Ludo Bagman's Evil and How It Grew

[Eric Oppen]

No: HPFGUIDX 50864

You can count me in on the "Bagman is _Eee-ville!_" crew.  I have a theory
of my own to account for a lot of what he did/does.

We know that he has, as of the end of GoF, a serious gambling problem.
Betting like a fool when he's _already_ in debt to the goblins, who, for all
we know, employ a few half-giant types with names like "Vinnie the
Legbreaker" and "Brutus Sadistinsky" is not the sign of a person whose
gambling is under control.

When did he start gambling?  He may have already been a "problem gambler"
back before we saw him on trial---and gotten mixed up with the DEs either as
a way to raise money, or been blackmailed into it at first because he owed
_them_ money---and they don't _need_ Vinnie the Legbreaker and Brutus
Sadistinsky to collect bad debts, do they?  Hiding "in plain sight" as a
slightly-thick Quidditch jock, and counting on his thick-headed public
_persona_ and his Quidditch fame to protect him, he could easily have been
working for the DEs for money.  I _have_ known some very intelligent
athletes who were rather amused at the idea that because they played, say,
football, they had to be semi-literate and dumb as a bag of hammers.  And
they would sometimes play on that perception for laughs.

And why did he stop playing Quidditch?  Wizards and witches live _long_
lives, and AFAWK he's not really _old_ yet.  We also know that a Seeker can,
to some extent, control how the final score goes.  What if he was found to
be in the pay of gamblers with bets on his team, or gambling himself, and
eased out quietly to his position as Quidditch commentator to avoid a
scandal?  One of the few things that professional Muggle American football
teams won't tolerate on their squads is a gambler, because players have so
many opportunities to "shave points," as the phrase goes.  You can assault,
rape, and be implicated in murder (and many American football players have
done these things) and go right on playing up till your conviction, and
resume playing once you're out of the barry place.  A gambler, OTOH, they
kick out without mercy.

So, Ludo Bagman could well be in with the Death Eaters, but not because of
any deep belief in "Lord Voldemort will RUULLE! Bwahahaha!"  Instead, he
could be working for them entirely for money, either for himself or because
he owes some people who have ways of collecting money that would send Tony
Soprano and Vito Corleone into fits of pea-green envy.

--Eric, picturing a goblin version of Vito Corleone husking "If you had come
to me, these Muggles who dishonored your daughter would be weeping bitter
tears today."