Chapter Nineteen: The Servant of Lord Voldemort
In chapter nineteen of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban more glorious and fascinating exposition is had, Snape acts deranged, and I have THOUGHTS about the movie portrayal of the Marauders.
(Please be advised that this is a reread and I will be discussing book and movie spoilers.)
Fair warning, I love this book chapter deeply, but I’ve got some issues with the movie at this point and I’m going to maybe annoy you with them.
Snape’s shown up like a stalker (or a concerned person about a werewolf running loose, however generous you want to interpret this) and he’s somehow acting more unhinged then Sirius at this point, drooling at the thought of getting Sirius’s soul sucked out and…oh wow. OK I just realized for the first time while typing a sentence about how crazy Snape’s acting here that it’s because he thinks Sirius is to blame for Lily’s death. And by extension, Lupin, who he thinks is helping the man who got Lily killed. I’m embarrassed it took me this long to put that together, but I do like to be honest with you! This really explains why he’s dialed up his hatred to eleventy billion at this point. However…based on the backstory we hear later this chapter when Peter transforms from Scabbers, it seems the Death Eaters are aware Peter gave the information about the Potter’s whereabouts to Voldemort. So how could Sirius have been the secret keeper? It does raise some questions on who is aware of Sirius’s innocence at this point. Certainly Snape doesn’t know the truth.
Anyway! So our trio knocks out Snape because even though they don’t believe the story Sirius and Lupin are selling, they still want to hear it because something isn’t right and as usual, Snape isn’t listening to the reasonable things Harry is saying. Another aside because I can never stop those but…if Harry had looked just like Lily, instead of James with Lily’s eyes, would he have still hated him to the degree Snape does?
Sirius provides some more compelling evidence to his assertion that Peter is Scabbers, and he finally FINALLY actually explains that he wasn’t the Secret Keeper, and that Peter was. Lupin’s had enough and Scabbers turns into Peter and –WHAT IN THE HELL IS THIS, HARRY POTTER MOVIES?
COME ON!
Wormtail looks like a literal cartoon villain. This is some Grima Wormtongue in Lord of the Rings shit.
Whaaaaat, this guy is evil? You don’t say! What a plot twist!
But for real, why would anyone trust or be friends with Movie!Peter?!
“Oh hey guys, it’s me, your friend Peter who acts like a schizophrenic rat, and literally looks like one too, please trust me with your biggest secrets and lives!”
This is RIDICULOUS and I am NOT OKAY with it and fine, I have to have it all out. It’s unpopular probably, but I can’t stand Gary Oldman as Sirius Black in the movies. I’m not even saying it’s his fault (it’s not, probably writer/director) or that he’s a bad actor (he’s not), but he looks and behaves entirely wrong to be an accurate representation of Book!Sirius. He comes closest to Book!Sirius in Prisoner of Azkaban out of all the movies he’s in so my full rant will wait for another day, but for now, let’s just say I wasn’t happy with any of the Marauders. James and Lily are 45 in flashbacks, even though they died at 21, Remus is closest in spirit but not how I’d envisioned him, AND LOOK AT WORMTAIL. LOOK AT HIM.
Anyway, in my beloved books he’s sketchy looking and acting who can transform into a rat but is not a literal rat man, and Peter tries his best to convince everyone the real villain is Sirius, and he…faked his own death and lived as a rat for twelve years because….er….?
After a bunch of plot holes are very neatly tied together, Remus and Sirius decide to kill Peter and he tries to convince everyone this is a bad idea (it actually is, kind of) and no one listens but Harry, who knows killing Peter like this is wrong for Sirius’s chances of getting his name cleared, and also kind of morally shitty.
Sirius says one of my favorite lines which I think sums up the good parts of his character very well, and that I believe he means:
“What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?” said Black, with a terrible fury in his face. “Only innocent lives, Peter!”
“You don’t understand!” whined Pettigrew. “He would have killed me, Sirius!”
“THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!” roared Black. “DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!”
Harry steps in and stops his professor from committing a murder in front of three of his teenage students (YIKES) and says they’ll give Peter to the dementors instead, a crueler punishment in a way, and yet also more humane.
At this point our heroes make their fatal error, and instead of oh, say, stupefying Pettigrew, they just…chain him to Lupin and Ron, the boy with a broken leg…?
Thanks, young Leo.
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What do you think about my theory? Would Snape hate Harry less if he looked exactly like Lily?
Do the other Death Eaters know that Sirius is innocent?
What are your thoughts about the Marauders in the movies?
Was Harry right to stop Peter from getting killed?
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