Personal Canon
Harry Potter Fandom
versipellis asked about
Ooh, now. This is a really difficult one because I've never really got my head around Peter properly. You'll rarely find me writing him because I can't get into his head the same way I can with many of the other characters.
He's clearly got a great deal of physical courage. For goodness sake, we're talking about the person who deliberately cut off his own finger on one occasion, and later his entire hand.
There's got to be reasons why he was sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin. The physical courage one is the only obvious reason: you couldn't call him "chivalric" (Sorting Hat PS). "Brave"? "Bold"? (OOTP, PS, GOF) That undermines his excuse that there was nothing to be gained from defying Voldemort; and, indeed, the whole persona that comes across of someone who does things to keep himself safe at all costs (which is WAY more Slytherin). Therefore... there's got to be more to Peter than I understand.
It's not a great personal canon for him, is it. "There's more to him than I know." Oh well. You asked.
dacian_goddess asked about
Oh dear. Always an awkward one to talk about because people have such strong opinions on him.
Me, I think he's unhappy. I think he's been unhappy for so long that he doesn't even know he's unhappy or really realise that there are other ways of being. I would imagine that he's got a very nasty past (we've seen glimpses) and he's not shaken them off.
I also don't imagine that it would occur to him to question whether he was happy or not, and would see it as a ridiculous question, asked by soft-headed idiots. What is important is what you do, not how you feel. Only those with nothing better to do spend time worrying about their feelings.
And, of course, if you spend a lot of time practising Occlumency - which he must do, whichever side he's on - you probably lose touch with a lot of what might be happening in your head, as you have to keep it closed off the entire time.
I wonder if he really knows what he'd be like if he had the chance just to be himself.
My Hermione, I'm afraid, is severely lacking in self-esteem. To some degree, almost painfully so.
Not - obviously - on an academic level, but I do think that she works so hard and throws quite so much of herself into work because she doesn't really feel she's much good at anything else.
Thinking of book 1 - "nobody likes her" Ron says, and she hears and cries. Then later, she dismisses her academic brilliance saying that it means nothing next to "friendship and bravery" etc that Harry has. She doesn't seem to feel at all confident in her personal qualities.
Similarly, she's not shown as having any female friends in her own year. Things may have changed, but when I was at school, if my best female friend had been in the year below (because Ginny is tagged for that position; and that's her friend's little sister, which is a bit odd, too), I'd have felt a little - out of place, I guess. And IMO, Ron and Harry are best friends, and Hermione's their 'other' friend. Certainly to some degree.
Also, canon says Hermione 4 Ron. No matter how much I may play around with it, that is what I think 'real' canon says.
Would it be fair to say that he's psychopathic? Maybe that's a little strong, at least for his early days. But he certainly has an affinity and pleasure in hurting people that is a bit unnerving. Of course he had a rotten time, but then presumably the other kids in the orphanage did too, and they didn't turn out like him. He doesn't seem to have any sense of morality save "what will work best for me".
I'll tell you something else, too - even if I didn't know what happened to him, I'd say that that morality would most likely take him a long way.
Mmm. Tonks.
Y'see, in my personal canon she's utterly gay. Which is somewhat awkward, given the Remus storyline in HBP. That storyline bugs me, not only because Tonks goes from being "interesting and talented slightly older female" to "lovesick and unable to cope without the man she loves" but also because - well, look, she's GAY. Remus is a BLOKE. It's Not Going To Work.
Love the pink hair, though.
versipellis asked about
Ooh, now. This is a really difficult one because I've never really got my head around Peter properly. You'll rarely find me writing him because I can't get into his head the same way I can with many of the other characters.
He's clearly got a great deal of physical courage. For goodness sake, we're talking about the person who deliberately cut off his own finger on one occasion, and later his entire hand.
There's got to be reasons why he was sorted into Gryffindor and not Slytherin. The physical courage one is the only obvious reason: you couldn't call him "chivalric" (Sorting Hat PS). "Brave"? "Bold"? (OOTP, PS, GOF) That undermines his excuse that there was nothing to be gained from defying Voldemort; and, indeed, the whole persona that comes across of someone who does things to keep himself safe at all costs (which is WAY more Slytherin). Therefore... there's got to be more to Peter than I understand.
It's not a great personal canon for him, is it. "There's more to him than I know." Oh well. You asked.
dacian_goddess asked about
Oh dear. Always an awkward one to talk about because people have such strong opinions on him.
Me, I think he's unhappy. I think he's been unhappy for so long that he doesn't even know he's unhappy or really realise that there are other ways of being. I would imagine that he's got a very nasty past (we've seen glimpses) and he's not shaken them off.
I also don't imagine that it would occur to him to question whether he was happy or not, and would see it as a ridiculous question, asked by soft-headed idiots. What is important is what you do, not how you feel. Only those with nothing better to do spend time worrying about their feelings.
And, of course, if you spend a lot of time practising Occlumency - which he must do, whichever side he's on - you probably lose touch with a lot of what might be happening in your head, as you have to keep it closed off the entire time.
I wonder if he really knows what he'd be like if he had the chance just to be himself.
My Hermione, I'm afraid, is severely lacking in self-esteem. To some degree, almost painfully so.
Not - obviously - on an academic level, but I do think that she works so hard and throws quite so much of herself into work because she doesn't really feel she's much good at anything else.
Thinking of book 1 - "nobody likes her" Ron says, and she hears and cries. Then later, she dismisses her academic brilliance saying that it means nothing next to "friendship and bravery" etc that Harry has. She doesn't seem to feel at all confident in her personal qualities.
Similarly, she's not shown as having any female friends in her own year. Things may have changed, but when I was at school, if my best female friend had been in the year below (because Ginny is tagged for that position; and that's her friend's little sister, which is a bit odd, too), I'd have felt a little - out of place, I guess. And IMO, Ron and Harry are best friends, and Hermione's their 'other' friend. Certainly to some degree.
Also, canon says Hermione 4 Ron. No matter how much I may play around with it, that is what I think 'real' canon says.
Would it be fair to say that he's psychopathic? Maybe that's a little strong, at least for his early days. But he certainly has an affinity and pleasure in hurting people that is a bit unnerving. Of course he had a rotten time, but then presumably the other kids in the orphanage did too, and they didn't turn out like him. He doesn't seem to have any sense of morality save "what will work best for me".
I'll tell you something else, too - even if I didn't know what happened to him, I'd say that that morality would most likely take him a long way.
Mmm. Tonks.
Y'see, in my personal canon she's utterly gay. Which is somewhat awkward, given the Remus storyline in HBP. That storyline bugs me, not only because Tonks goes from being "interesting and talented slightly older female" to "lovesick and unable to cope without the man she loves" but also because - well, look, she's GAY. Remus is a BLOKE. It's Not Going To Work.
Love the pink hair, though.