Draco's Hand of Glory (was: Re: Half-Blood Prince)

[Carol]

No: HPFGUIDX 183927

Montavilla47:
> No, you're right, Zanooda.  I was thinking that she was Narcissa's 
mother,  but she's actually Narcissa's aunt-in-law.  I can't even
remember if we really know her name or if it's just on the tapestry
(where Narcissa's mother and father's would be as well) and that just
doesn't count.
> 
> And it's all pretty minor anyway.  I agree that knowing about
Draco's family doesn't make him more important to the story than
Hermione.  Obviously!

Carol responds:
And ye Draco's family background is important in a way that Hermione's
isn't, and JKR has even traced the descendants of Phineas Nigellus
(perhaps imperfectly) in the Black family tapestry because the Malfoys
and Blacks illustrate, among other things, the motif of Pure-Blood
supremacy, and we see the rebellion of certain members of that
family--Sirius, Andromeda, and Andromeda's daughter, Nymphadora
--against the Black family values. We also have the contrasting
brothers, Sirius and Regulus, with the surprising heroism of the one
who chose the wrong side. The whole Black/Malfoy/Tonks story is a kind
of tapestry, with interwoven threads involving the various members of
that family.

Other themes or motifs are also associated with that family, whose
members are often foils for each other and for Harry (as Snape and Tom
Riddle are also, but outside this family framework). The only other
family (excluding the Muggle Dursleys) to have anything resembling the
ties and connections and interfamily conflicts of the Blacks are the
Weasleys, who, it turns out, are part of that family, too, but, like
Andromeda and Sirius, burned off the tapestry, symbolically severed
from the family.

We could, if we liked, explore the motif of families in the HP books,
bringing in the Potters, the Longbottoms, the Crouches, and others.
The families are foils to one another, reflecting both parallels and
contrasts.

Draco's family connections are important, in terms of both theme and
plot. Hermione's are not.

It's not that Draco is more important than Hermione, but his family
connections are important. The whole plot of CoS stems from a
misguided plan by Draco's father, as the whole plot of HBP stems from
a misguided plan by Draco himself (resulting in part from his father's
failure to carry out yet another plan in OoP).

Take out Hermione and Harry and Ron lose a valuable friend--and quite
possibly their lives as early as Book 1. Take out Draco himself and
Harry loses a seemingly minor nemesis who becomes much more dangerous
to himself and others in HBP. Take out Draco's family connections and
the whole Draco/Lucius/Narcissa/Bellatrix/Andromeda/Tonks/Lupin
connection falls apart, not to mention Bellatrix/Andromeda/Sirius/
Regulus and whatever other connections are tied in with the Black
family tapestry.

Caro, typing at 1:30 in the morning on Harry's birthday and not sure
that she's making any sense at all