In the graveyard scene in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Voldemort looks around at the Death Eaters, and lectures the ones who disappointed and failed him. When he reaches a wide gap of 6 people, he says three of them are dead, one was too scared to return, one has forever left him, and one is his most loyal servant.
" (...) Your exploits at the Quidditch World Cup were fun, I daresay... but might not your energies have been better directed toward finding and aiding your master?”
“My Lord, I was constantly on the alert,” came Lucius Malfoy’s voice swiftly from beneath the hood. “Had there been any sign from you, any whisper of your whereabouts, I would have been at your side immediately, nothing could have prevented me —”
“And yet you ran from my Mark, when a faithful Death Eater sent it into the sky last summer?”(...)
He had reached the largest gap of all, and he stood surveying it with his blank, red eyes, as though he could see people standing there.
“And here we have six missing Death Eaters... three dead in my service. One, too cowardly to return... he will pay. One, who I believe has left me forever... he will be killed, of course... and one, who remains my most faithful servant, and who has already reentered my service.”
The Death Eaters stirred, and Harry saw their eyes dart sideways at one another through their masks.
“He is at Hogwarts, that faithful servant, and it was through his efforts that our young friend arrived here tonight....
Who are the three Death Eaters, and which one of them is the loyal, the cowardly, and the betraying? The obvious answer is Barty Crouch Jr. is loyal, Karkaroff is cowardly, and Snape is betraying. But if this is the case, why didn't Voldemort kill Snape, and why did he give him a second chance?
Did Voldemort refer to Snape as one of the missing Death Eaters at his rebirth?
My question is different from this one because I wasn't asking about Snape specifically, but rather for different possible interpretations of the passage. There is no one correct answer, but the other question only provides one answer, which is a bit one dimensional.
