Malfoy family love in books masterpost
Since I’ve been a Malfoy appreciator for…20 years (geez!) I really want to list the cuts and changes they’ve made in the movies that for me change their relationship dynamics in a not subtle way, flattening their characters and relationships. Book readers will remember, but maybe movie only fans don’t even know. Long ass post, I know.
🐍 I know the Malfoys are bad people: this is not a mean to goodwashing them.
🐍 I know they are not good parents: they spoiled Draco rotten potentially creating a lil narcissist, and they heavily indoctrinated him, indirectly exposing him to danger and criminality. They can have an emotional control over displaying this love, and did not teach Draco to accept and come in touch with his own emotions (which leads Draco to be a great at Occlumancy) but this is called avoidant attachment at worst, and it’s a variant of early childhood experience of a parents’ access to emotions. Their parenting is damaging, but not in the way part of the fandom believe.
🐍 My thesis is that they love each other very much as JKR confirmed, and that they are not abusive parents. Meaning Draco was loved, felt loved and returned this love. Lucius and Narcissa loved each other as well. This is their one (1) redeeming quality. Let’s not take it away from them.
🐍 This is not a hate post on the actors: I think Isaacs and McCrory (🕊️) are great actors with a lot of charisma, but I don’t think they played Lucius and Narcissa faithful to the source material. Tom Felton went along with the movieverse interpretation too.
By Draco’s dialogues we can infer the little daddy’s boy that he is:
- Lucius openly complimented him for his flying skills, which nukes the theory of him being always critical and invalidating to his son. He literally says it is a “crime” if he isn’t chosen for the team. Maybe Draco was too much complimented, rather than not. Rowling said he was made clear to have been “three times special” since birth.
- Draco’s parents are both involved in buying school things for him. Ofc they are jobless because rich AF, but still very much present for Draco. He plans to sort of coerce them to go see the broomsticks…”I think I will bully my father into buying me one” and Harry immediately thought about Dudley. should I comment?
- When they were sent into the forbidden forest, Draco thought to “tell Father about this”, showing his dad to be a source of confidence and comfort, not fear (still searching the literacy of whoever thinks Draco’s boggart is Lucius).
- Draco and Lucius appear together at B&B. This is the scene where Lucius is the least indulgent and more demanding and intimidating. He reprimands Draco for his low grades, saying it would be shameful if he was to be surpassed by a muggle born witch. However, this is imho a normal parenting behavior that -while maybe not psychologically ideal, is galaxies far away from being abusive-
Draco doesn’t react as hurt or fearful, only full of pettiness and excuses. He also kept on teasing his dad into buying him things, even saying “I thought you would buy me a present”, it’s implied Lucius showered him with gifts. In the movie, Isaacs decided to be pretty awful to Draco (he himself said it in interviews) in order to have him some sympathy with the fans, to the point of being aggressive and exceedingly cold. He even hit him with his cane (to prevent him touching dark artifacts), and Draco acted defiant, a dynamic that’s entirely made up. Isaacs bullying Draco wasn’t even in the screenplay of the movie: it is entirely the actor’s choice.
In the books, Lucius appeared quite aristocratically bored and he only said once to Draco to touch nothing, mainly out of concern. His coldness is mainly directed to the seller. The fact that Lucius lamented to have been hearing the same things about Potter everyday means that the communication between father and son is lively.
-at the bookstore, he was shown with his hand on Draco’s shoulder and later said to Ginny that ruined books is “all your father can give you”.
This may seem inconsequential but it shows that giving is son everything is important to Lucius. He expresses his love mainly by giving Draco all that he wants, by concrete objects rather than with words and PDA, but keep in mind that we never see them in their home’s intimacy, and they seems the ones to keep a facade.
-Lucius bought the whole Slytherin quidditch team the Nimbus 2001 broomstick, only because he wanted his son to play. There is nothing political to be earned here.
-this passage is quite revealing. Lucius is known as that kind of father who would protest and make a fuss if someone damaged his son:
-Lucius was sending his son pieces of articles by the daily prophet to amuse him. His mother is literally showering him with sweets from home. Lucius also refused to tell Draco more about the chamber of secrets, to protect him and avoiding him interfering.
-Harry thought the fact that Draco wasn’t going home for Christmas to be very suspicious.
The whole Buckbeak case is showing that Lucius is willing to make it a political question when his son was injured. Surely, he could take two birds with one stone to make Hagrid sacked, but still, he is showing concern and Draco knew it could exaggerate the situation. The attitude of Draco towards physical pain is also telling that he isn’t much used to deal with suffering, in general, he is a little prince with no problems.
