Character Arcs (was: Trusting characters)

[Smythe, Boyd T {FLNA}]

No: HPFGUIDX 118979

Kneasy wrote: <snip>
>Major characters:
>DD -  sneaky, devious as hell, manipulative, but a goody
>Moody, Molly, Arthur, Ron, Hermione - unless someone sneaky offers to free
the Elves in return for a small favour
>Neville, MM, Hagrid, Snape - yes, he can be trusted 100%, Lupin -  90%
sure, Peter - 50/50 at the moment
>Those I don't trust:
>Harry - he's got a bit of Voldy in his head
>Sirius, Bagman, Fudge, Lockhart
>Lucius Malfoy is a special case - he can't be trusted to stay evil.
>The other baddies can be trusted to stay bad, I think.
>Although I've given a list, that doesn't mean that I won't offer theories
or suppositions that may appear to conflict with it. Theorising is what I
do - I don't necessarily believe any theory I post; never have done, and
I've said so before. So I'll keep on churning out ideas shocking or mundane
just for the fun of it. Be prepared.<
<


boyd:

Honestly, the trustworthy, non-trustworthy discussions are driving me batty!

First off, I think most of us agree that we don't know what we don't know in
this series--Jo has kept us guessing from the beginning, and she likely has
some surprises yet to spring on us. The fun is in the guessing, since she
sometimes leaves us a few clues. But we have far more clues about most
characters' basic character (sorry) than about possible ESEs.

So why keep guessing at ESE? Why not look at characters as Jo has since GoF?
She has been blurring the lines between good and bad to make it clear that
most people are neither good nor evil, they are all simply flawed
individuals making flawed choices--except perhaps for LV so far. So must she
stoop to having any of the good guys turn out to be ESE, just so Harry can
be betrayed? Not necessary. She'll just continue to use their flaws against
them, as she did with Sirius and constantly does with Snape (IMO).

In fact, she need not even depend on those flaws, for we all hold some
things *dearer* than others. As she says through DD, it's about choices.
That's the way of the real world, after all; priorities collide and we have
to make difficult choices.

The good news is that by looking at their character arcs, we can see
interesting things about how they may do something significant to help or
hurt Harry. Using Kneasy's list....

*DD would sacrifice Harry to rid the world of LV and/or other great WW
evils. Need we even discuss this? But add that DD would sacrifice himself to
do the same, and Jo will have him prove it in HBP. How could she ask Harry
to sacrifice himself for the cause if DD hasn't done it himself?

*Moody's character flaw is his paranoia, so he may miscalculate and place
Harry at risk needlessly. Likely? Don't think so, since it wouldn't forward
the plot or her themes any more than having DD sacrifice himself and Harry.

*Molly would likely hand over Harry on a platter in return for the safety of
any of her children. Doesn't make her evil, just a loving mother asked to
make a horrid choice. Is this possibility likely? We've certainly been set
up for it by the boggart scene in OoP, so yes. Not sure how this will play
out, but Jo has set poor Molly on a course for heartbreak. Hopefully, the
sacrificed Weasley will only be Percy. But....

*Arthur might be more likely to choose Harry over his own children if it
means defeating LV. I think he's likely to be the foil to Molly, by in
effect preventing her from sacrificing Harry, or by saving his child by
sacrificing himself. Also, Arthur loves muggles despite his shockingly poor
understanding of them, so perhaps he'll unwittingly endanger Harry through
misuse of muggle technology. That last seems a reach, though, and doesn't
resonate thematically.

*Ron and Hermione are the only other characters that are presented as
willing to die on Harry's behalf. They follow him through peril after peril,
they understand the end goal (defeat LV) and they are his closest friends.
Neither will likely betray him unless tricked into doing so--they are still
young and dupe-able, after all. And I think Hermione'd pick Harry over
liberation of house-elves. And why would Jo write that such great friends
can't be trusted? Unless you believe that the Marauders (incl. Peter) were
as close as our new Trio (which I don't).

*Neville's weakness is in his background, namely his parents at St. Mungo's.
If forced to choose between saving/curing them and helping Harry, he'd
probably cling to his parents; I couldn't blame him. Yet while he does not
know the stakes of this game (or his role in the prophecy), he did stand
tall in the MoM fight scene (so he's braver and more powerful than we saw
him earlier in the series), and he has that whole underdog thing going. So I
think it most likely that Jo has him on a course with a heroic destiny; no
betrayals, just a vital act in support of Harry.

