Lord Voldemort is undoubtedly one of the most powerful and dangerous dark wizards in the history of magic, but he is still only one man, and one man can only achieve so much alone. And Voldemort must have realized this, because he recruited plenty of dark wizards and witches to fight wizarding wars on his behalf. This horror squad was more commonly known as the Death Eaters.
Although Lord Voldemort was ultimately defeated, he almost conquered the wizarding world, and the Death Eaters were clearly a key part of his success. Most of the evil characters in the Harry Potter saga were or eventually became Death Eaters, but there were plenty of scary folks who weren't. So here are 10 Harry Potter characters who would have made terrifying Death Eaters, but never actually joined up with Voldemort.
Corvus Lestrange
We all only got a little glimpse of the kind of man that Corvus Lestrange was in Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them, but it seems pretty fair to assume that he is just the kind of guy who would have loved to become a Death Eater. Aside from being the ancestor of some of Voldemort's most enthusiastic followers, Corvus seems to be an absolutely terrible person who would have reveled in the opportunity to embrace his basest impulses as one of Voldemort's acolytes. The story of this loveless and cruel monster mirrors a lot of the history behind Voldemort's life too, so they would really be a match made in hell.
Vinda Rosier
If Gellert Grindelwald is the previous generation's version of Lord Voldemort, then Vinda Rosier is the previous generation's version of Bellatrix Lestrange. Vinda appeared to be one of Gellert's most loyal followers, and she seemed to be one of the few people that Grindelwald truly trusted.
She also seemed to be a completely immoral, downright evil woman who had no qualms about crossing ethical lines and who casually murdered children, among other things. She absolutely loathed non-magical folks, and unsurprisingly other members of the pure-blood Rosier family wound up becoming Death Eaters as well. If she had just been born a few decades later, she undoubtedly would have been a prominent Death Eater.
Marvolo Gaunt
It's actually quite interesting that Lord Voldemort never got to know his grandfather, and yet his life philosophy seems to match up almost perfectly with Marvolo Gaunt's. Gaunt was the patriarch of one of the few pure-blood wizarding families left in the world, and he was violent, cruel, and prejudiced. He often lamented the fact that the Gaunt family had seen such a fall from grace, but he was also extremely prideful and saw himself above almost everyone in the wizarding world. He undoubtedly would have been thrilled to see his grandson rise up and attempt to conquer the entire wizarding world, and would have been right beside him in that fight.
Morfin Gaunt
Just like his father, Morfin Gaunt was a violent, cruel, and extremely bigoted man who was obsessed with wizard blood purity and who despised all muggles. Tom Riddle seemed to take after his grandfather and uncle very much, and although Tom was more than happy to discard his uncle and frame him for the murders of the entire Riddle family (of course Voldemort himself was the one who killed them), if he had actually given Morfin a chance to join his squad of Death Eaters, Morfin undoubtedly would have relished in the opportunity to kill Muggles with impunity and advance the status of his family.
Petunia Dursley
Aunt Petunia was a Muggle, so Lord Voldemort clearly would never have given her the chance to become one of his Death Eaters. But she and Voldemort had quite a lot in common, namely an absolute and intense hatred of Harry Potter.
Maybe Petunia didn't hate Harry quite enough to actually kill him, but she was more than happy to treat him like a stray dog that was trying to steal the leftover scraps of her food, and she undoubtedly would have betrayed Harry if she knew there was something to gain from it.
Cornelius Fudge
Cornelius Fudge was ostensibly supposed to be one of the major leaders in the entire magical world, but frankly, he did more to advance Voldemort's cause than nearly every one of his beloved Death Eaters. Fudge wasn't a dark wizard per se, but he was a coward, and Voldemort really could have used Fudge's fear, as well as his immense power, to his advantage. Cornelius is just the kind of politician who valued order over justice, and if he thought that becoming a Death Eater might lead to order in the magical community, he just might have joined them.
Credence Barebone
Credence Barebone is really one of the most tragic characters in the entire Harry Potter universe, because at his heart he is just a very confused boy who has been horrifically abused and will follow pretty much anyone who offers him some positive reinforcement. But he is a boy who could be very easily manipulated by someone like Lord Voldemort, and as an Obscurus, he is a wizard with a destructive power unlike anything that the world has ever seen. Voldemort would have loved to have that kind of power under his direction and control, so he undoubtedly would have tried to recruit Credence into the Death Eaters.
Dolores Umbridge
Although Dolores Umbridge was one of the higher ranking members of the Ministry of Magic and so in theory, should do whatever it takes to protect the wizarding world, it seems unlikely that it would have taken a lot of convincing to get her to join Voldemort's Death Eaters.
Umbridge is a character who loved to use the rule of law in a malignant and malicious way, and it seems that nothing in this world gave her greater pleasure than abusing and hurting people that were stuck under her thumb. She also wanted to attain the highest rank that she could, no matter the cost, so if Voldemort had offered her glory and the chance to torture people, then she undoubtedly would have joined him.
Gellert Grindelwald
The entire wizarding world is incredibly lucky that Lord Voldemort and Gellert Grindelwald were never at large at the same time, because if they had joined forces then they undoubtedly would have conquered the magical realm. It seems unlikely that someone as powerful and arrogant as Gellert Grindelwald would be comfortable falling in line behind Lord Voldemort, but if they formed some kind of tag team in order to take over the wizarding world, then even the likes of Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter would have had a very hard time beating them back and stopping them from achieving their goal.
Delphini Diggory
For anyone who is unfamiliar with Delphini Diggory, she is actually the secret daughter of Bellatrix Lestrange and Lord Voldemort himself. And despite the fact that Delphini never even met her father, she appears to be one of his most faithful and loyal followers. She even tried to use a Time-Turner to go back in time and help Voldemort become the ultimate victor in his war. Although Voldemort clearly never seemed like the fatherly type, he undoubtedly would have appreciated a servant who was as loyal, powerful, and resourceful as Delphini. And clearly her greatest dream in life was to follow her father.