Noble and Most Ancient: The Black Family Tapestry

[terri_testing]

Let’s think about the Black Family Tree for a moment-not the data in the possibly non-canonical display of Phineas’s branch that was created by JKR for a charity auction, but the hanging itself, that Sirius showed off to Harry, with commentary.  What does canon say, and what can we deduce, about the Black Family Tapestry?

It’s not a prepossessing

Comments

Re: Auncyen

[seductivedark]

(Noble and Most Ancient-gah! Who starts a family tree that way?)

That may be why it was added later, by Walburga or someone else. Of course the original wouldn't have such a thing at the beginning, unless the Blacks were pretentious even then.

Walburga's practice of blasting people off the tapestry doesn't seem like something that's been handed down. An ancient tapestry, or one pretending to be, wouldn't be disturbed other than to add new names as they came along. Walburga seems to have been disturbed, and part of showing that was having her blast the tapestry. I think it was just her, not a long line of tapestry-blasting women marrying into the family. Maybe she was so obsessed with purity that, in her delicate mental state, she saw any impurity as being a threat, not just unacceptable. Maybe she altered, or created, the current hanging to hide not-so-pure elements in the past. Maybe she knew something that is now lost to Black family history. Sirius says that she is the one who put permanent sticking charms on it - maybe for a reason. Is there an older version of the hanging behind it?