Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 sees the deaths of many characters as the evil magical forces of the Wizarding World begin their war against Harry Potter and his allies. Who dies in Deathly Hallows Part 1? A mix of minor characters and major supporting players meet their ends. In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Voldemort and his Death Eaters are now openly attacking muggles and wizards. With the death of Dumbledore in The Half-Blood Prince, the largest threat to Voldemort has been dealt with, and he is free to wage his war, fearless of anyone trying to stop him. This is the first film that doesn’t have Hogwarts as a setting and the loneliness and despair without it make for a dour tone.

Harry Potter films were always mature in how they dealt with death; characters have died in previous films but in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the Death Eaters and Lord Voldemort kill more characters than in any movie before. It’s a much darker film than previous ones. Voldemort’s return has been warned about for years and when it finally comes, it becomes apparent why wizards have always feared him. This film is no longer a young adult story set in a school; it is a high-stakes thriller that sets the tone early with the numerous deaths of major and minor characters.

1. Charity Burbage Is Tortured And Killed By Voldemort

Her First On-Screen Appearance Is Also Her Death

The darker tone in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 is set early in the film when Severus Snape attends a meeting with Voldemort and the Death Eaters. They sit around a table, where a woman, known as Charity Burbage, is magically suspended above. She is the former professor of Muggle Studies at Hogwarts, a subject Voldemort finds detestable. As Voldemort delivers a great and chilling quote over Charity’s pleas to Snape for help, he then murders her with the Killing Curse and feeds her body to Nagini. Charity Burbage’s death is a portent of things to come and a sign that even Hogwarts is no longer safe.

2. Hedwig Dies In The Battle Of The Seven Potters

When Hedwig Dies So Does Harry’s Childhood

Hedwig is Harry Potter’s constant companion and one of his few connections to the magical world when he is with the Dursleys. Not only is the bond between them deep, but Hedwig is also willing to put her life on the line for him too (as evidenced in the Battle of the Seven Potters). Unfortunately, this is the last time audiences see her as she is killed while fending off a Death Eater. Hedwig gets between Harry and Hagrid and the Death Eaters on their trail. It is heartbreaking to see as Hegwig is the first friend Harry loses in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and one of many that he will end up feeling responsible for.

Hedwig’s movie death, however, is very different from her death in the Harry Potter novel. In the novel, Hedwig isn’t flying alongside Hagrid and Harry, but instead, is in a bird cage that is being transported with Harry. Hedwig doesn’t choose to sacrifice herself in the novels; she’s trapped. With nowhere to go, Hedwig has no choice in the matter and is struck by a killing curse likely meant for Hagrid so that the Death Eaters can get to Harry. Hedwig’s death scene acts as a metaphor for Harry and his friends being trapped in the war with Voldemort.

3. Mad-Eye Moody Dies In The Battle Of The Seven Potters

Mad-Eye Moody Dies Off-Screen

With Voldemort and the Death Eaters warring out in the open in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the Order of the Phoenix moves to protect Harry. In order to remove him from Private Drive, the Order, led by Mad-Eye Moody, escorts Harry and his friends disguised as Harry with Polyjuice Potion to the Weasley’s home. It’s shown early in the film that people are willing to put their lives on the line in order to protect Harry (a fact that does not always sit well with him). Each older wizard flies with one of the Harrys to hide the real one from any pursuing Death Eaters.

During the flight of the seven Potters, the Death Eaters ambush the Order of the Phoenix and attack the advance guard. In the commotion, the Harrys and their guardians split up. Each arrives separately and harried at the Weasley’s doorstep. It’s a tense scene in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, as the characters wait to see who survived the attack. When it’s announced that Mad-Eye didn’t make it, it’s both a tragic loss and a brutal symbol of how overmatched the Order is. Mad-Eye was one of their most powerful wizards and an important strategic leader. If he could die, anyone could.

While in the movie, Moody’s death happens off-screen, in the book, there’s a clearer picture of what happens to him. When Mundungus Fletcher gets cold feet and flees from the group, it surprises Moody, who has planned for nearly everything else. Voldemort personally attacks Moody, hitting him in the middle of the face with the Killing Curse. Moody falls from his broom, and presumably, his body is never found by his allies. His eye, however, is kept as a trophy and magical spying device by Delores Umbridge, suggesting that someone found his body at a later date.

4. Rufus Scrimgeour Is Assassinated By Death Eaters

Minister Scrimgeour Doesn’t Give Up Information

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, Minister of Magic Rufus Scrimgeour pays Harry, Ron, and Hermione a visit at the Burrow. Their chat does not go well as Scrimgeour demands Harry align himself with the Ministry and Harry rejects this. During the wedding, it’s learned that Scrimgeour has been killed, and the Ministry has fallen, but the old Minister never gave up Harry’s location (even under torture by Voldemort). With Scrimgeour dead, the Wizarding World is thrown into chaos as the Death Eaters take control and Harry realizes that even those he disagrees with are his allies as long as they are against Voldemort.

