GoF 32

[pauraque_bk]

GoF 32: Flesh, Blood & Bone

No one will be shocked to learn that this is one of my favorite chapters in canon. It's also surprisingly short -- or at least, it surprised me until I realized the reason: Peter does not feel the need to indulge in several pages of theatrical exposition before performing his evil deeds. He's efficient. I admire that in a minion.

'Did anyone tell you the Cup was a Portkey?' [Cedric] asked. (553)

Another example of the usual characterization of Hufflepuffs as rather suspicious of others, I think. Cedric's first thought is to wonder whether Harry has inside information again. The emphasized you sounds accusatory.

Whoever they were, they were short, and wearing a hooded cloak pulled up over their head to obscure their face. (553)

Presumably this is so that JKR can make the revelation of Peter's identity a bit more dramatic a few paragraphs later, but taken at face value, it could be that Peter does not want Harry to recognize him immediately and remove the element of surprise, which allows him to murder Cedric and incapacitate Harry without either of them even putting up a fight.

(Btw, good for JKR's editors for letting her use "they" as an indefinitely gendered singular pronoun. Bugs the hell out me when people call that wrong.)

And then, without warning, Harry's scar exploded with pain. (553)

This seems more dramatic than consistent. Dumbledore's theory is that Harry feels pain when Voldemort feels "particularly murderous", but surely he is anticipating murder this entire time, not all of a sudden.

From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, 'Kill the spare.' (553)

It's not immediately obvious why Voldemort should delegate this task, since he's quite capable of AKing Frank Bryce in Chapter 1. Some possibilities:

- It's easier to kill Muggles than wizards.

- He doesn't want to waste his strength on Cedric and be weakened when he fights Harry. (But has magic ever been shown to work this way? "Harry would have stunned the Acromantula, but he didn't have enough mana.")

- V is trying to strengthen his hold on Peter by making him commit this completely unnecessary and cold-blooded murder -- reducing the chances that Peter could be tempted to turn himself in and throw himself on the mercy of the Ministry.

- Voldemort really liked the "Kill the spare" line.

- JKR really liked the "Kill the spare" line.

Also, what the hell is a "high, cold voice"? Seriously. Did that just sound better than a "mean, squeaky voice"?

For a second that contained an eternity, Harry stared into Cedric's face, at his open grey eyes, blank and expressionless as the windows of a deserted house, at his half-open mouth, which looked slightly surprised. (553-554)

This is exemplary of JKR's strategy for dealing with the violence throughout this chapter, using description that is relatively realistic and understated. I like JKR best when she writes like this.

Oh Cedric! Fandom mourns the premature passing of such a delectable piece of underage boyflesh fascinating character. Cough.

The cloaked man was now conjuring tight cords around Harry, tying him from neck to ankles to the headstone. Harry could hear shallow, fast breathing from the depths of the hood; he struggled, and the man hit him [...]

[Wormtail] was busy checking the tightness of the cords, his fingers trembling uncontrollably, fumbling over the knots. Once sure that Harry was bound so tightly to the headstone that he couldn't move an inch, Wormtail drew a length of some black material from the inside of his cloak and stuffed it roughly into Harry's mouth[...] (554)

This is way dirty, you guys. As I believe I mentioned back at "I bound and gagged Black, naturally", it is not unnecessary to gag a wizard, since wandless magic exists. But still, all this heavy breathing, heavy bondage, Peter roughing Harry up... It's like the beginning of an amanuensis1 fic. :D

Cedric's body was lying some twenty feet away. Some way beyond him, glinting in the starlight, lay the Triwizard Cup. (554)

Let's remember this when we're reflecting on how far Harry has to run back to the Cup on his injured leg.

Wormtail pulled open the robes on the ground, revealing what was inside them, and Harry let out a yell that was strangled in the wad of material blocking his mouth.

It was as though Wormtail had flipped over a stone, and revealed something ugly, slimy and blind -- but worse, a hundred times worse. (555)

It's one of the vicissitudes of writing that the intensifier "worse, a hundred times worse" actually weakens this description. This passage is quite good up to that point, though, nicely vivid. Perhaps JKR could benefit from some confidence in her writing skills; I think writers add unnecessary "telling" like this because they're not certain that they've made their point.

The thing seemed almost helpless; it raised its thin arms, put them around Wormtail's neck, and Wormtail lifted it. As he did so, his hood fell back, and Harry saw the look of revulsion on Wormtail's weak, pale face in the firelight as he carried the creature to the rim of the cauldron. (556)

If I were beta-reading this chapter, I'd be writing a lot of "Good!"s in the margins.

