On Dolores Umbridge and Peter Pettigrew

[Hannah]

No: HPFGUIDX 127594


mfterman wrote:---
> To my mind, the person who strikes me as closest in personality to
> Dolores Umbridge is Peter Pettigrew. Both of them more or less made
> careers out of hitching on to more powerful and important people. 
They
> were both to gain power from someone else.
<snip> 
> Pettigrew was a good deal more servile in his few appearances, but 
in
> both cases he was around powerful people who were ready to slay 
him at
> any second, and he had no real backing in his favor. If he had 
someone
> like Fudge in his pocket under circumstances where his enemies are
> barred from direct retaliation, I think that he would have been a 
good
> deal more arrogant.
> 

Hannah:  
What an excellent comparison, I'd never thought of that.  I think 
you're probably right.  Although Pettigrew has been more servile 
when we've seen him in canon, as you say, his position has demanded 
that level of grovelling.  He must have had quite a bit about him to 
do what he did, and Umbridge we know has no great talent for magic.  
So yes, I think that they are similar, under different circumstances.

Hannah