Against Evil!Lupin responses

Thu Jan 9 17:57:38 UTC 2003

No: HPFGUIDX 49507

Maria and Scott have come gallantly to Lupin's defense. I am 
glad. One of my worst fears in posting the Evil Lupin theory was 
that I might be giving the game away. Fortunately, cognitive 
dissonance is the con artist's (and the mystery writer's) best 
friend--as long as Harry still has faith in Lupin, I might as well be 
howling at the moon.<g> 

Maria said:

>>First off, I wouldn't say that we know all about JKR to make 
assumptions about what she would or wouldn't do. Secondly, 
Lupin and Sirius *don't* have the same narrative function. Yes, 
they are James' friends, but Ron and Hr are Harry's friends too... 
Both of them couldn't be traitors - so how can we say that 2 of 
James' friends are traitors? (Am I making sense? L and S are 
sooo different, and they play such different roles in the story. 
BTW, don't Fred and George have the same narrative function? 
Could one of them be a traitor? <grin. I am not really 
serious.>)<<

Lupin and Sirius have different personalities, no argument there. 
But they have very similar background, the same relationship to 
Harry (which Hermione and Ron definitely *don't* have) and to 
the wizarding world at large. The only thing that good!Lupin can 
do, narratively, that Sirius can't, is turn into a werewolf at an 
inconvenient time--and I don't think that's enough.

Ron and Hermione bubble over with conflict. So much so, that 
some of our most prominent listees (waves at list-mom Penny 
and the crew of the good SHIP H/H) think they'll never be 
reconciled. Even Fred and George have their disputes. But the 
strongest image of  Sirius and Lupin  is when they stand 
shoulder to shoulder, ready to blast poor Pettigrew into the next 
world, both seeking to avenge James, or so we are led to think.

And Harry stands up to them, "facing the wands."  Dumbledore 
says there is now a life-debt between Harry and Pettigrew.   But 
is that alone enough to create a life-debt? Sirius tells Harry that 
James saved Snape "at great risk to himself." The element of  
jeopardy is not there if neither Sirius nor Lupin is, in truth, a 
murderer.  I think that must be an essential, or Harry would owe 
a life-debt to Snape for keeping him from falling off his broom in 
Book One, and another to Dumbledore for breaking his fall at the 
Hufflepuff/Gryffindor match in Book Three. 

Scott wrote:

>>Dumbledore trusts Lupin<<

Does he? I think I just proved he does not, since he obviously 
believes that there is a life-debt between Pettigrew and Harry. 
But in any case, Dumbledore hired the obviously untrustworthy  
Lockhart, and kept Quirrell on after Snape had begun to suspect 
him. Dumbledore sent Sirius to lie low at Lupin's, but that could 
have been to keep Lupin under surveillance. 

Scott:
>>Second point.  Lupin's greatest fear, as shown by the boggart, 
is the Full moon.  Now, I can only guess this is because he's 
afraid of turning into a werewolf and hurting innocent people.  I'm 
sorry, but if Lupin were evil, why would he be afraid of this?<<

Sorry, but when Lupin talks about why he loathes his 
transformations, he never mentions a fear of harming innocent 
people.  He talks  about losing his human mind, he talks about 
being separated from humans to bite, the pain he goes through, 
and the way he scratches and bites himself. It's only as he's 
leaving Hogwarts (and Crookshanks isn't there to call his bluff) 
that he mentions that  he "might have bitten any of you"--and 
says that's a point he didn't see till "after last night"!!

Scott:
>>Third Point.  If Lupin were a Voldemort supporter whose job it 
was to protect Harry, why would he have resigned at the end of 
the year?  I don't think Dumbledore would have fired him, though 
I can see why he accepted Lupin's resignation (unlike Hagrid).  
<<

The theory has undergone some refinement since  my original 
post. Originally, I didn't think Voldemort could have sent Lupin to 
get Pettigrew, since Lupin says, "Everyone thought Sirius killed 
Peter...I believed it myself --until I saw the map tonight" But then
I  realized that Pettigrew had faked his death *twice,* and that 
Lupin could refer with perfect Crookshanks-vetted honesty to the 
second "death".  So Lupin and Voldemort believed that Pettigrew 
was dead, until, like Sirius, Lupin saw the picture in the paper. It 
might have been the very same edition that carried 
Dumbledore's ad for a new DADA teacher. Lupin came to 
Hogwarts to get Peter, and  resigned in order to chase Peter 
back to Voldemort. 