"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy
"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," snarled Ron.
"— he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know.”
In the movies, at the Quiddich World Cup, Narcissa isn’t present and Lucius hit Draco with his walking stick after he boasted about their vip sits. Not only this scene isn’t present in the books, but it’s absent in the screenplay as well. Very OOC if you ask me.
In the books, Lucius introduced his family to Fudge and then Draco sit between his parents. Cissy is present and we met this beautiful ice queen with a resting b*tch face expression that later Harry uses against Draco, making him blush with anger, jumping to defend his mom, and answer that will echoes Narcissa’s one to Bellatrix in defense of Lucius.
Interesting to note that Lucius fled the dark mark when it appeared that same night. Are we sure he was that loyal?
When Mad Eye turned Draco into a ferret, he again turned to his father as a defense. Interestingly, the fake moody didn’t mention the supposedly very dark “stories about his father”, but said what followed:
The following passage is revealing both of the quality Lucius and Narcissa’s relationship and Narcissa’s protectiveness of his son. Now, if Lucy were that patriarchal toxic man who would have gone: “shut up woman, he will go to Durmstrang”, but they decided together as a healthy couple would.
This is paired with the knowledge that Lucius let Cissa continue the tradition of naming the members of the house black with stars or constellations, which means that Lucius respected Draco to be a Black too, not only a “Malfoy heir”.
Draco is shown furious and hurt when his father was sent to Azkaban:
Malfoy glanced around. Harry knew he was checking for signs of teachers. Then he looked back at Harry and said in a low voice,
Harry raised his eyebrows. "Funny," he said, "you'd think I'd have
stopped walking around. .
Malfoy looked angrier than Harry had ever seen him. He felt a kind of detached satisfaction at the sight of his pale, pointed face contorted with rage.
"You're going to pay," said Malfoy in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I'm going to make you pay for what you've done to my father....”
We know via JKR Pottermore that Narcissa was “distraught and afraid”
But it is in books 6/7 that the worst damage was done:
Narcissa visiting Snape is way more emotional and hysterical than her (way colder) movie counterpart. She openly cried, throwing herself on the ground and grabbing snape’s clothes, losing her composure, drinking wine to calm herself down. This screams how desperate she was.
She spilled tears between thinking about Lucius in jail and Draco’s mission:
"Now... you came to ask me for help, Narcissa?" Narcissa looked up at him, her face eloquent with despair.
"Yes, Severus. I - I think you are the only one who can help me, I have nowhere else to turn. Lucius is in jail and..."
She closed her eyes and two large tears seeped from beneath her eyelids.
She defends Lucius against her own sister Bellatrix, despite having all the reasons to be aware and bitter towards him for having failed the mission and indirectly put their son in danger, she never blames him and shown nothing but concern and longing.
She mentions Lucius a lot in this conversation, being Snape’s friends and being imprisoned, also calling his failure a “mistake”, thus downplaying it a lot for the sake of her affection.
In the movie, she did not mention him at all, and the scene when she stood up to defend him (showcasing loyalty and sensitivity) is absent.
In MM’s shop, Harry called Lucius “loser” and provoked Narcissa about finding a couple cell for them. Draco stumbled in his robes and defended his mother telling Harry not to dare talking to her that way, when Narcissa basically threatens Harry’s life in reaction to this offense:
Draco kicked Harry hard in the face for getting his dad incarcerated, showing intense emotions on the matter:
They add Draco taking Lucius’ walking stick with him at School, which is cute, but still nothing compared to what they cut.
Draco lost his respect for Snape because he thought he’d usurped Lucius’ position.
When Snape correctly guessed he was emotionally compromised by his dad’s imprisonment, he runs away:
The last passage is the most revealing one o the nature of his feelings for his parents:
Draco begin to lower his wand not after Dumbledore said they would protect him, but when he comes up with plans to protect his parents:
"I haven't got any options!" said Malfoy, and he was suddenly white as Dumbledore.
"I've got to do it! He'll kill me! He'll kill my whole family!" […]
"Come over to the right side, Draco, and we can hide you more completely than you can possibly imagine. What is more, I can send members of the Order to your mother tonight to hide her likewise. Your father is safe at the moment in Azkaban... When the time comes, we can protect him too...
Come over to the right side, Draco... you are not a killer..."
Malfoy stared at Dumbledore.
"But I got this far, didn't I?" he said slowly. "They thought I'd die in the attempt, but I'm here... and you're in my power... I'm the one with the wand... You're at my mercy..."
"No, Draco," said Dumbledore quietly. "It is my mercy, and not yours, that matters now."
