[HPforGrownups] Names - and Percy, Crabbe and Goyle

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

No: HPFGUIDX 39994

Rosie said:
>On a side note.. why are Crabbe and Goyle in Slytherin? They 
>seem too dumb to have the cunning, cleverness and ambition 
>that is meant to be a trait of Slytherins.. just a plot 
>device? Or are they just ambitious in a more limited sense, 
>fitting their limited intellectual horizons...hmm.

>And Percy. Is he just in Gryffindor so he appear in funny 
>scenes with the rest of the Weasleys? Or does he have hidden 
>courage we don't know about? He doesn't seem a Gryffindor 
>type so far. 

Whenever I see a character like Percy (or Neville) who seems to be "in the wrong house" for some reason or another, I tend to see it as a red flag or sorts -- indicating that there is more to the character than we are being led to believe...

In both Percy and Neville's cases, I think that their outward, obvious traits (ambitiousness and umm.. non-braveness, respectively) will give way to strong Gryfinndor bravery at some point in the plotline -- surprising the socks off Harry and other cast members in the process.

This is has already been illustrated when Neville stands up to both Malfoy and the Trio -- that *does* take extreme bravery, as Dumbledore notes.  And we are learning that he is also brave in the tough, stiff-upper lip way that JKR is so fond of -- he handles the pain of his parent's fate alone.

As for Percy...looking at the comments Ron makes about Percy betraying his family to further himself, I find myself thinking that Percy is most likely going to surprise Ron one of these days...In my experience, when a neutral or good character isn't given credit for having a certain trait...that usually means that they have that trait in spades and just haven't shown it yet.

I'm not sure, however, that I feel this way about Crabbe and Goyle -- or, that is, I see no evidence that would lead me to assume that they *aren't* ambitious...not cunning, sure....but ambitious and willing to use any means to achieve an end?  You bet your panties.

laura  


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]