Barty Crouch Jr. is the unsung super villain of the Harry Potter franchise. He was only featured in one book, but he put so much in motion that affected the rest of the series. But if you haven’t read the book or are hazy on the details of the Goblet of Fire, you may have forgotten some crucial things about one Barty Crouch Jr.
Especially if you only remember his movie adaptation. Despite getting the whole impersonation storyline right, it’s easy to underestimate and ignore this character since he didn’t exactly get the spotlight he deserved.
Here are 10 facts you didn’t know about Barty Crouch Jr.
David Tennant
Comparatively to the other awesome stuff David Tennant has done, Barty Crouch Jr. is barely a footnote in his resume very impressive resume. Most probably know him from being the 10th Doctor on Doctor Who and wow, was he fantastic in that role. Now, it’s a toss up between Scrooge McDuck in the reboot of DuckTales (woo-oo!) - where he finally gets to be Scottish - or as Crowley in Good Omens.
In his portrayal, Tennant gave Barty the nervous habit of licking his lips, which Brendan Gleeson (Moody’s actor) decided to go with. The movement was completely improvised on Tennant’s part, but became an indicator for Barty Crouch Sr. as to Moody’s true identity.
Intelligence and Skills
Looking at everything he accomplished just during Goblet of Fire, Barty Crouch Jr. is a very skilled wizard. He managed to create a Confundus Charm powerful enough to trick the Goblet of Fire. THE Goblet of Fire. An old, powerful magical artifact. And for the entire school year, Barty had been brewing the Polyjuice Potion without raising too much suspicion and accurately enough for it to work every time he used it.
Probably most impressive is Barty’s skill with other wizards’ wands. He used Moody’s wand the entire time he’d impersonated him with no detectable dips in his magical abilities or difficulty performing spells. Earlier, he used Harry’s wand to cast the Dark Mark into the sky during the Quidditch World Cup.
Following Voldemort
Barty Crouch Jr. has a weird, unfortunately one-sided relationship with Voldemort. Poor side-character Bertha Jorkins stumbled upon Barty Crouch Jr. during his unofficial house arrest, causing Barty Crouch Sr. to erase her memory to the point of giving her permanent brain damage. One thing led to another and Peter Pettigrew found her, delivered her to Voldemort, and got information about Barty and the proposed Triwizard Tournament.
Barty saw Voldemort as a stand-in father figure, one that wouldn’t reject him or place him under the Imperius curse for extended amounts of time. Due to his resounding loyalty, Barty knew that Voldemort also had a disappointing father and took great joy in killing him. Possibly, Barty may have known about Voldemort’s half-blood status, but that’s up for debate.
Dementor’s Kiss
In the movie, it’s kind of implied that Barty Crouch Jr. is captured and sent back to Azkaban. But it’s really unclear. The books are less so. After being given the Veritaserum potion, he admits everything to Dumbledore. The plan was to then have him testify before the Wizengamot, but of course, Cornelius Fudge managed to really fudge it up.
Fudge brought a Dementor with him to apprehend Barty Crouch Jr., which is all well and good, until said Dementor performs the Dementor’s Kiss on a suspect. Fudge dismissed Barty as a lunatic and refused to believe Voldemort had returned. This marks the downfall of all of Fudge’s political decisions.
The Imperius Curse
The whole Crouch family story is downright tragic. After breaking Barty Crouch Jr. out of Azkaban, Barty Crouch Sr. didn’t trust him. That distrust wasn’t unfounded, but putting your son under the Imperius curse is maybe going too far.
Due to his prolonged exposure, Barty figured out how to successfully fight the curse and break out of it. What goes around comes around. After meeting with Voldemort, Barty placed his father under the Imperius curse to have him continue working at the Ministry like normal.
The Azkaban Escape
Ok, so technically, Barty Crouch Jr. was the first person to ever escape Azkaban, not Sirius Black. But Sirius was the first to do it all by himself, so we’ll let it slide. Barty actually swapped places with his mother in a plan hatched by Barty Crouch Sr. Mrs. Crouch’s health had been deteriorating since Barty’s initial sentence and Crouch Sr., a Ministry official, only carried out the plan because his wife wanted him to.
Mrs. Crouch died shortly after in Azkaban, which covered up any suspected escape theories. While Barty Crouch Jr. was living under house imprisonment, Mrs. Crouch was buried at Azkaban.
Death Eater Status
Barty became a Death Eater very early on, which could potentially draw a parallel with Draco Malfoy. Unlike in the movie adaptation, Barty was a teenager during his trial. His loyalty to Voldemort can be described as fanatic at best, so he actually has this deep-seated hatred towards Death Eaters who lost their faith in Voldemort.
It’s a bit hypocritical of him, considering he begged for forgiveness and screamed about his innocence in the courtroom. But hey, Azkaban changes people?
The Longbottoms
Most of us just remember Bellatrix Lestrange as the one who tortured Frank and Alice Longbottom so severely that they went insane and became incapacitated. But Bellatrix had a merry little band of Death Eaters to assist her in the task. She recruited her brothers, Rodolphus and Rabastan Lestrange, as well as one Mr. Barty Crouch Jr.
They went after the Longbottoms shortly after Voldemort disappeared, most likely to get information out of them about what the Aurors had done. The horrible irony is that none of the Aurors really did anything and the Longbottoms definitely wouldn’t have known how to bring Voldemort back.
Triwizard Meddling
Barty did a LOT to push along the entire plot of Goblet of Fire. Mainly, he put Harry’s name in the Goblet. There’s your answer, Dumbledore.
Apparently, he did this by charming Goblet of Fire into believing that four schools were competing instead of three. It’s ingenious really, because everyone wound up being focused on how Harry got past the age circle and the scandal of having two Hogwarts competitors. Nobody would consider the option that Barty put Harry’s name in for that fourth nonexistent school, therefore forcing the Goblet to spit out the name.
Substitute Teacher
We all tend to forget the fact that Barty Crouch Jr. not only overpowered Mad Eye Moody, but successfully taught Defense Against the Dark Arts curriculum to all of the Hogwarts students. If Harry’s year was anything to go by, the kids did actually learn practical defense knowledge. Barty Crouch Jr. inadvertently provided the foundation for Dumbledore’s Army when, the following year, Professor Umbridge refuses to teach the students anything useful.
Barty Crouch Jr. also managed to trick Dumbledore up until the end. That alone is no easy feat. Coupled with continually using Moody’s wand instead of his own and acting like Moody for most of the year, Barty was probably the most useful and successful Death Eater Voldemort’s ever had. Well, minus the fact that he built up Harry’s ability to fight the Imperius curse. Whoops.