Malfoy did not speak. His mouth was open, his wand hand still trembling. Malfoy did not speak. His mouth was open, his wand hand still trembling. Harry thought he saw it drop by a fraction —
The book opens with “the” Lucissa scene, that of course didn’t make into the movie, even if I saw some behind the scenes and it appears that they tried to film it.
"Your wand, Lucius. I require your wand."
Malfoy glanced sideways at his wife. She was staring straight ahead, quite as pale as he was, her long blonde hair hanging down her back, but beneath the table her slim fingers closed briefly on his wrist. At her touch, Malfoy put his hand into his robes, withdrew a wand, and passed it along to Voldemort, who held it up in from of his red eyes, examining it closely.”
This is so layered and powerful. Narcissa’s caring gesture doesn’t speak of a loveless union, but of a strong, loving one. She wanted to comfort Lucius and to make him to act quickly, thus saving him from consequences. Lucius glancing at her spoke volumes: he sought her guidance, making Narcissa his anchor in the storm.
I saw a lot of symbolism here: the gesture happening “under the table”, means that despite their cold exterior, this couple has private love going on.
Narcissa is also the emotional compass for Draco in this scene, despite him turning first to his father:
“Draco Malfoy looked in terror at his father, who was staring down into his own lap, then caught his mother's eye. She shook her head almost imperceptibly, then resumed her own deadpan stare at the opposite wall.”
-Narcissa’s vitriolic defense of her men continues:
“"Draco, move this scum outside," said Bellatrix, indicating the unconscious men. "If you haven't got the guts to finish them, then leave them in the courtyard for me."
"Don't you dare speak to Draco like -" said Narcissa furiously”
Lucius seems to ask Draco to go check on the cellar, but then he changes his mind (in my opinion, to protect him):
"Draco—no, call Wormtail! Make him go and check!"
There is a scene in which Lucius is literally pleading Voldie to let him find his son, mirroring Narcissa’s concern and making them a unit that no longer cared if the dark lord won or not.
"My Lord," said a voice, desperate and cracked. He turned: there was Lucius Malfoy sitting in the darkest corner, ragged and still bearing the marks of the punishment he had received after the boy's last escape. One of his eyes remained closed and puffy. "My Lord…. please…. my son…."
"If your son is dead, Lucius, it is not my fault. He did not come and join me, like the rest of the Slytherins. Perhaps he has decided to befriend Harry Potter?"
"No— never," whispered Malfoy.
"Aren't-aren't you afraid, my Lord that Potter might die
at another hand but yours?" asked Malfoy, his voice shaking.
"Wouldn't it be ... forgive me ... more prudent to call off this bat-tle, enter the castle, and seek him y-yourself?"
"Do not pretend Lucius. You wish the battle to cease so that you can discover what has happened to your son."
-In the movie, there IS NOT a single scene showing Lucius being concerned for Draco. This sucks. Instead, there is Voldie humiliating him and saying “How can you live with yourself” what does it even mean? Lucius has his family. It is Voldemort that has nothing: this scene is so stupid and thoughtless, only to further paint Lucius in flat dark strokes without some respect for the character.
The fact that Draco’s making as DE and his suicide mission was a punishment to Lucius isn’t mentioned AT ALL in the movies:
"The Dark Lord does not expect Draco to succeed.
This is merely punishment for Lucius's recent failures. Slow torture for Draco's parents, while they watch him fail and pay the price."
I firmly believe that Voldie has spotted the Malfoys love for each other and he is using it against them, thinking about it as a weakness. Thus why he is so let down by Lucius.
-Lucissa are seen together in the forest:
“He saw Lucius Malfoy, who looked defeated an terrified, and Narcissa, whose eyes were sunken and full of apprehension.”
-Narcissa lied to Voldie risking everything for his son’s safety, no longer caring for who wins. A mother’s love was Voldie’s downfall once again, a woman named like a flower, like Lily. Powerful.
-Furing the final battle, Draco’s parents run wandless, probably aimed and hated by both sides, risking their own lives, always together. “…and Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy running through the crowd, not even attempting to fight, screaming for their son.”
In the movie there is NO such scene.
-in the books, this is the finale for the Malfoys. They don’t escape the castle (Draco and his mom first, than Lucius following, adding that touch of Lucius being cut from them, totally made up) but they are *huddled*, meaning very close, embracing each other, and still there. And nobody is paying them attention.
This detail is everything. They are: together, not fugitives but staying there, and people are lowkey subconsciously treating them as neutrals. One more way for JKR to say to us: “they are with the ones capable of love.”
