Gee! Oh, eff!

[pauraque_bk]

It has been a keladryb-tastic and largely non-internet long weekend. There was Shakespeare, there was goose-baiting, there was an inexplicable Disney singalong. Perhaps I shall catch up on the details of those things in the fullness of time (the Shakespeare, particularly).

However, at the moment, I want to talk about GoF, my re-read of which I finished yesterday. All love to chresimos, for some of this is distilled from conversations with her.

As we all know, the wand Voldemort is using in Chapter 34 is the same one he had the night he killed the Potters. One immediately wonders how this can be; he obviously hasn't been carrying it around with him.

The only answer I can see is that Peter was there that night, grabbed the wand, and hid it away somewhere before Sirius caught up to him. I don't quite see why he would take the trouble to do this, unless he was already trying to plan for a possible resurrection, which is interesting in itself. (Where he stashed the wand is actually not an issue -- Gringotts works. We already know the goblins are willing to deal with animals and make withdrawals from the accounts of people who are supposed to be out of commission (PoA Ch22).)

It's interesting, the things that go on with this wand. Voldemort and Peter appear to share it between them throughout GoF. Peter has it at the beginning of Chapter 32, and he surreptitiously puts it in the pocket of the robes he's going to give to V at the end of the chapter; V takes it out of that pocket when he rises from the cauldron. (Harry doesn't notice Peter putting the wand in the pocket when he picks up the robes, but he must do so.)

Why can't Peter have his own wand? Assuming he did hide V's wand in 1981, he couldn't have hidden his own with it? He couldn't have sent an owl to Ollivander's? This is interesting for me, because it emphasizes the depth of the connection between Peter and V in GoF, but I don't see any logical reason it should be so.

It's Peter, not V, who kills Cedric, but he does it with V's wand. Why? Or perhaps the better question would be, why did JKR want Cedric dead by Peter's hand, and not Voldemort's? Voldie was capable of AK in that state, as Frank Bryce can attest. It's interesting that Dumbledore says Cedric was "murdered by Lord Voldemort" (GoF Ch37), which is not literally true.

Is this important, I wonder? Or is it just that she wanted to keep the "Kill the spare" line? :P

Comments

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

Well having Peter kill Cedric finally directly involves Peter in a murder. Up until that point I suspect he'd never directly killed someone. I do believe the information he passed led to more deaths than just the Potters, but he never had to be their when they died, giving the AK>

So it's devolpment on Peter's part. We know Voldemort is capable of killing, he does so in the first chapter. But up until that point, we didn't know if Peter could.

Also, it's, as you said, connecting him to Voldemort. It shows him reacting automaticaly to an order given by his master, even a repulsive one like that, involving the pointless death of a young man.

From a story stand point, I think Voldemort might have had Peter do it because he enjoys having power over others. He knows he can kill, but I suspect it's more fun to get to Peter to kill for him. It also demonstrates, to himself and to Peter (as well as the reader) who is in charge, who has the power. So I think he might have had Peter do the killing purely as a mind game.

Another possibility is simply Peter had been using the wand in preperation for Harry's coming and was still holding it when Cedric and Harry showed up. It would be simpler to order Peter to kill, rather than take the wand from him and do it yourself. Voldemort would loose the element of surprise more than likely.

A final possibility was , in this instance, Voldemort was too weak. He did kill in the first chapter, but that was fairly soon after being fed. Perhaps he hadn't been fed in a while for one reason or another (possibility one needs to fast for 24 hours before that spell =P)

-Ani

[gaeta.livejournal.com]

Well having Peter kill Cedric finally directly involves Peter in a murder. Up until that point I suspect he'd never directly killed someone. I do believe the information he passed led to more deaths than just the Potters, but he never had to be their when they died, giving the AK

What about all those Muggles he killed in the explosion that supposedly killed him?

[ani-bester.livejournal.com]

Yeah I thought of them after I posted this, but I had no time to change it. However, I've never considered it to be part of his plan to kill 12 people. I think he wanted to make it look good, but that 12 people died was more happenstance than intentional. He also, depending on how quickly he ran, may or may not have known he killed anyone until (or if) he saw a paper report on it.

With Cedric, that was no accident, or happenstance, or unfortuant outcome. He cast the AK on a kid.

Yeah it's a weak cover, but there you go =P

You also say that's the first known time Peter used an unforgivable curse. I never thought he used one on those people because know one ever mentioned that one of those spells was used . . .

-Ani

[aybara-max.livejournal.com]

Reading this just made me think of something slightly off topic.... as far as the "politics" of Voldemort and the Death Eaters goes, killing Cedric makes absolutely no sense. He's not a muggle or even supposedly a "muggle-lover", but he does come from a long standing pureblooded family. This isn't necessarily canon though, just an assumption I'm making based off his father in a ministry position and being familiar with the Weasley family, another longstanding, if not high ranking, pureblood family.

Nothing to do with anything, random thought.

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

I think perhaps the answer to that lies in the reality that no one was supposed to know that Voldemort returned. I don't have GoF in front of me at the moment and it's been a while since I read the ending so I might be wrong, but I seem to recall at that point Voldemort is still planning on Harry dying. If Harry is dead, he doesn't want to have to deal with anyone else being alive at that point in time to slow him down. So he kills Cedric first because he's the easy target. Harry is supposed to be an easy target, but then he really isn't.

For Cedric it really was just the wrong place at very much the wrong time. Harry's death was planned either way. Cedric was just in the way. And of course, there's also the idea that Voldemort may or may not have really had any idea who Cedric was.

