Andromeda as good Slytherin WAS: Disappointment

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No: HPFGUIDX 177579

> Magpie:
<snip>
>
> Lots of Slytherins put love over Pureblood values. They do crazy
> things for love. They seem to be able to do this without
necessarily
> getting to the level of good people.

Amy:

The thing is, though, whatever the misgivings about DH and the HP
series are, I think every reader can agree that the overriding
message of these books is supposed to be about love, and how it's all
powerful and conquers everything, etc, etc. So I guess I just can't
see how a House of people who have a tendency to let love hold them
back from being truly evil/let love overpower their other beliefs,
however strong they are, is supposed to be seen as the House that no
good can come from.

I mean, it's disappointing that Draco didn't get a chance to really
throw his lot in with the Good side, but I can't help seeing that as
something that really IS inconsequential. I don't see why the only
way for JKR to have made a statement about a good Slytherin would be
to have a pleasant Slytherin firmly on the side of good for no reason
except his/her own belief; when Good Side/Bad Side isn't really one
of the stronger messages of DH -- Xenophilius, for example, turned in
the Trio for Luna; this didn't place him on the Bad side even by
JKR's standards. I really don't think the fact of Slytherins being
able to love should be so negligible.

Magpie:
>
> Andromeda could have been a nasty Slytherin who turned out to have
a
> heart of gold different from any other Slytherin we've seen before,
> or even a flawed person who was still just as good as other heroes.
> Or she could have been somebody thoroughly unlikable who had a
> passion that ruled her and she was willing to leave her family over
> it while still never being somebody Harry would actually like the
way
> he likes her husband and daughter right off. And that's assuming
> she's Slytherin based on Sirius' comment.

Amy:

Maybe she was (an unpleasant person Harry wouldn't like); that
doesn't take away from her being able to put love above all else
leading her to be advocated by a lot of people here, and in fandom in
general, as an example of a "good Slytherin". It may, in fact, turn
out that Andromeda's only redeeming characteristic is her ability to
love, but it still seems (by her position in the HP universe and in
fandom) that's enough to lead to her not being condemned by either
JKR, her universe, or the readers of HP.

And Andromeda is a character who had a total of two sentences
dedicated to her in the series. If she did give up everything for
love, she's hardly the first Slytherin to do this. You mentioned how
it was disappointing that we didn't see the one Slytherin we know
closely doing anything significant for the Good side. I'd argue,
though, that every Slytherin we actually DO know closely (with the
exception of Voldemort), have demonstrated JKR's power of love theme
very consistently, and I can't see why this would put them in a bad
position in the narrative. Slughorn is the one Slytherin we see who
isn't overruled by love, and imo, he's also the one character who is
handled rather unsympathetically by the narrative *despite* seeming
like a pleasant enough character.

Amy