Pettigrew Power (Was: James Potter Bio Facts)

[Hitomi]

No: HPFGUIDX 90206

Mandy wrote:
> Hear! Hear!  As a big fan of Peter Pettigrew I am always quick to 
> jump to his defense as a great Wizard. Despicable person, yes, but 
> powerfully magical.  
> 
> Time and time again people surrounding Peter Pettigrew 
underestimate 
> him much, to their eventual horror.  Peter is not, by any stretch 
of 
> the imagination, weak! His only 'mistake' is to be insecure. He 
> wanted others to like him too much, and when they didn't, he saw 
to 
> it that they paid for it.

Hitomi:
Ok, to be honest, when I first read your opinion, it disturbed me.  
And my argument is going to only actually be a difference of 
opinion, but also backed up by JKR a bit.  Everyone is of course, 
entitled to their own opinion and beliefs, but I feel it necessary 
to give my drastically different point of view.  In discussing Peter 
Pettigrew, and those of his ilk, in an interview, JKR had this to 
say:

"Is evil attractive? Yes, I think that's very true. Harry has seen 
the kind of people who are grouped around this very evil character. 
I think we'd all acknowledge that the bully in the playground is 
attractive. Because if you can be his friend, you are safe. This is 
just a pattern. Weaker people, I feel, want that reflected glory. 
I'm trying to explore that."

Peter's insecurity is not his only weakness.  To be perfectly 
honest, we don't actually know if he was insecure, if he actually 
thought less of himself.  We know Neville is insecure, for obvious 
reasons.  But I think that it is a profound mistake to believe Peter 
is the way he is due to insecurity.  Insecure people certainly do 
not turn into mass murderers as a rule.  

I know you called him a despicaple person, but Peter happens to be 
one of the characters I hate most in this series, and I'll explain 
why.  Peter *is* weak.  And I don't mean magically, and I don't 
think his friends necessarily meant magically.  I think they saw in 
him what JKR has written into his character.  Peter takes the 
easiest road.  It's easier to hang around the "bullies," so to 
speak.  To be protected by that reputation, or "reflected glory."  
Peter didn't have to be insecure to want that type of security.  
Even powerful people fear.  As long as Peter hung around James and 
Sirius, no one would could pick on the little, overweight boy.  But 
for all we know, Peter probably actually believes he deserves 
the "reflected glory," that it is his due.

Peter's foil, is of course, Neville.  Harry see's Neville's face as 
Peter, when he first imagines Sirius' betrayal of his parents in 
Book 3 (before Harry discovers the truth).  And, as we know, Neville 
is insecure; he is the overweight, awkward, blundering boy of his 
class.  Does that make him weak magically?  No, it just makes him 
insecure.  Which is my half-formed theory of why some people would 
like him to be "the One" instead of Harry.  As I've said before, 
people love the under-dog.  But despite Neville's, at times, 
failings, he never hides behind Harry, or Hermione for that matter.  
He glady accepts their help, but he does try to stand up for 
himself, he doesn't become their friend in order to recieve their 
protection.  Most of the time, he doesn't even hang around them that 
much, at least not all that much until Book 5.

But more than likely, Peter just became James's and Sirius' friend 
out of fear.  It's far easier to be their friend than their enemy, 
and he couldn't possibly have deluded himself into  believing James 
and Sirius were wonderful people.  They weren't terrible people, 
they didn't delight in evil or anything so obvious, and they picked 
on those whom they believed deserved it, such as Mr. Dark-Arts-
Himself-Snivellus-Snape.  But they were arrogant, cruel to those 
such as Snape and those they didn't like; and as we all know, there 
is nothing more cruel than a child in all its purity.  

Most children don't understand compassion, they haven't been hurt 
enough, and James and Sirius are no exception to the rule.  That's 
why I've always viewed Harry as different - he knows what it is to 
be abused and neglected.  Neville does as well.  That's why I don't 
excuse characters such as Snape and Peter.  They were abused, yes, 
but they took the easy road, and now abuse others.  Snape less so, 
but my sympathy is limited for such characters.  Harry would never 
have hated Snape the way he does, had he ever showed even an ounce 
of human decency towards Harry.  You can argue Snape saved Harry's 
life, and worked to save Sirius', but then I could argue DD said 
Snape saved Harry's life out of a sense of duty, the same goes for 
that of Sirius', because they are both members of the Order.  Did 
Snape actually want to save either of them?  I find it highly 
unlikely.  He hates them too much.  He views saving lives as a 
decision - a matter of right vs. wrong.  Harry just saves lives, 
because that's what you do.  He can't just watch someone die, even 
if he hates them.  Do I think Harry would work to save Draco's 
life?  Perhaps not as strenuously as he worked to save Sirius' in 
Book 5 (when he thought Sirius to be in the Department of 
Mysteries), but I know he'd sacrifice his own life for Draco's, or 
Dudley's, and probably even for Snape's.  And therein lies the 
difference. 

But back to my point, James and Sirius were typical children, and 
then typical teenagers.  I just graduated from highschool, and I'm a 
Japanese minority, one of the "smart" kids, and I know what the 
cruelty of my peers can be.  But had Pettigrew EVER cared for them, 
he would never have been able to do what he did.


Mandy wrote: 
> James and Sirius made that mistake, seeming to ignore his 
abilities, 
> which were as good as theirs, and making fun of him.

