TBAY: Crouch Redux

[Eileen]

No: HPFGUIDX 85464

"Hello, Debbie, Elkins," says Eileen stiffly, looking
about the Barty Crouch Sr. shrine in the Canon Museum.
"What have you been doing to this place? That
hobbyhorse is a disgrace to TBAY, someone's knocked
CRABCUSTARD all over the floor, and Debbie, you've
been putting all our manifesto points out of order."

Elkins shrugs her shoulders. "I've never claimed to be
a neat-freak. My side of the shrine is mine to do
whatever I want with."

"Even to stick pins into wax effigies of Crouch Sr.?"
asks Debbie.

"Well, I wouldn't mind that so much," says Eileen, "if
she'd keep the wax effigies in order, not heaped all
over the altar. Debbie, go get a mop, and clean up
that CRABCUSTARD, and Elkins, organize those wax
effigies, or I'll do it myself. Actually, I will do it
myself. You catalogue those posts of yours. And now,
Debbie, what's this about messing up my manifesto
points? It took ages to put them in order! And close
the window. You can hear the people down at the Royal
George! Ahhh! I can't think! Why can't you people just
follow the rules and behave properly?" 

"Slavish adherence to rules is a refuge for the weak,"
says Debbie.

"How dare you?" says Eileen. "Slavish adherence to the
rules is the domain of the strong! The individuals!"

Elkins and Debbie stare at her.

"It's the easy choice, employed by those who lack
confidence in their own judgment," says Debbie. It's
one thing for Percy, who is still in his teens, to use
the rules as a crutch, and quite another for Crouch,
who is a head of department and a member of an old,
highly distinguished wizarding family. See, for all
his power and position, Crouch has never truly grown
up."

"Well, ok..." says Eileen, shrugging her shoulders.
"But tell me, Debbie, where do you see Crouch Sr.
slavishly following the rules?"

"Remember? 'Mr. Crouch had complied with the rule
about Muggle dressing so thoroughly that he could have
passed for a bank manager.'" 

"Well, yes," says Eileen. "He did that. But what
really stood out there wasn't his willingness to obey
the rules. After all, he *made* that rule, don't you
think?"

"Wonderfully talented man, Barty Crouch," says Elkins
drily. 

"Wonderfully talented," says Eileen. "You see, Barty
Crouch wasn't peculiar among the Ministry wizards in
complying with that rule. Everyone else we see, with
the exception of Ludo Bagman, is quite as slavishly
following the rule. They're just not doing it very
well.  Crouch stands out not because he's rule-bound,
really, but because he's good at what he does. Which
includes making the rules and looking like he follows
them." 

"Crouch was so fanatical about rules that he cared
about whether his *ancestors* broke the law," protests
Debbie. 

"Oh, is that how you read it?" said Eileen. "I thought
he was making clear that the family didn't own the
carpet after it became illegal, especially since that
would have been well within his own lifespan.  If I
announced that my family owned some prohibited object,
I'd be quick to remind my listeners that I don't have
it anymore, and it was got rid of before I could have
possessed it illegally... Though, I wonder, given
everything we know about Crouch..."

"Aha," says Elkins. "So you thought that too!" 

Eileen spares Elkins a twisted smile "Yes, I wonder if
that Axminster is still somewhere in the Crouch house.
I wouldn't be surprised."

Elkins applauds. 

"You see," continues Eileen. "I don't see any
evidence, Debbie, that Crouch does slavishly follow
the rules. He wants people to think he does, but where
do we see him actually doing it?"

"But it all fits, though, doesn't it," cries Debbie.
"If Crouch himself saw slavish adherence to the rules
as the *right* way, would he even understand the
concept of losing one's right of self-determination?
That's what happens to the rule-bound. They can't, or
won't, think for themselves."

Eileen makes a strangled sound. 

"It's most telling in Crouch's political
behaviour,"Debbie continues. "He does what the mob
wants - just as Pilate released Barabbas instead of
Jesus. Crouch gave them Sirius Black and his son."

"Was Pilate rule-bound, though?" asks Eileen
thoughtfully. 

----------------------------------------------------
Luke 23:13-25

Pilate called together the chief priests, the rulers
and the people, and said to them, "You brought me this
man as one who was inciting the people to rebellion. I
have examined him in your presence and have found no
basis for your charges against him.  Neither has
Herod, for he sent him back to us; as you can see, he
has done nothing to deserve death.  Therefore, I will
punish him and then release him." 

