Chapter Discussion: Chapter Sixteen, Goblet of Fire: The Goblet of Fire

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 192251


> > --- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Geoff" <geoffbannister123@> wrote: <SNIP summary>
> > .> Questions.
> > > 
> > >> 4. What do you make of Ludo Bagman and Bartemius Crouch as
> > > personalities?
> 
> Alla:
>  
> > As Pippin says we do not see real Bartermius, but regardless, I do remember not liking them both. Bartemius felt like annoying control freak, Ludo felt kind of empty if that makes sense. I would have liked to get to know Bartemius and see if he indeed had the kind of tragic depth some list members argued he did.
> 
> Geoff:
> On the other hand, when we see Crouch in Dumbledore's Pensieve much later, 
> he is still the same brusque, matter of fact civil servant that we have seen 
> previously when, at the World Cup, it was suggested that he could have passed 
> as a bank manager. I would surmise that, although a person is being controlled
> by Imperius, unless instructed to the contrary, their normal attitudes and 
> mannerisms would be the same. So, here in the case of Crouch, we are seeing 
> his normal buttoned-up, 'everything done straight down the line of the rules'. 
> unbending self.


Pippin:
I think you're right in general about the operation of the curse. But I don't think we're seeing Crouch's normal behavior here. The man we saw in the Pensieve and at the World Cup was an energetic, domineering individual. It is not the habit of such men to speak only when they are spoken to, or to lose themselves in a deep reverie while important decisions are being made around them. It's the curse that makes him silent and withdrawn, IMO,  and he is allowed, or forced, to look ill in order to account for it. 

His response, when he gives it, is typical Crouch, I agree. But just like the bank manager's outfit, it's right in detail but hardly suited to the situation. Not even the stuffiest bank manager would wear his City clothes to a campout.

No doubt Crouch is correct and the rules force Harry to compete. But that's not the only issue.  *Four* contestants is still as far from "straight down the line of the rules" as you can get. 

Of course, in whatever corner of his mind is still his own, Crouch already  knows what happened and who is responsible. But if matters were as they appeared to be, any bureaucrat worth the desk he occupies would be demanding an official investigation of such a monstrous irregularity, if only to be sure the blame did not land on him.

Crouch's exact attention to his Muggle outfit is a nice touch, BTW -- it shows a family gift for impersonation. And Barty Jr makes the same sort of errors as his father, getting the details right but overlooking the big picture. It is just such a mistake that finally gives him away. 

Pippin