Get Fuzzy comic & RAB

[Barry Arrowsmith]

--- In the_old_crowd at yahoogroups.com, "cubfanbudwoman" <susiequsie23 at s...> wrote:

> Bit disappointed, I am, to hear about RAB being revealed for (almost) 
> certain to be Regulus.  I mean, at the time I finished the book, it 
> was truly exciting to have thought, "Oh, I think I KNOW!"  But once I 
> realized almost everyone had come to the same conclusion, well, you 
> know... it wasn't so much fun anymore.  
> 
> Personally, I'd been hoping for the perhaps somewhat outlandish, but 
> still highly interesting, possibility of R_____ Amy Benson as RAB.
> 

An understandable reaction.
One assumes that this nugget of info (if true -remember the Pillar of 
Storge debacle) could only have one origin - Jo, unless there has 
been an outbreak of the literary equivalent of industrial spying.

It's obvious that Jo loves interacting with her fans; webcasts, question
and answer sessions, her website, but part of me wishes she wouldn't.
Selfish, I know - but when I'm pondering a crossword puzzle or deep
in a who-dunnit, I hate it when someone sidles up, peers over my 
shoulder and spoils the fun by whispering answers in my shell-like.
It makes me even grumpier than usual.

But - and there's always a but, this 'answer' raises another question,
namely - why tell?

Two immediate possibilities that occur to a twisted mind:

1. It's not important. It's just an isolated fact that has no real bearing on 
anything else in the plot - rather like Lupin's middle name.

2. It is important and will have/has had as yet unknown repercussions 
elsewhere in the story, but unless the fans can have confidence that
RAB is the unfortunate Regulus, they won't have a  firm foundation on
which to base some tricky theorising.

Guess which option I'd prefer. 
Happily it seems that option 2. is a pretty good bet, as you go on with:-

> I guess, assuming RAB is truly Regulus, the remaining question for me 
> is how/when he did it.  I've leaned all along to his never actually 
> having placed the true horslut in the basin, and having exchanged it 
> before dropping the fake locket in.  But I've not really seen a 
> compelling argument for why Voldy would've entrusted him with 
> depositing the hoxchox there alone.  Can't imagine, really, anyone 
> other than Voldy himself placing & protecting them.
> 

Exactly.
What happened and why?
Why would Voldy trust a neophyte DE?
How could a probationary DE get his hands on something so important?
Were others involved and if so how?
And to repeat myself: is there a link to Bella's words in HBP chap.2?
"The Dark Lord has, in the past, entrusted me with his most precious - 
if Lucius hadn't -"

Ah, Lucius. Combine a devious trimmer like him with a hard-line nutter
like Bella, add a naive Voldy supporter having second thoughts, a Macguffin
with seriously high-end protective magic that should  be beyond the 
capabilities of someone so young as Regulus, stir in a hint of a monumental
cock-up by the nasties - well, it makes for an interesting mix, no? 

And that's just one possibility. Lucius and Bella may not be involved in
the RAB vignette at all, but in something equally interesting.

So unless Jo drops more hints regarding the RAB aspect, it's not too
massive a spoiler SFAIC; just narrows the scope for theorising by a fraction,
allowing a concentration on established and known characters.

Kneasy