On house-elves and such...

[DM]

No: HPFGUIDX 21058

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tandy, Heidi" <heidi.h.tandy.c92 at a...> 
wrote:
<snip>
> IMHO, loosh is an evil, child- and elf-abusing bigot...
<snip>

Yeah.. about that house-elf thing.  Has it ever been mentioned that 
Dobby might just be insane?  Don't get me wrong - I like the way 
house-elves have been presented in the series and think they're very 
interesting, but Dobby is completely bonkers, IMHO.  The only time we 
actually see Lucius abusing his house-elf is at the end of book two - 
for all we know, the majority of Dobby's injuries could be self-
inflicted.  True, he said at one point that 'they reminded [Dobby] to 
do extra punishments' at the begining of book two when he first 
starts talking to Harry, but still... even the other ~house-elves~ 
don't like him, maybe because they sense something off about his 
behavior.  Another thing is that it is unlikely for Lucius to not 
notice his elf's strange behavior - if your house-elf disappeared for 
a couple of hours then suddenly started bashing his head with the 
oven door when he returned, I for one would wonder and certainly 
wouldn't trust him with my sercrets.
Dobby also seems to have this fixated amount of hero worship for 
Harry.  An important question is Why?  If he was living in the Malfoy 
Manor, I'm sure he didn't hear any good things about Potter.  It can 
be argued that if he heard Draco or Lucius complaining about Harry, 
Dobby could have felt that maybe here was an ally for him.  Yet, he 
seems actually shocked to discover that he was being freed, in part, 
by Harry.  His motivations for attempting to stop Harry's return to 
Hogwarts are purely for Harry's best interest, not Dobby's.  Why 
would a house-elf go to such extremes for no reason what so ever?
Well, I have another way-the-heck-out-there theory that is purely 
hypothetical and is not really hinted at in anyway in the books (I 
think I think too much):  Harry's mere presence at Hogwarts puts 
every other child there (including Draco Malfoy) at great risk.  
Harry draws trouble to the school - Voldy and Prof. Q, Mad-Eye Moody 
(Crouch) and Cedric's death (not to put any more guilt on Harry about 
that, but...).  If I were a caring parent (and there is NO evidence 
that Draco is being abused in any way - not even any that he does not 
like and respect his father), I certainly wouldn't want Harry Potter, 
the boy who lived, yet keeps almost getting killed, around my 
children.  Maybe Dobby's reasons for wanting to keep Harry away 
wasn't really ~all~ for only Harry's benefit after all.
At any rate, read the conversation between Dobby and Harry in Chapter 
21 of GoF ("The House-Elf Liberation Front") and chapter 28 ("The 
Madness of Mr. Crouch"). All of the other house-elves can tell Dobby 
is 'off.'  There is something not right about him, as far as their 
culture is concerned.  Interestingly enough, he ~still~ can't talk 
badly about Lucius without wanting to hit himself, which may only be 
a product of his training, or possilby because he really does still 
care about them in some twisted way.

A few other things:
>hey,
>DM - Rhysenn, who writes excellent fanfic, will probably ask you to 
>join her Lucius Rehab Team pretty soon! 

Actually, I am working on a fanfic with a "Lucius not a sick, evil 
bastard" angle at the moment, which is the real reason I brought it 
up.  I was hoping to get some ideas from people who didn't agree with 
me so I could incoporate them into my story and some how explain them 
away.  Not an easy task, let me tell you.  ^_^

DangerMouse
(who hopes that S.P.E.W. doesn't bomb her car now)
dangermouse42 at yahoo.com