Get Fuzzy comic & RAB

[cubfanbudwoman]

SSSusan earlier:
> > Bit disappointed, I am, to hear about RAB being revealed for 
> > (almost) certain to be Regulus.  
> > 
> > Personally, I'd been hoping for the perhaps somewhat outlandish, 
> > but still highly interesting, possibility of R_____ Amy Benson as 
> > RAB.

Kneasy:
> 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.

SSSusan:
Precisely.  When I first saw the announcement that Steve had placed 
this information at the Lexicon, I headed straight for jkrowling.com 
to see whether she had updated her site.  You know, allowing a scoop 
and then confirming it.


Kneasy:
> 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....


SSSusan:
YES.  I think you're absolutely correct that this kind of leak/juicy 
tidbit/"Damn! Why did she spoil THAT?" comes out of JKR's true 
interest in her fans.  I really do think that sometimes she starts to 
feel a bit sorry for us, or concerned for the time we're "wasting," 
once she realizes we're starting to go too far afield in an area.  I 
mean, if she's aware of the effort & investment some people put into 
developing their ideas, and she knows they're wrong, isn't it just 
possible that Jo's a wee bit concerned that she doesn't want a whole 
slew of majorly disappointed fans out there at the end, if the truth 
is that there's nothing at all quite so elaborate as the theory 
proposes?  

Take the DROOBLES Best Blowing Gum as an example.  If she'd 
*waited* 'til the series concluded to show the fans that there was 
nothing to that beyond a poignant scene between mother and son, 
several handfuls of fans might've been seriously disappointed.  
Telling us *now,* before it's all over and while we're still trying 
to guess where we're going and figure out the series' mysteries, 
might bring about a little disappointment, but it also prevents the 
*major* letdown at the end.

Maybe Herself saw the theories about RAB as Amy Benson or Stubby 
Boardman or Mr. Black or a member of the Bones family as potentially 
major disappointments and wanted to let us know not to waste time 
there?

Perhaps I give her too much credit for:  1) keeping up with fan 
discussions; and 2) caring; but I do wonder.

'Course, if this were true, I'd have expected Jo to have personally 
called Pippin by now over ESE!Lupin. ;-)  (Kidding, Pippin!  I'm 
*kidding*!)

The good news as I see it, though, is that you may well be right, 
Kneasy, about your option 2, above:  we *need* to know it's Regulus 
for some important reason.


SSSusan earlier: 
> > 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.

Kneasy: 
> 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?

SSSusan:
I cannot imagine; I just can't.  Weren't we told that the Black 
family weren't DEs (besides Regulus)?  I mean, they were into the 
Dark Arts and supporters of some of Voldy's views, but it wouldn't be 
like Voldy would necessarily think that one (very young) Regulus 
Black would be totally trustworthy simply because his last name was 
Black.


Kneasy:
> 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? 

SSSusan:
A *very* interesting mix.  But I can't make it come together into a 
whole.  That line -- that *interruption,* which is so often a DING-
DING-DING! LOOK AT ME! kind of thing with JKR -- is definitely going 
to be significant, imo.  What did she have?  With what did he entrust 
her?  How did Lucius foul it up for her?  Is it simply that, after 
Lucius Seriously Disappointed Voldy with the diary!hoxchox fiasco, 
Voldy no longer trusted *any* of his followers with precious 
objects/horsechows?


Kneasy: 
> 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.

SSSusan:
Yes, I'm trying to see it this way as well.  Not trying to spoil our 
fun, really.  Just steering us a little, focusing our hunt for clues 
and connections.  

Siriusly Snapey Susan