[HPforGrownups] Re: Importance of Pettigrew?

[Bart Lidofsky]

No: HPFGUIDX 171633

From: justcarol67 <justcarol67 at yahoo.com>
>Carol, hoping that JKR will not force us to endure a Boromir-style
>redemption scene involving Wormtail

Bart:
Not Boromir. The One Ring, after all, used his own altruism to tempt him and try to corrupt him. That is why he was redeemable; the Ring tried to reach him through his good side, not his evil side (the reason why Frodo was given the One Ring was because he did not have strong enough desires to be tempted, except his desire to destroy the Ring, making it more difficult for the Ring to corrupt him). 

It's hard to tell Pettigrew's motivations. As you (and I) have pointed out, he must have gotten into Griffyndor for SOME reason. My speculation was that hanging around the Maurauders gave him an inferiority complex; in SNAPE'S WORST MEMORY, they were depicted as putting him down. It reminds me of a vampiric technique that is used by some men to control women: say things to break the woman's confidence, and remind her how lucky she is that the man is willing to accept her in spite of her inferiority (in one of my many trades, a counselor, I ran into a LOT of that). These relations usually lead to physical abuse, as well, although I'm not sure in the case of Pettigrew. You notice that Voldemort used the same technique on him; making it appear that Pettigrew was lucky that Voldemort took him in as a servant, when it was clear that Voldemort was the lucky one. From my own experience it is REALLY hard to break a victim out of the mindset (while it might have been my own skills that were lacking, the literature on the subject confirms my experience). 

I can even see how Voldemort (or the DE's) might have managed to recruit Pettigrew. It starts out with, "You're much too good to be taking that kind of s***e from that crew. You're much better than that!" Then, "Come on and join us, we'll give you the respect you deserve!" Then, "Of course, you have to prove yourself!" followed by criticism of his performance, no matter how well he does, until it's, once again, "You're so incompetent that you're lucky that we're willing to let you hang around us!" until Pete will do ANYTHING to get their respect, and, as long as he's willing to do that, he will never get their respect. 

The thing is, sometimes, the vampire pushes a little too hard, and his victim breaks (in a good way). For example, one young woman was firmly in the clutches of a vampire, when he made the mistake of hitting her mother. He was tossed, and never allowed back again, and the young woman found someone who did NOT suck her life out of her. There were hints of that in GOF, when Pete tried to convince Morty to take someone other than Harry. Of course, it might have been a more practical solution, but I saw it as the life debt, trying to force its way past Pete's addiction (one way a "psychic" vampire resembles a gothic vampire is that the victim gets addicted to being fed upon). 

This means that, if JKR has her psychology right, and I believe she does, at some point Morty is going to push Pete a little too far, and Pete is going to recover his self-respect, if only for long enough to help Harry.

Bart