Alastor Moody's magical eye

Alastor Moody's magical eye
Object information
Made	Between 1981 and 1994
Usage	Eye replacement; capable of seeing through objects and the back of his own head.
Owners	Alastor Moody Barty Crouch Jr Dolores Umbridge Harry Potter

Alastor Moody's magical eye acted as a replacement eye for him after he lost his original one in battle.

Overview

File:Tumblr mwtx268xki1qc17ifo6 r1 250.gif

Moody's magical eye zooming in on Harry Potter

The device is a round, electric-blue eye that he placed into his empty eye socket. It can rotate 360 degrees in Moody's head and allowed him to see through anything, whether it be wood, invisibility cloaks, or even the back of his own head. It is this eye that earned Moody his nickname "Mad-Eye".

It seems the eye is made particularly for Moody, since after Barty Crouch Jr wore it, the eye began to malfunction by being stuck in mid-rotations when it returned to Moody's socket.

History

First Wizarding War

Sometime during the First Wizarding War, Moody lost his eye during a clash with Death Eaters, and had the magical glass eye inserted as a replacement.

1994-1995

"Damn it, it keeps getting stuck — ever since that scum wore it."

— The damage the eye suffered from Crouch's wearing

During summer 1994, before Moody was able to take his one-year post as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, he was attacked and captured by Peter Pettigrew and Bartemius Crouch Jr. Using Polyjuice Potion, Crouch disguised himself as Moody and then took Moody's eye and leg as his own. Crouch was able to make good use of the eye himself throughout the year.

After Moody was freed and regained his eye, the eye tended to get stuck in mid-rotations at times, due to Barty Crouch having worn it. Moody had to put the eye in water and clean it to get it to function properly once more.

1996

On 18 June 1996, Moody participated in the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. In the Death Chamber he duelled Antonin Dolohov, but was injured. Harry Potter accidentally stepped on his eye, which was rolling on the floor.

Some days later, when meeting Harry Potter at King's Cross Station, Moody hid the magical eye with a bowler hat. When, however, he and the other members of the Order of the Phoenix, issued a warning to the Dursleys regarding their treatment of Harry Potter and Vernon Dursley asked if he looked like he could be intimidated, Moody pulled back the hat to reveal the eye and Vernon leapt backward in horror, proving that he could indeed be intimidated.

1997-1998

Moody's Eye in the Ministry

In July 1997, Moody was killed by Lord Voldemort during the Battle of the Seven Potters. Moody's corpse was recovered by the Death Eaters, and his magical eye was taken by Dolores Umbridge, who used it to keep track of her subordinates in the British Ministry of Magic.

When Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, and Ron Weasley broke into the Ministry, Harry found the eye and was revolted by how it was being used. He took it off its wall, which raised alarm. After the trio fled from the Ministry and to the forest in Dartmoor near where the 1994 Quidditch World Cup was held, Harry buried the eye under the oldest, most gnarled and resilient-looking tree he could find, and marked the grave with a small cross. With this, Moody was given a proper burial, as far as was possible.

Behind the scenes

• In the novels, the magical eye replaced Moody's right eye. In the films, it replaced his left.
• In the books, the eye has been depicted to be simply to be inserted into his empty eye socket. In the films, it requires some special holder strapped around the socket, making it look like an eye patch.
• In the fourth film, the eye has shown to also have zoom-in capabilities.
• In the fourth film, Moody is wearing his magical eye during Harry's trip into Albus Dumbledore's Pensieve, but in the fourth book during Harry's trip into the Pensieve, Moody does not have his magical eye, but two normal ones.
  • Furthermore in the film, Moody mentions that he lost his eye in a duel with Evan Rosier while in the book Rosier instead cursed a piece of his nose off.
• It's possible that Moody lost his eye to either Bartemius Crouch Jr, Bellatrix, Rodolphus, or Rabastan Lestrange. Notably he still has both eyes during both Igor Karkaroff and Ludovic Bagman's trials which took place after Voldemort's downfall, yet he is said to have lost his eye battling Death Eaters. He isn't present during the trial of Barty Crouch Jr and the Lestranges, making it possible that he participated in their arrest and was injured in the process.
• It is unknown if this eye is unique to Moody, or if anyone can get one if they needed an eye-replacement, although the fact that it is powerful enough to see through the Cloak of Invisibility, one of the Deathly Hallows, suggests that it may be a rare artefact or, at least, not commonly found or produced.
• It's interesting to note that Moody's eye had the ability to see through even Harry's Cloak of Invisibility, which according to legend granted the owner "true" invisibility. It's possible however that this particular ability of the Cloak remained inactive for generations, since knowledge of the Deathly Hallows is scarce at best, and only activated once Harry realised his heirloom's true power. It is possible that this was merely part of the legend.
  • As the origin of the Magical Eye was never clarified, it is also possible that the eye is itself an ancient and very powerful artefact, matching the Deathly Hallows in power if not in fame or symbolic.
• Although the magical eye was seen as a cameo on the door of Dolores Umbridge's office following Moody's death in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, there is no indication of Umbridge receiving it as a gift. Additionally, the parts of Umbridge using the eye to spy on the Ministry workers, Harry learning it is there and retrieving it, as well as Harry burying the magical eye out of respect for the late Moody, have been omitted.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4, Moody's eye is like his normal eye in colour, though larger than his normal eye and held up by a strap.
• In LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7, Moody's eye is much larger and Harry and Ron as Cattermole and Runcorn must make a violin with the Severing Charm and lull the eye to sleep, then sneak in.

Appearances

Moody's magical eye as seen in Harry Potter: Wizards Unite

• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (First appearance)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (film)
• Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (video game)
• 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 (film) (Flashback in Disc 2)
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 (video game) (NintendoDS version)
• LEGO Harry Potter
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 1-4
• LEGO Harry Potter: Years 5-7
• LEGO Harry Potter
• Harry Potter: The Character Vault
• Harry Potter: Wizards Unite