Sirius Black is emotionally and academically intelligent
To celebrate the start of Scorpio season and in honour of our bestie, I have planned 3 metas about what I think are common misconceptions around his character. And here is number 2.
A common mischaracterisation of him is that he’s not very clever and when at school he needs to copy homework from other people.
When recounting Sirius’s school days, several characters mention how clever/brilliant he was. In particular, queen Mcgonagall says:
‘ Precisely,” said Professor McGonagall. “Black and Potter. Ringleaders of their little gang. Both very bright, of course — exceptionally bright, in fact.’ PoA
McGonagall never gives praise lightly and in fact at this moment she thinks Sirius is a mass murderer. Even when she appears to be fond of a student, she’s very realistic about their academic ability and in HBP she says the following to Neville,
‘“But the problem is Transfiguration. I’m sorry, Longbottom, but an Acceptable’ really isn’t good enough to continue to N.E.W.T level. I just don’t think you’d be able to cope with the coursework.” HBP
So calling Sirius and James, ‘exceptionally bright,' is not Hyperbole.
Furthermore, during the fire-call Remus says,
“Look, Harry, what you’ve got to understand is that your father and Sirius were the best in the school at whatever they did — everyone thought they were the height of cool — if they sometimes got a bit carried away . ” OoTP
Yes Remus is a biased source, but it can be strongly inferred that Sirius was indeed a very high-achieving student, even if his behavioural record had much to be desired.
Also quick note- these dorks enjoyed amateur cartography ‘height of cool,’ is a little strong.
2.0 Sirius is arrogant about his intellect
This view of his intellect is also held by Sirius himself and this is demonstrated by several things during Snape’s Worst Memory:
He’s long finished his OWL exam and is just sitting there looking hot.
“Well, I thought that paper was a piece of cake,” he heard Sirius say. “I’ll be surprised if I don’t get Outstanding on it at least.” - homeboy is so confident that he thinks the exam board might make a new grade for him
He doesn’t need to read the transfiguration book, not because he’s barely literature and only cares about his hair, but because,
“I don’t need to look at that rubbish, I know it all.”
Indeed, Sirius is so sure of his own intelligence that he attempts to outsmart Voldemort and James trusts him to do that. I know some of this trust is rooted in their bond as brothers, but James must have had to greatly respect Sirius’s intelligence to risk the lives of his wife and child.
Sirius is still very clever, despite having been in prison for 12 years and being in various states of starvation and mental ill health:
In PoA He conjures manacles with another wizard’s wand, despite being 13 years out of practice.
In GoF he immediately recognises that Harry’s scar hurting is a bad sign,
‘ I’m flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again.’ GoF (this quote also ties in with my previous meta about him being a mature guardian).
He remembers how to deal with dragons, despite having probably not opened a book during his 12 years in Azkaban and one year living rough,
‘I was going to suggest a Conjunctivitis Curse, as a dragon’s eyes are its weakest point.’ GoF
He pieces the majority of the plot together, while half-starved in a cave and scrounging newspapers. Indeed, he is frustrated at himself for not being able to fully figure it out:
‘Sirius stared at the cave wall, then made a grimace of frustration.’ GoF
He understands Priori Incantatem immediately,
‘.....The Reverse Spell effect?” said Sirius sharply.’ GoF
In OoTP he studies his hand with interest (which is a nice nod to his curiosity) when he gets bitten by something and immediately fixes it,
‘ Sirius sustained a bad bite from a silver snuffbox; within seconds, his bitten hand had developed an unpleasant crusty covering like a tough brown glove.
“It’s okay,” he said, examining the hand with interest before tapping it lightly with his wand and restoring its skin to normal, “must be Wartcap powder in there.' OoTP
He heals the injury that Kreacher inflicts on Buckbeak
Despite being 13-14 years out of practice, he easily matches with some of the ‘best’ death eaters,
‘Now Sirius and Dolohov were dueling, their wands flashing like swords, sparks flying from their wand tips. ’ OoTP
Dumbledore describes him as,
' A brave, energetic and clever man.’
4.0 Sirius is also emotionally intelligent
Sirius understands emotions and is able to verbalise them. One of the key scenes that demonstrate both his emotional and intellectual intelligence, is the scene in the Shrieking shack where he is describing how he survived Azkaban,
‘ I don’t know how I did it,” he said slowly. “I think the only reason I never lost my mind is that I knew I was innocent. That wasn’t a happy thought, so the dementors couldn’t suck it out of me’
In this quote, he is demonstrating an understanding of the nuances of his emotions. Because yes he is innocent, but it’s not a happy thought because James, Lilly and 12 muggles are dead. So he understands that it’s not a thought that can bring him joy or hope, but a thought that has enough nuance to also not be bad.
' so when it all became . . . too much ... I could transform in my cell . . . become a dog.’
In this quote, he’s showing awareness of his mental limits and he also shows this during OoTP when he withdraws during his more intense periods.
‘ Dementors can’t see, you know. ...” He swallowed. “They feel their way toward people by feeding off their emotions. ... ‘
Here he is showing his intellect and how well he understands how Dementors work. And both types of intelligent merge in the next part of the quote,
‘ They could tell that my feelings were less — less human, less complex when I was a dog.’
He clearly understands the nuance and degrees of feelings and how some feelings are more surface level whereas others have caveats.
During the rest of the series, he shows his emotional intelligence in numerous ways,
By providing Harry the Hogsmeade slip and allowing Harry to feel like a normal child who has a guardian who cares for him.
During GoF, he allows Harry to talk despite having broken into a house and needing to talk to Harry about the task,
‘ I’m — ” For a second, Harry tried to say “fine” — but he couldn’t do it. Before he could stop himself, he was talking more than he’d talked in days. ’ GoF
And to be a good listener, you have to be emotionally intelligent.
3. He sends Harry a muddy pawprint as a good luck gift for the last task as he understands that Harry appreciates knowing that he’s thinking of him.
4.On the dark side of this, he’s able to deliver such cutting insults because he understands people so well. This is demonstrated by IMO is the only time he’s a bad godfather and I will never defend him for this,
‘You’re less like your father than I thought,’ He said finally, a definite coolness in his voice. ‘ The risk would’ve been what made it fun for James.’ OoTP
Here Sirius is demonstrating his understanding of how much Harry’s masculinity is rooted in his idealisation of James, so he goes for it.
In conclusion, Sirius Black is cannonically very emotionally and intellectually intelligent.
Note: I am happy to have a debate about this, but any ranting/abuse will be ignored :D
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