lydamorehouse | The Weekend Looms

Entry tags:

The Weekend Looms

Check out my friend Doug Hulick's Big Idea on Scalzi's Whatever! It's becoming a Wyrdsmiths tradition.

I'm sorry I've been away. I hear the ol' LJ has been acting up in my absence. Well, I'm back now, so y'all need to behave!

Today was my busy day. I didn't entirely finish Tate's #3 as I'd hoped. I ended up doing a lot of running around. I still haven't made it to the grocery store, but I did get Shawn's birthday present so she'll have something to open tomorrow morning. I thought today was the last day that the Milton Avenue location of Amore Coffee would be open, so I planned to stopped by there for a final cafe Vienna. Alas, I seem to have arrived a day (or more) late. They were moving furnature and other equipment out as I pulled in. Since I'd hauled myself there, I stopped in for lunch at Bread & Chocolate. I wrote a bit, and continue to be amazed by the relaxed way in which this book seems to be coming to a close. Usually, there is much rushing and writing and such in the final days, but I wrote a very lesuirely and detailed scene today. Weird. I hope this isn't some kind of bad omen. At any rate, I have a couple more scenes to write and then I will have reached another "the end" milestone.

Mason and I are re-reading HARRY POTTER AND THE GOBLET OF FIRE. We just got to the part where the fourth year Gryffindors have had their first Defense Against the Dark Arts class with Professor Moody. I'm going to assume that I don't need to put the next bit under an lj-cut for spoilers, because the book has been out forever, as has the movie, but if you haven't read GOBLET OF FIRE and don't like spoilers, for God's sake stop reading. Okay, onward -- so we all know that Professor Moody isn't, shall we say, _himself_ at this particular moment. Upon second reading, this struck me as VERY interesting. "Moody" shows a surprising amount of what appears to be sympathy toward both Harry and Neville. He comes off like a good guy, a brilliant instructor, even if he is a bit VIGILANT (and a bit odd, of course. But who at Hogwarts isn't a BIT odd.) If I'm reading this right, it means that Barty Crouch, Jr., is actually, on some profound level actually a decent human being.

Or a _really_ good actor. Because, as we learn in Old Trek's "Mirror, Mirror," it is much easier for the civilized man to pass as a barbarian than it is for a barbarian to pass as civilized.

Regardless, I would posit that Barty Crouch, Jr. is one of the best Defense Against Dark Arts teacher that Hogwarts ever had. Considering how otherwise completely unredeeming a character Barty Jr. is, this is a rather noteworthy observation, IMHO.

I suppose that, once again, I'm arriving rather late to this party with this thought, but as it just ocurred to me, I wanted to share it.

And, since I have to rush off to go pick up Mason from school, I'll leave you with it.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I've often wondered about that. The first time I read it, and it was revealed that Barty Jr. had been in disguise the whole time, I had to go back and make sure I hadn't missed something. I know JKR tried to make everything he did seem like a means to an end, but passing the book to Neville could have been done without giving him such a boost to his self-confidence, for example.

I wonder if long-term exposure to Polyjuice Potion starts making the person drinking it take on some of the personality traits of the person they're imitating (science nerd explanation).

I need one too.

Anyway, back to this... I was just thinking more about Barty, Jr.'s tenure at Hogwarts and looked him up on the Harry Potter Wiki. That reminded me that HE was part of the group that tortured the Longbottoms. Which makes his random "kindness" towards Neville even more interesting (or out-of-character?). As I re-read this book, I am going to try to see if I can find any subtle hints as to whether or not this act can be construed as remorse -- even if it's subconscious. I guess I'd kind of like it if, as evil as Barty, Jr., is/was, he had some redeeming traits. Like, it's never mentioned, but what house do you suppose he was sorted into? The easy answer is Slytherin, but I'm not sure that's accurate. He acts a bit more like a Hufflepuff with all his loyality to Lord V.

I suppose you COULD make the case that by ingesting bits of someone else often enough, you could become LIKE them. Even though when Ron and Harry become Crabbe and Goyle, they don't even know the Slytherin password and are very much in danger of revealing themselves through their personalities.

I think though, it's also notable that at this point Barty has only been in the guise of Moody for just over a week (and Fred and George, who had his class on Monday already thought he was awesome).

Ooh, subconscious remorse! It's known to happen. Serial killers often show signs of remorse in how they handle the bodies of their victims. (I've watched far too many episodes of Criminal Minds.)

I won't get into the "All Slytherins are evil, and everyone evil is a Slytherin" argument that's all too common, but I think you're right that Barty's a little too subservient and dedicated to be a Slytherin. There's never an indication that he wanted Voldie to win because he wanted the power that it would bring. It was pure loyalty on his part, which does seem more like a Hufflepuff-type personality.

