Lucius Malfoy (born in 1954[HP5]) is the husband of Narcissa Black, and the father of their son Draco Malfoy. Lucius is an aristocratic man, and as such has an obsession with blood purity, he presumably indoctrinated his son Draco with the same ideals.
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Description
Lucius has a pale, pointed face, with pale blond hair and cold grey eyes; in the movie, he carries a walking stick with a snakehead that holds his wand inside it.
History
Early Life
Lucius was born in 1954,and was the son of Abraxas Malfoy. In 1965 he started school at Hogwarts and was sorted into Slytherin house. While at Hogwarts, he was made a Slytherin prefect. At some point after his time at school, he married Narcissa Black; their son Draco was born in 1980.
Lucius knew Igor Karkaroff, headmaster of the Durmstrang Institute and considered sending his son, Draco to Durmstang rather than Hogwarts. However, Narcissa did not like the idea of Draco going to school so far away so they sent him to Hogwarts.
He eventually became a Death Eater, one of the followers of Lord Voldemort, but left his master after the Dark Lord was defeated by one-year-old Harry Potter. Malfoy claimed he had been bewitched by Voldemort and had not meant to serve him. Though this explanation was accepted by the Ministry of Magic, some, such as Arthur Weasley, believed it was a lie. He then went on to get a job at the Ministry of Magic as a school governor of Hogwarts.
Involvement with the opening of the Chamber of Secrets
Lucius Malfoy
In 1992 shortly before his son's second year at Hogwarts, after selling some of his poisons among other items at Borgin and Burkes, Lucius set in motion an elaborate plan he had been brewing. This plan involved planting the old school diary of Tom Riddle on Ginny Weasley, knowing full well that it would possess her and attempt to use her body to open the Chamber of Secrets and attack Muggle-borns and half-bloods. He gave Ginny the diary in Flourish and Blotts, after he had fought with Arthur Weasley and was hit in the eye by an Encyclopedia of Toadstools. It was hinted that his target was not the Muggle-borns, half-bloods, or even Ginny, but to discredit Arthur Weasley and thus sabotage the Muggle Protection Act Weasley had recently proposed. Lucius' selfishness risked the endangerment of the diary which unbeknownst to Lucius was actually one of Lord Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Malfoy's plan went way beyond success: even what initially was the sole flaw—Malfoy's house-elf, Dobby, who snuck out of the house to warn Harry of the impending terrible events—failed to tip him off about the true source behind what was about to transpire. Students, animals and ghosts were systematically petrified by Voldemort using Ginny, whose possession became gradually stronger. With moderate pressure from Malfoy (in the form of their families being attacked if they were not to do this), the school governors voted to dismiss Albus Dumbledore as inadequate for running the school.
The plan failed, however, when Riddle decided to pursue his own goals, and rather than continue to petrify the non-pure-bloods of the school he set his eyes on the destruction of Harry Potter, the boy that Ginny told him would kill him in his future, as a temporally twisted sort of revenge. Ginny finally stopped trusting her diary and threw it away, to consequently be found by Harry. These events worked excellently for Riddle, but not at all for Malfoy; this culminated at Riddle putting Malfoy's whole plan at stake in forcing Ginny into the Chamber in hopes of Harry trying to rescue her only to be attacked by Riddle and destroyed, which destroyed the soul living within the Horcrux. As Harry actually was the one to survive the showdown in the Chamber (with indirect help from Dumbledore), he was able to discover the truth behind Ginny "attacking" the school students, both proving her innocence and pointing an accusing finger at the true culprit—Malfoy, who was consequently sacked as a school governor. Adding insult to injury, Harry also managed to trick Malfoy into setting Dobby free, and although Malfoy tried to kill Harry, Dobby protected him and blasted Malfoy down a flight of steps. During this year, Malfoy also bought the whole Slytherin Quidditch Team Nimbus 2001 broomsticks.
The Buckbeak case
During the 1993 school year, Lucius’ son Draco was attacked by the Hippogriff named Buckbeak. Lucius took the case to court and insisted the Hippogriff be put to death. Buckbeak's owner, gamekeeper Rubeus Hagrid, desperately tried to defend him, arguing that Buckbeak had been provoked by Draco and had attacked in self-defence. Despite his actions, Malfoy still won the case and Buckbeak was sentenced to death, though the creature escaped with the help of Harry Potter and Hermione Granger.
Life as a Death Eater
- "I have never renounced the old ways. The face I have been obliged to present each day since your . . . absence, that is my true mask."
- — Lucius Malfoy[src]
Lucius with his Death Eater mask on
In 1994 Lucius attended the Quidditch World Cup with his family, and in the aftermath of the cup, Malfoy and some other ex-Death Eaters were involved in the torture and humiliation of the muggle site manager of the stadium and his family (This was not known at that time to the public and officials). He fled when the Dark Mark was launched into the sky.