When I read that Peter's face is "weak", I go back and forth between reading it as a moral judgment or as a matter of physical fact (indicating that none of his features are prominent). It could be both, I suppose.

V is described as resembling a "baby" or a "child" a number of times here, which strengthens the creepy pseudo-parental way Peter relates to him. There's a curious fascination to the image of him so trustingly reaching up to be carried. I always wonder here just how weak V really is. In Chapter 1 he voices fears that he won't survive if Peter doesn't constantly tend to him. Peter has already invested a lot of effort into bringing V back to life, but could he really change his mind at this point if he decided it wasn't worth it? Could he destroy V without being killed himself?

Although Peter is not looking forward to chopping off his hand, it's worth noting that he does not seem to be actually dithering over whether he's going to go through with the whole thing or not. He's already decided. This could indicate that it is too late to turn back, and that if he doesn't resurrect V, Barty or someone else will. Since V's coming back anyway, it behooves Peter to be on his good side.

He stretched his right hand out in front of him -- the hand with the missing finger. He gripped the dagger very tightly in his left hand, and swung it upwards. (556)

In reality, it would be rather difficult -- perhaps even impossible -- to cut off one's own hand without resting it on a chopping block. Let's just say the knife is magic. :)

As Voldemort suggested in Chapter 1, Peter is giving his right hand for his master, but interestingly, he's not giving his dominant hand -- Peter is left-handed (see PoA 20). This may not literally matter, but at the very least, to me it symbolizes his half-heartedness in serving Voldemort. As V astutely realizes, Peter only came back because he had nowhere else to go.

Harry realised what Wormtail was about to do a second before it happened -- he closed his eyes as tightly as he could, but he could not block the scream that pierced the night, that went through Harry as thtough he had been stabbed with the dagger too. (556-557)

Again, the description of Peter's pain is curiously empathetic!

'Robe me,' said the high, cold voice from behind the steam, and Wormtail, sobbing and moaning, still cradling his mutilated arm, scrambled to pick up the black robes from the ground, got to his feet, reached up, and pulled them one-handed over his master's head. (558)

As nice as the swirly mist!robes in the movie were, it seems a shame to have lost the hilarious line "Robe me". I seriously laugh every time I read it, and I've read this chapter many times. (Er, maybe leaving it out of the movie was for the best.)

Also, it was awfully thoughtful of Peter to bring a set of robes in Voldemort's size, wasn't it? Maybe he got them while he was out shopping for a person-sized cauldron.

But seriously, I have always considered the successful resurrection to be evidence that Peter is at least competent as a wizard, if not above average. I don't buy the objection that he's just mixing stuff together, and any old Muggle could do the same thing if they had the materials and said the magic words. (Yes, people have really argued this to me.) If it were Lucius or Bellatrix doing this magic, I doubt anyone would fail to be impressed.


By the way, vikingcarrot just mentioned to me that Ralph Fiennes plays Voldemort as left-handed, but didn't know whether this was intentional or if Ralph is just a southpaw. I don't know either; do any of you?


Previous GoF posts are saved in memories here.

Comments

[exbentley]

"Harry would have stunned the Acromantula, but he didn't have enough mana."
"I knew I should have prepared Stupefy this morning," he muttered.

This is my favourite GoF chapter, too, and I think you've just managed to emphasise why. It is the writing, as well as Peter's Awesomeness that endears me to it. Though that said, the rereads make me realise exactly how many adjectives JKR uses.

[pauraque]

Yeah, I usually only comment on JKR's writing style when she's done something either particularly effective or particularly awkward. Most of the time, her writing is squarely average, IMO.

[vikingcarrot.livejournal.com]

High cold voices! Different to high squeaky voices, because they're more smooth.

A high cold voice is breathy, sharp and hissing, like the stiff breeze blowing through that crack in the closed window - and I'm guessing that's the idea she's trying to put across.

That sound used to scare the crap out of me as a child, and it still makes me uneasy late at night.


... Also, I laugh at the "robe me!" line out loud every time as well. I wish it had been in the movie. Mind you, it was made up for by V's beautiful hands and bare feet.

[http://users.livejournal.com/lady_alatariel_/]

Yes high cold voices are creepy. They're like the ringwraiths from Lotr!!

As opposed to the mice from Cinderella...which would definitely be less creepy.

[csi-tokyo3.livejournal.com]

Now I've got Voldemort singing "Cinderelli!" in my head while Peter's busy sewing robes for him in the background. Thank you. Thank you.

