Thoughts on Charlie Weasley
I have a theory about Charlie Weasley and why it is that we haven't gotten very close to him in the books. This post may possibly contain spoilers for Deathly Hallows but it's all speculation. I did not post this on the spoilers filter though because it's mostly speculation on what happened in the previous books and if it will lead to a surprise for the final book and also because I want to post this publicly for now. However, I put it behind a cut so you can read at your own risk.
We've had a chance to get close to everyone in the Weasley family except Charlie. He has a couple brief appearances in GOF but he barely says anything at all.
We first meet Charlie on page 52 of Goblet of Fire where he says hello to Harry and reaches out to shake his hand. We learn that Charlie has "calluses and blisters under his fingers" and that he is "built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron," and has "a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it" (52).
In the next paragraph we learn a bit about Bill that gets a bit more personal than just general appearance. Harry has an opinion on Bill but not Charlie. Total lines devoted to describing Charlie - 8, total lines devoted to describing Bill - 11. There's a three line difference there. Both have a brief refence to what they do and a short comparision to how they're like/unlike their other siblings, but Charlie practically gets glossed over. Bill gets up to shake Harry's hand, Harry is surprised by him, and immediately we pay attention to him. Charlie, on the other hand, stays seated and we get just a basic idea of what he looks like. There's nothing special about him that grabs our attention. It's almost like we're not supposed to really notice him.
Later on Bill and Charlie are setting up tables for dinner and we again have our attention called to Bill while Charlie melts into the background. The two boys are making their tables crash into each other and Percy yells out the window for them to keep it down. Bill responds, both boys put their tables down, and Bill reattaches the leg he knocked off Charlie's table and conjurs up tablecloths (60).
A few pages later we're hearing more about Bill. Mrs. Weasley is giving him a hard time about his hair and earring and we see him patiently telling her that it's staying. Again, we're learning more about Bill personally and seeing how he interacts with his family. On page 63, Charlie is mentioned again but he's talking quidditch with Fred and George. The only personal things we learn about Charlie is that he keeps up with quidditch and he doesn't mind talking with a mouthful of food. He only has two lines on that page and then we don't hear from him again until the Quidditch World Cup.
At the Quidditch World Cup we don't hear anything from Charlie but we know he goes along with Mr. Weasley, Percy, and Bill to fight the Death Eaters when they attack the Roberts family (GOF paperback p.120). But afterwards, it's Bill that we hear from not Charlie. Charlie has two brief lines one which is shared with Bill and Percy:
Charlie's head was poking out of the boys' tent.
"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others --" (140)
"What?" said Bill, Charlie, and Percy together. (141, after finding out about Mr. Crouch's house elf having the wand that conjured the Dark Mark.)
The only other thing we hear about Charlie for the rest of the chapter is that he snores.
The next time we see Charlie is on page 327 when Hagrid takes Harry to show him the first task is getting past a dragon. He gets a total of about one page (front and back) to talk and again Charlie only seems to be there to remind us that there is another Weasley brother. Any other dragon keeper could have given us the information that Charlie gives us about the first task. We do learn something rather interesting about Charlie though... Unlike Bill, who patiently put up with his mother and gently brushed her worries aside, Charlie tends to be a bit more snide about her worries.
"I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about him..." Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. "How could they let him enter that tournament, he's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!"
I don't think I'm the only one who thinks that he comes off just a bit impatient with his mother's worries. Granted, he's only about 21 or 22 during this book but he works with dragons and should know that a 14 year old wizard isn't likely to have the skill it would take to get past a nesting dragon. He does grimly mention that he hopes Harry is okay after he faces the dragons but then he casually brushes off the danger Harry might be in.
So we see that Charlie doesn't get a whole lot of book time in Goblet of Fire. We're not really given a chance to get close to Charlie and it seems rather deliberate that we're not getting close to him. We don't see too much of Bill during Goblet of Fire either but when we do see him we're given more personal information on him and when he shows up for the final task, we see him taking charge to go let Mr. Weasley know that Voldemort is back. This continues on in Order of the Phoenix. In other words, JKR gives us openings to start getting a feel for Bill and his character and we get to know Bill more over the next couple of books, but she seems determined to keep us away from Charlie. Charlie is hardly mentioned at all in Order of the Phoenix.
