Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter
Theory. In this video, we’re going to be
discussing the marauders, the death eaters
and Peter Pettigrew AKA Wormtail.
Now, we know Peter Pettigrew AKA wormtail
as the defector of the marauders - a quartet
of boys which consisted of Sirius Black, Remus
Lupin, and James Potter. All 4 boys began
attending Hogwarts in the year 1971, and each
of them were sorted in to Gryffindor. This
was the initial basis of their friendship.
Sirius Black, Remus Lupin and James Potter
all seem to have figured things out while
they were in school, at least to some degree,
but I’m not sure that I can say the same
for Pettigrew. He was an insecure, snivelling
excuse for a man. And though he was close
friends with the other Marauders- I don’t
think that they ever truly considered him
to be their equal. They were popular and magically
talented, and Pettigrew was..well, Pettigrew-
a young and impressionable wizard that lacked
confidence and magical mastery.
The Marauders were hellbent on breaking the
rules at the school, and were notorious for
their rule-breaking and mischief making. The
group existed for 7 years, from 1971-1978,
and all members were active participants in
the first wizarding war. All 4 boys would
also go on to join the order of the phoenix,
which was a secret society founded by Dumbledore
that opposed Lord Voldemort. Peter was an
ally to the Order of the phoenix for some
time, along with the other marauders, that
is, until he was made ‘secret keeper’
for the Potter family.
A secret keeper is a witch or wizard designated
to hide a secret, the secret is secured by
the fidelius charm, which conceals the secret
inside of the secret keepers soul. Sirius
Black was the initial choice for secret keeper,
but Sirius, thinking that Voldemort might
target him, suggested that they choose Pettigrew
instead. The following excerpt from Sirius
addresses this:
"Lily and James only made you Secret-Keeper
because I suggested it... I thought it was
the perfect plan... Voldemort would be sure
to come after me, would never dream they'd
use a weak, talentless thing like you... It
must have been the finest moment of your miserable
life, telling Voldemort you could hand him
the Potters."
After being made secret keeper, Peter Pettigrew
revealed his true colours, and in one infamous
act of cowardice and disloyalty, revealed
the location of the Potter cottage to Voldemort.
He had been in correspondence with the dark
lord already, and this was his chance to strike
- to show Voldemort that he was worthy. It
was at this moment that this snivelling, disloyal
man had secured his placement as a death eater
- a servant of the dark lord. But for what?
Why would Pettigrew leave the order, and his
former schoolmates, to go and serve a darker
purpose? Wasn’t he a Gryffindor?
The truth is that even though Pettigrew was
a ‘member’ of the order of the phoenix,
and a ‘member’ of the marauders- he was
never truly accepted by either of these groups.
He was always Pettigrew to them, and was frequently
looked down upon. Pettigrew was quite weak
and mentally impressionable, and Sirius, Remus
and James were all strong characters.
I think that it’s entirely reasonable for
me to say that Pettigrew’s ‘friends’
never truly respected him, and viewed him
as a little bit beneath them, despite being
the ‘good’ guys. After years and years
of being dismissed and not taken seriously,
Pettigrew simply hit a breaking point, a point
at which he sought power independent from
those that he knew. When he turned to Voldemort,
Pettigrew saw an opportunity to become his
own man. Voldemort probably saw that he was
decent at magic, but also mentally weak, and
he took advantage of that. James, Sirius and
Lupin were ultimately "good" people but they
were also arrogant jerks in their youth, and
Pettigrew who was perpetually looked down
upon by them eventually made a choice, as
awful as it was, to betray the people that
he previously surrounded himself with. Peter
wanted power, and his own identity. In some
ways, Peter’s tale could easily be an allegory
for bullying and the bullied kid going down
the wrong path.
Though Peter was in the order, and ‘one
of the good guys’ , he was never really
appreciated by them, and he picked up on it.
When he saw Voldemort, he saw an opportunity
to reinvent himself and surround himself with
a new group of people, the death eaters. Becoming
a death eater was totally foreign to him,
but he knew that he didn’t like his present
circumstances- and the prospect of joining
a new group of very different, but powerful
people, was inviting to Pettigrew, who liked
to surround himself with people in these positions
of power.
This is reflected in the following quote from
the Prisoner of Azkaban:
When did I ever sneak around people who were
stronger and more powerful than myself? But
you, Peter – I’ll never understand why
I didn’t see you were the spy from the start.
You always liked big friends who’d look
after you, didn’t you? It used to be us
… me and Remus … and James …”
And it just so happens that when Pettigrew
defected, Voldemort was the man- he was powerful,
and his victory seemed imminent. Pettigrew,
who was insecure and vulnerable, saw that
he could be a part of something powerful and
impressive, and made his choice.
And that’s it for this video! What do you
think? Why did Pettigrew defect and join the
death eaters? Would he have been any help
to the order if he had stuck around? Let us
know down in the comment section below
Until next time
YER A WIZARD ARRY