With one voice they cried out, "Away with this man!
Release Barabbas to us!" (Barabbas had been thrown
into prison for an insurrection in the city, and for
murder.)

Wanting to release Jesus, Pilate appealed to them
again. But they kept shouting, "Crucify him! Crucify
him!"

For the third time he spoke to them: "Why? What crime
has this man committed? I have found in him no grounds
for the death penalty. Therefore I will have him
punished and then release him."

But with loud shouts they insistently demanded that he
be crucified, and their shouts prevailed. Pilate
decided to grant their demand. He released the man who
had been thrown into prison for insurrection and
murder, the one they asked for, and surrendered Jesus
to their will.
----------------------------------------------------

"That doesn't sound like slavishly following the
rules. Pontius Pilate didn't follow the rules. The
rules would have required, as he notes above, that he
not hand Jesus over to the mob. But he does. And you
know why? Because he was afraid of the mob."

------------------------------------------------

John 19:12

"From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the
priests kept shouting, "If you let this man go, you
are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a
king opposes Caesar." 

--------------------------------------------------

"And that's where Pilate blanches, and gives in. Out
of fear of being reported to paranoid Tiberius. He
forsakes the rules for his own safety."

"Eric Oppen said Crouch Sr. was protecting himself in
the Pensieve scene," remarks Elkins. 

"Count me on Eric's side," says Eileen. "Yes, Crouch
as Pontius Pilate works perfectly well, but not I
think, to establish him as a rule-follower. Rather as
someone who throws out the rules. I think Crouch's
problem was that he had too few rules. I mean, too few
rules he really followed. Doing what's easy versus
what's right."

"Well, that question comes up in relation to the
Unforgivables," says Debbie. "Perhaps the question to
ask is whether Crouch stepped in because he *was*  a
ruthless authoritarian, or whether he deprived
suspects of their civil liberties because he believed
the public wanted him to do so."

Eileen throws her arms about Debbie. "You are so
right! Listen, Elkins, did you hear that? You asked
for motifs of protection and self-sacrifice, and I
couldn't find them." 

"Darn right you couldn't," says Elkins. "In GoF,
Crouch isn't associated with motifs and subplots that
deal with protection or with self-sacrifice. Rather,
he seems to be associated with all of the motifs and
subplots that focus thematically on issues of
coercion, control, domination, and the negation of
volition."

Eileen and Debbie smile triumphantly. 

"Through a glass darkly," says Eileen. "That which the
mirror reverses, it also reflects."

"Oh, come up with your own allusions," says Elkins
crossly. 

"In a way, Crouch dominates the mob, as you've pointed
out," says Eileen. "But Debbie's right. In the end,
he's dominated *by* the mob."

"I think his flaw is that he lacks any sense of his
own self," says Debbie. "His use of others is merely
an extension of his willingness to be used by others.
He has  self-worth only to the extent that it's
reflected in the approval of others, so he bends to
their will."

Eileen shrugs her shoulder. "This is all getting very
dizzying. But if I remember my Bible properly, aren't
we supposed to love others as we love ourselves? If we
don't respect ourselves, we can't respect others."

"Exactly," says Debbie. 

"Welll..." says Eileen. 

"I don't see why Crouch needed to pander to the mob,
anyway," says Debbie. "It seems to me that rising in
the Ministry has as much to do with one's pedigree and
connections as it does with public acclaim."

"No kidding," says Eileen. "Don't you just hate when
people think wizarding Britain is a one-person
one-vote direct democracy? I mean, sure there is an
election of some sort, but even in the parliamentary
system, we don't elect our prime-ministers directly.
My own guess is the Wizengamot chooses the Minister,
just as the Witangamot chose the king." 

"He was "tipped" for the job," says Debbie. "In other
words, the leadership had selected him as heir
apparent. Sirius says Crouch rose quickly through 
Ministry. I think he rose quickly through the Ministry
because of who he was - a powerfully magical wizard
from an old family - and not because of what he did.
He wouldn't even have had the authority to issue those
edicts until he became head of DMLE."

"Yes, I think you're right," says Eileen. "I mean, not
that I doubt that he did a good job while rising
through the ranks, but he had all the qualifications
the moment he set foot in the Ministry. Unlike poor
Percy, of course."

"I submit that Crouch Sr., by virtue of his background
and magical ability, was right in the career path to
be "tipped" for MoM before Voldemort ever appeared on
the scene. He rose quickly through the Ministry not
because he positioned himself as a hardliner but
because he had the credentials that the Ministry is
far too fond of."

