Lupin and the Reprieve (was Re: The Continuing Tragedy of Severus ...)

[lupinlore]

No: HPFGUIDX 164687

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "dumbledore11214" 
<dumbledore11214 at ...> wrote:

> 
> Now before book 6 I thought Lupin is a goner, since all his friends 
> are gone, nothing to look forward, etc ( of course it is simplistic 
> for RL - person can still find something to look forward to, but for 
> book purposes it does symbolise to me the character is past 
> oriented).
> 
> When JKR gave him a girlfriend, that to me is one of the strongest 
> signs that Lupin may survive, because he has something oriented to 
> the future, if that makes sense, something he has to look forward to 
> after war is done.
> 


Yes, very good point.  I also wondered if Lupin was a goner, and like 
you I think the sudden appearance of Lupin/Tonks is a strong signal 
that he probably isn't.

But the appearance of Lupin/Tonks WAS quite sudden, and in many ways 
seemed an afterthought.  It was as if JKR said "What the hey, I'll give 
them something they'll like.  I know, let's do Lupin/Tonks!"

Which in its turn leads me to wonder if Lupin is not, in fact, the 
person who got the reprieve.  (And let us remember that she may not 
have been talking about one of the main characters at all, it could 
just as easily be someone like Seamus or Charlie Weasley).  The sudden 
and rather clunky appearance of a ship for him seems ... suspicious.

It would make perfect sense if she had planned to kill off Lupin.  
After all, it would make pretty much a clean sweep of the Marauders, 
emphasizing the end of a past era, etc.  And the fact that he was such 
an unattached character made him, like Snapey-poo and Sirius, 
relatively easy to dispose of.

If she did indeed change her mind, then the sudden appearance of the 
ship would be a way of anchoring him more firmly into the narrative and 
the greater network of characters.  It would, as you suggest, give him 
an orientation to the present and future, as opposed to the past 
orientation that he has largely shared with Snapey-poo.


Lupinlore