Evil!Lupin explains it all for you

[pippin_999 <foxmoth@qnet.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 49980

I know we've moved away from this thread, but since people are 
still wondering about things that Evil!Lupin theory explains very 
well, such as why he's so ready to kill Pettigrew and what made 
the Dementors attack Sirius, I'll deliver a  response and a few 
more thoughts on the subject.

I said:
> ...most people think that Harry is right [in the way that he thinks 
about Lupin as opposed to the way Lupin presents himself in 
his confession] and Lupin is just beating up on himself. People 
have come up with a whole lot of reasons that Lupin's 
conscience *might* have been weighing in on both sides of the 
issue. But these are conjecture.<

Maria:
>>> I don't agree. Lupin says in his confession: "...I had led three 
fellow students into becoming Animagi illegally." Whatever 
anyone may say, Lupin here is obviously being too hard on 
himself. How could he lead "the ringleaders of their little gang" 
into becoming Animagi? IMO you couldn't make James and 
Sirius do anything against their will,.<<<

Well, not against their will maybe, but Hermione sure managed 
to railroad Harry and Ron into that polyjuice caper, and nobody 
would describe her as the leader of Harry's little gang. And Ron 
ran the chess game in PS/SS.  We just don't know what the 
dynamics were.

Maria:
> everyone seems to excuse Lupin anyway, except Pippin, who 
apparently can't be moved (sorry, Pippin... I >don't say it in a 
mean way :) )<<

Not at all ;-)

Well, Maria  made me think about why I am being so stubborn 
here. When I first read PoA, I liked Lupin just as much as Harry 
does  until I got to that confession. It really disturbed me. It is
so full of self-hate. I do not like self-hating characters.

I'm afraid I don't read the confession as a Damascus moment. I 
read it as the whinging of a perpetual guilt-tripper. Those are  
stock figures in my culture (think Woody Allen). You feel guilty 
because you're different, so you do something stupid and get in 
trouble. That makes you feel better, because at least it's *you* 
making you feel guilty now, but then you  angst over the 
consequences, you start feeling guilty again, and the cycle 
repeats ad nauseam.

 Lupin must have been in the same double-bind as a student as 
Hermione is in now. She started by really being gung-ho for 
studying hard and obeying the rules, hoping to be accepted by 
her new culture. Then she discovered to her horror that the 
student sub-culture was all about not being keen and breaking 
rules when it suits you. That's fine if you're a good ol' boy and not 
so great if you're an outsider. (You know you've really arrived 
when your kids can get in trouble and it doesn't reflect on your 
kind.) 

What Lupin did as a teen wasn't any worse, objectively, than 
what James and the others did. What made it much much worse 
for *him*, IMO, was his outsider status, his debt to Dumbledore, 
and the possibility that other werewolves were going to be set 
back in their struggle for acceptance. (We know from  "Hairy 
Snout, Human Heart", that there were other werewolves 
struggling out there.)

Think of the way Harry felt when he realized Hagrid and others 
like him were counting on him to do well in the Tri-Wizard Cup. 
Lupin must have felt pressure like that, too. There was no way he 
could feel good about himself. And if you're going to hate 
yourself, why not hate yourself with good  reason? You might 
even start thinking the wizarding world deserves to rot in its own 
corruption.<veg>

I don't believe Snape can hate other people as much as he does 
and not hurt himself. I can't believe  Lupin can hate himself as he 
does and not hurt other people. That would be a lie, and if it is 
not Lupin's lie then it is Rowling's lie and I shall be disappointed 
in her. But  I think she may have been thinking of more than 
Ancient Rome when she named Lupin.

I don't know if people  remember dear, sweet, nice, gentle, kindly 
 Uncle Remus, the former slave whose tales are full of 
subversion, but who, as depicted in the stories of Joel Chandler 
Harris, harbored not a particle of resentment against the child of 
privilege. Nowadays, that is considered a damaging stereotype  
because it sets an impossible standard of nobility. But  I'll close 
with one of his proverbs. He said something like this: You can 
hide the fire. But what you gonna do with the smoke?

Pippin
whose Ever So Evil Lupin theory was first posted at #39362 and  
will probably have to revise it severely in late June.