OOC in regards to IC-ness
be sorted @ nimbo.net
'Congratulations on making Slytherin!
So basically, you're cunning, ambitous, and willing to use any means to meet your ends. Lots of people think Slytherins are cold, evil, heartless people.. and although some are, some are not. Slytherins are the most misunderstood people.. You're not all evil! We're misconceived and misunderstood, and have been given a bad rep.. The movie makes us look terrible. People just have this thing about people about ambition.. Hmm.. Well, you know you're the best, so I guess it doesn't matter. Gryffindor may beat you at everything.. but you still keep trying! COME ON, SHOW SOME SLYTHERIN PRIDE!'
This is, in fact, the answer I'd hoped for. I rather like the idea of Moody as a Slytherin. If it's all about cunning and ambition and being crafty, I think that's him all over.
Been searching the net for fanfiction, and there's a lot out there that I feel portrays him completely out of character. There is also a lot of... ahrm... romance. Moody/Tonks, Moody/Remus, Moody/Pomfrey, Moody/McGonagall... the man certainly does get around, for such an ugly old bastard. I have my own take there, which is that Moody made a decision a long time ago. You either choose love and family and romance and that whole wonderful life, or you choose to be an auror. You don't get both. Moody chose to be an auror, to dedicate his life to that, to the exclusion of all else. That's not to say he wouldn't be up for a one-night-stand, provided both parties are aware and accepting that's all it is. His lack of romantic interest is only increased in his later years by his paranoia, which makes it awfully difficult to let one's guard down enough around anyone for that kind of thing.
That said, there are a few fanfics out there that I do like, and feel portray him the way I do.
'Places Unknown'. This one is also available on Fanfic.net, and as a sort of one-shot, I find this to be my favourite. I am especially fond of the detailed description of his precautions when McGonagall shows up on his doorstep. The Moody I play is a bit less twitchy, as he was in books five and six, but I think that's simply a matter of time.
I also highly reccomend 'Fool's Law', another one-shot, of Tonk's interview before she was hired as an auror. I notice in many fanfics, and in the books, Moody has an extreme reluctance to shake anyone's hand. He does shake Dumbledore's hand in Goblet of Fire, but that isn't actually him. All the same, if he didn't ordinarily trust Dumbledore enough for that, it would have been a huge tipoff.
I like the idea of Moody and Tonks having a somewhat close teacher-student relationship, inasmuch as Moody has a close relationship with anyone. He's just as gruff to her as anyone, but I imagine she's learnd to read hat's underneath.
I am still trying to form ideas of his relationship with Shacklebolt, as well as Scrimgeour. Did he work under Scrimgeour? They actually strike me as very like minds in some ways, but their allegiances in later times would definitely put some animosity between them. I wonder at Moody's relationship with Dumbledore, for that matter; Clearly he held him in high regard, enough so that he was willing to work with Snape on his word. Spending most of a year locked in a trunk under Dumbledore's nose, on the other hand, was likely to put some doubt in his mind of the other wizard's judgement.
At any rate, all these ramblings are meant to give anyone who cares an idea on where my portrayal of the character is coming from. I am edgy about playing such a well-known character that is not my own, there's so much room to tread carelessly on other people's perceptions of what he would and would not do.
I welcome commentary on how others feel he should be played. That is not to say I will follow every suggestion, because I doubt I could compromise every viewpoint there is, but I will listen, and consider.