Crouch as Moody, Imperius

[Elizabeth Dalton]

No: HPFGUIDX 32385

This question of why Crouch/Moody worked so hard to teach Harry to resist the
Imperius curse has been on my mind, as well. I guess the obvious answer is
"Crouch has to convince Dumbledore that he's Moody, and this is what Moody would
do." Nothing like having someone dictate your lesson plan every day from the
bottom of a trunk, I say. ;)

But I think KT and the Non-Psychic Barkeep in Diagon Alley have it right:
> I, too, believe the Moody arc in GoF is the big plot hole....
> I think it plays out much better if Moody is taken prisoner *during* 
> the school year instead of at the end. Therefore, Real Moody teaches 
> all this valuable stuff, then Fake Moody comes out, and because he 
> has Harry's confidence, starts to cheat to help Harry win....

Of course, we know JKR *said* there was a plot hole, so we're looking for one
she knew about and fixed. Sad to say, even the best authors can have plot holes
that they don't catch before the book sees print. Tolkien, I believe, had to fix
something *years* after the trilogy was in print... something to do with the
timeline in _Return of the King_. So this could have been an artifact of her
trying to fix her known plot hole, or it could have been a completely unrelated
problem she didn't catch.

arvokitty wrote:

> Or---does Polyjuice Potion work in ways so mysterious that taking on
> another's outward appearance may allow some of the *real* inward
> stuff of the impersonated person to rub off, too (unknown to those
> who are familiar with the potion)?

Ooh, now *there's* an interesting theory. She could really do something with
that in a later book-- I'd even excuse her using polyjuice potion again.
Especially on Snape. Just think-- the double agent gradually starts to slip
toward the wrong side, because of the subtle effects of polyjuice potion....

But then Isabelle suggested:

> If V hasn't worked it out at the beginning of GoF, is it possible
> that fake Moody was testing Harry when he taught him about the
> unforgivable curses - trying to work out what it was about this
> seemingly average kid that had come so close to destroying his
> master.
> 

That's another good theory.

Elizabeth
(Love the name and symbol list analysis now ongoing, btw. I have to wonder if
Rowling was thinking of VCRs and freeze-frames when she agreed to discuss those
lists on camera....)