gay Karkarov

[cynthiaanncoe at home.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 27279

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "Tabouli" <tabouli at u...> wrote:
 
> Ahh yes, a good opportunity to re-raise an issue I mentioned a 
while ago... which is that there's a much more likely gay candidate 
than Percy in GoF.  Ron was just giving his own sarcastic opinion of 
Percy, but we have the limited omniscient narrator (? not sure I'm 
using this term correctly, but I'm sure Luke or someone will correct 
me if not) on our side if we look at Karkarov.  OK, so his extreme 
attentiveness to Krum's needs could initially be attributed to prize 
student pampering, but Karkarov's behaviour at the Ball is definitely 
worth examining closely.  Ron, as JKR makes pretty clear, has 
feelings for Hermione, and jealousy is plain in his expression as he 
watches Krum with her at the Ball.  However, note that "Karkarov" 
wears exactly the *same* expression as he watches the couple!  OK, so 
without the Ron comparison this could be put down to suspicion of the 
rival school's students, but...
> 
> As I mentioned before, I reckon Karkarov turned to the Dark Side in 
a desperate attempt to find some acceptance after persecution from 
the conservative elements in Russian society (or wherever: can anyone 
identify the origin of the name Karkarov?), only to flee when he 
realised they were even more prejudiced and twisted to seek haven as 
headmaster of Durmstrang, where he could ogle young male Quidditch 
players in peace...
> 

OK, now that is a total hoot!  This never occurred to me.

That Karkarov is interesting, isn't he?  But I read him as more of 
Krum's agent/manager than as a romantic interest.  The fact that he 
wears ostentatious furs helped me develop a rather unfortunate "pimp-
like" mental image of him.  He wants to make sure Krum has everything 
he needs (wine) when they arrive at Hogwarts.  He goes nuts when Krum 
is stunned.  His eyes don't smile.  He is lazy (Krum tells us that 
the students did the work of steering the ship).  To the extent 
Karkarov is unhappy that Krum is interested in Hermione, he could 
just be worried that dating will undermine Krum's resolve to win the 
Tournament.

Cindy (really starting to hope we see more of Karkarov in the future 
than the bottom of his shoes when Voldemort kills him)