Wormtail and Wormtongue

[Marvin Long, Jr.]

No: HPFGUIDX 11782


(I didn't find this topic discussed in the archives, so I hope not to be
repeating an old thread...)

Who's read "The Screwtape Letters" by CS Lewis?  If you have, you'll
recall that they are a series of letters from a senior devil, Screwtape,
to his young nephew, Wormtongue, about how to tempt human beings away from
God.  His favorite tactics involve exacerbating a person's physical,
emotional, and social fears while simultaneously encouraging to excess the
human desires to consume and control.

It occurs to me that the names "Wormtongue" and "Wormtail" are too alike
to be a coincidence.  Therefore, I'm wondering to what degree the
relationship between Voldemort and Wormtail parallels the one between
Screwtape and Wormtongue.  Obviously Wormtail is not a devil or demon;
indeed, he resembles the seduced more than the seducee.  On the other
hand, Wormtongue's penalty for failure is to be consumed himself, and in
GoF we find Wormtail being consumed by Voldemort--his hand is cut off
because their joint plan to destroy the Potters failed 14 years ago.

I wonder if as time goes on we will find Pettigrew being used for parts
even more often.  In addition to his metal hand he might get other
artificial body parts, becoming physically much stronger than he had ever
been when he was just himself but at the same time becoming less himself
whenever he sacrifices another pound of flesh to Voldemort.

Or would that just make Wormtail into Darth Vader (more machine than man)?
Now I'm confused!

Anyway, if we look at what we know of Pettigrew's seduction by Voldemort,
we can see that it boils down to the sin of despair.  In PoA his 
excuse is that Voldemort's victory looked so certain, so what's the point
of resisting?  It's the same state of mind that Wormtongue spends the
Screwtape Letters trying to instill in his human "client."

Deep thought question, related to the question of who might betray Harry
and his friends: is there anybody in the Potter series currently
susceptible to the same temptation to despair?  Are they any likely to be 
tempted by Pettigew himself?  I don't think any of our trio really
qualify; they've had too much experience with Voldemort and Wormtail
to be fooled.  There's Ginny, who might be weakened by her experience with
Tom Riddle.  There's Neville, but his will might be fortified by his
regular visits to his parents...or it might be broken by the same.  The
Slytherins we've met, all uniformly nasty, probably don't need much
temptation, and we can presume that Snape has already passed that test, I
think.  There's Hagrid, so brave on the one hand but so emotional on the
other; he would never consciously betray the good guys, but he might be
deceived.

As for the Death Eaters, they seem to fit perfectly the model for the
seduced.  What they fear is loss of status to mudbloods; they might also
fear that Muggle technology will outstrip the power of magic and so be
planning a sort of pre-emptive coup.  And of course, their lust for power
drives them to Voldemort's banner.

Marvin Long
Austin, Texas