« Previous Post | Index | Next Post »
Devin wrote:
Hey everyone, first-time writer.
Hi, Devin! I'm new here, too. ::Newbies wave shyly to each other::
I tend to agree with you that we probably can deduce quite a bit about Real Moody from Crouch's masquerade, and for all the reasons you cite, while also conceding that we can't really know for sure until we see Real Moody in action. (Waffle, waffle, qualify, hedge...)
About Crouch and the Imperius, you wrote:
Before I leave off on this topic, even though I know it's probably been addressed somewhere before, I cannot for the life of me understand why Crouch as Moody would teach Harry how to break the Imperius Curse (or at least give him opportunities to learn how since it seems to be a possibly un-learnable skill, more something one empirically has as a gift). Or at least, having done so, why he wouldn't let Voldemort know that Harry could break the curse.
This has been discussed here before, at some length, but then, so have the SHIPping debates—and besides, why shouldn't the new kids on the block get to have a bit of fun? So a quick summary of what, IIRC, people have said about this and related issues in the past.
-----------
Question One:
Surely Dumbledore didn't really tell Moody to teach the Unforgivables to fourth-year students, did he? And even if he did, he didn't really authorize Moody to cast Imperius on students. Did he? Did he?
Possible Answers:
(a) No, Dumbledore did not really give his new DADA teacher instruction to cast Imperius on students. Crouch only did so because he's a sadist who enjoys casting Unforgivables, or because he wanted to size up the students' capabilities so that he could advise Voldemort later on which members of the younger generation would be the easiest to control.
(b) Yes, Dumbledore most certainly did ask Moody both to teach students about the Unforgivables and to give them practical hands-on experience in shaking off the Imperius Curse. Crouch, in his role as Moody, therefore complied.
Of these, I insist on (b). Crouch may be a tad deranged, but he is no fool, and he could not possibly have thought that word of what he was doing in class would not have made its way back to Dumbledore's ears. Use of the Unforgivables on human beings carries severe penalty, and Crouch is on an important mission. He just wouldn't take that risk. For that matter, if Dumbledore really hadn't authorized it, then surely he would have heard about it—the entire student body was excitedly chattering about Moody's DADA class—and he would have put a stop to it. So while Crouch may indeed have enjoyed making the students do odd things in class, and he may well have been noting carefully which of the students seemed likely candidates for later use, my vote is for (b).
----------
Question Two:
Surely it's counterproductive to teach an enemy as useful a skill as resisting the Imperius Curse! So why does Crouch/Moody seem so pleased by Harry's talent in this arena, and why does he continue to encourage him to strengthen his resistance?
Possible Explanations:
(a) Crouch is deeply immersed in his role. The real Alastor Moody would have been pleased by Harry's talent and would have gone out of his way to encourage him to develop this skill. Crouch therefore does the same.
(b) Little Barty Crouch, the Boo Radley of the wizarding world, hates Imperius, having been himself enslaved by it for over a decade. He is thrilled to see anyone succeed in fighting it off and takes a grim satisfaction in teaching students to resist it.
(c) Crouch doesn't believe for a moment that Harry's talent at resisting the Imperius Curse will do squat for him in the long run. Voldemort plans on killing Harry, not controlling him. And even if he does decide to play with the boy for a little while first, it will not matter: Harry's resistance to Imperius will not save him, and may even bring greater glory to the Dark Lord's inevitable victory. So why on earth not teach him? And why bother to inform Voldemort of his talent in this arena?
(d) Crouch would have been an excellent teacher himself, if only his life had turned out differently; like all good teachers, he takes a genuine and instinctive pleasure in helping students to succeed at difficult tasks.
Of these, I prefer (e), all of the above.
-------
Your suggestion that resisting the Imperius Curse might be an unteachable talent is new to me. If it's come up here before, I must have missed it.
Hmmm. Well, Harry obviously has unusual native talent in this arena—he very nearly throws it off on his first try—but I don't think that it's unteachable, or unlearnable. People can train themselves to withstand higher levels of pain and fatigue than those they could cope with before training; learning to withstand attempts at mental domination would seem to me to be much the same thing.
Obviously, certain personality types are going to be better suited to this than others (I myself am a coward and a weakling, and so suspect that I would not fair well), but with the proper training, I'm sure that just about anyone can at the very least improve their chances.
And I think that ones chances of fighting off Imperius are probably raised dramatically simply by virtue of knowing what it feels like when someone's doing it to you. ("Ah...what a pleasant feeling. Just like floating. This is lovely, really, it's very nice, it's...oh. Hold on, wait a moment. I've felt this before. This is...this...this...oh. OH! Oh, damn.")
—Elkins
Posted to HPfGU by Elkins on January 26, 2002 2:13 PM
1 comment (link leads to main site)
« Previous Post | Index | Next Post »