Well, you stimulated me to think a lot about them these last three days, and here's what I came out with: 1. Sirius. I'm - intellectually, if not altogether emotionally - with you on Sirius. He is likable and charming at times, but the flaws in his character are striking. I appreciate what he's done to Harry, but I can't say I approve him or like him that much. It's not hard to see why the wizarding community so easily accepted the assumption that he was a villain traitor and murderer. 2. Peter. The only thing I can say about him is that from his very appearance in PoA I have had issues with the fact that marauders has accepted him. I mean, he is so obviously foul, and the other marauders were presented to us as "knights in shining armor" - it didn't fit, didn't fit at all. And it seems, moreover, that at least in 1981 Peter was closer to James and Sirius then Remus. At least when they needed somebody to suspect they chose Remus, not Peter. Strange, isn't it? 3. James. I prefer to reserve my judgment on him, I think we don't know enough. I mean, I do think JKR borrows a lot from Agatha Christie, and this is one of the Christie's favorite tricks - to present smb as an obvious villain from the first page, then make reader to have more and more doubts throughout all book just to find out on the last page that the guy was a villain all right. Can't we have something similar (though inverted) here? James was presented to us as all but a Saint for several books, then we see him in the Pensieve and think "my, what a disgusting blowhead!"... It can happen that James was (at least near the end of his life) quite a decent person after all. I still rate both Lily's and Hagrid's opinion highly. It seems to me that James was an archetypal Gryffindor with archetypal Gryffindoric flows: hunger for glory, longing for being loved and admired (it IS a flaw if you add "at all costs" to it). And he was probably very easy to manipulate for anyone who understood these qualities of his. And Sirius was not exactly the best possible influence, you know. If Lily at some point was able to win influence over James from Sirius (and if Lily indeed was what we think she was) then it is quite possible that James have changed dramatically in following years. But we have too little evidence to judge.
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On Marauders
Date: 2007-06-23 02:56 am (UTC)1. Sirius. I'm - intellectually, if not altogether emotionally - with you on Sirius. He is likable and charming at times, but the flaws in his character are striking. I appreciate what he's done to Harry, but I can't say I approve him or like him that much. It's not hard to see why the wizarding community so easily accepted the assumption that he was a villain traitor and murderer.
2. Peter. The only thing I can say about him is that from his very appearance in PoA I have had issues with the fact that marauders has accepted him. I mean, he is so obviously foul, and the other marauders were presented to us as "knights in shining armor" - it didn't fit, didn't fit at all. And it seems, moreover, that at least in 1981 Peter was closer to James and Sirius then Remus. At least when they needed somebody to suspect they chose Remus, not Peter. Strange, isn't it?
3. James. I prefer to reserve my judgment on him, I think we don't know enough. I mean, I do think JKR borrows a lot from Agatha Christie, and this is one of the Christie's favorite tricks - to present smb as an obvious villain from the first page, then make reader to have more and more doubts throughout all book just to find out on the last page that the guy was a villain all right. Can't we have something similar (though inverted) here? James was presented to us as all but a Saint for several books, then we see him in the Pensieve and think "my, what a disgusting blowhead!"... It can happen that James was (at least near the end of his life) quite a decent person after all. I still rate both Lily's and Hagrid's opinion highly.
It seems to me that James was an archetypal Gryffindor with archetypal Gryffindoric flows: hunger for glory, longing for being loved and admired (it IS a flaw if you add "at all costs" to it). And he was probably very easy to manipulate for anyone who understood these qualities of his. And Sirius was not exactly the best possible influence, you know. If Lily at some point was able to win influence over James from Sirius (and if Lily indeed was what we think she was) then it is quite possible that James have changed dramatically in following years. But we have too little evidence to judge.