Death Eaters
I am on my fifth reread of the series and I get that it’s targeted towards children and young adults, but for some reason on this pass I’m more annoyed than usual about how inept the death eaters are. With the exception of one or two (Bellatrix, Greyback) they never seem to be fighting to kill and they’re supposed to be this formidable, menacing, blood lusting terrorist group in the wizarding world that strikes so much fear into the population that accomplished witches and wizards go into hiding to evade them. The stories from the first wizarding war prior to Voldemort’s downfall at Godrick’s Hollow seem a lot more intense than anything they did during the time of the series (torturing the Longbottoms, etc). I think part of the blame falls on the films to some extent. While they’re not exactly that scary in the books, they do do more damage at the Ministry to Harry and company there than is shown on screen. Again, probably has to do with target audience. I hope the HBO series makes good on their promise to be a bit darker than the movies and books. Obviously not going to be Game of Thrones, but I would like to see more than the almost comedic film portrayal. Honestly, the movies in some instances made them equivalent to the Hyenas in the Lion King - stooge minions.