Cornelius Fudge - Character Study

[stevekimmel at yahoo.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 3457

> Hmmm.  It's interesting that you feel this way.  Fudge's flip at 
the 
> end wasn't such a shock to me.  If it had happened at the end of 
PoA, 
> I would have been much more surprised.  I think his solicitousness
(?)-
> -not sure if that's the word I'm searching for, regarding L. Malfoy 
> at the QWC, sort of prepared me for his change at the end.  He's a 
> bureaucrat after all, and more decidedly unfit for the position of 
> MoM.  OTOH, when learning of Moody's 'true' identity, I COMPLETELY 
> lost my suspension of disbelief, very hard for me to swallow.  
> Through all the previous books, I was totally submersed in this 
> world, absolutely enthralled; but the above twist brought me right 
> out of the story.  Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed this book just as 
> much as the others, and truthfully, I did not find any 
> inconsistencies in the storyline that don't support the 'not really 
> Moody, but actually Crouch Jr.' thread.  No holes as far as I could 
> tell.  And, it was consistent with JKR's pattern of the 
> surprise 'whodunnit?' character at the end, but, for whatever 
reason, 
> this just didn't work for me.  As for Fudge, I can't tell yet 
whether 
> he's really a DE, or just in denial.  Someone's suggestion that he 
> may be under the Imperius curse is a good one, and seems very 
> possible to me.
> 
> Kelley

For me, Moody was obvious for the very first. Looking back I 
attribute it to chapter 13 and 14. In thirteen we see Moody abusing 
Draco Malfoy by turning him into a ferret and bouncing him up to the 
ceiling and slamming him down against the floor. Like everyone else I 
was pleased to see Draco get his just reward for being such a jerk. 
However I was suspicious. We had no reason to suspect Moody had any 
idea who Draco was so it was simply a teacher seriously abusing a 
student. Then in chapter 14 we have Moody breaking the rules again by 
torturing and finally killing innocent creatures. I may be wrong but 
other than the Boggart in the closet, I think this is the first time 
we actually saw anybody kill anything. To make it an innocent 
spider...

I had Moody labelled as a bad guy from the start. Fudge, on the other 
hand, gave me no reason to believe he was anything but an officious 
beaureaucrat. Given he was constantly asking Dumbledore's advice in 
Philosopher's Stone and then obtusely refusing it in Goblet of 
Fire... I found it a jarring mismatch.

Given Rowling's apparent love of characters who pretend to be one 
thing and then turn out to be something else, Snape who is really 
trying to protect Harry, Ron's pet rat who turns out to be a lacky 
for Voldemort, Moody who turns out to be someone else completely, I 
have little doubt that she will do it again. Fudge turning out to be 
a bad guy seems a minor flip compared to some of the others we've 
seen.

I'm almost prepared to buy the theory that Nelville Longbottom is 
really Peter Pettigrew's son, raised by his grandmother after 
Peter's "death."