Nel Question # 6. Peter Pettigrew

[phoenixgod2000]

No: HPFGUIDX 128001


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at y...> wrote:
> 
> Alla:

> My follow – up questions.
> I believe that we know very little about motivations behind Peter 
> Pettigrew's actions, therefore the majority of the questions,
> while based on canon, are quite speculative, due to limited 
> information.  
> Here we go. 
> 
> 1. <snipped> Heroism is very rare, and no one is obliged to rise to 
> such heights. When someone does, he is being praised precisely for 
> being more than merely good" –   "Ordinary Vices" by
> Judith Shklar. 
> 
> Do you think that this quote is in any way, shape or form 
applicable to Peter Pettigrew's circumstances?

based on the way I read PoA, I think Peter was captured, tortured and 
broken by Voldemort. Someone with as weak an ego as Peter wouldn't 
last too long under someone who could pick through your brain, use 
crucio, and who knows what else. I think he had to potential to 
resist, he was a gryffindor after all, bravest of the brave, but he 
failed to live up to his potential. Peter Pettigrew is a contemptible 
tragedy, imo.

>In your opinion, did he owe to his friends to be "more than merely 
good" or not?

Yes, because he shouldn't have been in the order if he wasn't able to 
be 'more than merely good'.

> Sirius in the Shack tells Peter that he should have died just as 
> they would have died for him. Would they? 

I think they would have. I've always been of the opinion that the 
bond between all of the marauders, including PP, was much stronger 
than a lot of people give credit to.  
 
> 2. But then you 
> have Wormtail, who out of cowardice will stand in the shadow of the 
> strongest person. What's very important for me is when Dumbledore 
> says that you have to choose between what is right and what is 
easy. 
> This is the setup for the next three books. All of them are going 
to 
> have to choose, because what is easy is often not right."
> (Entertainment Weekly, September 7, 2000)
> 
> Is that really all that there is to Peter? Is that the only reason 
> he befriended James, Sirius and Remus?  Is that why he joined 
> Voldemort?

I think it really has to do with Peter being broken by Voldemort. I 
don't think he would have turned traitor if he hadn't been twisted by 
him. He seems like the type to really give his loyalty to his friends 
out of gratefullness because he doesn't have a lot of friends. bottom 
line, I don't think that Peter joined V willingly. I think he was 
somehow forced or twisted into joining the death eaters.  

> 3. What is your stand on "Peter as Dumbledore's spy"  
> theory and all the variables from it?

unlikely.
 
> 4. As we all know Peter's finger was sent to his mother.  Where
> is his father? Do you think his mother may show up in the later 
> books or not?

we probably won't see either of his parents, but it would probably be 
a powerful scene if Harry was to meet Peter's mother.
 
> 5. So, why did Peter end up with Weasleys of all people?

weird luck?
 
> 6. Sirius in the Shack accuses Peter of passing information to 
> Voldemort for a year. How did Sirius know for how long it happened? 
> Is it because Dumbledore started getting suspicious a year before 
> Potters death? Any other reasons? 

Maybe the war started to turn sour for the order in a way that led to 
the belief of a spy within the order?
 
> 7. If Peter will indeed help Harry at the end, do you see it as 
> conscious help or "a la Gollum"?

I think it will be a conscious redemptive act on Peter's part.
 
> 8. JKR in 2004 answered the question "What happened to
> Wormtail"? As "You will find out in book 6".

I'm not even going to attempt to guess :)
 
> Have fun!

I will not and you can't make me!
 
> Alla, who thinks that attempting to feel some kind of sympathy 
> towards Peter was the hardest "book related" exercise of her
> senses she ever did. :-)  

see, I actually have more sympathy for peter than I do for, say, 
Snape or Draco, because of my (somewhat supported) fanwank that Peter 
was broken by Voldemort and twisted into becoming a death eater.

phoenixgod2000

Warning: This post has been heavily influenced by Star Wars and the 
Revenge of the Sith novel