Wasted potential in Pettigrew and my overall disappointment with DH

[guzuguzu]

No: HPFGUIDX 173425

Peter Pettigrew: Wasted potential for a character:

Among my disappointments in DH, one of my top ones was Peter Pettigrew.
Here I thought Rowling had created an interesting and unusual character
with incredible potential for a good storyline. Here's the set-up we
have from the pre-DH books:

-Peter was a friend of Harry's parents and former Order member (so
presumably has a lot of important knowledge for Harry)
- He joined Voldemort, though seemingly out of fear, not because he
particularly agreed with the political cause
- He outsmarted everyone (for years) with his betrayal and faked-death
- Harry saved his life, so he owes him a life-debt
- He practically saved Voldemort's life and was rewarded a silver hand
(possibly important since we had werewolves, good and bad, running
around)
- Despite that, he did not seem too well-respected amongst the other
Death Eaters and didn't seem to be too happy
- He spent time living with (and presumably spying on) Snape in his
childhood home

Given all that, I was fairly sure Rowling was going to give a big finish
to this character. I won't comment on what I thought she should have
done, but there were so many ways she could have gone (full redemption
by switching back over, double-crossing both sides, giving Voldemort
some damaging info on Snape, etc.) but instead we got him choking
himself in the closet in a two-line scene without one second of
suspense. The life-debt (which seemed to be fairly important in book 3)
may as well have not existed. What was the point of any of it?


Overall reaction to DH:

I can explain my overall disappointed reaction to DH like this: I feel
like a friend came up to me and said, "Hey, I'm taking you on a trip--
while we're on the plane, read these to prepare yourself," and then
handed me six books on India: all about the history, the culture, the
people. And I read them all and as I did, I got really excited and ready
to burst off that plane and experience India, my head filled with all
the things I expected to see. But when the door opened, we weren't in
India: we were in France. Now France is beautiful, and there is a lot to
appreciate there, but I really can't appreciate it, because this entire
time I'd been reading these books thinking we were going to India-- I
thought that was the reason I was reading them.

Reading DH to me was like having that plane door open in the wrong
country.  Now, I really don't care about things like what the Potters'
jobs were (they died when they were 21-- probably nothing exciting) or
who came late to magic. But I wondered why I had spent so much time in
previous books reading about things which were ultimately irrelevant. I
thought I would see the reason that Snape spent his one and only year as
DADA teacher making the students proficient in wordless magic. I thought
I would see the reason that I read 100+ pages in OoTP about the
Department of Mysteries and all the rooms and the veil that killed
Sirius. I thought I would see the reason that the Sorting Hat itself
said more than once that the houses should unite. I thought I would see
the reason for Peter's silver hand. I thought I would see the reason
that I read umpteen times that Neville was unusually forgetful. If there
were reasons, they apparently had lower priority to the series finale
than things like Elder Wands, Grindenwald and Luna's father, which is
what I ended up reading about. When I read that the Ravenclaw horcrux
was a tiara, I *thought* I saw the reason that there had been at least
three pointed mentions of Aunt Muriel's tiara, but apparently it was
just some other tiara. Oh, oops. So, I don't mean to offend people who
are enjoying France (DH) but I am too disappointed in not seeing India
right now. Obviously, this is just my opinion-- maybe I will come to
like DH one day.

guzu