But I've always liked the idea that everyone could have redeeming traits. Claiming that he's just really throwing himself into his role is a little bit too easy of an explanation, I feel, but maybe he always wanted to be a professor. Or if he was one of the kids at school that no one was really friends with, maybe he was using this chance to be popular. Which is sad, and makes me feel a little sorry for him.

As far as the personality-changing Polyjuice Potion effects go, it's possible that particular side-effect starts to happen after a day or so, but they can't become too strong or Barty Jr. would have just become Moody and abandoned his plans altogether. (Character analysis FTW! \o/)

I'd love to get into the Slytherin thing if only because I have always maintained that I would be sorted into the Slytherin House, despite the fact that every on-line quiz ALWAYS sorts me into Gryffindor. (Damn ironic fact I refuse to lie in order to get into Slytherin!!)

The reason I think so is because I don't buy the Slytherin=Evil thing at all. I'm more of a Professor Slughorn sort of Slytherin. I'm all about ambition.

Anyway, back to your points, I just wanted to say that I LOVE the idea that Barty, Jr. always wanted to be a professor and that maybe he has some kind of secret talent for it. Frankly, I also enjoy the correlary option that perhaps, had the REAL Moody taught DatDA that year, he might have completely SUCKED.

I forgot about

wicked_visions! I love her stuff. Do you know, she has about 25 pages of those House quote icons? There are way too many. I needed to compromise on one that encapsulates my feelings toward the Houses (namely, that I'd do best in Slytherclaw).

Slytherins aren't evil! Slytherins are all about ambition, ambition and success, and I don't feel that teaching people that ambition=evil is a very good idea. When people start in with the whole "There wasn't a witch or wizard who went bad who wasn't in Slytherin" thing, I just come back with, "Apart from Peter Pettigrew, you mean?"

I don't think the real Moody would have had the patience to teach! Look at how impatient he is with everyone in the later books. He's always cutting people off and dismissing them. I actually kind of like Barty!Moody better, and I like the idea that if he hadn't "gone dark-side," as my Supernatural boys say, he might have gone on to teach.

Edited 2011-04-01 02:25 (UTC)

I maintain that Umbridge was clearly a Hufflepuff. And I really like the theory from fandom that all three Unforgiveable curses were developed by Ravenclaws. (I think that's a fandom theory, not something from JKR.)

Ooh, those are both excellent theories! Umbridge has the marks of a Hufflepuff: loyalty, hard work, and really believing in what she was doing. I've always found it fascinating that JKR included characters like Umbridge, Minister Fudge, and Barty Crouch, Sr., who were Just Doing The Right Thing.

I bet a lot of dark magic came from Ravenclaws who were just experimenting. You know, For ~~Science~~ Magic.

And I was still thinking about after I went off-line last night. I hadn't thought about Wormtail. Peter Pettigrew is an excellent example of Gryffindor gone bad, but, frankly, I'm not all that impressed with James Potter, either. Gryffidor might make more "heros" than a lot of other houses, but it also makes the most rule-breaking bullies.

I love Fred and George, for instance, but I would not want to be on the butt end of one of their jokes.

Again with GOBLET because it's the one I'm re-reading, there's some poor sod who gets sorted into Slytherin and Fred (or perhaps George) boos them as they're joining Slytherin's table and I thought, "And you call Slytherin snobs!" Seriously, this kid could be awesome, for all they know. I do wish I had time to write fanfic, because I'd love to write a Slytherin hero.

Also, I'd write "Professor Longbottom and the Malicious Mandrake" and other continuing stories featuring an adult Neville at Hogwarts.

I liked that the fourth book finally told us that the defining characteristic of Slytherin was pure-bloodedness and snobbery. It actually makes sense then as opposed to the first three where you kind of assume that the heroes go to Gryffindor, the villains go to Slytherin and the other two houses get sorted by who is dumb or smart.

Reminds me of Chasidic Jews who won't let converts marry into their families or they will make sure to set up their daughters with the "good" families. Apparently Satmir actually take family trees from ten generations back to make sure that there are no converts in that tree (but this is only for the rebbe's family and the other Satmir just inbreed but if they let someone from a non-Satmir or even non-Jewish lineage in, then they guess it will work that way).

I also base this on the fact that among non-wizards, all wizards are considered stupid and scary and unimportant so the prejudice is mutual.

Yeah the pure-bloodedness is probably the one thing that would keep me out of Slytherin House. Does sorting hat EVER put a non-pure-blood into Slytherin?

Of course, that explains why the on-line quizes shuffle my highly ambitious, devious self into Gryffindor.

Oh, my goodness, of COURSE the Sorting Hat puts non-pure bloods into Slytherin! Tom Riddle is half-blood as is Snape!!!!

Right?

