BIG PROBLEM WITH FOURTH MAN! HELP!

[charisjulia]

No: HPFGUIDX 38143

Charis Julia has been away on a hiking expedition. Ah, the 
rejuvenating mountain air! The green forests blanketing the peaks and 
slopes as far as the eye can see! The morning awakening to the sound 
of twittering song of the birds. . . Calm materialised!


She returns home exhilarated, relaxed, upbeat. She enters her 
bedroom, unpacks and settles down on the couch to peacefully read her 
backload of mail. She picks up the first letter (hmmm, from 
Eileen. . .) tears at the envelope, unfolds it and stares.


> I was about to explain fourth man to my brother, when he knocked a 
> whole in it that left me flabbergasted.
> 
> He said the fourth man is obviously the third Death Eater, dead in 
> Voldemort's service. And the more I thought about this the more 
> horrifically it made sense. 


Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! No! No, no, no, no, no! Not Fourth Man, no! I like 
Fourth Man! I mean, ok, he's a bit S.Y.C.O.P.H.A.N.T.ish and all that 
yeah, but, still, I was rather keen anyway, and he, he had that cute 
little nervous tic in his left eye and he could have been Innocent 
you know, he could have, or at least, at least * Remorseful* and, 
and, and what about * me* anyway? I'm just a stowaway here, nobody 
even knows I'm on board, there won't even be a lifebelt for me, I'll, 
I'll. . . I'll * drown*!


We must do something. Yes, yes. We cannot allow this to happen. We 
shan't! Eileen, never fear! We can get passed this. It is just a 
minor upset, an insignificant little puncture that's easily reparable
-- hovercrafts don't just *burst * you know, all we need is some glue 
and Spellotape, and, and it's not like we're still stuck in that 
rickety, old * kayak* anymore is it? Is it?


Right. Fine. I can do this. I can. Let's, urrr, lets just look at the 
matter orthologically, shall we? No panicking, no upset, no premature 
mournful wailing over Avery's demise. Just need to be calm. Yes, 
calm. And logical. Or. . . or, no, maybe <wicked smile starts faintly 
brewing> hmmm, sophistic?


O.K., so your brother's suggestion, I must grudgingly admit, is 
certainly viable. Yes, it could indeed be that the Mysterious Fourth 
Man at the Pensieve trial and the Third Dead Guy are but the same DE. 
It's definitely plausible, yes. Canon does not seem to offer any 
basis for rejecting the hypothesis. Hmmm, on the other hand, however, 
neither does Canon specifically state at any point that the Fourth 
Man is _ not_ Avery, does it? And at the same time, though no solid 
support is presented for the Avery is Fourth Man theory, Forth Man Is 
Really Third is suffering from no less lack of canonical 
sustentation. They are both simply nothing more than * assumptions* 
and at this stage in the series the scale could proceed to lean 
either way. And, what's more, —pay attention here!— if we do allow 
this really very small concession and grant Third Man some 
verisimilitude, ah, well, that is exactly how we can manage to 
sustain levitation till JKR comes round with a good Mobilinavis Charm.


A—ha! A-ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!


Right. DE roll—call:


According to my calculations (correct me if I'm wrong) up till now 
we've been given the names of 19 Death Eaters (I'm counting Quirell 
here). What became of each of them? Here's the full list as I make it:


I) Definitely in Azkaban:
The Lestranges and, initially at least, Barty Crouch Jr.

II) Dead:
Evan Rosier, Wilkies, Quirrell.

III) Released:
Igor Karkaroff.

IV) Acquitted:
Lucius Malfoy, Crabbe Sr., Goyle Sr., Nott, McNair (or is it Macnair? 
It's spelled both ways in my edition), Avery.

V) Of Uncertain Fate:
Travers, Mulciber, Augustus Rookwood and Antonin Dolohov

VI) In hiding:
Barty Crouch Jr. and Peter Pettigrew

VII) Turned spy:
Severus Snape


Besides this lot however six Voldemort supporters are mentioned in 
the books but not honoured with the distinction of a name: First of 
all Barty Jr.'s three fellow defendants and secondly the Three Dead 
Servicemen. I think we are all more or less in agreement that one of 
the men and the woman at the Crouch trial most probably are the 
Lestranges and it is also fair to assume that two of the deceased DEs 
must be Rosier and Wilkes. Everybody with me so far? Yes? Good.


So, the crucial question is "Who Are the Other Two Nameless DEs"?


