Now For Something Different - Potential Chess Pieces

[prep0strus]

No: HPFGUIDX 138161

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, Jeanelle Topping
<jasmine0365 at y...> wrote:
> I propose a challenge to come up with the most
> appropriate characters to use as chess pieces on both
> sides of the board (good vs evil). As a guide,
> remember in chess pawns are worth 1 point each (8 of
> them); knights (2) and bishops (2) are worth 3 points;
> rooks (2) are worth five; the queen (1) is 10, and the
> king (1) is paramount .. no points assigned because if
> you lose the king, you lost the game. The latter point
> might cause some debate over the king. Dumbledore
> would normally seem like a good choice, but would you
> still have a story without him? Or, for that reason,
> might a young Harry be suitable as the king? Looking
> forward to replies.
> 
> Jeanelle.

This seemed fun, so I thought I'd give it a go... then I realized how
hard it was as well.  I didn't want to have to qualify too much, but
what to do w/ characters we don't know if they're evil or not?  How
about characters who have since died?   What about characters that
might not bow to Voldmort but wind up working towards evil? Does
importance of the character have an influence, or just their rank in
the respective armies? And of course, the volume of characters means
there are many that don't even make it to pawn.  But I'll try. So,
here goes:

The Good Guys
King: Harry
Queen: Dumbledore
Rook: Hermione
Rook: Ron
Bishop: Snape
Bishop: Ginny
Knight: Sirius
Knight: Hagrid
Pawn: Neville
Pawn: Luna
Pawn: Fred
Pawn: George
Pawn: Moody
Pawn: Arthur
Pawn: Lupin
Pawn: Tonks
Alternates: Molly, McGonagal, Kingsley, Bill, Charlie

I figure Harry has to be king - he goes, game over.  Dumbledore, w/
the most power, is his Queen (deceased?).  I decided to go with
character importance to help rank them.  Next in importance, Harry's
main supporters, his best friends.  Bishops & Knights, our good old
Hagrid, rising star Ginny, lost Sirius, and.... the wild card.  IF he
turns out to be good - Snape will certainly be amongst the most
important pieces the side of good has.  Then, the pawns:  Neville &
Luna seem to be the DA's star members, sure to play an important part.
 Fred & George won't be left out of the mix, and as characters and
members of the OotP, Moody, Arthur, Lupin, & Tonks are other important
pawns.  Probably almost equal to these, however, would be my listed
alternates.  I feel bad not having Molly & McGonagal on there -
perhaps they should replace Tonks & Moody as they are more vital
characters to the series, but they seem less directly involved w/ the
war.  Judgement call.

Now, the Evil Side


King: Voldemort
Queen: Snape
Rook: Crouch
Rook: Belatrix
Bishop: Lucius
Bishop: Narcissa
Knight: Fenrir
Knight: Wormtail
Pawn: Quirrell
Pawn: Macnair
Pawn: Avery
Pawn: Lestrange
Pawn: Lestrange
Pawn: Crabbe
Pawn: Goyle
Pawn: Draco
Alternates: Nott, Big Blond, Antonin, Umbridge


This is harder, without having much contact.  Voldemort has to be
king, but I almost made him his own queen!!  Again, here is Snape -
because if he turns out to be evil, he will certainly be Voldemort's
greatest asset.  Rooks are the amazingly loyal and evil Belatrix, and
the deceased Crouch who Voldemort counted as his greatest servent.
Bishops are the esteemed Malfoys, though maybe Narcissa isn't quite as
evil as the Dark Lord might hope... The Knights are our animal evil
doers - newcomer Fenrir and the still vital Wormtail.  In the pawns
category, there's the 'true' pawn Quirrel, and assortment of Death
Eaters.  Crabbe & Goyle... does it even matter if we're talking father
or son?  Draco... maybe he won't wind up on the side of evil, but
right now, he is certainly an evil pawn, and has the character
importance to make the list.  In the alternates, some of our
intriguing other Death Eaters, along w/ Umbridge, who is unpleasant
enough to make the list, even if she doesn't work directly for
Voldemort - she winds up doing his work. (Shades of Aslan's speech in
The Last Battle)

Feel free to disagree. This was fun :)

~Prep0strus