[http://users.livejournal.com/lady_alatariel_/]

Wow, this sentence is going to be so "hey remember that one time when we did that thing?" but doesn't someone at some point refer to someone else being killed by Voldemort himself? And it gives the impression that Voldemort only kills the important/powerful people or people whom he thinks would be like "worthy adversaries" and he lives the rest to his DEs.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Do you mean the bit where Sirius says Regulus was killed by Voldemort himself? Because if so, he then goes on to say: "Or on Voldemort's orders, more likely; I doubt Regulus was ever important enough to be killed by Voldemort in person." Which supports your idea here that Cedric wasn't considered important enough for Voldemort to kill himself (though there's some inconsistency here, because apparently Frank Bryce was).

[http://users.livejournal.com/lady_alatariel_/]

Maybe that was it! Its like some vague memory floating around in my head ;)

Stupid Frank Bryce messing up my theory!

[pauraque]

Maybe V killed Frank Bryce to sort of test whether he was still capable of performing the curse. If he failed, only Peter would have been there to see it, and it's not like Frank would have been a match for Peter anyway, so there was no danger to V.

[conuly]

Maybe Frank Bryce was really Voldie's old arch-nemesis who had his memory completely altered, forcing him to live like a Muggle...

What? It could happen!

[trude.livejournal.com]

In chapter nine of OotP, Moody mentions an Order member named Dorcas Meadowes, who apparently was killed by Voldemort himself, though we are not given any reason why.

Filmed improvements

[ook.livejournal.com]

In the GoF film, the bit where Harry runs to Cedric's body and immediately Accios the TriWizard Cup to himself in order to portkey away is a case of the film actually improving on the book.

Another good example of this is in the PoA film where Buckbeak suddenly appears to drive Werewolf!Lupin away from Harry and Hermione in the Forbidden Forest. If only that had happened in the book.

Re: Filmed improvements

[pauraque]

Yeah, it definitely looked more plausible in the GoF film, where Harry basically just had to throw himself down on the ground and yell out a spell, instead of running twenty feet dragging a corpse with a bunch of able adults after him.

Re: Filmed improvements

[(Anonymous)]

Harry never had to drag Cedric, though. Remember that while Harry and V's wands are connnected, they "glided away from the tombstone of Voldemort's father and then came to rest on a patch of ground that was free and clear of graves". At this new postion, the cup is now between Harry and Cedric; Harry has to leap over the cup to reach Cedric's body. (He does this, and then accios the cup.) The fact that Harry had to bypass the cup to get to Cedric always made me feel that fulfilling his promise to Cedric was especially heroic; wouldn't it be tempting to just grab the object you knew was going to save your life, and get the hell out of there?
I mean, it seems to require a lot more fortitude than just flinging yourself onto a corpse and then "accio"ing the cup.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

I've often wondered if there's something to the fact that Peter spared the hand with the missing finger. I used it in one of my humor/smut pieces by saying Voldemort had no cock because Wormtail's missing finger was to have been V's new one. Heh. But seriously, I wonder if JKR has plans to do anything with that.

[pauraque]

Hm? He didn't spare the hand with the missing finger. He cut it off.

[gmth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's what I meant. Wrong choice of words.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Another example of the usual characterization of Hufflepuffs as rather suspicious of others,

I like that it also seems to come from knowing they're seen as duffers by everyone. Of course nobody would tell the Hufflepuff things (even if somebody did give him tips in this tournament). Last to know everything!

This seems more dramatic than consistent. Dumbledore's theory is that Harry feels pain when Voldemort feels "particularly murderous", but surely he is anticipating murder this entire time, not all of a sudden.

Yup. This is why it's so pointless to ever try to base anything on a scientific view of how magic works. It works in the most dramatic way.

- V is trying to strengthen his hold on Peter by making him commit this completely unnecessary and cold-blooded murder -- reducing the chances that Peter could be tempted to turn himself in and throw himself on the mercy of the Ministry.

- Voldemort really liked the "Kill the spare" line.

I think it's a combination of all three of these. If nothing else, Voldemort is a drama queen, and he probably wants his own murder of Harry to be more important by delegating all killing before that to others.

It's one of the vicissitudes of writing that the intensifier "worse, a hundred times worse" actually weakens this description. This passage is quite good up to that point, though, nicely vivid.

Word.

As nice as the swirly mist!robes in the movie were, it seems a shame to have lost the hilarious line "Robe me".

OMG, I love that line so much. So much. A hundred times much.