I don't think that's true. THat's just a nice thing for Criminal MInds to come up with since it makes the serial killers seem almost human and sweet. But most serial killers are sociopaths and one of the defining characteristics of being a sociopath is not having a sense of remorse or guilt.

What's worse is the fact that these guys usually get angry at the victims for running away from them and ruining their fun.

I've always interpreted faux Moody's interaction with Nev, in hindsight, as evidence of his sickness. I read it that he was, in a way, torturing Nev, by forcing him to watch a reenactment of his parents' torture, just so he could see/probe (and maybe get a sick little thrill) out of Neville's anguished reaction.

Edited 2011-04-01 02:20 (UTC)

I could see that, honestly.

I'm not actually trying to redeem Barty, Jr., so much as point out how amazing it is that he ends up, accidentally perhaps, doing more good than harm as a Defense Against Dark Arts professor. I really think that what Harry and the others learn in Moody/Crouch's class lays the seeds for Dumbledore's Army, and even if it was meant as sadistic thing, his "kindness" toward Neville become instrumental, IMHO, in Neville's dramatic shift to becoming the young man who could have been the Chosen One.

Oh, and if you're a Slytherin fan, I did find some cool icons (see the new one at the top of the post) over at

wicked_visions, though I'm sure there are tons out there.

Everything he does can be seen through the lens of the finale. Everything is dedicated to getting Harry to touch the Goblet and get transported to Voldemort. So, if that is the case, we can see his acts of "kindness" as ways to manipulate Neville and the others as a way to get to Harry.

You may be reading too much into his acts of kindness anyway, we aren't actually in the office for his little talks with Neville, etc. We don't know what was said or how it was said.

Of course Fred and George think he's cool (and Harry too for that matter) he breaks the rules, he does torture people. If he'd turned a "good guy" into a weasel and thrown him around that would be a lot easier to recognize, but because we don't like Draco we think its cool. But, lets face it, it is torture. JKR catches us in a nice little trap there--kind of an IRON DREAM twist when you think about it.

I will say though, that that first Defense against the DA scene in the movie, when he shows the class the Unforgivable Curses is one of the best in all the films.

jpj

I don't know. I think as a college professor you're just horrified that someone like Barty, Jr., could so easily impersonate an instructor to such good results. *tease*

In all seriousness, I suspect that it's entirely possible that JKR had a writerly flash at the 2/3rds spot in her book (like I often do) and thought, dang, I should make Moody responsible for all this and have him really be Barty, Jr., in disguise. And then went back and retrofitted everything as best she could.

However, I like to pretend it's all real. That's why I'm a fan.

So, with that in mind, I would like to add to the idea that Barty, Jr. is actually a sort of decent guy (or a subconciously remorseful one) the fact that he actually *teaches* Harry to protect himself against the Imperious Curse later in the book (never in the movie).

What do you make of that??

I don't think teaching Harry something useful is a good indication of Barty's character. He does all kinds of "decent" things for Harry for the whole purpose of getting Harry into the hands of Voldemort. Of COURSE he can teach Harry about the Imperious Curse--he knows V. will never use it on Harry, Harry gets Cruciatus and then Avra Kadavara.

His reasons for doing things are entirely in the service of Voldemort and I see scant evidence that he does anything because, golly gee, he's really a swell guy deep down.

jpj

I'm not trying to say he's a swell guy deep down. I *do* have a writer's appreciation for JKR's flashes of complexity in her villians. As I said to Peg, I think that what I'm impressed with is how much good Crouch-as-Moody ACCIDENTALLY does. I'll have to post more about this as I continue to re-read GOBLET, but I think a case could be made that Barty, Jr. inspires both Harry and Neville to live up to their potential as Chosen Ones. I mean, in a lot of ways, Voldemort's return and the death of Cedric Diggory profoundly change Harry (and Neville), but Crouch-as-Moody is the first instruct that seems to have inspired Harry's interest in anything. It is shortly after this that Harry decides what he wants to be when he grows up is an Auror.

Barty Crouch, Jr., was also played by David Tennant, which makes me like him. ;)

But seriously.

Crouch-as-Moody is full of awesome, even if some of that awesome (the amazing bouncing ferret Malfoy) does have a bit of a cruel streak.

Yes, I know, Evil Dr. Who! It always makes my fannish brain hurt when this happens. For instance, I worried that my brain isn't going to be able to watch the new Captain America movie without thinking "But... But... Johnny Storm is the Human Torch, not Captain America!!" Sproong! (<-- the sound of my brain slipping a gear.)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

The Weekend Looms

Clearly, I need a Harry Potter icon

Re: Clearly, I need a Harry Potter icon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

Re: Clearly, I need a Harry Potter icon

Re: Clearly, I need a Harry Potter icon

Re: Clearly, I need a Harry Potter icon

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject