On why Lucius became a Death Eater (for another WIP)

[lavivi]

Inspired by buttfacemakani, I recently started writing a Lucius/Narcissa fic (I have about thirty things - and the majority of them Hellsing, yes - in progress right now).  Anyway, as it is really my first Malfoy fic (besides Put a Light in the Window, which is Draco/Ginny, and in which I kill both Lucius and Narcissa off), I've been doing some musing on both of their backgrounds.  Particularly Lucius', since I've never really focused on that before.  

So at the moment I'm pondering his motivation for becoming a Death Eater.  Taking an enlightened perspective, I'm assuming it's more than just "yay killing mudbloods sign me up."  I believe he's an intelligent man - and also a Slytherin, so self-interest is a pretty strong motivation in all his doings - and so hmm.

I could pull out a few theories on why, but I'm also wondering if any essays or developed theories might have already been presented on why Lucius became a Death Eater.  Could anyone summarise their ideas, or pass a link?

Comments

[chthonya]

Well, this is the question that brought me into the fandom, but most of my attempts to explore Lucius have been through fic rather than essay.

If you want to explore the character of Lucius, the best place to start is gmth's idol_reflection essay on Lucius.

After that, you might want to check out some Luciusfic. There's an easily skimmable list with summaries at FictionAlley, here.

You might also find darkrosetiger's recent post about writing Lucius useful.

For what it's worth, my own opinion is that Lucius' prime motivation is his family's position in society. For a while I wondered why he would plot against the Ministry when he seemed to be quite able to manipulate it to his liking, but I think that underneath that is an awareness that society is changing, that those coming in from the Muggle world bring new values ("they've never been brought up to know our ways," says Draco when he first meets Harry) that are at odds with those held by "the old wizarding families". Therefore, as Borgin says in CoS, "wizarding blood is counting for less everywhere". It is these changes, which threaten the Malfoys' privileged position, that Lucius wants to roll back. I suspect the Blacks and other old families have similar motivations.

Many people write Lucius as someone who wants to get out of the Death Eaters, either because he's found that Voldemort's agenda doesn't match his or because Voldemort's fixation on Harry makes him unreliable. But on the other hand, people who had an authoritarian upbringing tend to be susceptible to powerful figures. I wrote an essay on HP4GU a while back about how this might pertain to Lucius and Draco - most relevant quote below:

Incidentally, another consequence of authoritarian upbringing is that
the victim's inner development will have been limited to learning
how
to obey a superior figure, so they are likely to be drawn to support
a strong leader. [According to Miller (pg 65-75) this is one reason
why Hitler was embraced so enthusiastically in 1933.] In the
Potterverse, if such childrearing practices were more rigidly adhered
to in the pure-blood upper classes, we have here a psychological as
well as a political reason for their support of Voldemort.

For what it's worth though, I'm not sure that was at the root of
Lucius' relationship to LV – from what little we've seen of their
interaction so far (GoF p 564) he's trying to smooth-talk his way out
of trouble, but unlike others he isn't grovelling (eg he calls
Voldemort `My Lord' not `master'). I suspect that his allegiance to
Voldemort was a strategic political move on his part, and that
Voldemort's use of Lucius' first name indicates that he derived more
political advantage from Lucius' participation than just another
fighting wand.

IMO Lucius grew up with an obedient respect for his father but the
emotional deprivation of his authoritarian upbringing required him to
still seek a sense of identity in something more powerful than
himself as an adult. I would guess that he fixed on the immutable
family heritage and honour, as a more generalised version of his
relationship to his father. He therefore **needs** to defend his
family's standing to maintain his own security, which would
explain
his bitter resentment about the loss of pure-bloods' status (as
seen
in B&B), and his attempts to transmit the sense of Malfoy superiority
to Draco.

(Apologies for odd linebreaks - yahoo tends to do that to posts. 'Miller' refers to Alice Miller's book "For your own good: the roots of violence in childrearing" which IMO is well worth a read if you want to get into Lucius' head.)

If you're interested in my take on Lucius and Narcissa, go here.

Hope that helps! Good luck with the fic.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lavinia_/]

Oh, wow, thanks so much - this completely makes up for getting a lack of...any other response at all. Ha. I'll look through everything as soon as I get a chance (meaning after a bunch of term papers and scholarships are turned in over the next few days).

[chthonya]

this completely makes up for getting a lack of...any other response at all

*g*
Yes, I was struck by the resounding silence, too. As I said though, in my experience the question has been addressed more in fic (and personal correspondence) than in essay - you might perhaps have got a better response asking for fic recs.

Will you let me have a link to the fic when you've done?

[http://users.livejournal.com/_lavinia_/]

Heheh, I was really surprised the next day (er, would that be today?) when I saw the next daily_snitch edition had come out and it reminded me I still hadn't gone a single comment in response to this. I've seen essays recently on whether or not the fandom is fading, and I never thought anything of it until I asked such a relatively simple question, and got absolutely zero response for so long after the post was made.

Oh, I'll definitely give a link! *beams* It's going well so far, I'm pleased.