The intellect of Krum

[zanooda2]

No: HPFGUIDX 164825

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Ronin_47" <Ronin_47 at ...> wrote:


> Krum's stumbling over her name is just a small bit of evidence 
> though. Considering that he was at Hogwarts and speaking with her 
> for nearly an entire school year, I'd have expected any fairly 
> bright person to be able to pronounce her name by the summer 
> holiday. 
> Hermione's name aside, she comments that he's not the brightest boy 
> at some point. Unfortunately, I can not recite the exact quote 
> because I don't have my copy of the book. I also believe that 
> someone (Moody, I think) calls him a dolt at one point and says he 
> would never make it through the tournament without Karkarof's 
> coaching.
> Again, I apologize if I'm getting the movie mixed up with the book, 
> but I am 99% certain that Hermione mentions his lack of 
> intelligence (not necessarily the word she  uses) at some point in 
> the book. They really have nothing in common and he just watches 
> her read....

zanooda:

Hi again, Ronin! It was a relief to find out that you were influenced 
by the movie after all:-)! I think that your decision not to discuss 
Viktor Krum again until you reread GoF is very wise. Just a few last 
comments then...

I think that Krum's inability to pronounce Hermione's name correctly 
is partly caused by the lack of practice. You remember (or maybe 
not :-)) that he only pronounced "Herm-own-ninny" once, and Hermione 
was immediately satisfied, saying it was "close enough". She never 
tried to correct him again, I guess, because she didn't care much how 
he called her, or maybe it amused her (it sounds cute, doesn't it?). 

If she corrected him every time they met and he called her by name, 
he would have learned eventually. But I think it's not important to 
Hermione; Krum could have taken "Grawp approach" and called her Hermy 
and she wouldn't have cared. When Krum talked to Harry about 
Hermione, Harry didn't correct him either.

Krum is not much of a communicator, sure, but we don't know if he is 
not talkative by nature or just doesn't know English well enough 
(trust me, I know! I'm a regular chatterbox in my native language, 
but you can't get a word in English out of me). In any case, Krum is 
described as talking to his parents "in rapid Bulgarian".

Next, I assure you that nowhere in the book does Hermione comment on 
Krum's mental abilities (she says that he is not good-looking 
though :-)), nor does Moody/Crouch calls him a dolt, whatever it 
might be. In the movie she said that he watches her study and that he 
is a physical being or something of the sort, but not in the book.

I hope you will read GoF and then maybe you will agree that Viktor 
Krum is a very unpretentious boy, who hides his insecurities and 
vulnerability behind his gloomy exterior. Just be objective and don't 
let the movie influence you: real Krum is not that very handsome (to 
my taste, at least), self-assured and self-satisfied sports superstar 
that you saw there :-).

Take care, Ronin!

zanooda, who has a soft spot for Krum, being herself from "that" part 
of the world.