Editing Death Eater (section)

===Ideology===
Voldemort's Death Eaters practise illegal and dangerous spells known as dark magic. They follow a [[Racism|racist]] ideology that places pure-blooded wizards at the top of a [[racial hierarchy]], above all other magical or non-magical people and entities. They believe wizards are, as a genealogy book within the story phrases it, "Nature's Nobility"; other magical creatures and the non-magical are inferior and should be subjugated. Within the wizarding community, only those who are born to wizard parents are worthy of magical power, despite the fact that parentage does not in fact determine who possesses such powers. They categorise wizards according to [[Blood traitor|blood purity]]; "pure-bloods" (those with only wizards as parents) out-rank "half-bloods" (mixed parentage) and "mudbloods", a derogatory name for those born to non-magical parents ([[Muggles]]). Death Eaters have also attacked pure-bloods who oppose them. Examples of this are pure-blooded members of the Order of the Phoenix such as [[Sirius Black]], the Prewett brothers, who were murdered because of their loyalties, and the entire Weasley family. Such people are often called "blood traitors" by those who subscribe to Death Eater ideologies.

In reality, the idea of blood purity is a misnomer – Voldemort himself is a [[Half-blood (Harry Potter)|half-blood]] – and it is unlikely that all of them could be pure-bloods, as very few, if any, such people could exist given the small gene pool. In ''Half-Blood Prince'', Rowling depicts the Gaunts as a family who are obsessed with their ancestry and driven to inbreeding to preserve its integrity. Rowling has stated on her website that there are no true pure-blood families left but that those who call themselves such simply strike Muggles, [[Squib (Harry Potter)|Squibs]], and half-bloods from their family records. On the other hand, "in rare circumstances" a Muggle-born wizard can become a Death Eater.<ref name="JKRfestival">{{cite web|author1=J.K.Rowling Official Site|title=J K Rowling at the Edinburgh Book Festival|url=http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80|access-date=8 February 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111222074210/http://www.jkrowling.com/textonly/en/news_view.cfm?id=80|archive-date=22 December 2011|date=15 August 2004}}</ref> They are also not above recruiting creatures they deem inferior, as proven by [[Werewolf (Harry Potter)|werewolf]] [[#Fenrir Greyback|Fenrir Greyback]] and the [[Gurg|giant]] clan from continental Europe, as long as they help further the larger Death Eater agenda.

The Death Eaters seek complete power and control over the entire Wizarding world, wishing to restrict leadership to a small band of pure-bloods. The Death Eaters not only seek the restoration of pure-blood rule over the Wizarding community, but also the eventual subjugation of the Muggle community under Wizarding rule.  During their control over the Ministry of Magic, they severely persecuted Muggle-born wizards, sending them to Azkaban for life or feeding them to Dementors.