Hey everyone,
Welcome to another installment of Harry Potter Theory.
Today, we’re going to be discussing Wormtail AKA Peter Pettigrew.
Wormtail gets a bad wrap, and has arguably the worst reputation of the entire franchise,
with perhaps the exception of Umbridge.
No one, not even Wormtail’s allies, held him in a very high regard, and one of the
reasons that people looked down on him was that they saw him as submissive and weak.
Voldemort and the death eaters disrespected him, never truly giving him the time of day.
Wormtail was instrumental in Voldemort’s resurgence, so it’s a testament to Voldemort’s
sinister nature, and Wormtail’s submissive nature, that he could disrespect him so openly.
At one point, wormtail was sent to Snape’s house to ‘assist’ him, but Snape ended
up treating him like his servant, a supreme gesture of disrespect:
Severus Snape: "I was under the impression that the Dark Lord sent you here to assist
me."
Peter Pettigrew: "To assist you, yes, but not to serve you drinks and...to clean your
house!"
Wormtail was a british pure-blood wizard born in 1959 or 1960, he had pale skin, unhealthy
hair that was constantly falling out, and blue eyes.
He was a snivelling excuse for a man whose loyalties only lay where there was power,
and he did not value friendship or love in the way that most do.
Despite serving both sides of the battle at one point or another, neither respected him,
and those that Wormtail betrayed hated him because he was, morally, an awful awful person.
And while I agree with the sentiment that Wormtail was a despicable person morally,
I am not of the impression that he was an untalented wizard.
In my opinion, Wormtail is one of the most underrated characters in the franchise, power
wise, as if we break everything down - we can see that he was actually able to achieve
quite a lot magically.
Was he the most powerful wizard of all time?
Definitely not- but were there worse wizards than him?
Certainly.
Many witches and wizards wrote off his magical ability due to his appearance and meek demeanor.
The truth is that Pettigrew was a talented wizard, but he was also equally mentally weak
and impressionable.
Sure, Pettigrew didn’t perform well at school, but this could have been for any number of
reasons, and everyone knows that many people struggle in their respective fields in their
formative years.
It’s entirely possible that he was just a late bloomer.
I think that it would be safe to say that Pettigrews ‘friends’ never truly respected
him, and viewed him as a little bit beneath them, despite being the ‘good’ guys.
After years and years of being dismissed and not taken seriously, Pettigrew simply hit
a breaking point, a point at which he sought power independently from those that he knew.
When he turned to Voldemort, Pettigrew saw an opportunity to become his own man.
Voldemort probably saw that he was decent at magic, but also mentally weak, and he took
advantage of that.
James, Sirius and Lupin were ultimately "good" people but they were also arrogant jerks in
their youth, and Pettigrew who was perpetually looked down upon by them eventually made a
choice, as awful as it was, to betray them.
His tale could easily be an allegory for bullying and the bullied kid going down the wrong path.
Pettigrew grew up in the shadow of others.
Had historical circumstances been just a little different, it's not out of the question that
he might have really flowered in a more independent environment just a few years later, at last
free of the rather pompous and arrogant friends with which he'd spent his teenage years.
While at school Professor McGonagall expressed that Peter was less talented than his friends,
going as far as to say that he was ‘hopeless at duelling’.
And while serving lord Voldemort, he too denoted him as a poor wizard.
But, among his child-hood companions, the marauders, there really wasn’t much of an
indication that he was significantly less talented than any of them - and the other
3, Sirius Black, James Potter, and Remus Lupin were all very talented wizards.
In fact, wormtail would go on to become far more versed in the dark arts than any of them,
opening up and expanding his magical arsenal and taking it to another level altogether.
So, why does wormtail get such a bad wrap?
Jk Rowling herself said the following on this matter:
“"It turned out that he was a better wizard than they knew."
- referring to the marauders
The truth is that, when Peter was truly pushed, he was able to accomplish A LOT.
Let’s take a look at some of his accomplishments.
With help from the other Marauders, Peter was able to become an Animagus at the early
age of fifteen.
