life British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain, who bowed to Adolf Hitler's territorial demands at the Munich Conference and foolishly announced "peace in our time" in 1938, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Despite any of his other accomplishments, he has largely had a historical reputation as a bumbler. Ironically, Hardy is well-known for playing Chamberlain's successor, Winston Churchill, in a series of television miniseries.
 * Fudge's wand in the films has a striking resemblance to Filius Flitwick's wand.
 * While Fudge disagrees with Dumbledore and Harry, they were actually trying to help him with his career (albeit indirectly) by announcing Voldemort's return. In contrast, the people Fudge is friendly with, Lucius and Umbridge, are merely using him and have no true attachments to him.
 * It is plausible that the real-life author Cornelia Funke's name was the basis for Fudge's name.

Appearances

 * Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (video game)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (video game)
 * 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 Half-Blood Prince (film)
 * Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

Notes and references
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