Peter is so wonderful in this chapter. Honestly, how do you make it work that Peter is supposed to be so "cowardly" according to everyone, and yet when it comes down to it he's go this iron will. I love the detail that he's not dithering at all here, just as I'll bet he didn't dither before blowing up those Muggles. Yet I'll bet he often seemed completely weak (as we keep being told) and vacillitating most of the time, which is why no one could imagine him being efficient. And damn is he efficient.

This chapter is practically perfect, though. It's got everything you could want and the death of a character that I don't think you can really see coming. I mean, I can't remember what it was like reading it the first time now, but I could easily imagine expecting Cedric to live. He didn't have to die for plot reasons. But when he does I just think of poor Mr. Diggory in the Portkey chapter. Voldemort definitely killed two spares.

[pauraque]

I love Peter in this chapter too. When something has to get done, he does not take any crap. I mean, when Harry recognizes him, he does this "*gasp* YOU!" reaction that would set up a different kind of villain for, "Yes, it is I, Peter Pettigrew, whom everyone thought was weak and cowardly! But now I'll show you! I'll show you ALL!" and so on. Instead, he just smacks the kid to shut him up and gets on with it. One of the reasons Peter is such a great villain is that he doesn't act like the Villainous Archetypes that JKR usually likes to use. He seems much more real, like a guy who would hold you up in an alley, take your wallet, and then shoot you anyway.

I could easily imagine expecting Cedric to live. He didn't have to die for plot reasons.

Yeah, I don't think I saw his death coming. It's very effective at communicating how truly dangerous the DEs are, when we've merely been told that they're dangerous in the past.

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

I predicted Cedric's death! Albeit jokingly.
Not because of any psychic powers or high intellect, I might add; but because he beat Harry (so to speak) in Quidditch.
Made me quite relieved the Slytherins never won, I can tell you...

[woman-ironing.livejournal.com]

Peter is so wonderful in this chapter. Honestly, how do you make it work that Peter is supposed to be so "cowardly" according to everyone, and yet when it comes down to it he's go this iron will. I love the detail that he's not dithering at all here, just as I'll bet he didn't dither before blowing up those Muggles. Yet I'll bet he often seemed completely weak (as we keep being told) and vacillitating most of the time, which is why no one could imagine him being efficient. And damn is he efficient.

I guess Peter is efficient. I don't think it's about strength of will though. I think it's about carrying out orders. He's one of those people who need to be told what to do and need to do what they're told efficiently. That's the meaning of life for them.

[pauraque]

He can think quickly and act efficiently without the direction of others, though, unless you think blowing up the street and leaving his finger behind was planned in advance.

[woman-ironing.livejournal.com]

Good point. I wonder what stopped Peter from the making the more efficient move of killing Sirius and surviving as a hero rather than a rat? (Silly me, JKR and the plot of course!)

[pauraque]

I couldn't answer this question to my satisfaction, so I've posted it for further discussion. Hope you don't mind. :)

[atdelphi.livejournal.com]

Whenever I hear "cold, high voice" it makes me think of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - now I'm just waiting for Voldemort to break out The Dip. :-D

And I was very interested to read a more in-depth look at the relationship between Peter and Voldemort, and the part about Peter's hand. Admittedly, the last chapters of the HP books are the ones I read the least thoroughly, racing ahead to see how it all turns out.

[pauraque]

Whenever I hear "cold, high voice" it makes me think of Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - now I'm just waiting for Voldemort to break out The Dip. :-D

OH DUDE. Now I'm going to think of that every time. Voldemort/Judge Doom OTP. >_>

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

High Cold Voice to me is Micheal Crawford's Phantom of the opera singing voice. I think that's about as high as one can go and still sound male.

Which makes "Music of the Night" amusing for me to listen to!

Anyway
Dumbledore's theory is that Harry feels pain when Voldemort feels "particularly murderous", but surely he is anticipating murder this entire time, not all of a sudden.

I think either it was a proximety issue or, that's the point at which Voldemort could see or feel Harry near him and so his murderous feelings increased significantly.

Ad for the "kill the spare" I choice choice three because I just feel this might be the first time Peter has directly killed another person. I know he killed the 12 muggles, but that was sorta an outcome of his explosion not so much his intent. This could ahve been a test to see how fully Peter was going to obey Voldemort. Once in the cauldron, Voldemort is pretty much at Peter's mercy, so I can see him doing something like this to double check his hold.

V is described as resembling a "baby" or a "child" a number of times here, which strengthens the creepy pseudo-parental way Peter relates to him.
This fact as inspired so much of my Peter and Voldemort art it's not even funny! I love the sick twist on a parental care giver role that Peter find himself in. It also, I think, proof, that Peter wants to feel needed more than anything else. Otherwise I can't see why he would stay because I do think Voldemort would be fairly helpless from time to time.

