Nifrion

## *Unknown*

**Nifrion**, ockå känd som xxx, var det största kungariket i hela Ethion. Det var i huvudstaden i Nifrion som Fredsväktaren befann sig och höll samman resten av Ethion. I Nifrion levde det många olika raser. Det var även där det levde flest och flest olika raser.

## History

The island on which Azkaban was built never appeared on any map and was believed to have been created or enlarged by magical means. Azkaban was initially a fortress which was home to the evil wizard Ekrizdis, known for luring Muggles onto his island where he tortured and murdered them. After his death, the concealment charms he had cast faded away and the Ministry of Magic acknowledged the island's existence for the first time. Even then, the place was infested with Dementors, foul creatures that suck the happiness out of the victim and cause great suffering to those near them.

Authorities considered destroying the fortress, but decided against it in fear of the possible revenge of the Dementors or the island itself. Thereafter the island was left alone for years, before the establishment of the International Statute of Secrecy. Because of the impracticality of using small wizarding prisons which could result in bangs, smells and light shows, should victims escape, plans for a purpose-built prison for wizards on some remote Hebridean island were made. However, when Damocles Rowle was elected Minister for Magic in 1718, he insisted on using Azkaban instead, seeing the Dementors as an advantage because using them as guards would save expense, time and trouble. This plan was eventually put into motion and despite protests, Azkaban remained the prison of the wizarding world, mostly because of the complete lack of breakouts and breaches of security.

Although the subsequent Minister Eldritch Diggory, having visited Azkaban and witnessed its horror, fought to find alternatives to the prison or at the very least remove the Dementors, he caught dragon pox in 1747, before they could reach a decision. No one else seriously considered closing the prison until the advent of Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt in 1998. When Minister Hesphaestus Gore took office, he was responsible for renovating and reinforcing Azkaban.

Azkaban gained a reputation as a horrible place, mostly due to the prison's guards: Dementors. Because of this, most of the prisoners eventually went insane and slowly died under the Dementors' influence. Since 1717, using any of the three Unforgivable Curses on another human being has carried a punishment of a life sentence in Azkaban (unless there is sufficient evidence that the caster did so under the influence of the Imperius Curse, or legal exceptions made by the Ministry of Magic as in the case of Aurors in the First Wizarding War).

## Security

### Pre-1998

Azkaban was guarded by Dementors until most of them revolted and joined Lord Voldemort in summer of 1995. As a result, Voldemort's Death Eaters escaped en masse to rejoin their master in both 1996 and 1997.

There is most likely an Anti-Apparation jinx on Azkaban; if there were not, wizards and witches could simply Apparate from the prison to the outside world. However, since it is debatable that most witches and wizards need a wand to Apparate, this may be irrelevant, as none of the prisoners maintain possession of their wands. Before 1995, most of the prisoners would barely have had enough strength to Apparate anyway, as the mere presence of Dementors, particularly in large numbers, inhibits the use of magical powers.

Before the Dementors' revolt, the only people ever to escape the prison were Barty Crouch Jr and Sirius Black, in 1982 and 1993, respectively. Barty Crouch Jr. was smuggled out by his father, Barty Crouch Sr., and replaced by his dying mother using Polyjuice Potion, while Sirius was able to escape by changing into his Animagus form of a dog. The revolt has severely compromised the security, as multiple escapes were made with no more Dementors guarding the prison; the Ministry continued omitting certain facts to maintain their facade of having everything under control, including keeping one breakout a secret.

There is a graveyard outside the wall of Azkaban where the Dementors buried prisoners who died. However, if the dead prisoner has a relative who is not a criminal, the relative in question has the right to pick up the corpse for a proper burial, as Barty Crouch Sr. had the right to pick up the body that was disguised as his son, though he chose not to due to fear of being exposed of committing a jailbreak.

Although the prison is in the middle of the ocean with iron walls protecting it, it was unnecessary to keep prisoners inside, as Remus Lupin stated, because the prisoners were already trapped in their own heads due to the intense depression caused by the Dementors. As Sirius indicated, most prisoners went insane after a short while, and some even stopped eating, preferring death to their lives within Azkaban. Dementors fed the prisoners, indicating the prisoners might have felt depression at mealtimes.

Visits to the island are heavily restricted, as only respectable Ministry officials were noted to be allowed to visit any possible relatives. An example is when Barty Crouch Sr. and his wife were allowed a deathbed visit to their imprisoned son due to the former's high status in the government; they took advantage of this privilege to smuggle Barty Jr. out of prison. The Minister of Magic is also allowed to visit the prison, as to check out on certain prisoners for their conditions, as Cornelius Fudge did on Sirius Black.

### After the war

After the end of the Second Wizarding War and Kingsley Shacklebolt's appointment as Minister for Magic in 1998, dementors were no longer employed as guards of Azkaban. This is likely because they had proven to be untrustworthy, and because the depression and madness their presence caused in prisoners is considered inhumane.

Ever since they were removed, Aurors have been guarding the prison, taking turns so that a certain number of Aurors are assigned to stand guard, before leaving to return to fieldwork and other Aurors take their place. It is unknown how many surviving Voldemort supporters and Death Eaters were imprisoned in the aftermath. Them aside, any Ministry officials who knowingly and willingly went with Voldemort's ideologies during the time when the Ministry was under his control, mainly the Muggle-Born Registration Commission, were sentenced to Azkaban, the most prominent being Dolores Umbridge, for her crimes against humanity (more specifically, Muggle-borns).