Bellatrix's 'French' accent on the Audio tape/cd

[Mandy]

No: HPFGUIDX 97462

> The Sergeant Majorette addressed the troops, and in a command 
>voice, said  When we meet Bellatrix in GoF, we are given *no* 
>information about  her background. It's a shock to find out in OoP 
>that she's related to blonde Narcissa, nonexistent Andromeda and 
>Gryffindor Sirius.
> I've never heard either recording, but as I read GoF, I "heard" a 
> foreign accent. Maybe she's like Kathleen Turner or Madonna (both 
> American women who have affected bewildering Continental accents.)

> Jim Ferer wrote:
> Good point - we didn't know a thing about her when we met her, but
> Dale and Kthleen Hale (the audiobook director) could have made the
> change in  OOP. 
> OTOH, have a little pity for Jim Dale, who did his damndest to give
> characters their own voices and did amazingly well.  He wasn't going
> to resist giving this character something distinctive.

> Given that Bellatrix is such a lunatic, is it possible that Narcissa
> is as well?


Mandy here:
Yes Jim is phenomenal, and I don't mean to criticize him although I 
think I actually did.  

When we first met Bellatrix, in GoF, we did not know her name and 
hence no choice could be made about her nationality or accent based 
on that.  Of course Jim has to choose a voice for each character and 
to make them all different is got be a challenge.  In OotP we found 
out who Bellatrix was, and her name Lestrange, which is indeed French 
sounding, but we also found out she was a Black sister and that info 
was revealed fairly close to the beginning of the book.  So I'm 
intrigued by Jim's choice of accent for Bella, and wonder if he had 
any info from JKR's team.

You are properly both right, though and Bellatrix is just a nutter of 
a drama queen.  I guess we're going to have to wait to see if she 
makes an appearance in the GoF film or the next book, which ever 
comes first.

I do think Narcissa is as much of a lunatic as her sister and 
family.  After all, growing up with Bellatrix Lestrange as your 
sister couldn't be easy!  I imagine Narcissa having to defend herself 
against Bellatrix's attempts to permanently damage her if she crossed 
her in any way.  Visions of the Addams Family kids constantly trying 
to kill each other just popped into my head.

Cheers, Mandy