Lucius Malfoy as Minister of Magic + The Rest of the Series

[Jesta Hijinx]

No: HPFGUIDX 60632

>Hey that would really be a great twist....i wonder what JK has in store for
>us, where Lucius is concerned?
>
As one of the major proponents/articulators of the "Lucius for Minister of 
Magic" theory - I didn't do the nifty historical research provided by some 
of my esteemed colleagues here.  :-)  I think it's startling - and I think 
it may be relevant for a reason (let me see if I can explain this well 
without caffeine):

Rowling does have an extensive and wide-reaching knowledge of many things 
both in classical and popular culture - it's obvious to me that she reads.  
I know because I have a similar (though not identical) broad knowledge base 
because I'm innately curious and a major bibliophile and I read a lot and 
view resources in other media as well.  Rowling doesn't *have* to be writing 
a major allegorical epic, in which she would stick resolutely to an existing 
historical happenstance as if it were a parable; but what may have happened 
is that she read something once, made some notes or kept the article - it 
was interesting to her - and she borrowed the names or the phrases made into 
spell words as an *allusion*, sort of a glimpse from mental peripheral 
vision or a reference that will provide humor and cleverness and a bit of a 
link, without being ever intended as a faithful copy.  In other words, she 
could make an allusion to Lucius following Cornelius as a sense of things - 
maybe with a feeling that Lucius is a nice evil name since it also gave her 
a passing hit, a glancing mental blow, of Lucifer - that's a nice theory, 
can't say if it's right or wrong - because maybe once she read some of the 
stuff that's come up here - without sitting down and faithfully referring 
back and forth to the history and her text.

It's like using your peripheral vision to glimpse something that vanishes or 
doesn't hold up if you gaze at it dead on.  JKR's style is light and full of 
pop cultural references and wordplay (I *love* Spellotape!), and there are 
allusions that the well-informed reader can parse into conjectures if they 
are at all familiar with history and literature and culture - referencing 
Dumbledore defeating Grindelwald in 1945, for example:  many readers will go 
"Hm, German name, hm, 1945, end of WWII..."  and it's entirely possible for 
us to draw a possible link there without needing to work out exactly what or 
how that worked.  That's what we're *meant* to do.

That's kind of what I've done with thinking about Lucius (speaking only for 
myself here - there are other proponents of the Lucius for MoM idea):  I 
couldn't say exactly how I think Lucius would maneuver himself into such a 
spot (and man, I loved the looks of horror on my friends' faces this past 
weekend at an event when I brought this theory up!), but look at where he is 
now and the kind of person he is.  He has money.  He's got a known shady 
past and is known to be an elitist snob about Muggleborns - yet he is highly 
placed.  He is tenacious and when one plot fails he comes up with something 
else.  He isn't just going away.  He's listened to by somebody some of the 
time, at least.  Fudge started acting downright idiotic at the end of GoF, 
and I think he is short-sighted and believes he is well-intentioned in 
trying to maintain stability in the WW.  I think Fudge is likely to be a 
bumbler throughout this next book and do things that make no sense from our 
Hogwarts-bound, informed perspective, but that he thinks are perfectly 
reasonable and balance interests or appease people who might otherwise be 
trouble.  He doesn't share Dumbledore's views on relations with the giants, 
obviously.  I think that this character has limited plot value for the 
remaining life of the series, simply because it's dramatically difficult to 
sustain "no matter what happens here, this fool is going to stay in power at 
the top and still not admit there's a problem" - oddly, no matter how much 
evidence there is for this very kind of behavior in life.  :-/  That's why I 
think he'll buy it, or be driven insane and sent to Azkaban, or have his 
memory wiped, or *something* to remove him from his current office in such a 
way as to make "emergency measures" necessary - and I think that Malfoy and 
his followers and Voldemort's cronies will have bene manipulating things all 
along to make it seem a natural and obvious thing that Lucius step in as 
MoM.  Why?  Because we know who he is - it would make little sense to 
introduce an unknown character as the new MoM at this point = Percy's too 
young and new, and it won't be Arthur Weasley, not now.  I keep asking 
myself, "What will drive/advance the story?"

JKR has said these next books will be very 'dark' indeed, and in order to do 
that, we need more than soap operatic plot twists about budding juvenile 
romantic relationships (heartfelt as that type of pain can be to all of us 
growing up).  A couple of things have been happening as the story arc has 
progressed:  one, the storm clouds have been gathering outside in the WW, 
and things will have to get *a lot worse* before the end.  Second, the 
"props" to Harry's immunity that have sustained him, largely unknowing, in 
safety for the early part of his life are gradually getting knocked away 
from him one by one - fortunately, as his knowledge curve and safety net 
also grow and increase, but more of that must happen.  Both of these must 
continue to happen side by side as the story progresses.

Felinia the Verbose

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