I think fortune favored Voldemort not jsut be giving him Bertha and a minion, but really, I think, the only minion (or only minion with any kind of development) who would *not* be a threat to Voldemort while Voldemort was helpless. I can't see Lucius taking care of baby!Voldemort. But Peter would because that, in my opinion, gives him exactly what he wants. A chance to feel needed and wanted and useful.

And randomly, in another reality, I think he woulda made a good dad ^__^

People have argued that the ressurection spell was nothing but chanting and mixing. Ohhhh yeah, I'd like to stick those people in a Chem class with ingredients and instructions and see how well there asses do -_-
Throwing ingredients together my ass.
He should get double the credit for doing part of the spell while most people would be nearly unconcious from blood loss and shock!

Which is a nitpick that bugs me. The scene in this chapter and then over in the next one runs to0 long for Peter to have survived without doing anything, but there's no mention of him doing anything but shoving cloth in the wound (I mean did you see "Saw" *that* was a could example of how fast massive blood loss kicks a person's ass!)

[pauraque]

I just feel this might be the first time Peter has directly killed another person. I know he killed the 12 muggles, but that was sorta an outcome of his explosion not so much his intent. This could ahve been a test to see how fully Peter was going to obey Voldemort.

That's a good point. As far as we know, he may never have used the killing curse on a person before.

Peter wants to feel needed more than anything else. Otherwise I can't see why he would stay because I do think Voldemort would be fairly helpless from time to time.

I think his original reasoning is what it appears to be: he is vulnerable now, and bringing Voldemort back to power is the only way he can feel protected. But I agree that the caretaking role may have appealed to him on some level, and perhaps made it easier to cope with the situation.

The scene in this chapter and then over in the next one runs to0 long for Peter to have survived without doing anything, but there's no mention of him doing anything but shoving cloth in the wound

Ah yes. JKR definitely did not research how long you would really be able to go without medical treatment after a wound like that. She does sometimes say that wizards are more physically durable than Muggles, but as great as it is for Voldie's characterization to show him prancing around expositing while his minion is bleeding out, it strains believability.

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

but as great as it is for Voldie's characterization to show him prancing around expositing while his minion is bleeding out, it strains believability.

I think that's why gehayi and I latched onto the notion that Peter might have some medical training/knowledge. It provided an explanation as to how he could keep himself alive during that time (and, for me, it gave him an area of usefulness in the MWPP group). Because yeah druable might explain why he was alive, but he was only showing signs of pain not shock or bloodloss.

Then again, I think it's so commone to see wounds handled in an unrealistic manner that I can hardly hold this against JKR. It seems many writers (especially of screen scripts!) don't know how quickly one dies from that kinda thing.

I think his original reasoning is what it appears to be: he is vulnerable now, and bringing Voldemort back to power is the only way he can feel protected.
Oh I agree that's part of it. He needs and wants protection certainly. His kinda created a personality for himself that will get him that, at least on some level =P

[arclevel.livejournal.com]

It seems many writers (especially of screen scripts!) don't know how quickly one dies from that kinda thing.

The opposite extreme also seems to be true. I was always amazed by how, in the Buffyverse, a vampire could sip at a victim slowly enough that when Buffy arrived, a while after hearing a scream, the victim could run off, presumably just fine. Other times, when Buffy *wasn't* about to conveniently show up, a vampire could bite someone and have them completely dead in under four seconds, without even spilling any of the blood.

As for Peter, it could be medical knowledge, but presumably he couldn't have started treating himself until after he'd finished the ritual (and, of course, the robing). If we're already presuming the knife to be magical for Peter to cut his hand off while holding it in midair, then maybe it also acted to paritally cauterize the wound, or at least activate clotting factors.

[pauraque]

If we're already presuming the knife to be magical for Peter to cut his hand off while holding it in midair, then maybe it also acted to paritally cauterize the wound, or at least activate clotting factors.

Hey, I like that. :D

[lanjelin.livejournal.com]

Also, cutting off limbs whith metal blades is really, really hard and requires a lot of training. So I think the blade must have been magical in any case!

[j-lunatic.livejournal.com]

From far away, above his head, he heard a high, cold voice say, 'Kill the spare.' (553)

My theory (and as such worth even less than what you paid for it) is that this is a foreshadowing of the Book Seven final battle -- either Voldemort doesn't notice or Wormtail refuses to kill the spare (Neville, according to my theory), and this spare wizard helps to defeat V.