The Useless Animagus

[buddhacat]

No: HPFGUIDX 53646

psychodudeneo wrote:
> Something's been annoying me.  Wizards aren't allowed to choose 
their 
> Animagus form, although one would hardly be able to tell this from 
> the books.
> 
> Every Animagus we've seen so far has been perfectly adapted to that 
> wizard's needs.<snip>
> To drive the point home, I hope that we finally see a long-
> awaited "Absolutely Useless Animags".  I'm talking about an animal 
> for completely and utterly unfit for whatever the Wizard had been 
> planning on doing.
> 
> For instance, an assasin who has the ability to become a 3 ton male 
> rhinoceros. <snip>

Me:

That's a good point.  But, even if forms are not chosen, which came 
first, the animal form or the profession?  I mean, what if Rita 
became a reporter because it suited her insect form?  And maybe 
Minerva is used to inflitrate Muggle areas because she can turn into 
a cat, not the other way around.  So maybe the needs are perfectly 
adapted to the animal form, rather than the form being perfectly 
adapted to the needs.

Against this theory is the giveaway names, Sirius and Lupin and so 
on.  I'm reminded of an old joke by Dennis Leary: "Lou Gehrig.  Died 
of Lou Gehrig's disease.  How'd he not see THAT one coming?"  Anyway, 
I've always taken the names as fictional devices, clues for the 
alert/adult reader.  I say this because no one in the books remarks 
on the odd coincidence of a dog-man named Sirius or a wolfman named 
Lupin.  If anyone did, I think we'd have to assume that forms are 
preordained.

-- Buddhacat