5. Gregorovitch Is Killed By Voldemort

Gregorovitch Is Killed For Information

Like the more well-known Garrick Ollivander, Mykew Gregorovitch is also a wand salesman. In flashbacks, the audience is told the wizard once possessed the Elder Wand. Voldemort also acquires this knowledge and confronts Gregorovitch to find its location. Voldemort murders the old wizard and leaves his corpse in his shop after learning who owns the Elder Wand. Gregorovitch’s death is an early clue that the Elder Wand will play an important part in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. When Ollivander later appears in the film, Gregorovitch’s fate creates tension about what will happen to the wand salesman.

6. Bathilda Bagshot Houses Nagini

Who Killed Bathilda Bagshot

When Harry and Hermione visit Godric’s Hollow in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, the film almost strays into horror. Harry follows Bathilda Bagshot, an elderly woman who was friends with the Dumbledore family, to her home to presumably hear about Voldemort’s Horcruxes. In a very disturbing scene, Bathilda begins shaking and Nagini erupts out of her. It’s only quick thinking, and maybe some plot armor, that saves Hermione and Harry from the trap. At this point in the film, the pair are on their own and to have the one person who reaches out to them be a trick, hammers home just how alone they are.

This particular sequence in the movie is very similar to the books and has the same eerie and terrifying feeling for viewers as it did for readers. The sequence has, however, also prompted a lot of speculation from fans as to whether Voldemort went to Bathilda himself for information and then decided to use her to his advantage later, or if he trusted someone else to get information out of her and leave Nagini with her. Rita Skeeter had to trick Bathilda into ingesting veritaserum in order to get information out of the elderly woman for her book, so it seems unlikely that she would have given up information again willingly. Some fans theorize that Severus Snape would have been sent to Bathilda to get the information from her and that Snape might have found a more humane way to end her life before Voldemort used Nagini to reanimate her corpse.

7. Gornuk, Ted Tonks, And Dirk Cresswell Are Killed By Snatchers

Order of the Phoenix Allies Are Killed Off-Screen

Although Gornuk, Ted Tonks, and Dirk Cresswell are never seen in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, their deaths are briefly announced over “Potterwatch”, an anti-Voldemort, secret radio broadcast. Significant in this group is Ted Tonks, the father of Nymphadora Tonks. The Snatchers are Death Eaters who hunt for Undesirables under the new Ministry of Magic. They are violent and capitalize on the fact that speaking Voldemort’s name can reveal someone’s location. These deaths make the point that more wizards than just the main trio are in mortal danger with Voldemort around. Every moment the Dark Lord lives is a moment where innocent people are dying.

8. Unnamed Snatcher Killed By Bellatrix

Bellatrix Kills Anyone In Her Way

Death Eaters in Harry Potter have no regard for the lives of others, even those who are on their side. When the Snatchers bring Harry, Ron, and Hermione to the Malfoy Manor in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, one makes the mistake of claiming the Sword of Gryffindor in front of Bellatrix Lestrange. Without a word, the witch blasts the unlucky Snatcher away with a spell. The other three are more fortunate and are only sent away, but the cursed Snatcher doesn’t get up, and it’s a hard lesson to the others that their lives are as expendable to someone as high-ranking in Voldemort’s army as Bellatrix.

9. Dobby Is Stabbed By Bellatrix Lestrange

Dobby’s Death Is The Most Emotional In Deathly Hallows Part 1

The climax of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 takes place in Malfoy Manor. Harry, Hermione, and Ron have been captured by Snatchers and Bellatrix tortures Hermione for information. Thanks to a concealing charm, no one realizes Harry’s identity, but it’s only a matter of time before it wears off. Fortunately, Dobby the house-elf appears and breaks Ron and Harry loose so that the trio can rescue Hermione and Griphook. Unaccustomed to a free house-elf, the Death Eaters are caught off-guard by Dobby’s powers, and the protagonists nearly escape unharmed. The good wizards steal the Malfoy family’s wands and Disapparate to Shell Cottage.

As they all leave, Bellatrix throws a knife right where they stand. When the group lands outside Shell Cottage they see that the knife slipped through and has mortally wounded Dobby. It’s one of the significant moments that explain the themes of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1. The house-elf can only get out one final “Harry Potter” before dying in Harry’s arms. The pair have been friends since The Chamber of Secrets and Dobby risked his life to save Harry’s. It’s Dobby’s death that spurs Harry onward to continue his journey of destroying the Horcruxes, to make sure deaths like Dobby’s are not in vain.

What’s interesting about this sequence is that, despite it creating an emotional pull for fans, it’s actually much more emotional in the books. The movies introduce Dobby in Chamber of Secrets, but he makes appearances almost annually in Harry’s life after that. He and Ron share their Christmas presents with Dobby in future books – including socks and Weasley sweaters. Dobby has a job at Hogwarts after leaving the Malfoy family and takes care of another house-elf, Winky, who has a hard time adjusting to working for herself instead of for a wizard family. Dobby is the one in the books, not Neville Longbottom, who helps Harry in the underwater challenge of the Triwizard Tournament. So many of those moments depicting Dobby’s friendship with Harry are cut from the movies, making Dobby’s death not nearly as impactful on screen as it is in the Harry Potter novels.

The mix of deaths – those that happen off-screen, those that are implied, and those that happen right in front of Harry and his friends – make the true toll of Voldemort’s war on the Wizarding World apparent in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1.