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Thoughts on Percy Weasley
Jul. 23rd, 2009 03:42 pmAs I continue to write fic.
I just found a fic that explains Percy's high-strung ways through his having a childhood trauma. And the fic is all about him healing and becoming fun and lovable. I'm not against the idea of Percy getting some character development [hell knows JK skipped most of it], but I also rather like Percy as the uptight one. Can he be somewhat unstrung? Sure. But I'd rather see it happen through character development that doesn't require the TRAGIC PAST (tm) marker.
Personally, I've always assumed that Percy's uptightness comes from remembering the first war. According to the Lexicon, Percy was born in 1976, and James and Lily were killed in 1981. This makes Percy 5 at the end of the first war, and I always figured he spent those five years living in some type of fear. Ron and Ginny would be too young to remember the first war [Ron would have been barely 1 at the end, Ginny was only a few months old]; the twins would only be about 3, so their chances of remembering specifics is fairly slim, and Bill and Charlie were most likely kept at Hogwarts for safety reasons. So who helps Molly and Arthur as they work on Order business and try to save the world? Tiny Percy, who probably spent the first five years of his life watching people run in and out of his house in various states of fear and exhaustion.
So Percy goes through his days doing exactly what's expected of him because, in his very formative years, he was the one who helped keep an eye on the babies and made sure everyone got tucked in. It's not that Molly and Arthur weren't there, but that war makes people keep strange hours, and sometimes the only person who could get the twins to calm down and go to sleep was Percy.
But, on the other hand, I can also see Percy having a wickedly sharp sense of humor. I base this on the fact that all the Weasleys have a good sense of humor, and I figure Percy's is just buried under the layer of SERIOUS BUSINESS (tm) that he carries at all times. I think that Penelope probably saw it, and Percy's roommates probably knew he was a deadpan snarker, but that no teachers ever caught him at it because Percy knows very well how to hide in plain sight.
And Percy blew off his family and trusted the Ministry because it was safer. They said a war wasn't coming, and Percy really, really wanted to believe that, and so he stuck his head in the sand. Not because he's an uptight weasel who hates his family, but because it was easier for him to accept the lie. Because if he accepted the truth, everyone would be in danger again, and he doesn't want to deal with that again.
So, that's my theory, in brief. Anyone got one on other HP characters [or your own version of Percy]?
I just found a fic that explains Percy's high-strung ways through his having a childhood trauma. And the fic is all about him healing and becoming fun and lovable. I'm not against the idea of Percy getting some character development [hell knows JK skipped most of it], but I also rather like Percy as the uptight one. Can he be somewhat unstrung? Sure. But I'd rather see it happen through character development that doesn't require the TRAGIC PAST (tm) marker.
Personally, I've always assumed that Percy's uptightness comes from remembering the first war. According to the Lexicon, Percy was born in 1976, and James and Lily were killed in 1981. This makes Percy 5 at the end of the first war, and I always figured he spent those five years living in some type of fear. Ron and Ginny would be too young to remember the first war [Ron would have been barely 1 at the end, Ginny was only a few months old]; the twins would only be about 3, so their chances of remembering specifics is fairly slim, and Bill and Charlie were most likely kept at Hogwarts for safety reasons. So who helps Molly and Arthur as they work on Order business and try to save the world? Tiny Percy, who probably spent the first five years of his life watching people run in and out of his house in various states of fear and exhaustion.
So Percy goes through his days doing exactly what's expected of him because, in his very formative years, he was the one who helped keep an eye on the babies and made sure everyone got tucked in. It's not that Molly and Arthur weren't there, but that war makes people keep strange hours, and sometimes the only person who could get the twins to calm down and go to sleep was Percy.
But, on the other hand, I can also see Percy having a wickedly sharp sense of humor. I base this on the fact that all the Weasleys have a good sense of humor, and I figure Percy's is just buried under the layer of SERIOUS BUSINESS (tm) that he carries at all times. I think that Penelope probably saw it, and Percy's roommates probably knew he was a deadpan snarker, but that no teachers ever caught him at it because Percy knows very well how to hide in plain sight.
And Percy blew off his family and trusted the Ministry because it was safer. They said a war wasn't coming, and Percy really, really wanted to believe that, and so he stuck his head in the sand. Not because he's an uptight weasel who hates his family, but because it was easier for him to accept the lie. Because if he accepted the truth, everyone would be in danger again, and he doesn't want to deal with that again.
So, that's my theory, in brief. Anyone got one on other HP characters [or your own version of Percy]?
