What actually happened to Mad-Eye Moody in "Deathly Hallows"?

Question

It is said that Alastor "Mad-Eye" Moody died during the 'Battle of the Seven Potters', but Ron said that it was possible he didn't. Bill said that he saw a green light (avada kedavra) used on him, but he was under attack, so he could have seen wrong due to the pressure of the situation. They also didn't find his body, so he could have run away.

Is there any proof that Moody actually died?

Answer 1

Per the Pottermore article on Moody.

Note that even if he wasn't already dead (as a result of the killing curse) he'd have perished in the fall since he had no wand with which to cast a spell like arresto momentum.

‘But Bill saw him hit by the Killing Curse,’ said Harry.
‘Yeah, but Bill was under attack too,’ said Ron. ‘How can he be sure what he saw?’
‘Even if the Killing Curse missed, Mad-Eye still fell about a thousand feet,’ said Hermione, now weighing Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland in her hand. ‘He could have used a Shield Charm –’
‘Fleur said his wand was blasted out of his hand,’ said Harry.
_{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter 6: "The Ghoul in Pajamas" (emphasis added)}

Answer 2

Pottermore lists Moody's death as 27 July, 1997. It doesn't get more canon than Pottermore.

Not to mention that Umbridge had Moody's eye in her door in the Ministry:

“Careful,” said the wizard beside her, glancing around nervously; one of his pages slipped and fell to the floor.
“What, has she got magic ears as well as an eye, now?”
The witch glanced toward the shining mahogany door facing the space full of pamphlet-makers; Harry looked too, and rage reared in him like a snake. Where there might have been a peephole on a Muggle front door, a large, round eye with a bright blue iris had been set into the wood— an eye that was shockingly familiar to anybody who had known Alastor Moody.
For a split second Harry forgot where he was and what he was doing there: He even forgot that he was invisible. He strode straight over to the door to examine the eye. It was not moving: It gazed blindly upward, frozen.
_{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, chapter 13: "The Muggle-born Registration Commission"}

In the Deathly Hallows we see that the door to Umbridge's room is decorated with a particularly familiar eye:

In the books, she uses it to spy on her employees, using a telescope-like thingy mounted on the inner side of her door. Harry & Co take the eye out when they leave the Ministry, and bury it under the oldest and strongest tree they can find.

Answer 3

No canonical proof

There are several reasons why one would think that Mad-Eye Moody died.

“We were just talking about Mad-Eye,” Ron told Harry. “I reckon he might have survived.”
“But Bill saw him hit by the Killing Curse,” said Harry.
“Yeah, but Bill was under attack too,” said Ron. “How can he be sure what he saw?”
“Even if the Killing Curse missed, Mad-Eye still fell about a thousand feet,” said Hermione, now weighing Quidditch Teams of Britain and Ireland in her hand.
“He could have used a Shield Charm —”
“Fleur said his wand was blasted out of his hand,” said Harry.
“Well, all right, if you want him to be dead,” said Ron grumpily, punching his pillow into a more comfortable shape.
“Of course we don’t want him to be dead!” said Hermione, looking shocked. “It’s dreadful that he’s dead! But we’re being realistic!”
_{(Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Chapter Six)}

• Bill saw him being hit with killing curse. He may have thought he saw the wrong thing in the rush of battle.
• He fell about 1,000 feet There are canonical spells such as Arresto Momentum which can save someone who falls off a broom.
• He didn't have his wand. Again we could doubt Fleur's testimony, but there are other answers as well. Wandless magic is something which is possible in the HP universe. Alternatively, someone else may have cast the spell, such as death eaters who intended to capture and torture him.
• Umbridge ends up with his magical eye If Mad-eye was captured by Death Eaters, they would have undoubtedly removed the eye, and he may have been unable to retrieve it before escaping. If he wasn't captured, it's still possible that it bounced out when he did hit the ground and he had to quickly flee the scene.

However, the main problem with him being alive is that he never appears again in canon, and Rowling has given no indications that he is still alive. So it's probably safe to assume (like all the characters do) that Mad-Eye dies, but there is no actual proof.

Out-of-Universe, the name of the chapter is Fallen Warrior, and Mad-Eye's death does serve a purpose in setting the tone of the story. These would all indicate that Mad-Eye died, but again not actual proof.

Answer 4

I’m starting to think that he may have lived. The main reason is that when Dumbledore died, his freeze jinx that he put Harry (at the top of the tower) broke as soon as he dies. Also, the fact that he was secret keeper got transferred to everyone he had told the secret to. So from that we know that enchantments break when the wizard/witch dies. But the tongue tying jinx and the Dusty Dumbledore both still work when the trio go to #12. It’s possible that Voldemort had Death Eaters patrolling for anyone that was injured/stunned and falling. Then that could save their own people and capture any Order members. It wouldn’t be hard to take Madeyes eye- it was already done in Goblet of Fire and that was only one Death Eater.

Answer 5

In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, re-read the part where they go to Gringotts to get Hufflepuff's Cup. Just as they arrive in Diagon Alley, there is a description of all these poor wizards kind of begging for money. There's this one description of a guy holding a hand over a bloodied eye-eye socket. As soon as I read this I thought it might have been Mad-Eye.

A number of ragged people sat huddled in doorways. He heard them moaning to the few passersby, pleading for gold, insisting that they were really wizards. One man had a bloody bandage over his eye.

_{Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Chapter Twenty-Six "Gringotts"}