Remus and Sirius as plot-driven characters

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

Although neither of them gets much screen-time, I believe that Remus and Sirius are two of the most important characters in the HP series. Their choices, both past and present, drive the whole narrative almost as much as Snape's and Dumbledore's do. However, despite their importance, we are told very little, if anything, about the motivations behind their actions, including several that are quite difficult to understand or sympathize with. The few explanations we are given are, in my opinion, rather inadequate or unbelievable. The problem, I suspect, is that Rowling simply never gave much thought to Remus's or Sirius's motivations when she was developing her story. What they say and do seems to have been determined far more often by the needs of the plot than by any sense of who they are as people--their personalities, their personal histories, their relationships, etc. Even though they are central characters in the story, the plot usually drives their choices, rather than their choices driving the plot.

Why did Remus fail to take his potion at the end of PoA? Because Rowling wanted him to transform into a werewolf and nearly kill the kids. Why did Sirius pull the "prank" on Severus? Because the "life-debt" that resulted between James and Severus provided a red herring for why Severus did so much to protect Harry despite hating James. Why did Remus marry Tonks and have a baby? Because Rowling wanted there to be a new baby orphan at the end of DH. Why didn't Sirius attempt to hire an attorney and get himself exonerated, independently of Dumbledore? Because Rowling wanted to keep Harry stuck at the Dursleys during the summers. We as the readers have to come up with many of our own in-universe explanations for their behavior, for Rowling hardly gives us any. Depending on how we fill in the holes, it's possible to either utterly adore or utterly despise the two characters.

Why didn't Remus tell Dumbledore that Sirius was an animagus and that he knew of secret passageways into Hogwarts? Remus does actually give us an answer to this one, but it's not all that realistic. He says he was too cowardly to admit that he had betrayed Dumbledore's trust as a teenager. It's an explanation that might work if Remus were twelve, but I think it's absolutely ridiculous that a grown adult would risk the lives of several hundred students, particularly Harry, just because he didn't want to disappoint Dumbledore, especially since he could have told the headmaster that Sirius was an animagus without saying anything about their werewolf escapades. Rowling needed Remus to keep his mouth shut for the sake of the plot, but she could have come up with a much better explanation for why he did.... as many of her fans did. Maybe Remus had trouble believing that Sirius was guilty, or he thought that Sirius at least deserved a trial. Maybe the Mauraders all took unbreakable vows to never reveal each others' secrets. Fans have come up with all sorts of interesting and logical reasons for why he didn't say anything.

Remus and Sirius, as presented in canon, come across to me more like plot-devices than actual characters, more like puppets on strings than conceivably real people. I know this is true of other HP characters as well. I've seen numerous similar comments regarding Ginny, for instance. The difference, though, is that Remus's and Sirius's roles help form the core of nearly the entire narrative, starting in 1971, while Ginny, aside from in Harry's second year, is almost completely irrelevant to the overall story. You can pretty much ignore Ginny, if you want. You can't ignore Remus or Sirius.

Comments

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

I agree that Lupin consistently doesn't do anything. However, imo, his main problem is not moral cowardice, nor is it being weak-willed or indecisive. I think his main problem is that he's an object in the story, not a character. He's so passive that he more closely resembles a doll than a living person.

[sunnyskywalker]

He certainly ends up like a doll JKR got tired of and tossed out.

I don't think he's weak-willed or indecisive either, at least not especially so. He sure didn't have any trouble deciding to murder Peter. If I had to come up with a more plausible reason for his behavior - which JKR probably wouldn't confirm, since she claims his big flaw is wanting to be liked too much - I'd say it's more that he just doesn't give a damn a lot of the time. Friends hexing random people in the halls? Meh, whatever. Tormenting Snape just days after he nearly died? Well, he can't exactly join in in public (being a prefect and all), and maybe doesn't care about tormenting Snape enough to join in even if there weren't witnesses... but stop it? Nah, not worth the bother. (In this reading, the small frown would mean, "Guys, you almost got majorly busted two days ago. I really wish you'd be more discreet.") Kids almost getting killed by "madman Sirius"? That's too bad, but Dumbledore will own him even more if he finds out what they got up to (and might turn him over to the Ministry for passively aiding an Azkaban escapee, for all Lupin knows), so he'll just tell Harry to be careful and keep an eye on the map.

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

You know, I suspect that Sirius and Remus almost murdering Peter may have also just been a plot contrivance.... it was so that Peter would owe Harry a life debt for stopping them. She probably originally planned on doing more with the life debt than what appeared in DH.