Percy

[houyhnhnm102]

No: HPFGUIDX 166078

vexingconfection:

> Do you think it's possible that JKR is distancing 
> her readers emotionally from his character so we 
> don't mourn his loss?

houyhnhnm:

I don't think Rowling would do that.  Judging from 
her interviews (I'm too lazy at the moment to hunt 
down the exact quotes) I believe she would consider 
it dishonest, immoral even, to soften the impact of 
a death by making us indifferent to the victim.  
After all, she has already killed off two beloved characters.

I think Percy serves two purposes.  One is that he 
mirrors Sirius Black as someone who goes in a different 
direction from the rest of his family.

I like Bart's analysis of Percy as someone who is so 
enamoured of the rules that he cannot make good moral 
judgements.  This is another way of going wrong.  
Rowling gives us, in Crouch, Sr. and Umbridge, a couple 
of examples of adults who do wrong and advance the 
cause of evil even though they are not on the dark 
side.  Percy is a youthful character whom we get to 
see in the developmental stages of becoming an Umbridge.  
That is his second function.