One of the most talked about topics within the Harry Potter fandom relates to the matter of the so-called 'Marauders' - to Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot and Prongs. The four of them together - perhaps better than any other character in the novels - represent what may be called the damned generation of Hogwarts.
Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter, along with their various friends, enemies, contemporaries and associates, all had one thing in common. Can you guess what it was? Yep, I think you can-
They all had their lives destroyed in one way or another by the rise of Lord Voldemort. Some chose the destruction, and moved willingly into its fold. Others resisted it with all they had. But it was a force that engulfed them all - that eviscerated not one man but an entire generation, leaving nothing but the ashes of memory and regret in its wake.
Perhaps the most iconic, if controversial torch-bearer of that generation was Severus Snape; a man both loved and reviled with equal passion within the fandom. And perhaps fittingly, he represented to a great extent the essesntial quality of his generation, a stark juxtaposition of virtue and vice, of darkness and light. The opposite of a Voldemort or a Harry, the damned generation flourished in shades of grey.
Even Peter Pettigrew, perhaps the damndest of the damned, managed to redeem himself in his final moments by sacrificing his life to save Harry, unable to kill him during the skirmish at Malfoy Manor. If not an act of bravery - it is debatable if Wormtail was even capable of such a thing - it did show us a momentary flash of what was left of his humanity, of the silly little boy whom the Marauders had brefriended, and by whose ultimate betrayal they had fallen.
Even the other Marauders, despite the haloed position accorded to them by fandom, were wrapped from head to toe in shades of grey. Heated debates and arguments between supporters of James, Sirius and Snape have already overwhelmed the internet, so I won't bore you with that again. But their cruelty to young Severus, even if born of mere immaturity, cannot be denied - especially when contrasted against Harry's instinctive empathy for Neville Longbottom, a pathetic, sickly young man in much the same situation as Snape a few decades ago.
Yet that is perhaps what contributes most to the appeal of that generation - the unfulfilled potential, both for great good and for great evil. James' ultimate sacrifice for his family, Lily's unconditional love for her son, Sirius' unwavering loyalty to his friends and Lupin's extraordinary courage even in the face of insurmountable odds, these are the qualities that draw us to them with a magnetic force, even when we can see the doom that awaits them all. Severus, despite the petty bullying to which he subjected his unsuspecting students, died a hero, perhaps greater than all the rest put together; having saved more lives through his spying than any other member of the Order of the Phoenix. Yet his motives remained, to the end, less than noble, with him going so far as to admit to Dumbledore that he protected Harry not out of any regard for the boy himself, but only because of the obsession he still harboured for the late Lily Evans.
Prerhaps, to a great extent, that generation damned itself. The brightest lights, after all, cast the darkest shadows - and it was perhaps their brilliance that drew the darkness of Lord Voldemort upon them, shining like beacons in the dullness of unremarkable mediocrity. Whatever the reason for their rise, or the cause of their untimely fall, they will remain the brightest stars in the HP fandom's vast firmament - the ones that burned the brightest in falling.
Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew, Sirius Black and James Potter, along with their various friends, enemies, contemporaries and associates, all had one thing in common. Can you guess what it was? Yep, I think you can-
They all had their lives destroyed in one way or another by the rise of Lord Voldemort. Some chose the destruction, and moved willingly into its fold. Others resisted it with all they had. But it was a force that engulfed them all - that eviscerated not one man but an entire generation, leaving nothing but the ashes of memory and regret in its wake.
Perhaps the most iconic, if controversial torch-bearer of that generation was Severus Snape; a man both loved and reviled with equal passion within the fandom. And perhaps fittingly, he represented to a great extent the essesntial quality of his generation, a stark juxtaposition of virtue and vice, of darkness and light. The opposite of a Voldemort or a Harry, the damned generation flourished in shades of grey.
Even Peter Pettigrew, perhaps the damndest of the damned, managed to redeem himself in his final moments by sacrificing his life to save Harry, unable to kill him during the skirmish at Malfoy Manor. If not an act of bravery - it is debatable if Wormtail was even capable of such a thing - it did show us a momentary flash of what was left of his humanity, of the silly little boy whom the Marauders had brefriended, and by whose ultimate betrayal they had fallen.
Even the other Marauders, despite the haloed position accorded to them by fandom, were wrapped from head to toe in shades of grey. Heated debates and arguments between supporters of James, Sirius and Snape have already overwhelmed the internet, so I won't bore you with that again. But their cruelty to young Severus, even if born of mere immaturity, cannot be denied - especially when contrasted against Harry's instinctive empathy for Neville Longbottom, a pathetic, sickly young man in much the same situation as Snape a few decades ago.
Yet that is perhaps what contributes most to the appeal of that generation - the unfulfilled potential, both for great good and for great evil. James' ultimate sacrifice for his family, Lily's unconditional love for her son, Sirius' unwavering loyalty to his friends and Lupin's extraordinary courage even in the face of insurmountable odds, these are the qualities that draw us to them with a magnetic force, even when we can see the doom that awaits them all. Severus, despite the petty bullying to which he subjected his unsuspecting students, died a hero, perhaps greater than all the rest put together; having saved more lives through his spying than any other member of the Order of the Phoenix. Yet his motives remained, to the end, less than noble, with him going so far as to admit to Dumbledore that he protected Harry not out of any regard for the boy himself, but only because of the obsession he still harboured for the late Lily Evans.
Prerhaps, to a great extent, that generation damned itself. The brightest lights, after all, cast the darkest shadows - and it was perhaps their brilliance that drew the darkness of Lord Voldemort upon them, shining like beacons in the dullness of unremarkable mediocrity. Whatever the reason for their rise, or the cause of their untimely fall, they will remain the brightest stars in the HP fandom's vast firmament - the ones that burned the brightest in falling.
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