Incomprehensible comparison of Sirius and Aragorn

[alshainofthenorth]

No: HPFGUIDX 122900


--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "pippin_999" <foxmoth at q...> 
wrote:
> 
> Pippin:
> Me! Me! Er, couldn't you guess? :)

Oh. Right. I forgot. :-) 
 
> Pippin:
>  I see a resemblance between Aragorn's treatment of Gollum 
> and Sirius's treatment of Kreacher. In each case, a  usually 
> noble, kind and generous man errs by failing to see the 
> possibility of  latent good in an inferior.
> 

Alshain:

Very good point, as there's more than a whiff of old aristocracy 
and "entitledness" about them both. Still, I'm willing to excuse 
Aragorn somewhat more than I'm willing to excuse Sirius, as Gollum 
was the one to attack him physically (and it surprises me that 
Aragorn didn't die of blood poisoning long before they reached 
Mirkwood!) Kreacher is just being a toerag unwilling to adjust to new 
circumstances, which isn't a crime.
 
[TANGENT]Speaking about entitledness, one could compare Sirius and 
Lucius as characters. In additions to being cousins by marriage, 
their basic setup seems rather similar, not because of personal 
idiosyncracies but because they're pureblood aristocrats. Sayers 
wrote somewhere about "six centuries of possessiveness" and how they 
leave their mark on a person. It's the old-world class society as an 
inspiration again (at least, that's the way it seems to me as a 
European. Other continents have their own skeletons.)[/TANGENT]
  
> Contrast this with the way that Frodo treats Gollum after taking 
> him prisoner. When Gollum screams incessantly at being tied 
> up, Frodo does not gag him. Instead, he looses Gollum and 
> makes a pact with him, even though he knows Gollum will most 
> likely prove faithless. 
> 

If we put Kreacher in the role of Gollum, I'd rather cast Sirius as 
Sam, both in terms of unwavering loyalty and sheer pigheadedness. He 
knows that Kreacher/Gollum can't be set free and that they need his 
presence, but he doesn't like it at all and doesn't do 
Gollum/Kreacher the courtesy of concealing it. (Thereby dehumanising 
him. One doesn't have to be polite to a piece of furniture.) He 
remains mulishly set in his point of view, determined always to think 
the worst of his adversary. As in the beautiful scene where Gollum 
almost sees the light, immediately before Cirith Ungol:

"A strange expression passed over his lean hungry face. The gleam 
faded from his eyes, and they wnet dim and grey, old and tired. A 
spasm of pain seemed to twist him, and he turned away, peering back 
up towards the pass, shaking his head, as if engaged in some interior 
debate. Then he came back, and slowly putting out a trembling hand, 
very cautiously he touched Frodo's knee -- but almost the touch was a 
caress."
(The Two Towers -- The stairs of Cirith Ungol.)

Then Sam wakes up, and convinced that Gollum wants to hurt Frodo, he 
verbally abuses him and cements their fate. It's only after Sam has 
used the Ring himself that he's able to empathise with Gollum. A 
revelation that Sirius never had, more's the pity. On the other hand, 
Sirius is caught in a situation he can't escape without doing 
violence to his values and his love for Harry (whatever else he may 
be, he doesn't desert the battlefield or leave his friends without 
assistance, regardless of personal costs), and Kreacher provides an 
outlet for his frustration. 

> Pippin
> hoping that Alshain's teeth will hurt a bit less when she thinks of 
> Aragorn now.

They only hurt occasionally.

Alshain