Twins and Duddley

[dumbledore11214]

No: HPFGUIDX 145535

> Alla:
> >
> > But I completely disagree that they did not have good intentions
> > here. Punishing the tormentor of your friend is IMO good 
intention,
> > so yeah, I think they had altruistic reasons too,among others of
> > course.
> 
> Magpie:
> 
> Yes, I'm sure the fact that Harry would like seeing his old bully 
tormented 
> was part of their thought process. James probably had similar 
thoughts when 
> he flipped Snape upside down.  He was a dark wizard and I suspect 
did plenty 
> of awful things to other people.

Alla:

Well....yes. Except we don't know what thoughts James had and 
whether any underlying retribution played any part in what they did 
to Snape. I suspect it did and I said many times that while this 
scene would always be ugly on its own in my mind (unless we find out 
that dear Severus tampered with his memory just as Slughorn did), if 
retribution did play the part in that, I would certainly not judge 
James and Sirius as harshly as I do now. Their behaviour would never 
be justifiable to me, but it would definitely explain things.

As to Dudley though - it is clear to me that it is JKR playing 
retribution on Dudley for all those years of "Harry's hunting", so 
no matter how many practical jokes twins play on Dudley, I am 
cheering them on and saying "More, please".

As a small aside, I am certainly NOT a skinny person. I don't think 
that I am very big, but I guess am big enough to be called fat. It 
is funny that mockery of Dudley's gluttony does not bother me at the 
slightest. Why? Because what I see in Dudley first and foremost is a 
bully, a teenager of very unpleasant character and his weight does 
not even come into play for me to decide that I hate him and am 
happy to see him smacked by anybody. JMO of course.



 
> Magpie:
> 
> What they happen to wind up doing in the narrative is not the same 
as what 
> their motivations, though.  I don't think the twins always act 
just to smack 
> down a bad guy, nor do I always agree with their ideas of how to 
smack down 
> those they think are bad.


Alla:

But I don't think that we are going to learn about their motivations 
a lot though, because they are not fully developed characters, that 
is why to me what they do in the narrative DOES equal their 
motivations.

And we have to agree to disagree - I think that when Twins play 
rough, they do act to smack down bad guy. I don't think that they 
cross the line on their friends. As to whether I agree or disagree 
with their ideas of how to do it,well what matters to me the most is 
that bad guys ( whom I consider bad guys) get smacked. The execution 
is secondary to me. I am not even sure if I like practical jokes or 
not. I LOVE jokes, but I don't think that I had been subjected to 
jokes which could be analogised to what Twins do. My friends are 
just not that inventive in the jokes' department.


 
> Magpie:
> 
> I like the twins just fine too.  I can like them without seeing 
everything 
> they do as good or feeling the Toffee thing has to be all Dudley's 
fault.

Alla:

Well, we all have different ways of liking characters, I guess. :-)

With more developed character ( Sirius is a good example) I can 
certainly like him  AND realize his multiple flaws, with less 
developed characters which Twins are IMO, I have to decide for 
myself what is their primary function in the text is and whether I 
like that function or not. If I don't like their function, I am not 
going to like sketchy characters, I am going to dislike them, 
because there would be nothing to like them for, if it makes any 
kind of sense.

To me Twins' function in the text is to provide laughs to their 
friends AND to punish enemies. I like both, therefore I like pretty 
much everything they do.

As to whether it was Dudley's fault, IMO it certainly was, but not 
for what he did in that scene, although really, nobody forced that 
candy into him, IMO, but primarily for what he did before that.



 
> Magpie:
> 
> We'll see--and of course they also were instrumental in getting 
DEs into 
> Hogwarts when they decided someone deserved something for trying 
to take 
> points away from them (perhaps if someone had spoken up about what 
had 
> happened to Montague during those long weeks he was in the 
infirmary they 
> would have gotten rid of the Cabinet).

Alla:

?????? I thought Draco was  the proximate cause of getting DE into 
Hogwarts. IMO Twins are way too remote from that. But that is JMO of 
course.



> Alla:
> >
> > Do I think Twins will become DE? Not a chance in the world, if 
you
> > ask me. IMO of course.
> 
> Magpie:
> 
> Not sure what that's in answer to.  Where does the possibility of 
their 
> becoming DEs come in?


Alla:

Sorry, I was thinking about thread in general. I think Betsy thinks 
that one of the Twins will become DE, if I am not mistaken.

JMO,

Alla