Eileen nods. "Don't forget the languages."

"Wait a second," Elkins says. "I hate to break up this
love-in of completely inoffensive tipped-for-the-job
Barty Crouch Sr., but being tipped for the job isn't
enough. Do you know how many people are tipped for the
job?"

"Quite a few?" ventures Eileen.

"Yep," says Elkins. She looks keenly at Eileen. "You'd
know something about this? You've had an MP tipped as
prime-minister for well on ten years now, haven't
you?"

"Well," says Eileen. "The current prime-minister of
Canada is the Right Honourable Jean Chretien. He's
making his farewells at the moment.When he resigns,
the House of Commons will pick a new prime-minister
from the Members of Parliament. In actuality, this
means that the Liberal Party, to whom the majority of
the MPs belong will pick the new leader of their party
as prime minister. The new leader is Paul Martin. The
heir apparent for years and years and years. His
father was Paul Martin Sr. Very important and
influential family. They own Canada Steamship Lines."

"Paul Martin Sr. was tipped for the job, wasn't he?"
asks Elkins. 

"Well yes. That he was," says Eileen. "But he lost out
to Pierre Trudeau in the end. And what's more, this
isn't Martin Jr's first shot at the job. Way back
when, he took on Jean Chretien in the last liberal
leadership convention. Chretien won, and went on to
form the government after the 1993 election, in which
the Tories were reduced from a majority to two seats
in the House."

"If being tipped for the job isn't enough for the
Martins, why is it enough for Barty Crouch Sr.?" asks
Elkins. 

There is a short pause.

"What I mean," continues Elkins, "Is why would the
wizarding world work any differently than our world?
Being tipped is essential, but it only gets you so
far. Then, you need to be a hardliner, or whatever it
is that will get you all the way there."

"Crouch wanted to satisfy the public's need for
reassurance. But this was done to prevent vigilante
justice from taking over, or a coup against the
Ministry," says Debbie. 

"What about the trials?" Elkins demands. "The trials
show that Crouch was indeed in the habit of
sacrificing people to his political ambitions, and the
Pensieve Four, guilty though they may have been, were
indeed among the people so sacrificed, just like
Sirius Black was."

"But the evidence against Sirius was quite strong,
and the Council *did* hear it," protests Debbie.
"Crouch Sr.may have bowed to public sentiment to put
Sirius away permanently without trial (or at least any
trial he recalled), but he must have convinced himself
that no harm was done because Sirius was obviously
guilty."

"So?" says Elkins. "He still sacrificed Sirius. He
still deprived Sirius of his rights."

"Not so horribly as you make it sound. And not for his
career," cries Debbie. "Can you get that through your
mind?"

"I'm going to intrepret it as being for his career
until you can show me otherwise," said Elkins with an
irritating smile. 

"He didn't *need* the public," says Debbie. 

"Oh yes, he did," says Eileen quickly. "Not in the way
we think of the public. One person, one vote, and all
that. But I think he needed the public."

"There's Karkaroff..." begins Elkins. 

"So what?" says Debbie. "It's a plea bargain, a
standard prosecutorial tactic. And it's not a secret,
either."

"Yeah, it's standard, all right," says Eileen. "But
it's not much of a hard-liner's approach, is it? And
the nonchalance off camera does contrast greatly with
the Bagman and Longbottom affairs."

"What? Would you rather have had him use Cruciatus to
get the information when Karkaroff so kindly *offered*
to rat on his colleagues?" says Debbie.

"YES!" shouts Eileen. "Well," she adds, a little
quieter. "I don't necessarily mean I want Crouch to
torture Karkaroff, but it would have made his
character intrepretation a lot easier. You do have to
admit, Debbie, that Crouch is playing two roles here."

Debbie shrugs her shoulders. "Crouch plays to the
crowd, all right," she says, "but not to become
Minister."

"Why then?" asks Eileen. 

"Let's take a look at the Lucius Malfoy. Quite
revealing, that. Lucius Malfoy gets off. How much do
you think it cost Lucius to buy the jury at his trial?
And perhaps the juries of his sycophants and
protectors as well? I don't think Crouch was very
happy about it. I expect that it contributed to his,
uh, overexuberance at the trial of the Pensieve Four."

"Crouch battling corruption," says Eileen dreamily.
"Isn't it heroic?"