Scott:
>>Fourth Point.  If Lupin were a Voldemort supporter, why didn't 
he kill Sirius to silence him?<<

I think he tried. Twice. Who called the Dementors on to the 
grounds at the Quidditch match? Lupin *says* they came 
because they were hungry and the excitement of the match drew 
them. Really? But why didn't they come to the earlier matches, 
and why did they only come when Sirius was there? Why did they 
come after Sirius again at the end of PoA? If they can be 
summoned mentally, then Lupin in wolf-form could have called 
them, provided he had had his potion, of course.

Scott:
>>Fifth Point, part A.  If Lupin were a Voldemort supporter, why 
wasn't he trying to help Voldemort regain his strength?  part B.  If 
he wasn't trying to help Voldemort regain his strength, then he 
was probably under orders to watch Harry, and it would have had 
to be a very,very important order (WHY DID HE RESIGN?!).  Note 
that in GoF, Voldemort doesn't mention another Loyal supporter 
aside from Crouch Jr.  (or, he could have been talking about 
Lupin, but then why didn't he mention Crouch Jr.- doesn't make 
sense)<<

Even a tame werewolf couldn't tend to uglybaby!Voldemort. How 
would it milk Nagini? And Lupin isn't much of a potion maker, so 
he's probably not up to making the venom-unicorn's blood 
cocktail that uglybaby persists on, either. The Wolfsbane potion 
must be hard to come by in dark Albanian forests, anyway. As for 
possession, a werewolf would be regarded with suspicion, so 
even in human form Lupin wouldn't make a good vehicle. 
Imagine what would have happened if Lupin had shown up in a 
turban! <g>

 I don't know whether the flesh of a faithful werewolf would have 
worked in the re-embodiment potion. But one must doubt it. I 
don't suppose Voldemort wanted to take any chance he'd be 
reincarnated as a werewolf!

It's true that Voldemort must have been lying about having only 
one faithful supporter. But Voldemort does lie, you know, even in 
his villain-tells-all speeches. As a matter of fact, he tells a lie 
about werewolves in CoS, when he accuses Hagrid of raising 
werewolf cubs under the bed.

Scott:
>>Sixth, and possibly the most important Point.  It is our choices 
that make us who we are- not our heritage, or ability, afflictions, 
and so on.  This is a central theme of the books.  If Lupin were 
evil, well, he'd just be another typical werewolf, wouldn't he?  The 
fact that Lupin is good, kind and dedicated person helps 
illustrate the aforementioned Theme to the reader.  Lupin turning 
out evil would go against the 'our choices make us who we are' 
idea that is so strongly presented.  Of course, he could turn out 
to be evil, and another werewolf who is truly good could be 
introduced into the story. <<

That's true only if Lupin is the only "monster"  in the books--but 
he isn't. There's Hagrid, Madame Maxime, Fleur, and very 
possibly Flitwick and Snape. I think, if my theory holds up, that 
JKR will make it very clear that Lupin is evil because he made a 
choice, however fraught,  to become a Voldemort supporter, not 
because the werewolf made him do it.   I see Snape as Lupin's 
necessary counterpart, who can't pretend to be kind or gentle or 
innocent, but is now trying, very hard, to be good.

Also, if Rowling wants to paint an honest picture of the harm 
done by prejudice, she has to show the damage done to people 
who buy into  what's being said against them. Even Harry 
worried for a while that if he was descended from Slytherin, he 
might be evil. Lupin could have foundered in the same way.

Or suppose that young Lupin, in his pride and over-confidence, 
thought he could fool Voldemort. After all, he'd fooled 
Dumbledore. What if Voldemort double-crossed him and 
arranged for his release in wolf-form, without the Animagi to 
protect him, and Lupin killed or bit somebody. Would he have 
had the courage to confess to Dumbledore, as it seems Snape 
did? Or could Voldemort have blackmailed Lupin and eventually 
won him to his cause? There are plenty of real-life examples of 
hostages going over to the enemy.

Pippin