Bill and Charlie are both mentioned on page 70 of Order of the Phoenix. We find out Bill is giving a lot of "private lessons" to Fleur Delacour and is the Order and George tells us that "Charlie's in the Order too, but he's still in Romania [...] trying to make contacts [with foreign wizards] on his days off." We then hear about Percy siding with the Ministry instead of with his family and the Order.
I think it's rather significant here to see that Bill came home to join the Order and be with his family during this time. Bill could just have easily have stayed out there to make contacts. I'm figuring that part of the reason is that it would be very easy for Bill to transfer back to England. He might not be able to go out and find treasure as often (if at all) while he's working in London but it would have been relatively easy for him to get transfered. Charlie might not have had such an easy time since his job involves dragons and we don't really know where other dragon reserves may be.
However, that Christmas Mr. Weasley is attacked by Nagini while guarding the Department of Mysteries and Charlie doesn't even bother to come home and see his father. Mr. Weasley nearly dies and Charlie doesn't bother to come see him. Now, it's Christmas and I seriously doubt any employer would be so hard-hearted not to give someone time off for Christmas if he wanted it. Especially not knowing the employee's father in the hospital after a near fatal accident. Why doesn't Charlie come home?
Well, here's my theory. And I know, you are all probably saying "finally, Liz!" but it's worth the wait.
I think Charlie Weasley is secretly a Death Eater.
I would hardly call Percy the skeleton in the Weasley's closet or even necessarily the black sheep of the family. He has a spat with them that goes too far but it's hardly a major flaw on the family. And other than that little fight the Weasley family seems awfully squeaky clean. Dumbledore mentions that there's Death Eaters that come from every house, not just Slytherin, and we know that Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, so it's not unheard of to have a Gryffindor Death Eater. Also, with a pureblood family, it's unlikely that everyone in the family is going to be sympathetic towards muggles, so we can logically say that somewhere in the family there's at least one relative that is sympathetic to Voldemort, even if it isn't a direct relative.
So, why am I pointing fingers at Charlie?
We're deliberately kept emotionally distant from him. - Half the time we forget he's there because he's not mentioned or he has so little part in the books. Rowling likes to make sure we have an opinion on the characters but for some reason Charlie is sorely neglected. Perhaps she's setting him up to be one of the people who dies in DH and doesn't want us to mourn much for him but I think there's a more sinister reason.
We can see how the other Weasleys react to muggles. Mr. Weasley adores them, Bill dresses like them, Percy has dated a muggleborn and is possibly still dating her, Fred and George are offended when Mr. Weasley suggests they gave Dudley the ton-tongue-toffee because he's a muggle, and Ron's best friends are a muggleborn and a wizard that was raised by muggles. I don't think any of them can be suspected of being anti-muggle. Mrs. Weasley, on the other hand, seems barely tolerant of Mr. Weasley's love for muggle things. I don't think she dislikes muggles but I think she's much less likely to appreciate them than any of her other family members. Charlie we don't know about. He seems a bit snide towards some of his mother's opinions but who's to say he's not someone who thinks that Mr. Weasley is a disgrace for loving muggles? He certainly doesn't seem at all bothered when his father is attacked so it's possible that he's not close to Mr. Weasley and is closer to Mrs. Weasley, and (yes, it's a stretch) has taken her opinions much further than just having a huffy tolerance.
I'm suspicious of Charlie for all the things he hasn't done like visited his father in the hospital, come home to join the Order of the Phoenix, and hasn't had any significant information to give the Order that we've heard about. I'm also suspicious of him for the things he has done like brushed off the danger Harry would be in while getting past a dragon. I'm also suspicious as to why Jo hasn't let us get close to Charlie. And these suspicions lead up to me thinking that Charlie Weasley is a Death Eater.
So what do you all think? Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I completely out of my mind?
