Mad-Eye Moody: Biography, Paranoia and Secrets

Alastor Moody spent half his life catching dark wizards and the other half waiting for one of them to betray him. That is why they call him Mad-Eye, and why nobody dares say he exaggerates. The odd part is that the Moody we meet first is not him at all.

Who he is

He was one of the Ministry's most respected Aurors, with a wooden leg, a magical eye that swivels in every direction and a face crossed with scars. His motto is "Constant vigilance!" He is a member of the Order of the Phoenix, and his outlook is that of someone who survived everything by trusting no one.

Key moments

• Goblet of Fire, ch. 13: he arrives at Hogwarts as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. That Moody is actually someone else.
• Goblet of Fire, ch. 14: in his first class he demonstrates all three Unforgivable Curses. Harry resists the Imperius Curse.
• Goblet of Fire, ch. 35: it comes out that the teacher was Barty Crouch Jr. under Polyjuice Potion, and the real Moody turns up locked in a trunk.
• Order of the Phoenix, ch. 3: he leads the Advance Guard that escorts Harry and mentions that his eye can see through Invisibility Cloaks.
• Deathly Hallows, chs. 4 and 5: he organizes the Seven Potters plan and dies in the flight, at Voldemort's hands.

Relationships

With Dumbledore, an old trust and a soldier's loyalty. With Tonks, who trained under him in the Auror office. With Harry, a respect that turns into affection without being said. With Barty Crouch Jr., an unfinished story: Moody had captured him years earlier, and Crouch became his impostor.

What almost nobody notices

In Goblet of Fire (ch. 35), the explanation of why the fake Moody never drinks from anything but his own flask is the key: that flask held the Polyjuice Potion that kept his disguise. The real Moody's quirk became his impostor's best alibi.

And in Deathly Hallows (ch. 13), Harry sees Moody's magical eye stuck in the door of Umbridge's office. Seeing it there, used as decoration by the person who did the most harm at Hogwarts that year, makes him furious, and he pulls it off the door as soon as he can.

If you recognize yourself in someone who distrusts because they have been hurt, take the house quiz.