Lord Voldemort’s atrocities against non-humans in Harry Potter

The central focus of much of the Harry Potter books and films is Voldemort’s appalling treatment of muggles and his fellow witches and wizards of all kind, but particularly those who were muggle born.

However, Voldemort’s actions against non-humans, a.k.a magical creatures, are often overlooked, yet are no less brutal, and often have a key importance to the story. And it was said magical creatures one might least expect, that helped lead to Voldemort’s downfall.

Voldemort had interactions from magical creatures from a young age, most notably the Basilisk known as the Serpent of Slytherin, that he unleashed from the Chamber of Secrets to petrify and murder.

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This continued throughout his life, with one of his Horcruxes being the snake Nagini. Yet, while he cared for these creatures (at least as far as Voldemort could care for anyone), they were still ultimately tools to him.

Needless to say, non-humans that were not part of his plans, and that he did not have a use for, were brutally treated. This had negative results on the relationship between Wizards and non-humans and would take a lot to heal.

One of the foremost among Voldemort’s victims were goblins. There had always been a tense relationship between goblins and wizards. Despite Goblins achieving some high success with the founding of Gringotts and even positions at Hogwarts, with Professor Flitwick being a half goblin as Pottermore notes, they nonetheless suffered bigotry and hatred. The Goblin rebellions of the 17th and 18th century were in part a result of this.

Goblins would suffer greatly from Voldemort’s wrath. In Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, this is highlighted by Arthur Weasley, who recounts Voldemort killing an entire family of Goblins around the area of Nottingham. However, this didn’t necessarily drive Goblins into the effort against Voldemort, given their dislike for Wizardkind as a whole.

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Indeed, Bill Weasley points out that some Goblins might desire to take an Isolationist approach and let the wizards wipe each other out. Although some goblins, such as half goblin Professor Flitwick, fought against the death eaters for noble reasons, others such as Griphook, were more concerned with self-interest rather than an inter-species unity.

Giants also must be added to the list of Voldemort’s victims. Although Dumbledore had reached a deal with the giants, Voldemort inflamed a civil war amongst them. This lead to the giant Karkus, who was favorable to Dumbledore, being murdered by usurper Golgomath and caused much bitterness and strife. However, although many giants sided with Voldemort, others, such as Grawp, Hagrid’s stepbrother, bravely battled the Death-Eaters at the Battle of Hogwarts.

Voldemort’s main victims might have been Muggles and the Wizards who opposed his policies. However, non-human magical creatures should also be added to the list, especially as given the discrimination that exists against them in the wizarding world they often didn’t get the sympathy that they deserved.