We've had a chance to get close to everyone in the Weasley family except Charlie. He has a couple brief appearances in GOF but he barely says anything at all.
We first meet Charlie on page 52 of Goblet of Fire where he says hello to Harry and reaches out to shake his hand. We learn that Charlie has "calluses and blisters under his fingers" and that he is "built like the twins, shorter and stockier than Percy and Ron," and has "a broad, good-natured face, which was weather-beaten and so freckly that he looked almost tanned; his arms were muscular, and one of them had a large, shiny burn on it" (52).
In the next paragraph we learn a bit about Bill that gets a bit more personal than just general appearance. Harry has an opinion on Bill but not Charlie. Total lines devoted to describing Charlie - 8, total lines devoted to describing Bill - 11. There's a three line difference there. Both have a brief refence to what they do and a short comparision to how they're like/unlike their other siblings, but Charlie practically gets glossed over. Bill gets up to shake Harry's hand, Harry is surprised by him, and immediately we pay attention to him. Charlie, on the other hand, stays seated and we get just a basic idea of what he looks like. There's nothing special about him that grabs our attention. It's almost like we're not supposed to really notice him.
Later on Bill and Charlie are setting up tables for dinner and we again have our attention called to Bill while Charlie melts into the background. The two boys are making their tables crash into each other and Percy yells out the window for them to keep it down. Bill responds, both boys put their tables down, and Bill reattaches the leg he knocked off Charlie's table and conjurs up tablecloths (60).
A few pages later we're hearing more about Bill. Mrs. Weasley is giving him a hard time about his hair and earring and we see him patiently telling her that it's staying. Again, we're learning more about Bill personally and seeing how he interacts with his family. On page 63, Charlie is mentioned again but he's talking quidditch with Fred and George. The only personal things we learn about Charlie is that he keeps up with quidditch and he doesn't mind talking with a mouthful of food. He only has two lines on that page and then we don't hear from him again until the Quidditch World Cup.
At the Quidditch World Cup we don't hear anything from Charlie but we know he goes along with Mr. Weasley, Percy, and Bill to fight the Death Eaters when they attack the Roberts family (GOF paperback p.120). But afterwards, it's Bill that we hear from not Charlie. Charlie has two brief lines one which is shared with Bill and Percy:
Charlie's head was poking out of the boys' tent.
"Dad, what's going on?" he called through the dark. "Fred, George, and Ginny got back okay, but the others --" (140)
"What?" said Bill, Charlie, and Percy together. (141, after finding out about Mr. Crouch's house elf having the wand that conjured the Dark Mark.)
The only other thing we hear about Charlie for the rest of the chapter is that he snores.
The next time we see Charlie is on page 327 when Hagrid takes Harry to show him the first task is getting past a dragon. He gets a total of about one page (front and back) to talk and again Charlie only seems to be there to remind us that there is another Weasley brother. Any other dragon keeper could have given us the information that Charlie gives us about the first task. We do learn something rather interesting about Charlie though... Unlike Bill, who patiently put up with his mother and gently brushed her worries aside, Charlie tends to be a bit more snide about her worries.
"I didn't dare tell Mum what he's got to do for the first task; she's already having kittens about him..." Charlie imitated his mother's anxious voice. "How could they let him enter that tournament, he's much too young! I thought they were all safe, I thought there was going to be an age limit!"
I don't think I'm the only one who thinks that he comes off just a bit impatient with his mother's worries. Granted, he's only about 21 or 22 during this book but he works with dragons and should know that a 14 year old wizard isn't likely to have the skill it would take to get past a nesting dragon. He does grimly mention that he hopes Harry is okay after he faces the dragons but then he casually brushes off the danger Harry might be in.
So we see that Charlie doesn't get a whole lot of book time in Goblet of Fire. We're not really given a chance to get close to Charlie and it seems rather deliberate that we're not getting close to him. We don't see too much of Bill during Goblet of Fire either but when we do see him we're given more personal information on him and when he shows up for the final task, we see him taking charge to go let Mr. Weasley know that Voldemort is back. This continues on in Order of the Phoenix. In other words, JKR gives us openings to start getting a feel for Bill and his character and we get to know Bill more over the next couple of books, but she seems determined to keep us away from Charlie. Charlie is hardly mentioned at all in Order of the Phoenix.
