Damocles Rowle is a minor antagonist in the Harry Potter franchise, although he only appears in expanded lore on the official series website Pottermore/Wizarding World. He was an intensely anti-Muggle authoritarian who served as British Minister for Magic from 1718 to 1726 and was responsible for turning the island of Azkaban into a prison.
Biography
Rowle was a British wizard who was elected as Minister for Magic in 1718. He was elected on a platform of being "tough on Muggles", capitalizing on resentment in the wizarding community at being forced to go underground. Authoritarian and sadistic by nature, Rowle scrapped plans for a custom-built wizard prison in the Hebrides in favour of building one on the North Sea isle of Azkaban: an island previously used by the Dark wizard Ekrizdis to torture and kill Muggles in gruesome ways. Ekrizdis' brutal crimes had caused Azkaban to become infested with Dementors, dark spirits that fed off misery, which Rowle argued could be harnessed as guards and save the Ministry time and money. His logic was that, since the Dementors fed off people's misery, they would naturally prevent any prisoners placed on the island from escaping so they could continue feeding on them.
Rowle's plan went ahead despite widespread opposition from Dementor experts and others, and the Ministry began placing prisoners on Azkaban. None ever came out again, with any who tried to escape being subjected to the soul-stealing Dementor's Kiss. Those who were not insane soon became so after being brought into contact with the Dementors. Many prisoners sent to Azkaban eventually died of despair.
The establishment of Azkaban, alongside other authoritarian and anti-Muggle actions taken by the Ministry, eventually led to Rowle being forced to resign in 1726 after being censured by the International Confederation of Wizards.
Legacy
Rowle was succeeded by the equally anti-Muggle Perseus Parkinson who attempted to continue Rowle's anti-Muggle agenda; however, lingering resentment for Rowle's politics and a desire for peace soon led to Parkinson being voted out and replaced by the more moderate Eldritch Diggory. However, Diggory was unable to close down Azkaban before his death, as depriving the Dementors of their supply of souls would cause them to come to the mainland to find victims. Subsequent Ministers continued to expand Azkaban in order to contain the Dementors. Azkaban remained largely unchanged from Rowle's tenure until the Dementors sided with the Death Eaters in the Second Wizarding War and allowed them to escape from Azkaban en masse, after which they were purged from Azkaban and replaced by Aurors.
