Comments | nyxfixx: Hello, here's some endless pontifcating on HP canon and (who else?) Sirius Black!

nyxfixx

Hello, here's some endless pontifcating on HP canon and (who else?) Sirius Black!

Jul 26, 2009 22:59

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First, a caveat - one of the challenges of being a fan who favors writing and thinking about any of JKR's second and third tier characters is that the author did not really fully develop them or their stories, and concentrated instead on her primary characters and plotlines. You have to really stretch the canon material to try to complete ( Read more... )

Comments 12

Dumbledore was ... hard, the end. jazzypom July 27 2009, 07:44:25 UTC

For a wizard and the defacto leader of The Order of The Phoenix he just... didn't keep his soldiers in line. He didn't look out for Sirius, not at all. I've always maintained that he could have done more for Sirius.

I hear you re: RL.

I'm just so sorry, but DD's treatment of Sirius Black gets my hackles up. He knew Sirius was losing it, but was so fixated on victory, he just didn't help the man. Sirius's soul was fighting wars, myriads of them, and was losing every one.

Re: Dumbledore was ... hard, the end. nyxfixx July 27 2009, 17:28:29 UTC

Hi! Great to see you here again - and talking about HP once more too, when so many of us have moved on. You're in the Iron Man fandom these days? Are you writing ( ... )

Yes, I'm writing! jazzypom July 27 2009, 17:35:41 UTC

I'm... writing. Doing lots and lots of writing. Especially since I never did any writing in HP fandom, it's been something. I'm more in Ultimates fandom though, I can indulge my inner snark. LOL.

We all so often assume that wisdom and insight must equal goodness, but it's not necessarily so. Really, though I doubt the author truly meant for DD to be seen this way by the end of her story, I now find him the most frightening of all her characters.

So, much THIS! But then I've had a hate on for Dumbledore since, dammit, forever.

red_squared July 27 2009, 11:45:44 UTC

I love you so much for writing this!

Am so sorry to hear of RL woes, but am very pleased to see you around once more, and in a Sirius-capacity at that ;)

♥

nyxfixx July 27 2009, 17:37:54 UTC

Very nice to see you too!

I wish I'd had more time for the bigbangblackout, but I'm sure looking forward to seeing a whole passel of epic Siriusfic appear on my flist when the time comes. Ah, Sirius! He inspires such loyalty and devotion, doesn't he? At least among fans, if not among his fellow fictional characters.

topaz_eyes July 27 2009, 15:38:45 UTC

Nyx! (((gleeful hugs ( ... )

nyxfixx July 27 2009, 18:51:12 UTC

(((hugs back!)))

Hi, hi, hi! Great to see you!

Yes, in some ways, Sirius never had a chance - not against someone Sirius believed in - someone who was also secretly thwarting him right and left. But at least Sirius died w/ his integrity intact, which is more than we can say for DD, who went to his own reward (if there was one) w/ a massive load of guilt and deception weighing on his soul.

And the awful thing about that is DD was too insanely smart not to count the cost for the things he'd accomplished. Yes, he and Harry defeated LV in the end, but I'd sure hate to spend my eternity contemplating all the harm I'd knowingly done to people who'd followed my standard and trusted me to be the best of them.

It's ironic that people believed one of DD's most enduring characteristics was that he had to see the best in people, when in action, mostly what we saw him doing was assuming that people really couldn't be trusted to do the right thing, and instead must be manipulated and goaded and conned into it. You're right; he never permitted ( ... )

midnitemaraud_r July 27 2009, 18:18:54 UTC

Still reading, but there's one thing that I think you're forgetting, and that's Sirius himself. When the MLE caught him, he laughed. Not with glee of course, but with irony and bitterness. But he didn't defend himself. In fact, I don't imagine that he said much of anything at the time. He was broken. James was dead, and James was his other half, so in effect, Sirius was dead, too. At the time, I don't think he thought much past, "James and Lily are dead and it's my fault." Not to mention that I doubt very much that he trusted anyone at the Ministry anyway. And by the time he might have 'snapped out of it', he was already in Azkaban. Too late for anything ( ... )

nyxfixx July 27 2009, 21:25:08 UTC

Hello, Lisa! What a pleasure it's going to be to argue with you again after such a long hiatus :) But don't feel there's any rush to answer my answers so I can answer and you can answer and … eh. I know people have to work some time.

Your insightful description of Sirius' state around his arrest and immediately after is perfect, and I couldn't agree more. I don't doubt that Sirius could well have been soul-dead at the time and for years afterward too, and probably never came back to life, so to speak, until the day he'd seen Scabbers in the paper. And this is one of the best and most succinct descriptions of Sirius I've ever seen:

Sirius was a good man, yes, and he loved his friends, and was loyal to them, and would have died for them, but he was also proud, haughty, stubborn, reckless, and cruel. He was young and brilliant and talented and full of his own sense of immortalityYou're also right, it's very clear in the text that Sirius never made the slightest effort to defend himself - no argument there ( ... )

midnitemaraud_r July 27 2009, 19:17:34 UTC

Ok, some random thoughts as I read. :-D (I've missed you and your analysis!! ♥ )

Dumbledore was a very proficient Legilimens, yes, but so was Voldemort. And yet Snape deceived Voldemort, so that's not foolproof evidence. As far as he knew - was told - Sirius was the Secret Keeper. Why should he have doubted that? James and/or Lily told him that as fact. They switched to Peter behind everyone's back, and the only people privy to that were the four of them ( ... )

nyxfixx July 27 2009, 21:50:17 UTC

Hello again, more counterarguments - but you do know I love you, don't you? This is just so much fun ( ... )