Bibliography
Malfoy: The Most Treacherous Family
The very last section of the book is the bibliography, which enumerates the best and most relevant writing about the Malfoy family that can be found online. It is reproduced here for the convenience of those readers who wish to follow the links and read the cited works for themselves.
Anyone looking for comprehensive fictional biographies of the Malfoys would do well to visit their pages on The Harry Potter Lexicon. The page is useful for both fast facts and insightful analysis (like the etymology of the name, for example).
Jo wrote a history of the Malfoy family on Pottermore that helps provide historical context for the family.
While many wizard rockers have great songs about Draco Malfoy, special notice must be paid to the iconic Draco and the Malfoys. The two members of the band, Brian Ross and Bradley Mehlenbacher, have been writing and performing music from Draco’s point of view since 2004; their understanding of his character is superlative, and also really catchy.
Post-Deathly Hallows Era
AbsentMindedRaven; “Was the Prophecy Referring to a Different Wizard?”
This essay manages to lay out a plausible scenario for Trelawney’s first prophecy to refer to Draco rather than Harry – by capitalizing on the ambiguities within the prophecy (and using a Celtic calendar), the essay highlights that Draco’s role in Voldemort’s downfall was as worthy of prophesying as Harry’s.
Iain Walker; 08/26/2021 comment on MuggleNet
Iain is an insightful commenter at MuggleNet, and in this essay-length comment addresses the same question about Draco’s redemption that I’ve been analyzing. I whole-heartedly agree with his analysis, and particularly the point, “What Draco gets in Books 6 and 7 isn’t so much redemption as character development. His real redemption comes afterwards.”
Iain Walker; 04/19/2019 comment on MuggleNet
Iain is a detractor from the theory that that Lucius initially targeted Harry with the diary plot in Chamber of Secrets, and here offers a rebuttal to the theory. I remain unconvinced by his arguments, but it’s the best explanation of the theory’s opposition that I’ve read.
Josie Kearns; “What Did Dobby Know?”
Josie’s essay is among the best in laying out the theory that Lucius initially targeted Harry with his diary plot. While I disagree with some conclusions extrapolated from it, the foundation is sound.
Brittany & Nick; “Draco Malfoy Is a Werewolf”
Years after Deathly Hallows was published, this website was created to lay out the case for Draco being a lycanthrope, this time with the hindsight of Book 7 (which only added further clues).
Lokifan; “Be My Bad Boy, Be My Man”
An in-depth (and hilarious) analysis of whether Draco Malfoy truly qualifies as a Bad Boy. Lokifan also makes the argument that Harry is much more of a Bad Boy, and that Lucius does not quite meet the standards to be a Smooth Criminal.
Lokifan; “’They’re Just Not the Same’ Except for They Totally Are: Draco Malfoy and the Weasley Twins”
This points out the many commonalities that Draco shares with the Weasley twins, and with George Weasley in particular – especially in how they deal with people who are “their People” versus “the Enemy.”
Lokifan; “Romance in Potter is a Mystery”
An excellent point made within this piece is that expectations for Draco’s ultimate fate were based in large part on what genre they were basing it on, since HP is such an amalgamation of genres.
Nadia M; “Malfoy’s Misgivings”
Nadia performs a similar exercise to Chapter 7 of this book, succinctly considering Draco’s actions in Deathly Hallows and what stopped him from doing the right thing throughout. As she points out, Draco was faced with the choice “between what is right, and what is easy” – and Draco did not have the courage to choose what was right.
Josh Weiss; “Jason Isaacs Weighs in on Lucius Malfoy’s Fate After the Battle of Hogwarts”
Jason Isaac’s analysis of Lucius is well worth reading in this interview with Syfy Wire. While a chunk of what he discusses is more applicable to the films than the books, I believe there is plenty of insight relevant to the canonical Lucius, and it’s coming from someone who’s more familiar with Lucius than anyone aside from Jo.
