Pondering some Blacks - Mostly Walburga

[goddlefrood]

Mrs. Black intrigued me right from our first meeting with her. The portrait of her was just too odd to be anything but a parody, or was it? This began as a speculation on R. A. B. many moons ago, it has grown into a bit of a monster and newer material is incorporated herein. Walburga may be the last thing you want to read any more about if, or when

Comments

[mary_j_59]

Well - interesting essay, and I am all in favor of *everyone* in this story being more than they seem, as I find the cliches annoying. Still, I did want to point out that, though hardly on the Gaunt level, the Blacks are not the epitome of sanity. It isn't just Sirius and Bellatrix, either - there is also that aunt who wanted to legalize muggle hunting and the one who beheaded all the house elves, and so on (and on). Narcissa, too, doesn't seem to be the most balanced person in the world, though there's certainly lots of excuse for her. In short, I'm not at all sure we've seen what I would call a *sane* Black. At best, they seem to be extremely thoughtless, impulsive, and self-centered (that's Sirius). At worst, Bellatrix is clearly criminally insane at this point, and the same may be true of those others I've mentioned. Why not Walburga, too?

[goddlefrood]

Show me a truly sane person or witch or wizard and I'll show you a tap dancing iguana.

The Blacks just have their eccentricities and a little in breeding, perhaps, but no more than that, as far as I read them, anyway.

Walburga most probably had issues and her portrayal would tell us that. She had her tribulations too, her husband and favoured son both died in 1979 and her oldest child was a blood traitor, in her opinion, and also wound up in Azkaban ostensibly for being Lord Voldemort's most loyal servant. Her dislike of LV and his stated aims would have made that a hard pill to swallow, whatever she thought of Sirius prior to his imprisonment.

Of course the poor dear never did live long enough to see that Sirius was exonerated and she went to her grave, or wherever departed witches go, thinking he was a double traitor, as it were.

I agree abpout Bellatrix now being insane, but the Bellatrix seen in the Pensieve during GoF was fanatical and raving, but not quite insane. Also she had patently escaped detection as a Death Eater

[ebailey140]

Did you ever notice, in the hospital scene at the end of HBP, what Nymphadora did to Remus mirrored what her Aunt Narcissa did with Severus, grabbing onto the front of the guys robes and coming unglued?

Of course, that may not mean instability, since both aunt and niece got what they wanted. :)

[mary_j_59]

I sure did notice! and I found it disturbing; it made me wonder just who Tonks was. But it certainly was an effective move, in both cases. ;)