The Knight of Walburga

[Jen Reese]

No: HPFGUIDX 169506

> > Pippin:
> > Maybe Kreacher's company was no more salutary for Walburga or
> > her portrait than hers was for him. Not to mention that at the 
> > time of her death she had lost her husband, one of her sons 
> > had been murdered and the other was considered the worst 
> > outlaw, next to Voldemort, that the wizarding world had ever 
> > seen. Stress like that would make anyone old beyond their 
> > years, and she must not have been terribly stable to begin 
> > with. 
> 
> Goddlefrood:
> 
> It's a possibility, but Walburga was really not old at all by WW 
> standards. The degeneration noted in her portrait is, IMO, far 
> more than simply stress or worry induced. I also would disagree 
> that she was unstable. A pure blood extremist and married to her 
> second cousin, yes, but not necessarily unstable.

Jen:  Much as I like this idea Pippin - it really would be an example 
of JKR's sometimes dark humor - there's an element of the tragic to 
the Black family that goes beyond their personal losses.  The Fall of 
the House of Black was complete when Sirius died and the idea of 
there being only small cracks that led to that tragedy, in the form 
of Sirus opposing his family and Regulus being killed, doesn't quite 
do justice to what has happened to them.  To discover their downfall 
was in part due to the matriarch actively opposing Voldemort would 
explain more how they came to be a dusty tapesty on the wall of a 
crumbling house.  Almost the reverse of what happened to the Crouch 
family in a way.

Hey, I just had a thought.  I wouldn't see Walburga's motives as 
idealistic if she opposed Voldemort, they would need to have a basis 
in who she appeared to be as a person.  Was the 'secret' referred to 
in the note the discovery Voldemort was a half-blood?  JKR makes a 
point of showing Bellatrix isn't aware of that fact.  That would be 
*huge* to a family like the Blacks, likely more huge than a Horcrux 
given the dark nature of the family history.  I'm not proposing 
anything new here as there have been other posts on the subject, but 
this idea fits better for me of a half-blood 'secret' if Walburga was 
behind the plot to destroy the Horcrux.

Back to the portrait, obviously the potion only increasingly weakened 
Dumbledore as far as we saw, there was no evidence of drooling, eye-
rolling and yellowing skin.  However, Dumbledore did say the potion 
wouldn't kill immediately; LV would want to keep the person alive 
long enough to find out how the defenses were penetrated. It's 
possible after the weakness and such, another effect would start to 
take place that we aren't aware of since Dumbledore died so quickly. 

Goddlefrood:
> "The girl's name Walburga \wa-lbur-ga, wal-bu-rga\ is of Old 
> German origin, and its meaning is "strong protection". Saint 
> Walburga (eighth century) was a missionary in Germany.

Jen:  Walburga did appear to be the protector of her own family, 
protecting what to her was essential - their heritage.  Could she 
also have stepped in an attempt to protect her favored son when he 
got in too far with Voldemort?

Goddlefrood:
> Walburga has 3 variant forms: Walberga, Wallburga and 
> Walpurgis."
> 
> I found this intriguing as JKR has said that the Death Eaters 
> were once called the Knights of Walpurgis. Was this a name LV 
> himself dubbed them in homage to Mrs. Black for whatever reason?
<snipped quote from JKR>
> Perhaps the name was changed only after LV announced his 
> agenda and prior to that Walburga had found some amusement 
> in the similarity of her name to LV's followers. I'll go 
> even further and say that because of that Regulus was 
> urged by her to sign up with the Knights bearing her near 
> name (in blood or otherwise).

Jen: I find it interesting in a symbolic way although since 
Voldemort's Death Eaters were named that as far back as when 
Dumbledore first took office as headmaster, I don't see how it could 
have literally been true. 

Jen