[HPforGrownups] Peter's Redemption (was: Twist JKR? (was:Re: Dumbledore's pleading...)

[Magpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 141707

> Valky:

> As for Peter as a redemption candidate, who are we kidding here? I'm
> sorry? what? <g> Peter is the only candidate guaranteed to *never*
> need redeeming motives to turncoat! Why waste that? Why waste the
> opportunity to punctuate evil destroying itself why not leave the
> perfect candidate for it, the guy who can be a right bag of dung to
> anyone and anything on any whim, just as he is?


Magpie:

Just wanted to jump in here and say I tend to feel the same way about 
Peter-I'm surprised when he's ever described as being the best candidate for 
redemption. I do think he'll have to do something to help Harry; the 
wizard's debt seems like it's a pretty big anvil.  But redemption seems very 
difficult for this character.

I mean, first, he's got more blood on his hands than anyone except 
Voldemort.  He intentionally helped kill Lily and James, framed Sirius and 
destroyed his life by letting him rot in jail, killed 12 Muggles, killed 
Cedric Diggory and brought Voldemort back to life.  He's the best Death 
Eater ever.  *waves Peter flag*  These are serious things with long-term 
effects that he hasn't taken back however many years later--his life may 
suck, but he's avoided major suffering.  In order to change he would need to 
see all of these acts in a very different light.

Also, he did these things knowing they were wrong in ways some of the other 
DE characters don't because Peter was on the other side to begin with. For 
instance, if Snape felt remorse after Voldemort targetted Harry it would be 
a case of him potentially believing that Voldemort was in the right but 
still realizing his own actions were wrong, or perhaps seeing that Voldemort 
was wrong himself.  Peter, otoh, knows Voldemort is wrong but chooses to 
help him anyway and kill others to save himself.  So we don't get the 
dimension of a Death Eater coming to realize that Voldemort's ideas are 
*wrong* and giving them up.  Only Peter, of all potential ex-DEs, doesn't 
have to face that.

IIRC, by PoA Peter's still not even really taking responsibility for this 
either.  In PoA he was still trying to get sympathy for himself, excusing 
himself, claiming there was nothing else he could do, trying to make up for 
it by pointing out he was a good pet.  When JKR had a chance to show us a 
different Peter, she instead to implied he wasn't ever the friend he might 
have been, so we've got no better version of Peter set up for Peter to 
return to or for us to feel sadly about.  There's nothing particularly 
emotional about Peter doing something good except for the way it benefits 
the good guys.   He chose Voldemort, iirc, because it looked like Voldemort 
was going to win.  He could easily choose Harry's side for the same reason 
with little change of heart.

JKR also saddles him with a wizard's debt which makes him owe Harry one; 
possibly he'll be magically forced to have to pay it back.  Thus he may have 
even lost the important element of choice necessary to show us Peter as a 
better person.

I still think that debt is going to come into play and Peter can still get a 
great story, maybe even surprise us.  I just don't see that he has a lot of 
worth in that Prodigal role.

Valky:

> Draco, AFAI can see, is borderline redeemed anyway. Dumbledore got to
> him and Voldemort's done his dash with him, just about. It's not quite
> fully reasonable to say some revelation of redeemed Draco will further
> the plot, I mean, hasn't it already gone there now?

Magpie:

Yes, it seems to me that the way for Draco to further the plot comes from 
Harry the silent witness in the Tower.  He reminds us at the end that he saw 
Draco's wand go down, and that piece of information seems like it could 
definitely be important.  It's the first time Harry has had this kind of 
personal insight into someone on the other side, and Dumbledore would, imo, 
make use of just this kind of advantage. (Actually, it seemed to be one of 
the things Dumbledore was working on throughout his last year of life.) This 
could also continue Draco's own development too, of course, but I feel like 
it's Harry's next move that we're waiting for.

-m