What's Sirius There For?

[entropymail]

No: HPFGUIDX 83737

Sirius is gone after three books, and I'm still at a loss as to what
he was ever doing there in the first place.  I used to think that
Harry would end up living with Sirius, but now that he's dead, I think
there's not much chance of that happening.

So, this begs the question: what the heck was he there for in the
first place?  If we assume that all main characters are written in to
serve some purpose toward the development of the story, then what was
Sirius's unique purpose? Here are a few reasons I thought Sirius may
have been introduced, and why I now believe he wasn't needed.

1. As a father figure for Harry.
Nope, we've already established that this ain't gonna happen.

2. To help Harry get a better understanding of James.
There are lots of others that can and have done that, including
Dumbledore, Hagrid, Snape, and possibly the person in the best
position to do this, Lupin. Although the closest to James, Sirius's
input was probably redundant.

3. To explain the workings of Azkaban.
Harry's had Hagrid around all this time, and he's been there twice. As
a plot device, Sirius wasn't needed to explain Azkaban to Harry or the
reader.

4. To explain what happened on the night James/Lily were killed.
It would have been interesting to hear Sirius's take on what happened,
and it may have been enlightening.  But he never really gave us much
new info, other than letting us know that Peter Pettigrew was the real
murderer. But that could have been explained by Peter himself.

So, the logical question now is: why *was* Sirius written in as an
important character in three out of five books? There must be some
reason for his presence, but I have to admit, I'm stumped. Unless
we're going to see Sirius in Books 6 or 7, I can't imagine why JKR
needed to create him in the first place, just to kill him off without
any real "revelations" on his part.

:: Entropy ::