Revisiting meta about Draco...
May. 8th, 2015 08:50 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
sweettalkeress.livejournal.com posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
deathtocapslockDid anyone else pick up on just how much Rowling's commentary about Draco seems to infantilize him? I'm totally serious--the way she writes about him he seems to be only slightly more mature and proactive than Harry! Look at the way she phrases things:
"Much of Draco's behavior at school was modeled on the most impressive person he knew--his father--and he faithfully copied Lucius's cold and contemputous manner toward everyone outside his inner circle.
...
However, Malfoy had his own moments of humiliation at Harry's hands....
...
Much as the Death Eaters disliked Harry as an obstacle and as a symbol, he was discussed seriously as an adversary, whereas Draco was still relegated to the status of schoolboy by Death Eaters who met at his parents' house.
...
At this early stage [of joining the Death Eaters]...Draco barely comprehended what he was being asked to do.
...
Even so, he could not free himself from his conditioning: he repeatedly refused the assistance of Severus Snape, because he was afraid that Snape would try to steal his 'glory.'
...
Even when faced with a weak and wandless Dumbledore, Draco found himself unable to deliver the coup de grace because, in spite of himself, he was touched by Dumbledore's kindness and pity for his would-be killer....Dumbledore was, indeed, killed [by something Draco caused]--though not by Draco's hand. [Rowling then explains that Snape lied and covered Draco's reluctance to kill Dumbledore to Voldemort].
...
Draco survived Voldemort's siege of Hogwarts because Harry and Ron saved his life."
And from Rowling's extra notes:
"Draco never realizes that he becomes, for the best part of a year, the true owner of the Elder Wand.
...
I pity Draco, just as I feel sorry for Dudley." (But, crucially, to "pity" someone is not the same as giving them true sympathy)
I just think it seems like a pattern, you know? Are there any other characters she does this to? Or is Draco a special case?
"Much of Draco's behavior at school was modeled on the most impressive person he knew--his father--and he faithfully copied Lucius's cold and contemputous manner toward everyone outside his inner circle.
...
However, Malfoy had his own moments of humiliation at Harry's hands....
...
Much as the Death Eaters disliked Harry as an obstacle and as a symbol, he was discussed seriously as an adversary, whereas Draco was still relegated to the status of schoolboy by Death Eaters who met at his parents' house.
...
At this early stage [of joining the Death Eaters]...Draco barely comprehended what he was being asked to do.
...
Even so, he could not free himself from his conditioning: he repeatedly refused the assistance of Severus Snape, because he was afraid that Snape would try to steal his 'glory.'
...
Even when faced with a weak and wandless Dumbledore, Draco found himself unable to deliver the coup de grace because, in spite of himself, he was touched by Dumbledore's kindness and pity for his would-be killer....Dumbledore was, indeed, killed [by something Draco caused]--though not by Draco's hand. [Rowling then explains that Snape lied and covered Draco's reluctance to kill Dumbledore to Voldemort].
...
Draco survived Voldemort's siege of Hogwarts because Harry and Ron saved his life."
And from Rowling's extra notes:
"Draco never realizes that he becomes, for the best part of a year, the true owner of the Elder Wand.
...
I pity Draco, just as I feel sorry for Dudley." (But, crucially, to "pity" someone is not the same as giving them true sympathy)
I just think it seems like a pattern, you know? Are there any other characters she does this to? Or is Draco a special case?
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no subject
Date: 2015-05-13 02:18 am (UTC)Actually, Crabbe was the one who was ready to whip out the Fiendfyre and try to Cruciate Hermione. Draco kept shouting at him that Voldemort wanted Harry alive (and so was actually trying to *stop*him from killing the Trio). When he runs into Harry and Co. again, he mistakes them for Death Eaters and yells, “I’m Draco, I’m on your side!”, for which he is punched by Ron.
/So, for 'the best part of a year', Draco Malfoy - treated as a schoolboy by the big bad death eaters skulking around his home - never loses his wand. Is never 'defeated' by his father, or the DEs, in any regard. The 'schoolboy' is never mocked or derided to the point where he is shoved to the ground, loses his wand, etc./
I still don’t understand how JKR thought that that was a valid way to lose ownership of the Elder Wand. I mean, that’s it? The Elder Wand, one of the three Deathly Hallows, a gift supposedly from Death itself, can switch its allegiance just by someone grabbing it from its owner? Not through superior dueling, not through clever trickery, not through a demonstration of moral fiber, just by someone grabbing it?
no subject
Date: 2015-05-13 08:54 am (UTC)Okay, maybe that IS good enough, but it’s a mighty thin line for Harry to have relied on so confidently in his final duel with Volders. If the Elder Wand, in its mysterious wooden mind, didn’t think a quick snatch-and-grab was good enough to qualify as a “defeat,” Harry (and the wizarding world) would have been in serious trouble.
no subject
Date: 2015-05-14 04:39 am (UTC)still don’t understand how JKR thought that that was a valid way to lose ownership of the Elder Wand.
Well, she just didn't *think* about it at all, IMO.
The worst part of the whole catastrophe of the deus ex machina stick is as jana_ch has noted - not only did Rowling turn the foundation of her series - "the wand chooses the wizard" - upside down, she also chucked in a brand-new rule, never seen nor implied before, what I call the law of 'transitive wand mastery', right at the very last second when it was necessary in the story for Harry to prevail. Just horrible, horrible writing.