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Editor's note: Scottie R. is an 18-year-old from New Zealand working towards a BA double major in English Literature and Media Studies. "I have no particular obsession with Harry Potter but admire the way in which Rowling makes use of literary form and conventions. Her subtle references to beauracracy in our modern Muggle world provides a humorous satirical outlook on the way things have been and are heading. I was further attracted to the books after seeing the third movie which prompted me to read Books 4 and 5 to see what happened. I personally find the first two books don't provide quite enough meat to chew on from a literary perspective but Rowling's ability to grow with her audience means the final two installments will be well worth the wait." Pettigrew's DebtAn original editorial by Scottie R.I come from the land down under Okay, I’m just a humble little New Zealander living on the edges of the global community so you’ll have to excuse me if the theory I am about to discuss has already been thrashed about years before I joined the MuggleNet community. This, I feel, is not necessarily a disadvantage, it simply allows for a fresh set of slightly objective ideas to grace your forums. It’s only words On to the topic! Let’s start at page 311 of PoA of the Australasian print which I assume is the same as most people's anyway:
"Pettigrew owes his life to you. You have sent Voldemort a deputy who is in your debt. When one wizard saves another wizard’s life, it creates a certain bond between them...and I’m much mistaken if Voldemort wants his servant in the debt of Harry Potter." It seems in the magical community that love, mercy and sacrifice in the name of another wizard act as some sort of seal that cannot be broken by any spell. Lily forged a seal between Harry and Voldemort through her sacrifice and love. I know this is a controversial argument but I believe a similar seal exists between none other than Harry and Peter Pettigrew due to the mercy he showed in stopping Sirius and Lupin from killing him in the Shrieking Shack. Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got blood in my tummy Well, J.K. Rowling is famous for ending her books with a message and a nice bit of meat to chew on before the next one comes out. After chewing copiously and threatening to swallow I can’t help but ponder the significance of the last line in the above quote. Why would Rowling bother taking the time to let Dumbledore say something so deep (“the time may come when you will be very glad you saved Pettigrew’s life”) if she didn’t mean it? Yes, I admit she is brilliant at dropping red herrings to keep us off the real trail but I don’t believe this to be one. It is simply too carefully orchestrated! Absence makes the Voldemort grow stronger Rowling is highly skilled at helping the reader forget about characters for a while and then bringing them into greater prominence later on. We saw this with Voldemort’s absence from the end of Book 2 and then his grand re-entrance at the end of Book 4. She is also careful about keeping characters in the background when she would rather not draw too much attention to them. Take, for example, Cedric and Cho’s gradual emergence as important characters. So where, you may ask, has Pettigrew been for the whole of Book 5? I believe that Book 6 will be similar to PoA in that it will be attached to the Voldemort plot but not so closely. Anyyyyway...that’s another opinion. The point is, Pettigrew’s out of the picture to lead the reader away from his eventual significance: the fact that the seal between himself and Harry will ultimately be Voldemort’s undoing. Signed, Sealed, Delivered! NO! The way I look at it this magic could work three different ways:
1) The first is simple and doesn’t sit very well with me, but I’ll go into it anyway. Quite simply, Pettigrew owes his life to Harry. At the last moment when he is possibly asked to capture and bring Harry to Voldemort (theoretically speaking), Peter may instead find his seal with Harry comes into effect, causing him to set Harry free. This theory however will not get us to a final conflict between Harry and Voldemort so it really lacks foundation as a valid argument. It also would really fail to excite me compared to a final book blood-bath (pardon my malicious side). Stop right now, thank you very much! The argument I tend to lean towards is that Voldemort’s magic will not work on Harry because he is indebted to him through Pettigrew’s blood. I would be willing to believe that come the end of Book 7 Voldemort’s grand opportunity to kill Harry will come. Voldemort may well use the Avada Kedavra but here’s where it gets interesting! I don’t think the curse will rebound, because let’s face it, it’s already been done. I predict the curse simply won’t work. The blood pact between Pettigrew and Harry, and thus Voldemort and Harry, will make his magic on Harry useless. All Harry needs to do is get up off the floor and take down Voldemort in his defenseless state. Remember: One cannot live while the other survives. As you can see this is partly just speculation but I have no doubt whatsoever that this seal forged with Pettigrew will come into play beyond belief in the last book. Time to say goodbye This is ultimately a dash of evidence mixed in with a tad of speculation. Whether or not you agree with my philosophy on this, it probably stacks up better than that Char-grilled Hypothesis (hehehe, only joking). I think no matter what, this quote from PoA needs to be taken into account as something that will come into play greatly over the last two books. No doubt after using song titles for every sub-heading I’ll probably struggle to get another editorial published but I’d love to get your emails and see what you think about this. 11/21/2004
Discuss this editorial.
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