The Wizarding World ofHarry Potteris totally separate from that of the muggles' world. With that, it is an entire population of people that is not governed by the people of the muggle world. Therefore, the magical community works similarly to the real world where there are basic organizations in order for their society to function, with the two most prominent factions being education and government.
Instead of a president or prime minister of the Wizarding World, they instead have a Minister for Magic who is in control of the Ministry for Magic. And for the majority of Harry’s time at Hogwarts, the Minister was Cornelius Fudge. Fudge made various appearances throughout theHarry Potterfilms, but his role in the story was most crucial in the later movies.
RELATED:Harry Potter: 10 Most Underrated Wizards In The Books
When discussing the villains of the film series, the easy answers are Voldemort, Bellatrix, Umbridge, and even Lucius Malfoy. But what people often forget is the accountability of the people who were actually in charge of the Wizarding World, the focal point being Minister Fudge. Can the argument be made that Fudge wasn’t only irresponsible during his time as minister, but also evil?
Who Is Cornelius Fudge?
Fudge attended Hogwarts as a child and built his career up as any eventual governmental leader does, as a politician. His main responsibility was magical damage control, meaning he and his team would be on the scene whenever magical accidents occurred or if muggles were made aware of magic.
Fudge played a role inthe arrest of Sirius Blackafter he was – unbeknownst to most – framed for the murder of Peter Pettigrew. Fudge recalled Black’s infamous laughter as he was being escorted away from the crime scene as the sole suspect. Shortly after, the Minister for Magic at the time, Millicent Bagnold, decided her time as minister was finished and she retired.
Despite eventually being elected as minister, Fudge was not the initial choice of the people. Before him, Albus Dumbledore and Barty Crouch Sr. were the front-runners for the position, both having exhibited a particular skill and intelligence in magic while holding a high reputation among the community. However, humble as he is, Dumbledore refused the minister position, making Crouch the favorite. But when Crouch’s son was pubically affiliated with the Death Eaters, his reputation diminished and the Ministry saw it best that he not represent them as minister. Thus, Fudge, being the second runner-up, was electedMinister for Magicjust a year before Harry’s first year at Hogwarts.
Was Cornelius Fudge Evil?
As Minister, Fudge proved time and time again to mainly serve his and the Ministry’s best interest instead of the people of the magical community. This was shown most prominently after the Triwizard Tournament when Harry revealed to everyone that Voldemort had returned. The fact of the matter was Harry was telling the truth, but Fudge embarked on his campaign of doing everything he could to assure that Voldemort had not come back from the dead.
Fudge not only stuck by the notion that Voldemort was still dead, but he was constantly trying to disprove and undermine Harry’s credibility. Where he had previously pardoned Harry for illegally using magic as a minor, he decided to punish him for the same crime when Harry was trying to protect his muggle cousin Dudley from aDementor. So, not only was Fudge hypocritical in this situation by acting differently towards Harry seeing as though the occurrence happened after Harry’s claim from the Triwizard Tournament, but Harry’s reasoning was to fight off a Dementor sent by Death Eaters, as per the request of none other than Voldemort himself. Fudge wouldn’t turn back on his stance until he finally saw He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named himself inside the Ministry for Magic.
Also, Fudge was the one who hired Dolores Umbridge to be theDefence Against the Dark Arts teacher, and eventually Headmaster of Hogwarts after firing Dumbledore out of sheer paranoia. Fudge suspected the students at Hogwarts to be plotting against him and the Ministry, and thought Dumbledore to be the one orchestrating the alleged rebellion. Umbridge obviously turned out to beoverly controlling and evil– no to mention a bigot against half-blood witches and wizards.
So, in the sense that Fudge was entirely close-minded, and his self-serving actions – or lack of action – caused a great deal of danger among the Wizarding World, he could have very easily prevented the many deaths that came at the hands of Voldemort and the Death Eaters, thus making him, out of stubbornness, an evil person.
What Happened to Cornelius Fudge?
When Fudge and the rest of the Ministry saw Voldemort for themselves, the revelation was quickly made public. This absolutely tarnished his reputation and in turn forced his resignation. The magical community saw his true colors as someone who was willing to uphold a lie just to save his own skin, despite the dangers it put the people he was meant to serve in. Although he didn’t directly murder anyone, nor did he support Voldemort and his conquest of domination, he did nothing to prevent it when he had full capability of doing so.
