The First War

[padfootsgirl1981]

Hi! Do we actually know what the official death toll was at the end of the the first wizarding war? Preferably just the number of wizards. Has it been stated in canon anywhere? If not, does anybody have any ideas what sort of number we might be looking at?

Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[cmwinters]

Not the number of deaths, no. We do know who some of them were, but not all of them.

A partial list of some of the casualties (at least, the ones that were mentioned by name) may be found on the Lexicon here:

http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizards/death_eaters.html

Bear in mind that Dumbledore told McGonagall at the opening of SS that "We've had precious little to celebrate for 11 years" and that Arthur Weasley told Ron "You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed. The terror it inspired. . . you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house, and knowing what you're about to find inside. . . . Everyone's worst fear. . . the very worst."

So that list is on the Lexicon is very incomplete (note: this is not a slam against the Lexicon; we just haven't been given all the names of people who were killed in the first war).

And also, none of that counts injuries, even debilitating ones.

[tbsbooboo]

Hi! Do we actually know what the official death toll was at the end of the the first wizarding war? Preferably just the number of wizards. Has it been stated in canon anywhere? If not, does anybody have any ideas what sort of number we might be looking at?

Any advice greatly appreciated! Thanks in advance!
I avent found anything citing the number of deaths! But I would imagine it got pretty bad, like most things, they get worse before they get better!

[padfootsgirl1981]

Hi! Thanks for your help! What do you think to the possibility that one in every three wizards died during the First War? Would that be too farfetched? Would I need to go for a less percentage?

Thanks

[cmwinters]

In my opinion, that would be entirely improbable. While the population wouldn't exactly collapse if the numbers were that high, you are talking about Black Death levels of decline. And given that so many of the purebloods already weren't reproducing at sustainable levels, a decline of that magnitude would cause severe population problems.

Also, bear in mind that the Ministry seemed mostly to have a hands-off approach. They certainly weren't pursuing the Death Eaters and the Dark Lord to the degree that constituted an active war against them, and 1 in 3 surely would have warranted an uprising if the Ministry simply refused to act.

1 in 10 may be more like it, but that's still an IMMENSE number of people, particularly when it's such a small and insular group.