Bill and Charlie are both mentioned on page 70 of Order of the Phoenix. We find out Bill is giving a lot of "private lessons" to Fleur Delacour and is the Order and George tells us that "Charlie's in the Order too, but he's still in Romania [...] trying to make contacts [with foreign wizards] on his days off." We then hear about Percy siding with the Ministry instead of with his family and the Order.
I think it's rather significant here to see that Bill came home to join the Order and be with his family during this time. Bill could just have easily have stayed out there to make contacts. I'm figuring that part of the reason is that it would be very easy for Bill to transfer back to England. He might not be able to go out and find treasure as often (if at all) while he's working in London but it would have been relatively easy for him to get transfered. Charlie might not have had such an easy time since his job involves dragons and we don't really know where other dragon reserves may be.
However, that Christmas Mr. Weasley is attacked by Nagini while guarding the Department of Mysteries and Charlie doesn't even bother to come home and see his father. Mr. Weasley nearly dies and Charlie doesn't bother to come see him. Now, it's Christmas and I seriously doubt any employer would be so hard-hearted not to give someone time off for Christmas if he wanted it. Especially not knowing the employee's father in the hospital after a near fatal accident. Why doesn't Charlie come home?
Well, here's my theory. And I know, you are all probably saying "finally, Liz!" but it's worth the wait.
I think Charlie Weasley is secretly a Death Eater.
I would hardly call Percy the skeleton in the Weasley's closet or even necessarily the black sheep of the family. He has a spat with them that goes too far but it's hardly a major flaw on the family. And other than that little fight the Weasley family seems awfully squeaky clean. Dumbledore mentions that there's Death Eaters that come from every house, not just Slytherin, and we know that Pettigrew was a Gryffindor, so it's not unheard of to have a Gryffindor Death Eater. Also, with a pureblood family, it's unlikely that everyone in the family is going to be sympathetic towards muggles, so we can logically say that somewhere in the family there's at least one relative that is sympathetic to Voldemort, even if it isn't a direct relative.
So, why am I pointing fingers at Charlie?
We're deliberately kept emotionally distant from him. - Half the time we forget he's there because he's not mentioned or he has so little part in the books. Rowling likes to make sure we have an opinion on the characters but for some reason Charlie is sorely neglected. Perhaps she's setting him up to be one of the people who dies in DH and doesn't want us to mourn much for him but I think there's a more sinister reason.
We can see how the other Weasleys react to muggles. Mr. Weasley adores them, Bill dresses like them, Percy has dated a muggleborn and is possibly still dating her, Fred and George are offended when Mr. Weasley suggests they gave Dudley the ton-tongue-toffee because he's a muggle, and Ron's best friends are a muggleborn and a wizard that was raised by muggles. I don't think any of them can be suspected of being anti-muggle. Mrs. Weasley, on the other hand, seems barely tolerant of Mr. Weasley's love for muggle things. I don't think she dislikes muggles but I think she's much less likely to appreciate them than any of her other family members. Charlie we don't know about. He seems a bit snide towards some of his mother's opinions but who's to say he's not someone who thinks that Mr. Weasley is a disgrace for loving muggles? He certainly doesn't seem at all bothered when his father is attacked so it's possible that he's not close to Mr. Weasley and is closer to Mrs. Weasley, and (yes, it's a stretch) has taken her opinions much further than just having a huffy tolerance.
I'm suspicious of Charlie for all the things he hasn't done like visited his father in the hospital, come home to join the Order of the Phoenix, and hasn't had any significant information to give the Order that we've heard about. I'm also suspicious of him for the things he has done like brushed off the danger Harry would be in while getting past a dragon. I'm also suspicious as to why Jo hasn't let us get close to Charlie. And these suspicions lead up to me thinking that Charlie Weasley is a Death Eater.
So what do you all think? Am I right? Am I wrong? Am I completely out of my mind?