So.

Apparently Deatheaters are in trend now, huh? Everyone’s favourites often include Lucius Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Severus Snape and Bellatrix Lestrange. There are fanfics, Tik Tok videos, cosplays and more great stuff.

And then there’s the godforsaken one... Barty Crouch. Junior. You know, the one who basically resurrected the Dark Lord.

And I wonder: why on earth is he so criminally underrated? But I won’t dive into the reasons. I’ll discuss why he deserves so much more recognition than he gets and why he is, in my humble opinion, one of the best Harry Potter characters and my personal favourite.

First, a little note. I’ll mostly talk about the book version of Barty, the main reason being... uh... around seven minutes of screen time in the movie? Not much to talk about there, let’s say that.

Act 1. He leaves questions.

There’re a few things known about Barty. He was born, then he studied at Hogwarts, then his life became a hot mess, and then he died. That’s pretty much it. But for me, it can be a good thing. There’s so much to think about. Why did he become who he became? What are his motives? What was going on with him in his younger years?

I mean, imagine how many fanfics you can write about all this stuff! Infinite stonks!

I even wrote one. But it’s in Russian. And it’s terrible. But that’s off the point.

Act 2. A tragic story.

Everyone loves a sad lost boy with daddy issues being his literal personality trait, yeah?

Barty was born with no other option but to follow his family’s desires. His father gave him absolutely no credit, which led to him being absolutely desperate for some respect and appreciation of his, in fact, remarkable magical abilities. And he really was an incredibly talented wizard. He had passed O.W.L. with maximum points and then, already a Deatheater, managed to defeat Alastor Moody himself. That’s... impressive, to say the least.

But nobody ever praised him. Well, not even praised. Hardly anyone ever noticed him at all. And then the Dark Lord appeared. Menacing. Powerful. And, as it seemed to Barty, caring.

He sacrificed everything just to serve his master. His parental figure of sorts. He lost everything including his mind, went to Azkaban, the scariest place in the whole wizarding world.

But it was all for nothing. He was used and then thrown away. Nobody even noticed when he faced something much worse than death itself— the dementors kiss. His mother’s love and sacrifice, his own potential— all was in vain.

To sum it all up, he is just an interesting character with an interesting, yet incredibly sad and tragic story.

Act 3. A good person?

Even though Barty was charged for torturing the Longbottoms, it is unknown if he ever used Crucio or any other cursed.

I can also question his faithfulness to the Dark Lord’s ideas— pureblood supremacy and muggle hate. Perhaps he never even was one of those wizarding nazis? And his reasons for joining the Deatheaters come deep into his desire of being loved?

One can assume that his mother, a kind and loving woman, never was radical about such matters. And, as it may seem from his story, Barty had a deeper relationship with her than with his father and, consequently, valued her opinion more. Which means that he, unlike the Blacks or the Malfoys, simply didn’t have any grounds for forming the ideas that are usually associated with Deatheaters.

And, when he was being arrested in the Ministry of Magic, he was nothing like haughty Bellatrix or her alienated husband. He was a scared young boy desperately calling for his mum. Not exactly the most threatening image you can think of.

Act 4. Oh, wasted potential.

She-who-must-not-be-named always had a habit of killing off interesting characters for seemingly no reason.

Barty is one of them. Maybe he could’ve had... a redemption arc? He could’ve, for example, became a DADA teacher or a member of Order of the Phoenix and died while defending Hogwarts in 1998. Just like Snape. Or he could’ve became a more powerful villain and a true threat to Harry and his friends, like it was with Bellatrix. Or he could’ve, in the end of the day, just left something after him. But nope, Barty just disappeared into the void, and everyone, including Voldemort, just forgot that he existed.

I believe that he deserved much more than just being a plot tool.

Act 5. The final note.

Moral of the story is: Barty Crouch Jr. deserved better. Or so I think.

If you are still here, thank you for reading. Please do share your opinion. Do you agree with me? Do you have anything to add?

And now I’ll go.

Yours, Ada.