Crouch / Moody

[naama]

No: HPFGUIDX 9265

--- In HPforGrownups at egroups.com, "Jim Flanagan" <jamesf at a...> wrote:

> 
> The whole Moody/Crouch plot in GoF has been one of my pet peeves.  
> There are several aspects of it that don't ring true to me.  I agree 
> with the points that you raise, and I particularly question the 
> plausibility of the elaborate scheme to make Harry the winner of the 
> third round of the Triwizard tourney. If they wanted to get Harry to 
> Voldemort, there were surely much more direct and certain ways to do 
> it than to turn the trophy into a portkey!
> 
> I also thought that it was implausible that Crouch Jr. would have the 
> knowledge of advanced magic that he appears to have.  After all, he 
> was just a youth when he went to Azkaban, and after his "escape" he 
> was under the Imperius Curse up until the time of the World Cup.  So 
> when did he have time to learn enough magic to completely fool 
> Dumbledore and remain undetected for nearly a whole school year?
> 
<snip>

I'm glad you've bought this issue up, because I've been wanting to discuss it for some time 
and keep forgetting about it. 
For me, the Crouch/Moody thing is the weakest point of the book (which is my favorite, BTW). 
Not only bc of the plot problems, which can be explained away, more or less, but bc the 
solution is so arbitrary. I'm thinking of mystery novels now, especially of Agatha Christie. 
What makes her books so good is that the solution is both surprising *and* "obvious". That 
is, she constructs the plot and the characters in such a way that when the solution is 
revealed, you smack your head and say "*of course* its the butler!!". I don't know how to 
call this - coherence? integrity? In any case, it is lacking, IMO, in the Moody-is-actualy-
Crouch solution. My reaction, at least, was "Oh, so its the butler (Moody)..." in a very 
minor key. Does anybody have other thoughts on this? Were there clues or hints that I missed?

Naama