Regulus Black, traitor to the Dark Lord (longish)

[clio44a]

No: HPFGUIDX 80703

Being currently on my second read of OotP I stumbled over something 
or rather someone I'm pondering for 2 days now. 

Regulus Black.

Sirius younger brother is introduced on page 104, Ch.6, OotP, British 
edition (the scene in front of the Black family tree). The part is a 
bit long for citing it here, but I will do my best to summarize it.

We learn that Sirius had a younger brother whom his parents preferred 
over Sirius. They supported him joining Lord Voldemort's circle. When 
Regulus was a Death Eater something happened which made him change 
his mind and led to his death. According to the tapestry in 12, 
Grimmauld Place, Regulus died about 15 years prior to the events in 
OotP.
 
Quoting Sirius: "No, he was murdered by Voldemort. Or on Voldemort's 
orders, more likely; I doubt Regulus was ever improtant enough to be 
killed by Voldemort in person. From what I found out after he died, 
he got in so far, than panicked about what he was being asked to do 
and tried to back out. Well, you don't just hand in your resignation 
to Voldemort. It's a lifetime of service or death."  



A few more facts, non-canonical, which can be looked up at any 
astronomy page on the web: 

Regulus is the Latin diminuitiv (sp?) of rex. So regulus means 
literally "little king".

Regulus, like Sirius, seems to be named after a star. The star 
Regulus is the alpha-Leonis, which means in astronomers' speak it is 
the brightest star in the constellation of Leo, the lion. Regulus is 
located at the chest of the lion and is therefore also called "The 
Heart of the Lion."


So far the facts. Now my ramblings.


Regulus being the "little king" is consistent with canon, where 
Sirius says about his parents they were (p 104):" ... convinced to be 
a Black made you practically royal ..." and that they  thought 
Regulus "... a much better son." 

What does that prove? Nothing besides JKR puts a lot of though into 
names. Nothing new here.


What I think is curious is that Regulus Black is tied to Leo. After 
all the lion is the Gryffindor mascot. Even better, Regulus is 
the "Heart of the Lion", the very symbol of bravery. Is this 
symbolism a coincedence? I think not. I think it is a big hint if 
there ever was one.


JKR links the Black family (except Sirius) tightly to pureblood-
racism and the Dark Arts. Snakes turn up as ornaments in the house. 
Together with Regulus becoming a Death Eater, we must assume he was a 
Slytherin. (Side note: Why was Sirius only blasted from the tapestry 
when he left home, not when he was sorted into Gryffindor?) So we 
have a Slytherin Death Eater, who is brave as a Gryffindor? Who in 
his heart is a lion? 


Curiously Sirius says about Regulus " ... he was soft enough to 
believe them ..." (the Black superiority stuff). This further 
supports the idea that Regulus in his heart never was a real Bad 
Wizard.
And in consequence he betrayed Lord Voldemort. An enormus feat which 
Sirius, who speaks very bitterly of his brother, doesn't acknowledge. 
We only know one other wizard who did so when Voldemort was in full 
power. Snape.


We are told by Dumbledore in GoF that Snape "rejoined our side before 
Lord Voldemort's downfall and turned spy for us, at great personal 
risk."(GoF, Ch.30) Snape's return from the Dark is usually placed a 
couple of months before Voldemort's "death" by the members of this 
list. Let's just stick to this. 

Regulus died ca. 15 years before Harry turns 15. It is save to assume 
that both Regulus and Snape turned away from their master roughly the 
same time. If they betrayed Lord Thingy on the same day or shortly 
after each other is irrelevant for the questions risen by this.


1. What happened before Voldemort attacked the Potters that not only 
one but two of his young and presumedly eager Death Eaters had a 
change of heart?  

We don't know, but whatever it was seems to have affected both of 
them. This is a strong point against the popular theory that Snape 
changed sides because of Lily. And it kind of proves Hagrid wrong, 
who said in PoA (Ch.10) " when a wizard goes over ter the Dark Side, 
there's nothin' and no one that matters to em anymore...."  



2. Did they know each other?

If Regulus was in Slytherin he must have known Snape, who was a few 
years older. Especially if Snape was his brother's sworn enemy. We 
don't know if they were in contact after Snape left school. We don't 
know if the Death Eaters know who else is in their little club. 

Possibility a: Snape and Regulus Black independantly decided to leave 
Lord Voldemort. 
If that is so it sheds a really bad light on Voldemorts leadership 
qualities. Are there even more traitors to his cause? And if even the 
Death Eaters begin to turn away from him, why did Peter Pettigrew go 
into the other direction?  

Possibility b: Snape and Regulus were partners in crime and decided 
together to leave the Dark Lord.  
In this case I expect to hear a lot more about Regulus Black in the 
next book. 



3. Why did Snape survive and Regulus did not?

Sirius says to be a Death Eater means "a lifetime of service or 
death." Yet Snape managed the unthinkable and became not only a 
traitor, but a spy. Is this really because of his Occlumency and 
acting skills, or did he maybe sell out Regulus to Voldemort in order 
to save his own skin when Voldemort suspected a traitor among his 
followers? Was Snape maybe even instrumental in Regulus death? Did 
Regulus really disobey his master, or did Snape only use him as a 
scapegoat to cover up his own betrayel?  


4. Who told Sirius about his brother's death? 

In my opinion he learned about it either from Dumbledore (who knew it 
from Snape) or from other prisoners in Azkaban. A lot of talking 
going on there for a high security prison, if you ask me. Who knows 
if all Sirius' facts are correct?




Glad this is off my mind. What do you think? Am I over-interpretating 
a character, who didn't even make an appearence?

I don't mean to steal anyone's ideas, but as far as I could research 
this was not discussed yet.


Clio, 
who really thought she would be clean of her addiction once she put 
away OotP. (Silly!)