When Lord Voldemort rose again, Malfoy returned to him on his summons, claiming that he had done everything he could all along to find Voldemort and help him rise again. Voldemort believed that Malfoy had not completely renounced his old ways, but mildly doubted his loyalty because Malfoy had fled the Dark Mark at the World Cup. Even though Harry witnessed Malfoy's declaration of loyalty to Voldemort, pretty much nobody in the Ministry believed him and Malfoy continued maintaining strong ties to very high places in the Ministry (most prominently in the form of financial support, as has been in the past).
In 1995, Malfoy appears doing shady dealings with Cornelius Fudge in the Department of Mysteries just prior to Harry's trial. Malfoy could possibly have been convincing Fudge not to clear Harry's name. Later, Lucius appears with Bellatrix Lestrange and four other Death Eaters to retrieve the prophecy concerning Voldemort and Harry Potter. When Lucius fails and accidently breaks the Prophecy, he is escorted to Azkaban Prison. Lucius remains this way for the duration of the sixth book. This proves useful to him as he was in command of the Prophecy Retrieval Operation, making him responsible for its failure.Voldemort most likely would've otherwise killed Lucius for failure.
In 1997, Malfoy appears as a quivering yes-man for his master, Voldemort, after (with the other Death Eaters) he breaks out of jail. Voldemort requests Lucius' wand which he believes will kill Harry. Instead, it breaks. Lucius displeases his master yet again when Narcissa Malfoy, Bellatrix Lestrange, Draco Malfoy, and Lucius capture Harry and his companions. Harry and his friends escape just before Voldemort shows up. The Malfoys are put under house arest. Lucius later fetches Severus Snape for Voldemort when Voldemort discovers the issue with the Elder Wand. Lucius and his wife and son escape jail when they fail to particapate in the Battle of Hogwarts, and because of Narcissa Malfoy's "favor" that she did for Harry when he supposedly died.
Second War
Malfoy was also involved in the Battle at the Department of Mysteries, as the apparent leader of the squad sent to pry a crucial prophecy from Harry's hands. However, after obtaining the prophecy, Malfoy was knocked over by an unhappy Sirius. He rolled over and tried to catch the prophecy as it fell. His hand was a bit too late and it broke over his palm. He was seen by a myriad of Ministry officials called by Dumbledore to the scene, and—now with irrefutable evidence pointing to his identity as a Death Eater—promptly sent to Azkaban prison. However, his assistant commander of the Death Eater squad, Bellatrix Lestrange, escaped with Voldemort after his battle with Dumbledore.
Lucius Malfoy's failure at the Department of Mysteries combined with accidentally destroying part of Voldemort's soul with the diary of Tom Riddle has resulted in his loss of any standing with the Dark Lord. Some believe that he is safer in Azkaban than being free. In 1997, he and all incarcerated death eaters escape Azkaban prison with the help of Voldemort.
He becomes little more than a servant to Voldemort later on, handing over his wand and his house for headquarters. Near the end of the Second war, Lucius shows that he is more concerned with his son's safety than Voldemort's cause, therefore he isn't as cruel as he means and cares very deeply about Draco as does Narcissa. After the Battle of Hogwarts he and Draco's crimes are forgiven due to Lucius's abandonment of Voldemort and his cause as well as Narcissa’s lies to the Dark Lord that saved Harry Potter's life in the Forbidden Forest. During the Death Eaters' final stand, he was shown with Narcissa looking for their son not even fighting, and when everyone was in the Great Hall after the Battle, they looked as if they weren't sure to be there or not. He and the rest of his family "weasled their way out" of being sent to Azkaban because of the assistance Narcissa gave Harry in the Forbidden Forest.
Lucius would eventually gain a grandson; Scorpius Malfoy.
Personality
Lucius Malfoy was generally a ruthless aristocratic snob, who had a dislike of muggles, muggle-borns, and half bloods. He was also arrogant and confident. He seemed to be selfish and concerned with his reputation, he was said to be skilled with the Imperius Curse. He was cruel to Dobby when the house-elf was in his service. With his arrest and his failures, Voldemort targeted his family charging Draco with the task of killing Dumbledore, as an indirect attack on Lucius.
Draco failed and Snape stepped in to finish the job, but before Snape killed Dumbledore, the wise old headmaster hinted to Draco that if he switched sides he and his family would be protected.
Trivia
- In the movie, Malfoy is played by Jason Isaacs. To prepare for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and to get a sense of how nasty Lucius should be, Isaacs went back and watched Tom Felton's performance in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.
- The name Lucius may come from the Roman dictator Lucius Sulla, who extra judiciously executed his rivals. His name could also be a reference to the Roman Emperor Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus, also known as Nero. Lucius is a name that derives from Latin meaning "bright" or "intelligent" and is related to the name Lucifer, the first name of Satan, which may reference him to be bright but evil, or just evil. Malfoy is derived from the French male foi or male foy, meaning bad faith or unfaithful.
- Also, in the movies, Lucius' wand is concealed within the snake-handeled walking stick he carries with him at close to all times.
Appearances
- Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (First appearance)
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (film)
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Mentioned only)
- 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 Half-Blood Prince (Mentioned only)
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
