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The Harry Potter series did a lot of growing up alongside its cast. This was representative of how the problems in Harry's life became increasingly dangerous. From Dementors to Death Eaters and all sorts of other magical threats, the Boy Who Lived encountered some of the very worst that the Wizarding World had to offer. Yet, he never did go to the worst place in all the Wizarding World: Azkaban. He'd heard mention of it, how it was a terrible place to be imprisoned, with death seeming a more merciful alternative. However, the series did not go into the true horror of what Azkaban is.

Considering how the wizarding community behaves most of the time, it seems strange to imagine that they would have the capacity to construct such a dark and foreboding prison. This is because they did not. Azkaban was originally the lair of a powerful ancient dark wizard who used the site for all sorts of inhumane experiments. What Azkaban looked like then is hard to say, but its history gives greater context to the place of torment it would become in the intervening centuries.

The Construction of Azkaban

• Azkaban was a fortress built by an ancient dark wizard named Ekrizdis.
• He used it to torture and murder muggles.
• When he died, the Ministry of Magic discovered Azkaban.

The island fortress that would come to be known as Azkaban was originally constructed some time in the 15th century by a dark wizard known as Ekrizdis. Wanting an isolated lair to operate from, Ekrizdis found an uncharted island in the North Sea and performed various concealment charms to hide it from both Muggle and Wizarding eyes. It is not too surprising that a dark wizard would do such a thing, but even by the standards of today's dark wizards, Ekrizdis was something else. He was said to have practiced the worst kinds of dark magic, and to sate his dark curiosity; he needed a place where he would be undisturbed.

His work would begin by kidnapping muggle sailors and subjecting them to torturous experiments as he practiced the dark arts. What is truly disturbing is that no one ever actually discovered what Ekrizdis was doing. He got to spend his entire life sating his dark desires, torturing and murdering whatever poor soul was unlucky enough to sail across the waters near Azkaban. It is said that due to his isolation, Ekrizdis also lost his sanity, no doubt only adding to the suffering of his prisoners.

When he finally died, the concealment charms on the island disappeared, alerting the Wizarding World to Azkaban's existence. The Ministry of Magic sent a team to investigate the island. What exactly they found inside Azkaban in the aftermath of its original purpose is unknown. The team did not speak of the specific horrors they witnessed, only that the entire island was infested with Dementors, undoubtedly a consequence of Ekrizdis' depravity. The idea of destroying Azkaban and everything it represented was floated by the Ministry, but with such a large colony of Dementors living there, it was speculated that doing so would incur their wrath, potentially putting countless lives at risk if they had nowhere to nest. So, the fortress was left alone until the International Statute of Secrecy was created by the Ministry.

Becoming the Worst Prison in the Wizarding World

• The Ministry of Magic turned Azkaban into the sole prison for all wizards in England.
• There was opposition to its use and the conditions there, but reforms were never made.

The need for greater secrecy in their society had become paramount, and knowing that there would always be witches and wizards who were too dangerous and too public risked everything the Ministry was trying to accomplish. Since smaller prisons were too likely to attract notice, the Ministry needed a much larger structure to house their criminals, and Azkaban was already built. With some renovations, it would be the perfect prison. The Dementors would kept on as prison guards, providing them with an endless source of food to prevent them from going to the mainland and keeping the prisoners pacified. Not everyone agreed with this idea, but in 1718, Azkaban was transformed into the prison it became by Harry Potter's time.

That isn't to say that the opposition to Azkaban died out immediately after its construction. The prison always caused others unease. Aside from the fact that it was using the work of a dark wizard to their advantage, the effects of Dementors were well-known to most wizards, and it made them uncomfortable to think of placing others in such a situation, even criminals. One Minister, Edlritch Diggory, visited the prison and was so appalled by what he witnessed that he tried to find alternate means of maintaining the prison or outright finding a different solution. To him, the inhumane conditions the prisoners were kept in made the Ministry just as cruel as the criminals they condemned to Azkaban.

Tragically, Eldritch died before his reforms could be enacted. His successor went the opposite route, choosing to renovate and reinforce the prison. Perhaps the fear of a Dementor attack on the mainland was the motivating factor, but following Eldritch's death, all major opposition to the use of Azkaban faded away. The fortress would remain the main Wizarding World prison for the next few centuries. In all that time, no serious efforts were ever made to correct the way the prison was operated, nor was any consideration given towards its prisoners and the effects being there would have on them.

Azkaban in the Modern Day

• Azkaban was maintained as the main wizard prison until the end of the Second Wizarding War.
• The prison is now guarded by Aurors instead of Dementors.

For those who read the books or watched the movies, they know that Azkaban deserved its fearsome reputation. Even the briefest amount of time there left people traumatized by the experience. The psychological damage of being a Dementor for prolonged periods of time are known to cause depression and outright insanity if left alone with them for too long. Just by being in a Dementor's presence, their minds are assaulted by thoughts of their worst memories, and the cold becomes constant and unbearable. In short, Azkaban was not a prison; it was a place of torture, one that the Ministry of Magic allowed to exist for centuries.

Perhaps some thought it was a fitting place to send their worst criminals, but Azkaban housed more than murderers. It contained just about every type of criminal, from the major to the small-time ones. Even worse, when Lord Voldemort rose to power, he quickly recruited the Dementors there to his side, offering them even more food than they already had in the prisons. Once the Ministry fell under the Dark Lord's control, Azkaban was used to imprison enemies of Voldemort's regime, most of them not belonging there in the first place, and quite a few of them died due to the poor conditions of the prison.

It wasn't until after the Second Wizarding War concluded that changes were made to how Azkaban was operated. The prison was maintained, but conditions were improved. The most notable change was the removal of Dementors as the guards, finally disposing of the colony and allowing a rotating series of Aurors to act as the wardens of Azkaban. The change was effective, though what became of the Dementors is unknown. Even still, Azkaban is still seen as a foreboding place, dark and isolated from the rest of the world. For the first time in centuries though, there is now a touch of humanity to a place that only ever brought misery to its inhabitants.