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is there a good estimate on how many people (wizards, muggles or both) perished in both Wizarding Wars (the Voldemort ones)?

I'm fine if the Death Eater side is included, either as a separate #, or part of total.

There seems to be a lot, based on 3 quotes:

... Inferi have not been seen for a long time, however, not since Voldemort was last powerful ...He killed enough people to make an army of them, of course. (Albus Dumbledore in HP6 about Inferi and Voldemort)

...

The battle is won. You have lost half of your fighters. My Death Eaters outnumber you... (Voldemort announcing Harry Potter's death)

...

There was enough wizard blood spilled (quote from memory so inexact - Voldemort explaining why he'd rather accept Neville Longbottom to his service than kill him at the end of Battle of Hogwarts in HP7)

Related: How many people actually participated in the original Voldemort conflict?

3 Answers 3

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The only data we have on the subject seems to be be dlanod's quote about disppearences every week (for ~500 weeks) and a quote form the books:

Pettigrew screamed that Sirius had betrayed the Potters for everyone to hear, and then killed twelve Muggles by blowing up the street with a Blasting Curse, which created a crater large enough that the sewer pipes were showing.

so if we say in a 1 on 1 duel there's the possibility for one death of a wizard and ~10 muggles. As well as this if groups fight as in the the Battle of the Department of Mysteries, then we have this source

Once there, the six D.A. members were cornered by a dozen Death Eaters, whom they managed to fend off until the Order of the Phoenix came to their rescue. In the skirmish, the prophecy was destroyed, Voldemort was seen by the Minister for Magic himself, eleven of the Death Eaters were captured, and Sirius Black was killed by his cousin.

Only one death again! Wizards can hold their own it seems. I'm inclined to say if Voldemort has his wits about him he'd go for pin-point strikes on wizarding families (less well defended than DA and Phoenix members) as well as more defended targets, whether on purpose or by happenstance.

I'd average it out to 5 wizards and 10 muggles a week, on average, as a maximum bound, any more is unsustainable. And 1:5 as a lower bound; Volde' doesn't like to shed wizarding blood if he can.

That then equates to 500 - 2,500 wizards, and 1,000-5,000 muggles. In total this is about 1.5K-7.5K, well within the standard deviation of the deaths per year in the UK, 1970-1981 so should have gone undetected statistically.

I'd guestimate we have significantly fewer for the second war, only a handful (maximum ~50?) though I'm shakey on the specifics. Most of these I think would be form the Battle of Hogwarts.

So I'd say ~1.6K-7.6K humans died during the two wizarding wars, most of the giants, and very few other magical beings to my knowledge.

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I would put any decent estimate at least in the 1000s, if not the 10000s. The war lasted for 11 years and, as Sirius said,

"Every week, news comes of more deaths, more disappearances".
–Sirius Black, "Padfoot Returns," Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

If we take him literally, that's over 500 weeks of deaths and disappearances, and he was only referring to wizarding families. By all accounts similar numbers of Muggles were murdered.

Source

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  • I could imagine the number of deaths per week started out small since there were fewer Death Eaters at beginning of the First Wizarding War. The weekly death toll probably increased as the war dragged on and more people joined Voldemort's side.
    – RichS
    Aug 4, 2017 at 15:18
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The First was absolutely tragic The Entire McKinnons included the in laws were slaughtered by Mulciber, Nott, Travers and Karkaoff and Voldemort The Bones Family was totally destroyed only Susan’s Parents and Aunt and Susan herself lived. her three grandparents, her cousins and Uncle Edgar Bones were murdered in their own pool of blood The Prewett Twins were hit with various Curses Fenwick was torn to pieces by Lestrange-Black and Rosier Dearborn was missing and killed presumably by Voldemort Dorcas Meadows was slaughtered by Voldemort personally

So that is why an edict was announced by Crouch Senior in August

Meadows Murder I suspect was around January 31st and February 1st

Prewetts Murder was around April-May

The Bones Family Slaughter around July 28th

The McKinnon Massacre was taken place around 31st July Harry’s Birthday so Marlene McKinnon and many in laws and any siblings were likely slaughtered one by one

Fenwick Mutilation Benjy Fenwick was shredded by 3 D.Es

Dearborn goes missing and presumably slaughtered by Voldemort

The Murders of millions of Muggle Families

The Potters are killed the war ends on 1st November

The Longbottoms are repeatedly attacked by the cruciatus curse

War comes a close if Marlene McKinnon, Edgar, his wife and children had survived Voldemort would’ve slaughtered Edgar, Amelia and their wives and brother and Marlene McKinnon her brother and sister in law except two or 4 children

So the McKinnons are basically extinct the Bones Family has no other male heirs unless Susan has a boy with Ernest Macmillan

If Voldemort had stuck to murdering the Muggle Population the whole order would’ve had a large and powerful place in Wizarding History with these powerful people

Edgar, Amelia and Susan’s Father Marlene and her brother Sirius Black James Potter and Lily Potter Alice and Frank Longbottom Caradoc Dearborn Benjamin Fenwick Dorcas Meadows Gideon and Fabian Prewett Arthur and Molly Weasley Severus Snape Remus and Nymphadora Lupin Elphias Doge The Weasley Twins Ron and Hermione Weasley Harry and Ginny Potter Neville and Hannah Longbottom Ernest and Susan Macmillan Cousins by Edgar Bones The Weasleys Hestia Prewett Née Jones Emmeline Prewett Née Vance Sturgis Podmore Aberforth Dumbledore Gellert Grindelwald and Many more while some of them written above would still be killed but in a different timeline the war ends in 2030 since the Bones, Longbottom, McKinnon, Potter, Weasley, Lupin, Prewett and more families like Jordan, Abbott, Bell, Wood etc etc would have fought all bravely

That’s why both wars were brutal The Black, Bones and Vance Murders made it weak for The Ministry and The Order of The Phoenix

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  • 5
    Do you have any evidence you could edit in to back this up?
    – TheLethalCarrot
    Feb 26, 2021 at 9:00
  • 3
    You've posted this over and over again, ad nauseum, without any evidence to suggest it's more than just your personal headcanon.
    – F1Krazy
    Feb 26, 2021 at 9:37

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