The Burrow: Victor Krum: A Web of Contradictions
by Andrew Lee and Robert Lanto
“Victor? Hasn’t he asked you to call him Vicky yet?”
-Ron Weasley (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire)
Howdy, folks! I’ll be participating in this little Mugglenet Burrow section from time to time. It appears that today I’ll be writing about what secrets can or will be revealed about the HP characters in later books. I’ve decided to select Viktor Krum: seeker, student and rival. Now you may be asking, why Krum? Well, that’s easy: Krum is easily established as the anti-Harry and it’ll be interesting to see what side he will take during the upcoming chaos. First, I’ll contrast Victor Krum and Harry Potter a bit.
With the exception of Hermione of course, Quidditch is perhaps Harry and Krum’s strongest connection to each other. Both are excellent seekers for their respective teams. Looking at Krum, we understand that he’s either older than Harry (to be able to play on the national team) or is a lot better than Harry. Remember that the Snitch is a very small object, and to play on a professional level like Krum which must mean his reflexes are excellent. Both Harry and Krum are very famous. It is becoming apparent that Harry’s fame is not only becoming a burden to him, but it appears that Harry’s fame is a two way street. After all, Harry is the target of both admiration and discrimination, which really hurts him (as is the case when everyone finds out he’s a Parseltongue). Krum on the other hand doesn’t appear to have any detractors (besides Ron); his fame was earned through his hard work (though Harry’s constant defeat of Voldemort’s schemes is basically the same thing). Harry seems to find it difficult to be liked by others outside of Gryffindor, while Krum has fans from all the houses and is loved by all. While Harry has never put a lot of priority into his studies, Krum is on almost a Hermione-like level. Everything I presented is circumstantial though, just because he’s a lot like Harry but isn’t, means it is difficult to understand what truly motivates Krum.
Well, one of the things that we do know that would motivate Krum (and anyone else for that matter) is the power of love. And to be quite frank I really think that Krum likes Hermione (or is pulling the greatest melodrama of the Potter series). After all, should he join because of Hermione it shows that he loves her and wants to help and protect her. Should he not join, Hermione will be crushed and anything that she told him during their correspondence would be highly valuable to Voldemort’s group. Then again, breaking Hermione’s heart will probably mean good news for Ron… but that’s a topic for another day.
The biggest tipping point is that Krum goes to a school where he learns the dark arts and (assumingly) can apply them. While Karkaroff may be a cowardly former Voldemort associate, he is none the less an associate. Karkaroff let his faculty teach the dark arts to his students. Obviously there is a reason. Let’s not forget that Durmstrangs associate with Slytherins more than the other houses, and odds are Slytherins will most likely support Voldemort. So far, anyone who’s associated with the dark arts at one point has turned out to be for Voldemort in one form or another.
So what about Krum? Well I think that when Voldemort strikes during the next book (or in theory should) many wizards will be forced to take sides. Now this is where it becomes interesting. Krum is basically a wildcard when it comes to selecting a side. Both sides should actively be seeking Krum’s support as he would be a great asset to them. His popularity means that should he join with Voldemort’s forces, it’s possible that others will follow. Likewise, joining with Harry, Hermione (his most likely reason to join at this point) and friends would greatly help their cause. Also, his knowledge of the dark arts is a double edged sword: he can inflict and defend against (they would probably teach you counters at the same time) pain against those who oppose him.
In the end though, it’ll be interesting to see what happens. If Krum goes ‘bad’, it’ll likely lead to a confrontation between himself and Hermione. If Krum joins with anti-Voldemort forces, it’s more than likely that he’ll be alienated like Harry. Ah, Victor Krum, the life you lead is a tangled mess of contradictions but in the end who will you side with?