Malfoy/Karkaroff

[ghinghapuss]

No: HPFGUIDX 92736

> Susan wrote:
> Mandy, something in your post really struck me, and I wonder if 
>it's okay to ask you (and/or others) to go off on a little tangent?  
> You believe Malfoy to be intelligent [so do I] and the kind of guy 
>to have been able to peg a traitor rather quickly.  You also wonder 
>how much power Malfoy would have had at the time of Voldy's 
>downfall.  
> This all makes me wonder about Lucius....  
> We know that Lucius stayed true to the dark arts during Voldy's 
> absence, and we know he hung onto some artifacts which he had to 
> quickly get rid of when the Ministry raids began, and that he had 
> Riddle's diary to slip into Ginny's cauldron.  What do you all 
>think about how *loyal* he was to Voldy during those "down" years?  
>And how loyal now?  
> Didn't Voldy give him a little dressing down in the graveyard for 
> having not been around during the survival/rebuilding years?  And 
> Malfoy said if he'd believed it was possible for Voldy to return, 
>he would have come or helped or some such thing?  Is that 
>*believable*, to you?  Was he just covering his butt?  Does he 
>really believe in  Voldy's cause or is he just frightened of him?  
>Does he really want to follow Voldy?  Or would he prefer to have the 
>power himself?
> I think Lucius is a very bad man, but I find him rather mysterious, 
> too.  Is he on his own side or is he Voldy's right-hand man, ready 
>to  die for the cause?  What do you all think?


Mandy here:
Hi Susan.  I have at times thought about all the points you bring up 
and my conclusion, (which is always ready to be proved wrong) is that 
Malfoy is working for Malfoy alone.  That LV was useful for Lucius 
when he was a young and impressionable man, but now Malfoy's own 
arrogance rivals that of LV himself. I see Lucius considering LV a 
nuisance, but a necessary evil in ridding the WW of those Lucius 
doesn't consider worthy to be there.  I believe Lucius has the 
stomach, desire and ability to carry out mass murder, but he will not 
get his hands dirty, or tarnish his reputation, if there is an Evil 
Overlord, with DE, to do it for him.  In other words Lucius is using 
LV, just as LV is using Lucius.  Unfortunalty if you make a deal with 
the devil....you will end up dead.  If Lucius isn't careful it's 
going to be LV that eventually kills him (for his will be dead by the 
end of book 7) and not one of the good guys. 

I think Lucius Malfoy never completely believed that LV was truly 
killed by Harry Potter, and would one day come back.  LV had spent 
many years researching how to cheat death, I think Lucius knew this. 

After the fall, Lucius did what he had to do to prevent imprisonment 
in Azkaban, and subsequently enjoyed great personal success without 
LV.  This sets up an interesting conflict of interest for our Lucius 
Malfoy: Lucius knows in his soul, LV isn't really dead and has the 
potential to return one day, yet his return means consequences that 
Lucius doesn't want to deal with.  

I think Lucius joined the DE when he way quite young, perhaps still 
in school, at 17-18, possibly to branch away from his own family.  
Heirs of very wealthy parents are often disenfranchised, lost 
children looking for a purpose in life, and I think LV gave Lucius a 
purpose that suited his needs and sensibilities.  LV steadily rose to 
power and brought Lucius with him, until LV fell at Harry's hands, 15 
years ago. (In WW time.)  Lucius had to do a lot of scrambling to 
survive LV fall, and I have not doubt his family must have helped 
him, much to his humiliation I suspect, he was only 26 after all.  In 
the mean time Lucius has gone on to rise in power himself, using his 
intelligence, his political savvy, his ruthlessness and his cruelty. 
Using dark magic learned and practiced under LV himself I suspect.  

Lucius has done very well for himself during LV absence, without 
doing anything to look for his former Dark Lord. LV has a right to be 
angery and suspicious of Lucius motives.  But I wonder if it was 
Malfoy's near Azkaban experience that so scared the 26 year old pure 
blood, that he stepped back away from LV.  Hagrid was scared enough 
of the thought of the prison, and wizards were doing desperate things 
to avoid going there.  It is not like any prison we know.  Lucius' 
choice must have seemed clear at the time.  However he must have 
known of the risk he was taking, no one leaves LV. But then again it 
was LV who left them, or at least made it easy to forget him.  So 
Lucius set about making himself as powerful as he could, so he would 
never be venerable again, and in doing so, he made himself 
untouchable and indispencible.

I expect when he discovered LV had returned it must have scared the 
crap out of him, although I sure he suspected it coming for a long 
time.  It could only have been out of fear for his very life that 
Lucius Malfoy appeared at Tom Riddle's grave that night. He simply 
had no choice, but of course he wouldn't ever show it. But LV was 
right, Lucius did nothing to find him during his absence. Lucius has 
a lot to answer for in LV opinion.  With the one exception the diary 
it must have appeared to LV that Lucius had indeed abandoned him.  

I wonder about Lucius motivations with the Diary incident?  And why 
now, after 12 years did Malfoy seem to change his tune about looking 
for LV?  Did he realize it was only a matter of time before LV 
returned in the flesh, and that he (Malfoy) had better do something, 
quick?  Did the diary suddenly resurface for Malfoy to use?  Or was 
Malfoy now in a position to be able to 'handle' LV return? 

I think it's the latter choice.  I think that before CoS, Lucius 
Malfoy had maneuvered himself in to a position in the WW where he 
was 'safe'.  He has covered his bases so to speak.  If LV never 
returned Lucius was just fine.  But if LV did return, then Lucius 
Malfoy was in a solid power position within the MoM that no other DE 
could match, and LV would have no choice but to want to keep Lucius 
around.  Voldemort's use of the word 'slippery' in describing Lucius 
is clever and indicative, I believe it points to the fact that LV 
would really like to torture Malfoy to death, but his hands are 
tied.  Lucius is far too important with in the Ministry to touch, and 
LV knows this.

Of course Malfoy now is in Azkaban. So how useful is Lucius going to 
be to LV now?  I hope for Malfoy's sake he has a lot of favors to 
call on in the MoM, and with the coming shake-up at the Ministry his 
allies are still around for him to use.  Otherwise...I think Lucius 
Malfoy will quickly become redundant and LV will have no choice but 
to kill him.

I don't know if that answers any of you questions but perhaps it food 
for thought. Let me know what you think. And thank you for giving me 
the opportunity to write about my one of my favorite characters. ;-)

cheers Mandy