House Elves, Freedom...&More

[Paula Gaon]

No: HPFGUIDX 83356


22October03

Bec wrote:

For the most part IMHO house elves like their enslavement, and get
along reasonably well with their masters. House elves strike me as
peacefull magical creatures with a good undrstanding of morals unless
otherwise provoked into using their own brand of magic(Kreacher not
included).

Paula now:

Yes, I have to agree here.  Kreacher would be more of an exception in his disenchantment with Sirius, inspite of the fact that Sirius, as far as we know, has never mistreated Kreacher.  What make Kreacher love the Pure-Bloods so if they were the ones who'd mistreated House Elves?

Bec:
...However it's clear Dobby is not happy in his enslavement. In CoS
Harry says something like "you can't have met many decent wizards".
...Later on in CoS Dobby explains What it was like during the dark
times "we house elves were treated like vermin, sir! Of course, Dobby
is still treated like that, sir, but mostly, sir, life has improved
for my kind since you triumphed over He Who Must Not Be Named. Harry
Potter survived and the dark lords power was broken....death threats every day..." page
133-134.

Paula:

Thanks a lot!  Sorry, I don't have a copy of COS here, remember now.  But this brings up another question.   Exactly how did Harry's defeat of He Who Must Not Be Named improve the life of House Elves?  Why would House Elves have been subject to death threats when Voldmorte was in power?  Makes me think that the DE's were vying for their alliance.  The DE's are still active, so why are they being treated better now-except Dobby?

Bec:

"IMO Dobby only became the exception to the elf rule after gaining his
freedom. He liked freedom, but still wanted to work. However he now
wanted to be payed for his services. ..."

Paula:

OK, we see now why Dobby wanted freedom from the Malfoys, but why was he not treated better after LV's downfall like the other House Elves?  Makes me suspect involvement of MoM since Lucius is still pretty powerful there.  What do you think?

Paula "Griff" Gaon



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