Moody vs. Fake Moody

Faith of GeekyZooGirl and Micheline of Lunar Rainbow Reviews are hosting the Harry Potter Month in July!! Of course, Harry's birthday is in July so it's a celebration! I am competing for my House Cup as well for Hufflepuff. As most of you know, I adore Harry Potter so this month will be full of even more Potter goodness at JC's Book Haven.

“Constant Vigilance!”

When we meet Alaster “Mad-Eye” Moody, we meet a fake. He appears first to us in Goblet of Fire. He’s got this sinister and mysterious air about him especially with all the scars and the eye that can see through walls. It’s said that he is the greatest auror of modern time, putting away the majority of the Death Eaters that rest in Azkaban. He’s gotten the reputation of also being crazy due to his extreme paranoia about security and distrust of everything. However, Dumbledore trusts him greatly, which is why he is brought to Hogwarts to teach.

Fake Moody

We all learn at the end of Goblet of Fire, that Moody was in fact a fake. He was being impersonated by Barty Crouch, Jr. who abducted him before his start of teaching at Howarts and drank Polyjuice potion to appear as him through his time teaching that year.

What did we see of Moody while he was in fact Barty Crouch, Jr.?

Harry gets his first real taste of Fake Moody in the Defense Against the Dark Arts class in which Moody demonstrates to them the unforgiveable curses. A lot of the students were affected by watching them in action, particularly Harry and Neville since these two had been impacted largely by the curses. We see Crouch-Moody showing a soft side by pulling Neville aside and giving him a book about Herbology and explaining that he heard he was quite good at the subject. This is the second time we’ve seen a teacher positively treating Neville in a way to help him build a little more self-esteem. Obviously, he wanted Neville to help Harry with his problem of the 2nd task, but didn’t realize he wouldn’t ask for Neville’s help. Also during these lessons, Harry learned how to fight off the Imperius curse. This was invaluable for him.

We also get the perfect moment of Draco the amazing bouncing ferret. Draco is about to attack Harry from behind and Crouch-Moody turns him into a ferret, bouncing him around and scolding him for being a coward who attacks enemies when their backs are turned. I LOVE this moment. Then again, I always love it when Karma comes calling for Draco. This I believe was more of Crouch than Moody since he was disgusted by the Malfoys pretending to be loyal to Voldemort while ‘betraying’ him since his supposed death by denouncing any relation to him.

He also of course helps Harry through the tournament since he’s wanted him to make it to the final task as that’s his mission given to him by Voldemort. He helps by pointing him in the right direction before the first task. He asks him to concentrate on what he is good at, which of course is flying. We don’t find out until later, but he stages a discussion where Dobby can hear that Harry would need gillyweed for the 2nd task. Of course, the movie turns this into Neville providing him with the gillyweed which was Crouch-Moody’s first intention as he gave him the book about plants. 

Crouch-Moody is the one that suggests to Harry that he should consider becoming an auror. This stuck with him so long, that it's what he actually worked towards for his career after school along with Ron who wanted to become an auror as well.

Real Moody

After Moody is rescued at the end of Goblet of Fire, he returns to health and joins The Order of the Phoenix. We don’t really see a lot of him, though he is around. His name is mentioned at some major events, and he's definitely involved, but we don't see much of his personality once the real Moody is back.

He appears at Privet Dr. to collect Harry in Order of the Phoenix. What we see of him here is that he's even more paranoid than before he was captured, and now his eye sticks from time to time as a result of Crouch wearing it. 

He was around for various moments at Grimmauld Place for Order business. He mentions Dumbledore must feel like Ron is good at resisting spells which is why he became a prefect.

He helped fight off Death Eaters at the ministry on the night of Sirius' death at the Battle of the Department of Mysteries. He was injured in a fight with Antonin Dolohov. He then helped protect Hogwarts the night Dumbledore died in the Battle of the Astronomy Tower. He was there in Dumbledore and Harry's absences to fight off Death Eaters. 

Then of course we saw him the night he died, at The Battle of the Seven Potters. He was known to be tough, and being so capable is the reason he died. Voldemort thought Harry would be with the wizard with the most ability, which was Moody. He had a surly personality and was very good at his job.

I wonder if I would have such a strong love for Moody if it hadn't been for Crouch pretending to be him. After real Moody comes on the scene, he's a little more awkward, a lot less fun, and much more grouchy in general. Having met him first while trying to help Harry throughout the tournament, I feel like I became attached to this legend who frightened Death Eaters everywhere.