Hanged Man (It's That Man Again: issues of trust )

[Jen Reese]

> And who the hell is the Hanged Man if it's not Snape?
> 
> ~Eloise

Just taking a snip from Eloise's thoughts on Snape b/c I suddenly 
remembered a post I wrote after OOTP about Wormtail as the Hanged 
Man.

Someone commented at the time that the Hanged Man represented split 
loyalty as well as willing sacrifice. Here were my thoughts 
(#80512): 

Both of these Tarot interpretations provide more possibilities than
my initial thought(life in limbo). In fact, I think the first
one, "indecision of loyalty" could symbolize Wormtail's current
dilemma, and the "willing sacrifice" will come at the end.

We know Wormtail can't go back. His ex-friends are willing to murder
him and, unlike Snape, his betrayal was too grievous for acceptance
back in the Order. Any latent hopes of reconciliation are dashed in
the Shrieking Shack, and Wormtail chooses to return to Voldemort.

Voldemort is obviously very contemptous of Wormtail and only keeps
him around out of necessity. Wormtail must surely know his days are
numbered--he only has as long as Voldemort has need for him, then
Wormtail will be disposed of. That's one of those unfortunate
consequences of trusting an evil lord.

At this point, Wormtail is also cognizant of his life-debt with
Harry. In an unchararistic move, he risks bargaining with Voldemort
for Harry's life. The struggle inside between his fear of Voldemort
and "magic at its deepest", the pact with Harry, is causing external
problems--he fumbles LV's orders for Crouch, Sr.

Ah, but then Voldemort *gifts* him with the magic hand. I have two
guesses about this hand:

1) Voldemort knowingly gave Wormtail a powerful hand that LV plans to
unleash in battle later; OR

2) Voldemort unknowingly transfers power to Wormtail through some
ancient magic he's unaware of. Yes, that's been done, but you could
fill a book with the things Voldemort's overlooked or underestimated!

Wormtail now has a power of his own. Sometime before the final
battle, Wormtail will resolve his loyalty issuesand use his powerful 
hand to "willingly sacrifice" himself for Harry.

****************

Well, at the time it sounded a bit more original to me than it does 
now. But HBP certainly makes me wonder about the loyalty issues 
again. Hanging out with Snape? 

Jen