"Weak" Pettigrew

[Matt]

No: HPFGUIDX 111902

Jekatiska:
"Has anyone else noticed how Pettigrew is always 
described as 'talentless' and 'weak,' yet he has 
managed some quite impressive magic?  ...killed 
twelve people with a single curse, which must be 
very advanced dark magic.... Is there more to 
Peter than meets the eye?"

theotokos:
"Maybe it wasn't a curse to kill 12 people but a 
spell to blow up the street giving Wormtail access 
to the sewers?  The concrete and blown gas lines 
killed the pedestrians as a result."

mhbobbin: 
"The contrast between how Pettigrew is described and 
his supposed actions is very strange.  McGonagall 
describes Pettigrew as 'hopeless at duelling.'  Yet 
he supposedly got the better of a more clever wizard, 
Sirius.  And yet the characters never question this 
contrast....  And Sirius never credits that Pettigrew 
learned how to transform into a rat....  It's hard to 
reconcile poor weak Peter Pettigrew with a wizard who 
was a traitor to one his best friends for about a 
year--clever enough that DD, James, Sirius and Lupin 
never suspected him; finally delivered the Potters to 
LV; was able to transform into an animal; blew up a 
street in a duel with a more powerful opponent; and 
eventually finds his way to a distant place and 
locates LV, bringing him back to power.  Was Peter 
just faking it...?"


Matt:
I tend to agree with theotokos' explanation of Peter's duel with
Sirius: Peter's spell was not designed to kill the bystanders but
simply to cause a large explosion.  It was the explosion and resulting
wreckage that killed the bystanders.  (Possibly, as theotokos
speculates, there could have been secondary explosions from the gas
lines as well.  All we know is that "gas explosion" was the excuse the
MOM clean-up crew left with the muggle authorities.)  While it
presumably takes some serious magical mojo to blow up a street, it
would seem to be a matter of brute force rather than the sort of
focused energy that more precise spells (transfiguration or charms or
the unforgivable curses) require.  Not "powerful dark magic," in any
event.

More generally, I think the descriptions of Peter as "weak" do not
reflect an underestimation of his talents so much as a comparison with
those around him.  People saw James and Sirius, and even Lupin, as so
talented that Peter always looked like a pushover by comparison.  Yes,
McGonagall says Peter was "hopeless" at dueling, in a discussion about
the duel with Sirius.  She might equally well describe Neville as
"hopeless" at transfiguration, if she were comparing him to Hermione,
or to other more talented students.  But she still thinks he's capable
of decent, OWL-level work (or so she tells him, anyway).  And
Dumbledore et al. thought Peter talented enough to make him a member
of the original Order.  

We know that Peter was talented enough to manage the animagus
transformation (although he had more trouble than James and Sirius,
and perhaps there is an implication that transforming into a rat is
simpler than the transformations to large animals), that he
successfully spied on a secret society that included at least one
powerful Legilimens (Dumbledore) over a lengthy period of time, and
that he packed enough punch to blow up a whole street, possibly with
another wizard's wand (Voldemort's -- presumably that would be more
difficult than with his own wand, though perhaps the familiarity of
the wand matters less for an unfocused "blasting" spell).  He clearly
is no pushover.  

On the other hand, we also know that after managing all that he went
into hiding as a rat for twelve whole years without (it appears) ever
once transforming back to human form.  It certainly does not seem as
though he had very high confidence in his own powers if he did not
think he could sneak away and live a single day as a person.

Taking the balanced view of Peter, he is a reasonably accomplished
wizard, though not as exceptionally talented as were his friends; he
suffers from low self-esteem (which seems to have been encouraged by
his old friends, and surely has been cemented by his current master);
he seeks power and influence -- and probably also seeks to build up
his self-image -- by allying himself with stronger wizards; and he is
capable of extreme self-deprecation and -deprivation when needed to
convince those more powerful wizards of his friendship or loyalty.  He
also seems to be quite effective at convincing his (supposed) allies
of his loyalty to them, when it appears that his only true loyalty is
to his own self-interest.  

-- Matt