(no subject)

[mmmarcusz.livejournal.com]

One thing that bothers me about the twins is that no matter what they do, they get away with it. There are never any consequences. When they sneak Harry out of his house, flying a magic car into a Muggle area, there are no legal consequences and Molly blusters but doesn't do anything. When they more or less ignore how badly Ginny's getting on (as do Percy and Ron), and don't notice she's being bewitched, there's no real guilt.

They give Harry the Marauders' Map - what if he disappeared some day - would they have told the authorities that they gave him a method of sneaking out of school? Or just stayed quiet and hoped things worked out?

They slip Dudley Ton-Tongue Toffees - he could have died, but again no consequences. They win their bet with Bagman (it was never explained how they knew it - maybe they used magical means in an early draft) but never face consequences (given that the Ministry is notoriously corrupt, it's surprising that Ludo is always on the defensive, and never tries to e.g. get Arthur fired or have the twins prosecuted for their illegal testing). And then Harry hands them a pile of cash, because there are no more worthy causes.

In OOTP, they spy on Order meetings (how bad is the security?) but no DEs seem to exploit this. They also drop out of school without qualifications - unlike in real life, where this would lead to months of them sitting about in the Burrow doing nothing, they instead become master businessmen.

In HBP, their shop sells stuff that is obviously dangerous if exploited, but even when the DEs use their powder, no-one blames them for selling it, or questions a society that allows such weapons to be owned.

In DH, Fred is killed, but a heroic death in battle. It would be much more likely for him to be killed in one of the twins' experiments gone wrong - this would actually force George to undergo some sort of reflection or growth as a character - but as it is, it confirms that Fred was great and everything the twins did was great.

Comments

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

And yet they end up one dead and the other trying to live the dead one's life with the dead one's ex-girlfriend! Worse, Harry doesn't name one of his kids after them! (Although, correct me if I'm wrong. Potter facts are getting fuzzier these days.)

You forgot trying to get their brother to make an Unbreakable Vow, feeding a salamander a Filibuster firework, nearly causing their teammate to bleed to death with a Nosebleed Nougat, and incessantly picking on Percy.

Though I find them generally repellent, I don't get too worked up over the twins. And, double standards abound in these books. Take a look at the inventors of new ways to use magic. Draco is plenty clever, but he's always pathetic, directing his efforts against Potter mostly, and then towards avenging or saving his family, instead of just creating generalized chaos or profiting from others' slacking off or attacking a Muggle child. Severus was probably like Draco, creating spells mostly to counteract the Marauders. Meanwhile, the Marauders were making a map that helped them get into mischief and put villagers in danger. It's "mayhem for all" versus "you will pay," and anything to not be boring.

I don't know if you've read Jessica Mitford's Hons and Rebels (http://books.google.com/books?id=pzeGAQAACAAJ), but it apparently had a huge influence on Rowling, so much so that she named her first daughter Jessica. The boy that Jessica, or Decca, falls in love with, Esmond Romilly, was a troublemaker and eventually dropped out of his privileged life and school. Decca and Esmond were quite naive, but their hearts were in the right places (and the book is wonderful). I'm fairly convinced that many of the "good" characters in the HP books are based on a shallow retelling of the story of Esmond, Jessica, and their friends (and the "bad" characters are based on people on whom Rowling wanted revenge).

And then Harry hands them a pile of cash, because there are no more worthy causes.

Harry's pretty unthoughtful except when it comes to himself. However, most kids probably wouldn't think beyond their friends. An adult might have given the money to Cedric Diggory's parents to distribute in a way Cedric might have wanted, or set up a scholarship fund.

[sharaz-jek.livejournal.com]

An adult might have given the money to Cedric Diggory's parents to distribute in a way Cedric might have wanted, or set up a scholarship fund.

IIRC, Harry did offer them the money, shockingly enough*, but they refused it - Harry had apparently won it fairly, and gods forbid he receive less glory than his dead rival.

*Presumably, being the victim of a pointless death, Cedric had proved his courage.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

I get why they refused it, they lost their only child and I doubt the money (around 5000 pounds or 10,000 dollars) would do much for them.

But how much would it actually do for the Twins? 10k is a tidy sum, but it's not the stuff business by 16 year olds are made of. Someone has to manage it, keep track of the bottom line.

And did you notice, none seemed to think about sharing with the rest of the family, considering how "poor" they are supposed to be.

[sunnyskywalker]

That shop in Diagon Alley must be really cheap to rent... that, or the Ministry is actually putting up most of the cash thanks to their defense contract with the Twins. It must be quite a lucrative contract.

[dungeonwriter.livejournal.com]

I did the Median gross rent for Scranton, Kanses. I got $576. Aka, sleepy small town, instead of you know, prime real estate.

Say it's 500 dollars a month, or 50 galleons a month.

We're at 60% to just cover rent.

[sunnyskywalker]

I think they definitely have some explaining to do about their accounts! Seriously, how much is the Ministry paying them for those Shield Charmed-hats and whatever?

[danajsparks.livejournal.com]

My favorite theory is that the shop has an "adult toys" section that generates a good deal of their income. :)

[sunnyskywalker]

Makes sense :D Some of those Daydream Charms probably come in brown paper wrappers.

[the-bitter-word.livejournal.com]

Thanks. My memories of the books diminish by the day. Lucky me!

[oryx_leucoryx]

You forgot trying to get their brother to make an Unbreakable Vow, feeding a salamander a Filibuster firework, nearly causing their teammate to bleed to death with a Nosebleed Nougat, and incessantly picking on Percy.

Also killing Ron's pet puffskein by using it as a bludger (yikes!) and giving Ron lifelong arachnophobia.

[oneandthetruth.livejournal.com]

I just remembered, but the first episode of Beavis and Butt-Head was called "Frog Baseball," and involved their using a frog as a baseball. I've seen almost every episode of that show, and in none of them are B and B ever portrayed as cute, charming, harmless, or anything other than disgusting, dimwitted, juvenile delinquents. The humor is in the contrast between their self-image as smart, cool, and sophisticated, and the reality of them as dunderheaded losers--although a lot of their comments on TV shows, music videos, and popular culture are spot on, which I guess makes them savants of a sort. (For example, see the episode in which they see Twilight and decide to become vampires so they can get chicks.)

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

They aren't supposed to be realistic in the least, they are cartoons! Hence the wild inconsistencies. Surely you have seen the disclaimer: "Beavis and Butt-Head are not role models. They're not even human, they're cartoons. Some of the things they do would get a person hurt, expelled, arrested - possible deported! To put it another way, don't try this at home."

[urbanman1984.livejournal.com]

Oh well, at least Fred did get some kind of comeuppance in the end, even though JKR certainly did not see it that way.