One thing I considered including on this page, but didn't, was an origin for the name “Death Eaters”. The idea was that they were those who would eat anything from Voldemort's hand, even death, if ze chose to give it to them. I liked the idea, but I felt like I was twisting the wording too much. When I write twists on things from the books, I want them to feel natural, not forced.

Still, being a Death Eater is a significant risk factor for being killed by Voldemort. Voldemort personally kills about twenty named characters, and at least two of them (Peter Pettigrew and Severus Snape) were Death Eaters. The vast majority of characters aren't Death Eaters. So there's a pretty good argument that Death Eaters are more likely to be killed by Voldemort than people in general are. Voldemort is willing to kill anyone who is not useful to zem, so you're in danger of being killed if ze's even paying attention to you, regardless of which side you're on. In Voldemort's Children, I don't think anyone is useful to Voldemort.

Voldemort's tendency to kill people is the main reason I didn't have Lily call Voldemort “Wizard Hitler” on page 43. As far as history knows, Adolf Hitler didn't kill people personally (and ze certainly didn't have incredible powers). I did want to have Lily make a Muggle reference, though. (Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality has Harry say “Wizard Hitler”, but it's a flippant comparison, while Lily's comparison is serious.)