Join hosts Aureo, Irvin, and guests Josh Cook and Sam Ommen as they discuss the fathers and father figures of the Harry Potter series.
In this episode:
- All fathers are problematic, but who is the worst?
- Are Tom Riddle Sr and Remus Lupin similar?
- What could Barty Crouch have done?
- Marvolo is the bad dad other bad dads aspire to
- Triwizard Tournament needed an event planner
- Monsieur Delacour is the stealth winner for Best Dad thanks to chocolate
- Arthur Weasley is the BEST DAD™
- Being a bad person doesn’t make you a bad dad
Resources:
- Arthur Weasley: Harry’s Most Underappreciated Father Figure? by Sophia
- Fallen Fathers of Goblet of Fire by Irvin
The Pub’s Jukebox:
- “My Dad Is Rich” by Draco and the Malfoys
- “My Dad Is Rich On A Boat” Swish and Flick (Cover)
It is important to distinguish quality of parenting (input) from the kid(s) becoming good/bad people (output). As was argued, Lucius doesn’t seem to be a bad parent, but has terrible values. Harry wasn’t well parented by Vernon and Petunia, but he turned out okay.
I can play Devil’s Advocate for Crouch Sr. Most of what we learn about the Crouch family is coloured by hindsight; we don’t see anything from before the trial.
It may be that Sr did his best to love his son and raise him well (albeit with his own issues around being emotionally-repressed). Discovering that his son was involved with the Death Eaters may have broken Sr. Compare to How To Train Your Dragon (film version) and the conflict between Hiccup and his father.
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Once Crouch Sr had gone ahead with breaking Jr out of Azkaban there really wasn’t a good option, but locked in a nice room cared for by Winky, or even being given regular Draught of Living Death, seem less morally-questionable options than the Imperius.
Best option was probably “Here’s a portkey and some money. Don’t ever come back to Britain.”
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The wizarding world did have one really good marketer. Unfortunately, he got obliviated by a back-firing wand.
The problem with “here’s a portkey and some cash” is that Barty Jr is a dangerous Dark wizard – setting him loose goes against everything Sr has worked for. I think Sr realizes that Jr would not just go to Australia to quietly live out the rest of his days, but would continue causing trouble in Britain. So Sr couldn’t just let him go.
While Imperius is really gross, is keeping Jr comatose with the Draught of Living Death any better? It also seems to go against Mrs Crouch’s wishes much more explicitly than an Imperius (“He’s living his life, just with a bit of mind control to keep him out of trouble!”). Sr isn’t really equipped to try rehabilitating Jr, so I maintain he didn’t really have better options.
P.S. Ten points for a HTTYD reference, I love that movie!
Morally any better? No. But it’s not using an explicitly illegal “dark” (a poorly-defined category if ever there was one) curse. Even Mrs Crouch had to have known it would be moving Jr from one prison to another, but presumably hoped Sr would treat him better than the dementors.
Brilliant summation from Josh! (Molly raising kids, Arthur raising adults)
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I don’t want to excuse Lupin in general (he sucks for running out on Tonks), but he had no obligation to seek out Harry. He’s estranged from his friends (note that Lily’s letter to Sirius makes no mention of Lupin), and if he asked he’d probably hear that Harry is with relatives.
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Percival Dumbledore raised good kids? One runs a dodgy old establishment, dwells on his grievances from when they were young, and dabbles in questionable magic. The other runs a pub down the road…
But seriously, Aberforth doesn’t seem like a happy, well-adjusted adult who’s lived a fulfilling life. And Albus was all set to take over the world with his boyfriend.
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Your discussion raised an interesting parallel between Luna and Draco: both very confident in their world-view, which is largely parroting their father’s opinions. In a time of crisis, Luna and Lucius stand firm in their beliefs and in who they are, whereas Draco and Xeno both crumble.
Re: Lupin, I think “estranged” is a bit strong. He maybe was a bit distant from Lily and James, because there was suspicion of his loyalty (from Sirius, it seems). But I don’t think his absence in the latter means they weren’t friends. And even if Lupin couldn’t reach out to Harry during the Dursley period, he certainly could have in the first two years.
Your summation of the Dumbledore brothers is incredible, had me laughing out loud! But yeah, maybe the Dumbledore boys are not exactly how you’d hope your kids would end up.
I love the parallel between Luna and Draco! (All the more reason I can get behind a Luna/Draco pairing, a la Very Potter Sequel).
“A bit distant” is a more accurate description, but given Lupin’s hangups (Josh thinks he should get over himself; I think he needs some Prozac and a good therapist) he’s probably doing his typical downward spiral and assuming the worst.
I’m not denying Lupin could have gotten in touch at any time, just doubting (again, especially given his hangups) that he ever would have. This is a guy who never thought he would get to to go school and make friends, let alone be a pseudo-uncle.
only halfway though but thanks for the shoutout !!