Oh my god I just noticed you also love Fantastic Beasts, Sherlock and Cormoran Strike 🥺✨Literally the best things ever besides Harry Potter
But about HP yapping- I’ve gotten really into a specific smaller Potter character ( Scabior the Snatcher ) and so I’d love to hear what you think about this character - book!verse & movie!verse if you’re up to it!
Yess!! JKR's works seem to form more than half of my interests, lmao- and of course, I love Sherlock too <3
I'm going to be honest, I wouldn't have recognised the name 'Scabior' if you hadn't mentioned that he was a Snatcher. Whenever I reread that part, I'm generally busy being worried about the Golden Trio, and being disgusted at Greyback-- so I've hardly noticed the rest of the Snatchers before.
“Check the list, Scabior.” said Greyback, and Harry head him move sideways to look down at Ron, instead. “And what about you, Ginger?”
“Stan Shunpike.” said Ron.
“Like ’ell you are.” said the man called Scabior. “We know Stan Shunpike, ’e’s put a bit of work our way.”
Clearly, Scabior and his group have fractionally more awareness than the group that had previously caught Ron, seeing as they know who the real Stan Shunpike is.
"A Weasley?” rasped Greyback. “So you’re related to blood traitors even if you’re not a Mudblood. And lastly, your pretty little friend...”
The relish in his voice made Harry’s flesh crawl.
“Easy, Greyback.” said Scabior over the jeering of the others.
Here's something interesting. All the other Snatchers seem to have no qualms about Greyback's desire to bite Hermione- Scabior alone advises Greyback to control himself. Personally, I find it unlikely that this is out of sympathy for Hermione; it's probably because watching Greyback attack Hermione isn't something he fancies doing. Regardless, this is the only, very minor redeeming quality that Scabior seems to possess, in contrast to the obvious rashness of the other Snatchers.
Another thing that we notice is the way he addresses Greyback. I don't think it would be easy to be able to comfortably speak to a werewolf who is widely known to have a taste for human flesh even in human form. Greyback would naturally pose a threat to the Snatchers themselves as well as he would to their victims.
“Who’s in charge here?” roared Greyback, covering his moment of inadequacy.
Scabior, however, is able to speak to Greyback normally- casually, even. Greyback may be in charge, but Scabior is clearly handling some of the responsibility as well in leading the group, as we mostly see him and Greyback speaking, while the other Snatchers barely utter a couple words. Scabior is focused on the job, and seems to be in charge of keeping Greyback in check so that the latter doesn't end up attacking all of their captured victims before they receive their award.
“... What house were you in at Hogwarts?”
“Slytherin,” said Harry automatically.
“Funny ’ow they all thinks we wants to ’ear that.” leered Scabior out of the shadows. “But none of ’em can tell us where the common room is.”
“’ang on a minute, Greyback! Look at this, in the Prophet!”
“’ermione Granger,”’ Scabior was saying, “‘the Mudblood who is known to be traveling with ’arry Potter.”’
Two instances of intellect from Scabior there- understanding the thought processes of their various victims and being ready to challenge them with a question that only Slytherins (generally) would know; and recognising Hermione from the Daily Prophet, which Greyback and the others failed to do. To them, Hermione wasn't as important as Harry [10 Galleons for catching a Mudblood, while 200,000 Galleons for catching Harry Potter], but he still recognises her- and it is entirely because of this revelation that they realise who Harry is.
"... I say we take him straight to You-Know-Who.”
“Will you summon ’im? ’ere?” said Scabior, sounding awed, terrified.
(...)
“. . . completely sure it’s him? ’Cause if it ain’t, Greyback, we’re dead.”
Like most of Voldemort's followers, Scabior possesses an equal degree of awe and fear of Voldemort (I'm sure he'd never even met Voldemort in person). Again, we see how he is generally less rash than Greyback-- he wants to be absolutely sure that they've caught Harry, while Greyback is ready to rush off on a whim.
Scabior in the films was decidedly more sinister and was meant to be more violent.
Scenes that were cut from the film involved Scabior being violent and perverse. Nick Moran (Scabior's actor) said: "It's all very reminiscent of Germany in the 1930s. I give Ron Weasley a proper kicking and call him Ginger. Then I sniff Hermione and say: "You're going to be my favourite". If you take the wands out, it's something out of an Eli Roth movie."
[Harry Potter Wiki]
He's seen wearing Hermione's scarf, and suffers a far more brutal punishment at the hands of Bellatrix, compared to the books. [in the books, he's merely Stunned, while in the movie, he's briefly strangled.
All in all- Scabior and Greyback are a representation of the less sophisticated side of Voldemort's followers-- they're sent out to do all the legwork, catching truants in return for gold. To say he completely lacks intelligence would be wrong; he certainly does possess more intellect and understanding than other Snatchers, at least.
Ty for the ask! It was interesting to analyse a character we know so little about. Curious to know what made you interested in him!