Hitomi:
Peter's abilities were as good as theirs, because they helped him.  
They helped him become an animagus (Book 3).


Mandy wrote:
   ""Put that 
> away will you? Said Sirius finally, as James made a fine catch and 
> Wormtail let out a cheer.  "Before Wormtail wets himself from 
> excitement." Wormtail turned slightly pink....." Snapes Worst 
Memory, 
> page 645, OopT, US Edition.  Comments like that may seem like 
nothing 
> to those speaking them, but to those on the receiving end, they 
cut 
> like a hot knife, sudden, sharp and terribly painful.  And this 
was a 
> moment of happiness for the group! I can imagine how they treated 
> Peter when they were annoyed or angry.  Peter eventually turned 
his 
> back on them and walked toward a mentor who promised him so much 
> more, I imagine treated him with respect (at least for a while) 
and 
> gave him some of the power he craved.  James ended up dead and 
Sirius 
> in prison.

Hitomi:
This is, in my opinion, a gross over-sympathetic view.  Peter did 
turn his back on his "friends," and James and Sirius were certainly 
not great friends back then.  But they grew up, they learned better, 
and they became decent people.  And THAT is when Peter betrayed 
them.  And not just James.  Lily and their one-year-old son.  As I 
said, he could not have ever possibly loved them to be able to do 
such a thing, no matter how James and Sirius had hurt him in the 
past.  People love to over-sympathize with those that are bullied, 
because this is one of the few instances in the series that we can 
truly relate to.  Most of Harry's situations we can't, they're too 
unreal.  And Peter and Snape were bullied, but that does NOT excuse 
Snape having ever become a Death Eater, or his obvious cruelty to 
his students.  He favors the Slytherins, but he still doesn't treat 
them kindly; he just... tolerates them, and favors them as a way to 
torture the Gryffindors more.  Snape has become what he hated - the 
arrogant bully.  It might be understandable, and Snape might not be 
a bad person, but it isn't justifiable.  Just as Peter's actions are 
not.  Far less so, actually.

And I highly doubt that Voldemort was ever kind to Peter.  He 
probably just promised him that "reflected glory," and Peter went 
running, like the weak idiot he is.  He even said in Book 3, that to 
not be LV's follower was equivalent to suicide.  His friends weren't 
the strongest anymore, to hang around them was to remain 
vulnerable.  To become LV's follower was to become safe.  Peter 
values his life over anyone else's, over all else.  That's 
arrogance, not insecurity.  He believes his life to be worth more 
than goodness, than the lives of those he supposedly "loves," than 
the life of a one-year-old boy who had not yet had the chance to 
live.  Sirius admitted he would have died for Peter.  He said James 
would have as well.  Peter turned his back on their love, however 
badly they may have expressed it.  And he turned towards the epitome 
of hate.  Peter is beyond despicable.  He is evil.  He has embraced 
that side of humanity - the easiest road to take.  The road to hell 
is wide and open.

I guess I just agree with Dante (in his "Divine Comedy"/"Inferno").  
The deepest circle of hell is where betrayers reside (in Dante's 
work Judas and Brutus are down there with Lucifer himself).  At the 
very least, LV is honest about what he is.  He doesn't pretend to be 
anything else.  Peter betrayed James, Lily, and Harry, he killed 
twenty innocent Muggles, sent Sirius to Azkaban, murdered Cedric, 
brought LV back to life, as well as betrayed the entire Order of 
fourteen years ago with his lies.  And if there is ever someone 
stronger than LV, he would turn his back on LV immediately, and try 
to "befriend" them.  At least Harry knows what he is.  You will find 
no sympathy, and little empathy, in me for Wormtail.


Mandy wrote: 
> Harry underestimated Peter in PoA, showing mercy on a man begging 
for 
> his life.  That resulted in LV resurrection in GoF much to Harry's 
> horror.  I'm not blaming Sirius, James and Harry for Peter's 
> behavior.  Peter is solely responsible for his decisions and 
actions. 
<snip>

Hitomi:
Harry didn't underestimate Peter.  He just would not see him 
murdered, especially at the hands of Sirius.  He would not let 
himself nor Sirius become what they depise.  A murderer.  Which is 
why Harry doesn't really want to kill LV, he just wants him 
stopped.  Harry doesn't want to murder anyone.  And he doesn't want 
to be responsible for killing someone.  Why do you think Sirius' 
death tears him up so much?  He blames himself.  He believes Sirius 
would still be alive if not for him.

And I don't think people underestimate Peter anymore.  They know 
what he's capable of now.  But Peter is predictable.  Just look for 
the most powerful person, and there you will find Peter Pettigrew.  
The name Wormtail really does fit him.

I don't expect anyone to share my strong feelings of dislike for 
this character.  I just can't understand how you could possibly like 
him.

~ Hitomi, who sticks Peter in the same category as Bellatrix, 
Lucius, and Umbridge

Q: "Some people say good characters are boring and evil characters 
are always the more interesting. There's the famous line about 
Milton and Paradise Lost: God is a bore and the devil is 
interesting."

JKR: "Well, Harry is good. I personally do not find Harry boring at 
all. He has his faults. Ron and Hermione are very good characters... 
but no, I'm not bored by goodness."