Hi, I hope you're okay. I have a question about Peter. Do you think he betrayed the Marauders for power? There's a quote where they say that they would have killed him if he hadn't joined (the death eaters) , and Sirius says that they would have died for him if he had remained their friend. I don't know if it's in the books, but if it is. What does that quote mean to you?
(if you don't want to answer that's fine)
Hello Anon!
Whenever it comes to Peter, I think there is a general sense of hatred. Dumbledore has his side of fans and supporter, so does Snape, even Voldemort, Bellatrix even, Regulus! Barty and Evan. Everyone has a little corner.
WHat i think is that Peter Pettigrew is decribed as this fat ugly guy so no one is on his side. She went above and beyond to make it seem that every villian has to have a certainly bad look. Pansy, voldemrt, Peter are all at certain point described how evil exists in their look only.
Often we see discussions on impact Marauders as freind group had on each of them. About how the other three were so concerned for Remus that they chose to go illegal way at probably 13-15 age and offered Remus a real help. How James valued freindship above all. How the marauders as a group must be like a solid wall for SIrius when he ran away.
But in all this Peter is never discussed. As to how the other three must have played a huge part in shaping the Peter who grew up to be self centred.
I am not saying that it is all on the other three. But lets analyse here a bit.
FOr James, in the peak of War, the priority will be something like - 1) Harry, 2) Lily, 3) Sirius, 4) Peter, 5)Remus and so on....
FOr Sirius the priority will be - 1) James. 2)Harry, 3)Lily, 4)Peter, 5)Remus
For Remus the priority will be - 1)His own werewolf secret, as usual at the first place, 2) Dumbledore, 3)James, 4)can be anyone, I don't know, maybe Peter.
So, all three of his freinds, will chose someone before him if they had a chance to save them.
He must have felt not being anyone's priority.
See, Before boxing Peter as a coward one must think that to fight in a war which is so dark and scary as SIrius describes in GOF, one has to have a motivation, a reason to keep on fighting, an anchor to keep reminding you why you began in the first place.
I think Peter was missing that for a long time, Before he ditched everyone and went on tho save himself.
Lets see-
"Sirius, Sirius, what could I have done? The Dark Lord . . . you have no idea . . . he has weapons you can’t imagine. . . . I was scared, Sirius, I was never brave like you and Remus and James. I never meant it to happen. . . . He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named forced me —”
“He — he was taking over everywhere!” gasped Pettigrew. “Wh — what was there to be gained by refusing him?”
“What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?” said Black, with a terribly fury in his face. “Only innocent lives, Peter!”
“You don’t understand!” whined Pettigrew. “He would have killed me, Sirius!”
We need to understand that Sirius and Peter and Remus are different person on intrinsic level.
Remus's whole existence is about his lycanthrophy. His first and foremost loyalty is to Dumbledore as the man gave him a chance to live a normal life. But Remus did betray him. Not once but twice.
For Sirius his love language is loyalty. THe people he becomes loyal to are the people he chose to have in his life. For him loyalty is most important, even more than pride, dignity and morals.
For Peter, I think, it summerises to who made him feel better about himself. I HC him as someone whose self worth is nil. He considers himself too less. So, whomever comes along and aids in reducing the hate he harbors for himself, is the one who gets his loyalty.
Sirius declaration that they would have died for Peter is his own belief that he would have done that but Marauders post graduation had a lot of communiaction issues. Did Peter REALLY know that he stll had that level of importance in James and Sirius and Remus's life when all three of them look so busy in their own life and war.
I read somewhere that Peter had been bullied within his friend group. I wouldnt go that far, but I feel that to some degree it is true. The feeling of being the least important is an ugly one. A human's entire belief system crashes knowing that no one need you as you need them.
I don't think Peter craved power or moral high ground, as much as he craved a sense of being needed. Of being important enough to someone.
Marauders supplemented his dependent personality in many ways. In school James is shown to love the way little Wormy is in awe of him. I think for as much as Peter being bad freind is visible to us all, the other three being bad freind to Peter is a given. Praising him on being their yes man. Rather than getting offended of their freind not having his own views.
James Potter is important character in Peter's story. Just like he is in Srius, Remus and Snape's. Once he got married, he didn't need Peter to entertain him in the ways he did in school days. I think had James not married this soon. His attention wouldnt have diverted to a wife, son. He would have been all about war and friendship. The biggest link between the other three was busy playing family and it cost all of them.
But Peter, to me, will always remain a result of not being able to make good decision in tough times and then carrying on the path even knowing that it is the wrong one becasue it is easy to keep walking then to turn around and accpt you did wrong. I would never call him inherently evil. Cruel yes, but so were Remus and Sirius and James. That is minimum criteria of being a marauder. But not evil.
In war the aim becomes to keep on surviving and not living. He needs to be alive to survive. He needs friends to live once he has survived. So, he was ready to sacrifice everyone to survive.
Despite being a person who is fan of both James and Sirius, I don't begrudge Peter in the choices he made at 19 and got stuck in his own trap only because war kicked in the basic human survival instinct, far more powerful that any real sense of belonging he ever felt within marauders.....
