[HPforGrownups] Re: No sympathy for Kreacher

[Jocelyn Grunow]

No: HPFGUIDX 124487

> phoenixgod2000 said

> Kreacher is no different than any other character in the book -- "It
> is our choices that show what we are."  And Kreacher is, in my
> opinion, to quote someone  else, "a revolting little toerag,"

Having watched an appropriate episode of NCIS last night *G* it 
occurred to me that Kreacher might have something like Stockholm 
Syndrome.  I believe this is a kind of 'brainwashing'  which occurs 
where someone abused and imprisoned begins to identify with their 
persecutor.  Patty Hearst was a high-profile example, but it seems to 
be well-known in cases of long-term kidnap victims.  Perhaps someone 
with more knowledge of the phenomenon could comment?

Kreacher never had the option Sirius did of just walking out.  And he 
seemed much older than Dobby.  How long do house-elves live anyway?  
How long had he lived as a slave to the revolting Blacks?  What horrors 
had he seen over this time?  How long had his sanity lasted?  (Possibly 
until the heads of his mother and siblings decorated the walls...)  I 
don't really think Kreacher was sane by the time we met him, which is 
why I do not blame him for Sirius' death.  Not guilty by reason of 
unsound mind.

Jocelyn