*MM has been as purely good as anyone so far, and I expect that to continue.
However, we were introduced to her way back in SS/PS as the one worrying
about poor baby Harry living with those awful muggles, while DD said it was
for the best. If faced with the fact that Harry must sacrifice himself to
kill LV, would she be strong enough to let Harry do it, or would she try to
intervene on his behalf? Hmmm, tough call, but I doubt we'll see her screw
things up like that. More likely, someone will persuade her to let Harry do
the noble thing, since it is his own choice; perhaps knowing that DD dies
for the same cause will defuse her internal battle.

*Hagrid is a true friend to Harry, but he's a bit daft. He sees no danger in
Grawp or any of his other projects. So he will likely put Harry at
risk--again. And given the escalating dangers of these monsters, what will
be next? OTOH, this will likely be one of those dangers that moves the plot
along mid-book, not part of the endgame. Or will one of his projects end up
saving Harry during the endgame? ("And Grawp strode in scattering DEs like
straw, allowing Harry to escape certain death only to come face to face with
LV himself..." or something like that.) Would give those plot threads a nice
meaning, and mesh well with her theme of good deeds leading to good outcomes
(at least for Harry).

*Lupin is a werewolf, but that little character flaw has already put Harry
in danger in the endgame of one book, so I think we're done with that. My
feeling is that when in human form, he is a truly good guy who'll help
DD/Harry in whatever way they want in the endgame. Seems to fit her theme of
not judging a book by its cover. And I'm not sure how much we'll see of
Lupin in the final two books anyway. He's not necessary to the plot anymore
unless Jo weaves him back in somehow.

*Snape. Oh, good Lord. Let's just skip him. Except to say that Harry still
judges *that* book by its cover, a fact that will have to change at some
point.

*Peter may be a spy, or a double-agent, or maybe he's on double-secret DE
probation, I dunno. But I do know that JKR has hit us on the head with the
fact that he will somehow help Harry in the end. I lean toward him staying
bad and helping Harry unintentionally (the life debt working like bad
karma), but many differ. We'll just have to wait and see.

*Harry has betrayed himself in the past with his hot-headedness, and this
will likely continue--the plot demands it at least one more time (HBP)
before the final showdown. Plus, JKR likes Harry *choosing* to be a hero and
thereby getting into trouble (Tri-Wizard Tournament excepted, one thing that
bothered me about GoF).

*Sirius is dead. She has said so, and I believe it. We may learn more about
him, but the only way he could be used against Harry is if someone pretends
Sirius is still alive or a ghost or reachable via the mirror. Likely? Yes,
since I see no other way for information about him to be important in the
last 2 books. I think it'll be the last choice (mirror), since herself has
said that will still be useful. But it won't be Sirius. Perhaps metamorph
Tonks impersonating him?

*Bagman/Mundungus are too unknown, but might give up Harry just to turn a
quick profit. But neither has been or will be a central character, IMO.

*Fudge. The ultimate cipher. He's been in every book. He's the Minister of
Magic, for goodness (badness?) sake. But we know so little of his
intentions. Evil or incompetent? A political opportunist or a discreetly
evil insider? That kind of vagueness took work for Jo to write. Smells like
the ultimate setup for a bait and switch by herself at our expense. While
we're all reading HBP or #7, if we start to think we know Fudge intentions,
we better assume he'll turn out to do the opposite. But right now, it's
anybody's guess whether he'll turn out to help or hurt Harry. Mine is that
he'll align with LV as soon as he thinks LV will win.

*Lockhart was mildly amusing, but now that Harry knows his true character,
he's uninteresting. I think we've seen the last of his hijinx.

*Lucius is a DE (and Draco is a DE in training), but the question remains
whether either will do something to help or hurt Harry, perhaps
unintentionally. I'll leave this lot to a Malfoy-ophile.

So what does it all mean? Well, instead of worrying about whether Lupin will
turn out to be ESE, if we look at possible betrayal scenarios like this, we
read the other clues that JKR left for us. No one else need be ESE. They
just have to follow their established character arcs for us to see their
futures, and perhaps Harry's. This is why I think a Weasley will die, both
Fudge and Neville will play significant roles, and the friendship with
Hagrid's beasts will be important. Oh, and DD will die in HBP (sorry!),
whereupon Harry will have to depend on Snape, whom he will finally see as a
good (but flawed) guy.

Does that advance things any?

--boyd
If you want to read the best stuff, go to the FAQ and other links in Files
and Links--a treasure trove!