"Now, Bagman's trial. We know that Crouch despises
Bagman - Winky tells us in ch. 21 that Crouch told her
bad things about Bagman. We know Crouch miscalculated
badly in prosecuting Bagman at all. I believe he took
the risk, though, because Bagman had something Crouch
resented - Bagman's charisma. Poor Barty Crouch,
though, couldn't make himself charismatic if his life
depended on it."

There is a sudden hush in the Bay. 

"Errr... what did you just say?" asks Eileen
tremulously.

"He. Was. Not. Charismatic."

"HOW DARE YOU!" screams Eileen. "FIRST PEOPLE ARE
SAYING HE ISN'T SEXY. AND THEN HE'S EVER SO EVIL AND A
HYPOCRITE. AND NOW YOU'RE SAYING HE'S NOT
CHARISMATIC!"

"Steady there," says Debbie. 

"Elkins, you agree with me, don't you?" says Eileen,
whirling around to her.

Elkins has a rather fixed smile on her face. "Crouch
in his day would seem to have been quite charismatic. 
We never actually see him operating during Voldemort's
reign, but I can imagine that he must have been really
something." (1)
 
"See!" says Eileen.

"Well, perhaps he has a certain kind of charisma,
which only the privileged few can recognize. The
Percys of this world, yes?

"No," says Eileen. "I mean, GoF Crouch Sr., sure. Of
course, only the Percys of the world would be swept
off their feet by him. But Backstory!Crouch Sr. was
really someone else. He didn't even have the same
persona as later. He wasn't even Rule Abiding back
then in the same way. He was fighting the rule abiding
people who wanted to continue on with habeas corpus,
and no torture in interrogation etc. And he was
popular according to Sirius. People were clamouring
for him to take over. And he was using the support of
these people to get him nearer to his goal to be
Minister for Magic."

"People who didn't have direct votes?" said Debbie.
"Are you suggesting he was planning to lead the people
into one of those bloody coups they're always talking
about on the Bay?"

"Is there any need for a coup in a society that's
already almost fascist in its government?" asks
Eileen. "Crouch Sr. doesn't need to be elected
directly, coup or not. He has to organize a takeover.
A very legal takeover. In which the people in power,
the people behind the Wizengamot, support him as the
new leader."

"The people in power," says Debbie. "The gentlemen in
the smoking room. Not the plebeian mob."

"No," says Eileen. "Not really. But do we ever really
see the mob? When we say public, don't we mean the
people who have some share in power? I mean, people
like Gran Longbottom. She does know people, as OotP
proved. Those are the people who you want on your
side. Crouch needed them. And he failed, I think,
because these people went over to Fudge in the end."

Debbie places her hands on her hips. "We'll see about
that in a second. Anyway, Bagman's trial was a huge
turning point for Crouch. Crouch clearly thought
Bagman was guilty, but he also relished the idea of
putting a popular public figure in Azkaban. He gambled
that the desire of the public for retribution against
the DEs would trump Bagman's popularity, and he lost.
What happened at Bagman's trial, however, set the
stage for Barty Jr.'s trial, in which he was
determined to do what the public wanted, and do it
very thoroughly."

Eileen rubs her forehead. "You're right. Playing to
the crowd..."

Debbie ambled over to the votive stand. She picked up
one of the crabcustard votives and sniffed it, all the
while staring intently at Crouch Sr.'s portrait. "Did
I ever mention the one thing that really sickens me
about the Pensieve Four trial? It was those 'I have no
son!' histrionics". 

"I should have thought that the kangaroo court itself
would have bothered you more than the denunciation,"
said Elkins. 

"But there was evidence. See, I have absolutely no
problem with Crouch prosecuting his son if the
evidence warranted it. It was his duty and any attempt
to let him off would have reeked of nepotism. But for
him, it wasn't enough to convict his son. He needed to
deny him publicly as well. And that's what cost him
his political star in the end."

Eileen smiles a little. "You know, I knew I had reason
to be upset about that line.."

"Isn't it pathetic that someone of Crouch's stature
would find such actions necessary? Because he didn't
need public support to keep his position. He needed
them for his own self-esteem."

"You know, Debbie," says Eileen slowly. "You have
canon on your side. That new timeline has Crouch as
Head of the DMLE until just before Harry begins
school. He *didn't* need public support to keep his
position. He kept it very nicely until Fudge pushed
him out of it."

"Yes!" says Debbie. 

"But I think he did need public support to take that
extra step to Minister."

"No," says Debbie. "He pandered to them so excessively
so as to throw away a job opportunity that was his for
the taking."

