What will theorists think? (was: Re: Lupin, a bad guy?)

[arrowsmithbt]

No: HPFGUIDX 96487

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" <susiequsie23 at s...> 
wrote:

> All of this has got me wondering something....  I joined this group 
> just last summer, right before OoP came out.  I know some of the 
> biggest theorists [theorizers?? what's the word I want?] and TBAYers 
> have been here *much* longer than that.  Some of their theories have 
> been shot down or have been forced into revision by events & 
> information revealed in subsequent books.
> 
> So here's my question for those who love to put forth theories [from 
> one who's no good at it!].  Is putting forth a theory & standing 
> behind it mightily, for instance ESE!Lupin or Vampire!Snape, 
> something that is just flat-out fun and something you don't really 
> care too much whether you're right about or not?  Or will you be 
> seriously disappointed if JKR's portrayals of these characters & 
> resolution of the events stick to the more "standard" line--that 
> Lupin is a troubled good guy, for instance, that Snape really did 
> leave Voldy behind & is helping DD & the Good Guys, that Snape's not 
> a vampire, ...? 

Won't try and speak for Pippin, she fights her own battles well enough,
but as an inverate theoriser you can have my opinion, for what it's
worth.

I too joined last summer, a few weeks before OoP hit the bookstands,
but I'd been brooding on HP and his chums for at least 3 years before 
that. The site gave me a chance to bend everybody else's ears with
ideas tricky, convoluted and just plain batty. Blame JKR. She's the one
that keeps leaving unresolved situations and unexplained  behaviour
scattered all over the landscape; I'm trying to tidy things up in ways
that make  the most of situations and characters, that's  all.

Being right or wrong is largely irrelevant, but if someone challenges
my theories I'll keep on going until they come up with compelling
analysis or definitive proof. And compelling means more than just
what somebody thinks or hopes a character is really like. Something
more objective is needed, mostly because anything I post has some
shred, be it tattered and torn, of canon, extrapolation from canon or
logical / illogical behaviour as a base.

So far, and this is tempting fate, none of my 'major' theories have
been reduced to rubble, though some are a bit iffy to say the least.
It's unlikely that any of us later joiners have come up with a truly
original idea, except maybe something based solely on OoP. The
old hands had three years to slice, dice and digest the previous
four books and if you delve into the past posts you can see that 
they did a thorough job. Unfortunately, us newbies have been
handicapped by the God-awful search facility and so have been in 
the process of re-inventing the wheel every 6 months or so. And
thinking we're bloody clever. "Ah, there was a fall, my countrymen!"
If (when) a decent search facility gets going, there'll be some
deflated egos, you can bet.

Besides, it's entertaining, keeps the old neurones in trim and means
contact with others as perverse and obsessed as myself. All in all, 
where's the downside?

Meanwhile I await with anticipation the confirmation or otherwise
of the following:

DD knew that
: James and Lily would die before it happened and planned for it
: Scabbers was Peter long before the SS debacle 
: Crouch!Moody was a fake and that Quirrell was possessed
He also seems to have read the script

Snape:           
married Florence
in his memory he is the adult, the woman and child his family
left Voldy because of their deaths and wants revenge

Sirius is ESE

Lupin killed Sirius

Tom was possessed by an evil entity (prob. Salazar) to become Voldy

plus a few other bits and pieces. Nothing contentious there, agreed?

Kneasy