Politically, though. I agree. It's certainly not a move that's going to put you in a lot of favour with the normal moderate population-on the other hand, I'm not certain that Voldie's trying to gain favour so much as simply gain power.

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

It's quite an odd bit of efficiency from Voldemort, actually. You'd expect him to a) tie up Cedric and torment him to make Harry suffer b) Keep him around in case anyone else should need some blood for reincarnating or c) stand there yelling, "Foolish boy! Get out of the way! Get, out, of the way! I did not come to kill you!" :P

Gratuitous killing is what Evil Overlords do, though. They didn't even think it through, they just do it, to show the readers that they are Really Ruthless Guys. Voldemort's constant abuse of his own minions is kind of the same idea. (Wee Crouch would be so sad he never got to see new!Voldemort, and I bet Voldemort didn't even care that he died! *tear* Then again, La Maison des Mangemorts is *not* a place I would have wanted to be in the early few post-GoF days after Harry's escape. *shudder*)

[pauraque]

And of course, there's also the idea that Voldemort may or may not have really had any idea who Cedric was.

I think it's possible he did, since we know Barty was sending V letters during the school year. Of course, we don't know if he was sending him regular updates on how the tournament was going, or if he just owled him that one time.

[sabrinanymph.livejournal.com]

I suppose a lot of it would depend upon how closely involved Voldemort was in the entire thing and how much was Barty's planning. If he was very involved, then yes, it would make sense that he would have known who Cedric was because I'm certain he would have wanted to know the competition.

[chresimos.livejournal.com]

*ponder*

I've always thought it was interesting, the wand sharing. It makes it so sadistic; Peter must have at least suspected the first thing Voldemort would do with the wand is smack him up some. Also, if they were sharing a wand, and Peter had it when Crouch Sr escaped from Imperius...then that means he gave the wand back to Voldie who then used it to Crucio him. Dude. That's one messed up relationship. The way I like it. :D

As for his own wand, I guess he just lost it because he couldn't carry it as a rat and the Ministry or something confiscated it, or maybe the evil spell he used aganst Sirius was WANDUS EXPLODICUS. (Speaking of which...where did Sirius get a new wand? Gringotts, surely not?) Also, Peter is not the most logical of beasts (hello, stopping at an inn?), even though fleeing through Albania wandless is a bit...herm. Hey, hang on...either he's got Voldie's wand by this point, or he overpowered Bertha without using magic. O_O (Somewhat tangentially, I wonder how the Albanians/Bulgarians like being JKR shorthand for 'somewhere dark and scary with lots of forests'.) (And also, you're right - he couldn't have just stopped off at Evil Wands R Us while he was fetching the giant cauldron and some robes for Voldie? Whose are those robes?! Are they Crouch's robes?)

Now I'm thinking about wands in general. Maybe the Ministry confiscated Vold's wand and put it somewhere, though that is silly. (*stamps out images of JamesBond!Peter sneaking into superadvanced Ministry strongholds*). Doesn't Dumbledore say that Fawkes gives his tailfeathers for the wand? It's a little strange to give two, isn't it? I feel certain that Harry's wand was deliberately commissioned by Dumbledore who knew that a good Deus Ex Machina would have to be in the works, if ever he and Voldemort should meet.

As for Cedric, I liked your idea about Vold being strong enough for a spot of Muggle-killing or the odd Imperio, but Cedric being an actual wizard was out of his league. Or else he was weakened by the moonlight or something. Other than that it really doesn't make much sense, except to establish that Wormtail is a Bad Guy (surprise!), especially when the main plot point was that his ghost comes out of Voldemort's wand with the others. To show Peter's lackeyism...I guess it's not so exciting if Voldemort is killing people from the start. He does some mild abusing of minions, some Imperio, some Crucio, and then he's read to AK by the end of it - it's more evil overlordly in style, maybe. And hey, Wormtail does everything in that scene; Voldemort is showing off his ability to boss people around!

...or maybe Voldemort was just talking to himself. XD

[pauraque]

Also, if they were sharing a wand, and Peter had it when Crouch Sr escaped from Imperius...then that means he gave the wand back to Voldie who then used it to Crucio him. Dude. That's one messed up relationship.

Yep. You remind me that there's also Crouch Sr's wand to account for, which makes it even more fascinating that Peter still uses V's.

where did Sirius get a new wand?

Does he have one in GoF? He doesn't in PoA.

either he's got Voldie's wand by this point, or he overpowered Bertha without using magic. O_O

As interesting as HandToHandCombat!Peter is, I tend to think he did have V's wand by that point, unless he'd actually stashed it somewhere in Albania.

*stamps out images of JamesBond!Peter sneaking into superadvanced Ministry strongholds*

His crazy unarmed combat skills would certainly come in useful there.

Whose are those robes?! Are they Crouch's robes?

I'd buy that. It also seems likely that Peter snagged some robes from the Crouches' closet for himself, since he doesn't seem to be wearing the same old nasty clothes from PoA.

Of course, he'd have a hard time finding anything to fit him, if he really is as short as is implied. Perhaps he had to raid Barty's old school things... either that, or do some hemming.

...or maybe Voldemort was just talking to himself.

Not far off a running narration of his activities, is it...

[erishon.livejournal.com]

Hmmm interesting, it certainly makes you wonder how they have managed to share a wand for a year (or two if this was still happening during OoTP).

I was thinking, perhaps Peter used Voldemort's wand to cast the spell that killed all those muggles and faked his own death, then dropped his own wand at the scene of the crime. This would mean that they could cast Priori Incantatem on his wand and not find a trace of that curse, meaning if Sirius had blamed Peter they could have disproved him.

It makes me wonder if the lack-of-wand is the reason Peter's not around during OoTP.