Eileen shakes her head. "I still insist he needed the
public. He needed people lobbying for him to 'take
over.' And I think he had some reason to think that
the Pensieve scene act would keep them on his side.
After all, Brutus did well out of it. The wizarding
world is *supposed* to be tough, steely, and Livian.
The wizarding world let Crouch down."

"Crouch didn't crave power," says Debbie steadily. "He
had power. What he craved was love and approval. It
explains everything - why he authorized the
Unforgivables, why he acceded to public demands to
convict the pensieve four, why he rescued his son."

Eileen pauses. "It does too. But you know what Elkins
said about Crouch and love?"

"Not love," Elkins murmurs.

"Not love," agrees Eileen. "Power. Power *was* love
for Crouch. He would not recognize someone as loving
him unless they submitted to him. Yes, he did crave
approval and love, and he craved it in the form of
power."

Debbie shrugs her shoulders."Every accession to the
wishes of others sank him deeper into the hypocrisy
that would ultimately destroy him, because from the
moment he rescued his son, everything else became
secondary to protecting his secret. Crouch sacrificed
everyone who cared for him to protect his son and his
secret."

 "He had a choice," spat Elkins. "What would *Brutus*
have done?" Elkins looks long and hard at the image
of Brutus on the wall, then continued. "He could have
made it humane. Far more humane than death in
Azkaban, that's for sure."

"Elkins! No! The Livian way is not the right way!"
Elkins looked away from the painting at Debbie, who
said quietly, "He had a third choice. A choice that
would have released him from the tangled web of
hypocrisy he wove for himself." 

Debbie looked hard at Elkins. "He could have turned
himself and his son into the authorities. That's what
he *should* have done."

"NO!" shouts Eileen. "NO! To send his son back to
Azkaban... Oh God, no! *That* would be evil." She
looks at the spray of pink and white flowers that have
suddenly appeared in her hands. 

Elkins began again, very softly, "Do you want to know
why I think that Crouch Sr. was so terribly invested
in keeping his son alive? Do you? Do you really?" she
continued, beginning to spit out her words. "I think
that it was because obedience was a virtue that Mr.
Crouch . . . wanted to teach him before he died."

Debbie shook her head gently. "But why? You yourself
agree that at a minimum Crouch was talked into the
rescue of his son so easily - something so incredibly
risky to his career - do you really think he did all
of this just to teach him a lesson?"

"No," said Eileen. "He did it for love. Because he
loved his son and he wanted to be loved back. Love was
a virtue that Mr. Crouch wanted to teach him before he
died. Only, Crouch didn't know exactly what love was
himself."

A tear rolls down her cheek. 

"It was heaps nicer than Azkaban," she mutters. 

"I agree with Eileen," says Debbie. "Is it not better
to be at home, where one can look out the window, see
the sun, converse with other sentient beings? How is
this worse than being tormented by the Dementors in a
dark Azkaban cell?"

"He would have died in Azkaban!" protested Elkins.
"Quickly!" 

Debbie shakes her head. "Under the circumstance, the
Imperius Curse does not seem excessive. He *was* a
convict, you know. And prison is *supposed* to
reform!"

Eileen studies her hands closely. "Robbing someone of
their own volition doesn't reform them," she says
tonelessly. 

Debbie gives her a kind look. "Let me tell you
something about Crouh Sr. When he realized that his
act of mercy had failed and would turn out to aid and
abet Voldemort's return, look what he did. In a matter
of months, Crouch Sr. was able to shake off the
Imperius Curse sufficiently to *walk* to Scotland to
confess to Dumbledore.  He tells Harry his sins -
Bertha, his son - punctuated with the mantra - my
fault . . . all my fault. That language is straight
out of the confessional - mea culpa, mea culpa, mea
maxima culpa. To do that while under Imperius - a
curse that wipes away "every thought and worry" - was
an extraordinary feat of will.  It says to me that he
had principles all along, but that he somehow believed
he wasn't subverting them."

"Or told himself he wasn't," interjects Eileen.

"Because he has nothing to gain from this; it's
political suicide, if not a ticket to Azkaban for
himself, because he can't properly warn Dumbledore
without fully confessing his sins. How ironic that
only when it's most difficult, when his free will has
been taken away by Imperio, only then does he shed his
hypocricy and do the right thing."

"Ultimately," adds Debbie. "I find Crouch Sr. to be
almost as sympathetic as Eileen does, though I stop
well short of declaring him to be dead sexy."

Eileen smiles. 

Notes:

(1) Shamelessly taken from a private email


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