Would JKR make Lupin evil?

[marinafrants]

No: HPFGUIDX 39827

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> wrote:
> If JKR only put Lupin in the story to be the poster boy for persons 
> with disabilities, and the only reaction she wants to evoke is, 
> "Awww,  poor woobie!" then I concede.  This particular hedgehog 
> won't fly. Evil!Lupin is the product of nobody's imagination but my 
> own.

That's a bit of a strawman argument, if you ask me.  The only possible
alternative to the Evil!Lupin storyline is pathetic propaganda?  Since
when?  We've had about three years of discussion between the release
of PoA and your proposal of the Evil!Lupin theory, and during all that
time I don't recall a slew of complains that Lupin is boring, pitiful,
or unrealistically perfect, or that his storyline was a great big pity
party.  People do feel sympathy for him, but they also appreciate his
Edge, point out his character flaws, and, frequently, find him Dead
Sexy to boot.

> But if JKR aspires to more than propaganda, if she wishes to 
> invoke not only pity but terror, then Harry may discover that Lupin 
> is but the hollowed out shell of the man he could have been, and 
> still appears to be. That he  joined the dark forces not because 
> he thought it was cool to be dark, but because the terrible burden 
> of his condition was too much for him to bear alone. That it had, 
> as he says, "nothing to do with weakness" but everything to do 
> with indifference and bigotry and hate. 

There's one big problem with that scenario -- all the most interesting
parts of it happen way in the past, and we never get to see them.  If
a potentially good and noble man is going to be pushed toward evil by
bigotry and hate, I wanna see it happen *now*, not hear a speech about
how it happened fifteen years ago.  "Show, don't tell" is the motto.

I think the situation is ripe right now for a "temptation of Remus
Lupin" storyline.  After seven relatively happy years at Hogwarts,
he'd lived twelve years alone and in poverty, his only support system
destroyed by death and betrayal.  The teaching job offered a ray of
hope, only to be snatched away just as he was getting used to the idea
of satisfying work and regular meals.  Voldemort is on the rise again;
it's been hinted that he's going to be recruiting Giants, who are
another hated minority -- doesn't it make sense he'd try to recruit
werewolves, too?  How will other werewolves, who didn't get to go to
Hogwarts and hang out with Marauders, choose their sides?  If Lupin
tries to work for Dumbledore, he may find himself forced to oppose,
betray or kill others of his kind.

It doesn't even matter if he ultimately gives in to the temptation or
not -- it's the process that's important and dramatic, and JKR could
get infinite mileage out of it.

Marina 
rusalka at ix.netcom.com