Now, the way I see it Canon places very little restriction on our 
answer here. Really, if you examine the case with an open mind and * 
logically* they could be practically anybody. Anybody. * Anybody*. 
Yes, yes, they could indeed both be the same person. Granted. No 
arguments there. They could, they could. Ahhh, but they could also be 
* countless* other people as well. For starters any of the DEs Of 
Unknown Fate are fair game. Both the Fourth Man and the Third Man 
could be Travers, or Mulciber ,or Dolohov, or Rookwood. Or they could 
be somebody completely new who has not had any other mention in Canon 
whatsoever. Hell, you could mix things up ever further and claim that 
it was, say, Dolohov who was both at the Trial * and* subsequently 
died in Azkaban. And Fourth man in particular is open to an even 
wider range of possibilities. Why, he could be Nott, McNair, even, 
yes, Crabbe or Goyle! (What exactly did Voldemort mean by "doing 
better" anyway? What did they fail at at their last attempt? 
Retrieving their Master and aiding his reincarnation by extracting 
information from eminent Aurors maybe?)


Aaaaaand Fourth Man could also be Avery. Does Canon dispute it? Does 
it proffer one shred of evidence that goes against the idea? No, 
Charis states firmly. It does not.


So, you see Eileen, Fourth Man as Third does not in actual fact burst 
our hovercraft. Quite to the opposite it is in reality nothing more 
than a conformation of the very premise that is essential, * vital* 
for the survival of Avery As Fourth Man. For Avery As Fourth Man 
Fourth Man As Third is just like lighting a match in a confined 
space: at first the flame may alarm, but in fact it is nothing more 
than a reassurance that there is in fact oxygen down the twisting, 
turning tunnel of canonical intrigue. The deciding challenge is not 
to prove whether this proposal or the next is * possible*, but which 
is the most * credible*.


And Avery as Fourth Man is, to my mind,_ definitely_ the most 
credible possibility. There are innumerable reasons why this is so 
all already beautifully presented during the original Fourth Man 
thread and which I need only briefly allude to now: 


Wrapping up Avery's Fourth Man debut Elkins observed:

>It explains Avery's hysteria in the graveyard. It explains the 
>otherwise inexlicable anonymity of that mysterious fourth co-
>defendent. And it also explains Voldemort's utter lack of mention of 
>the Fourth Man during the graveyard scene. He's overflowing with 
>praise for Crouch, and for the Lestranges, and yet he never even 
>mentions the fourth guy? 


Does Fourth Man As Third do all these things I ask. Does it? Does it, 
huh, huh, does it?


Does it further complicated and ingenious characterization by 
explaining Avery's inexplicable masochistic outburst at the 
graveyard ? NO! Does it give anyone any name? NO! Does it explain 
Voldemort's favourism of Barty and the Lestranges over their 
mysterious accomplice? NO! No,no,no,no,no!


And there's more too. Eileen wrote:

>And, why doesn't he mention the fourth man... well, because the 
> fourth man is the third man, since dead at Azkaban, dead in V's 
> service.

No, no, no, Eileen. You've got it all wrong. Look at it this way: If 
the two other dead guys really are Rosier and Wilkes, how come the 
Mysterious Forth Man who actually * gave his life* in the effort to 
re—establish his Lord doesn't get praised to the point of revulsion 
like the Lestrages? How come he gets shunted along to stand alongside 
a couple of losers, two * washouts* who couldn't even take on a 
measly Auror or two successfully? It just doesn't make sense.


Furthermore: as we all know it is absolutely indisputable that Avery 
Really Is Very Important. I mean, that * is* the one thing that's 
sure in the books, isn't it? There's not a shadow of a doubt about * 
that*, there can't be. Ron may turn Evil, Crouch Jr. could have been 
innocent and Hermione might date Victor Krum, but Avery most 
definitely, absolutely, possitively is * The* Most Important 
Personality in the entire book. And does FMAT explain this? Does it? 
Does it? No!


Last but not least:
The starting point for Avery As Fourth Man was that the anonymous co—
defendant in the Crouch case has actually made another appearance in 
the first four books and that this alter ego will startle everyone—
including Harry-- once revealed, thus furnishing OoP with it's very 
own Great Shock Moment. Does FMAT present such fascinating 
possibilities? No. The central hero to FMAT is dead, for Pete's sake! 
Dead, dead, dead. He doesn't allow for a single ounce of compelling 
future activity. Hey, he hardly even permits a decent backstory! 
Unless he proves really, really essential in the Longbottom incident 
(and personally I think Mrs Lestrage probably hogged all the action 
in that scene) he's complete hogwash! Now admittedly JKR does have a 
tendency towards rather ruthless handling her of no—longer—useful 
characters (Quirell, Lockhart, Barty Jr., Nicholas Flamel. . .) but 
killing someone off before they've even properly entered the plot is 
really going too far I think.


I mean, Eileen, well, don't tell your brother this or anything, but 
Fourth Man As Third is, well, it's just booooring! B—B—B—B—
Booooooring.

> Eileen, clutching at Avery, "HE'S MINE, I TELL YOU! PETTIGREW AND 
> MALFOY CAN'T HAVE HIM!"

Well, of course not! Rest at ease. We're safe. Errr, till Book 5 
comes out at least. . .


Charis Julia, who really enjoyed her weekend away, but still thinks 
there's no place like home and internet access.