Sophia Jenkins; “Six Reasons Why Draco Malfoy Is Actually Really Smart”
Sophia points out some of Draco’s more impressive accomplishments over the years. Also well worth reading is Iain Walker’s comment (http://disq.us/p/2a7bm55) below the essay, demonstrating that while those accomplishments are impressive, they’re not really indicative of superlative intelligence.
Lizzie Gladwyn; “The Draco Malfoy Complex”
A brief look into why so many people like Draco despite so many obvious reasons not to.
Pre-Deathly Hallows Era
Yamato; “The Knave of Spades”
An incredibly insightful analysis that offers a comprehensive overview of Draco in HBP, provides insight into the dynamics between Draco and many key characters, and proves remarkably prescient about what would happen to Draco in DH.
ILUVSB; “He Will Not Be Redeemed”
This essay argued that Draco was still redeemable after his actions in HBP, stating that his love for his family would send him along the path to redemption in DH. It was published in the same issue of Scribbulus as “The Knave of Spades,” which predicted the opposite, showing just how dichotomous the predictions of Draco’s fate were before the seventh book.
Jones; “An Analysis of the Malfoys”
This essay analyzes the entire Malfoy family through the first six books, predicting a turn to the good side for both Draco and Narcissa after Lucius’s death at Voldemort’s hand.
Steve Connolly; “Dumbledore’s Master Plan: Part 3”
Steve’s essay is among the best in laying out the theory that Lucius initially targeted Harry with his diary plot. I also agree with more of his conclusions than I do Josie Kearns’s essay on the subject.
Harry Seeker; “Draco Malfoy, a Werewolf?”
Published less than two months after HBP, this was among the earliest essays (and still the most thorough) in laying out the theory that Draco Malfoy was a werewolf throughout Half-Blood Prince.
Zarathustra; “The Werewolf Only Responds to the Call of Its Own Kind”
This essay also lays out the case for a connection between Draco and werewolves, with thorough assembly of evidence, though Zarathustra believes it was only a scratch and not a full-fledged bite.
Travis Prinzi; “Dumbledore Mercy: Why Draco Couldn’t Pull the Trigger”
An analysis of the Lightning-Struck Tower, and how/why Dumbledore offered mercy to Draco.
Kelly Gunzenhauser; “Did Narcissa Really Mean It?”
This essay offers a very different reading of Narcissa, supposing that there may be more to Narcissa’s request in Spinner’s End. The theory is that she went there on the orders of Lucius or Voldemort, for the express purpose of trapping Snape into killing Dumbledore.
Bloodyrose; “The Dynamic of Draco in HBP”
This offers the rhapsodic perspective of a devoted Draco fangirl, and the excitement that came from his starring role in the sixth book. It’s about as charitable a reading of Draco as one could offer while staying somewhat close to the canon.
Pre-Half-Blood Prince Era
Esther Kleinig with Bob Sindeldecker; “Back to the Prophecy”
This lays out a scenario where the Malfoys deliberately conceived Draco to potentially be the subject of Trelawney’s first prophecy, on the assumption that Voldemort (having heard the first few lines about a boy being born) would try to game the prophecy by having the Chosen One born on his side. While a few assumptions are necessary – that Trelawney issued the prophecy in Fall 1979, and that Draco was born two months premature – it’s a plausible theory, and one that works well in concert with “Was the Prophecy Referring to a Different Wizard?” above.
Brandon Ford; “Legion of the Lost Day: Part 3 – Lucius Malfoy & Fudge Supremacy”
Brandon laid out a clever scenario for Lucius being the mastermind behind Pettigrew framing Sirius for the death of the Potters, with a corrupt Fudge acting as his accomplice in return for political ascendancy. While this theory did not play out, there’s really nothing in the last two books to disprove it… if one were to cast Lucius as more of an evil genius and less of a groveling minion, this is a good place to start.
Lorraine; “The Future of the Malfoys”
Lorraine accurately predicted some of the dynamics of the Malfoy family that we would see play out in Half-Blood Prince and later. In particular, Lorraine predicted, “So a fatherless Draco would be a very pathetic figure who would have to resort to asking Dumbledore for help” – this proves to be the case, as a frightened Draco does indeed have to rely on Dumbledore’s mercy.