Hogwarts transfiguration professor Minerva McGonagall only achieved this feat at the
age of 17, and she was under direct instruction from transfiguration master Albus Dumbledore.
This really speaks to how impressive this feat was, despite having been helped by his
friends.
At the Uagadou School of Magic, a school known for its intensive focus on self-transfiguration,
students become Animagi by the age of fourteen.
Peter, attending a regular magical school, with no particular focus on transfiguration,
achieved this 1 year older.
Peter was of course an unregistered animagus, meaning that he did not report his animagus
status to the ministry of magic, something that all animagi are meant to do.
This allowed him to abuse his ability, Dumbledore phrased it well when he said that ‘Animagi
are usually people who seek to avoid punishment when they broke the law’.
In his animagus form, Pettigrew hid from the Order of the Phoenix, Death eaters, AND the
ministry - he was even able to falsify his death.
After escaping Sirius after Voldemort's first defeat, he was able to successfully frame
him for his crimes, then fake his own death - simultaneously killing twelve people with
one curse.
After this, he lived for years in his Animagus form- a rat.
Pettigrew stayed in his animagus form for 12 whole years, something that I can’t imagine
was an easy feat, and became the Weasley family’s pet rat, Scabbers.
In addition to becoming an animagus, which is an advanced form of transfiguration, Pettigrew
was also versed in ‘Conjuration’ - another extremely advanced branch of transfiguration.
Conjuration, which allows individuals to transfigure an object out of thin air, was only taught
to talented students at the N.E.W.T level.
Pettigrew uses conjuration in 1996 when he produces ropes which bound Harry Potter to
Tom Riddle Snr's grave.
It has been stated that the only form of transfiguration more difficult than conjuration was human
transfiguration, which he also achieved.
Potions: Peter under voldemort’s instruction, was able to produce both the Rudimentary body
potion and the regeneration potion.
The first potion allowed voldemort to achieve his basic, rudimentary form, and the latter
returned the dark lord to his former glory.
Both potions were highly advanced dark magical potions, which Pettigrew would have had no
experience with.
Sure, Voldemort was probably a good teacher, but he still pulled it off successfully, and
didn’t pull a Seamus Finnigan.
Peter also helped Barty Crouch Jr to produce the polyjuice potion, which allowed Crouch
to assume the identity of Alastor Moody.
This leads us to Peter’s next skill, duelling.
Despite professor Mcgonagall expressing in his younger years that he was ‘hopeless
at duelling’, Pettigrew went on to become fairly successful in numerous duelling endeavours.
In order to obtain the ingredients necessary to impersonate Alastor Moody, Pettigrew had
to try and trap Moody, which he did along with Barty Crouch jr.
Alastor moody was a scottish pure-blood wizard, and is considered by many to be ‘the most
famous auror of all time’.
He was an order of the phoenix member, dark wizard catcher, and warrior.
Moody served with great distinction during the first wizarding war, and lost an eye,
leg, and nose in battle against evil-doers.
Moody is personally responsible for a large number of the witches and wizards in Azkaban,
and this earned him quite the reputation amongst the dark wizard community.
This makes Pettigrews achievement of capturing him all-the-sweeter.
Additionally, though it wasn’t much of a duel, Pettigrew makes quick work of Cedric
Diggory with avada kedavra.
Though Cedric was young, and didn’t see it coming, he was considered to be a talented
student, and stood no chance against Wormtail.
This also spoke to Pettigrew’s skill in all manners of the dark arts, as avada kedavra
is not a particularly easy spell to cast.
Avada kedavra is one of the three unforgivable curses, and in order to utilize it properly
it requires extreme concentration.
Additionally, in 1981, the same year Pettigrew framed Sirius for the death of 12 muggles,
he utilized a dark, advanced and powerful blasting curse.
The curse was strong enough to murder 12 people, destroy hundreds of feet of sewer system,
and leave a 40 foot crater in the ground.
I am certain that Peter was far more skilled in the dark arts than any of the other marauders
would have been.
In addition to the above mentioned, which feature some of his most notable accomplishments,
Peter also: -Helped to produce and design the ‘Marauders
map’ a highly advanced piece of magic.
-Showed extreme wand versatility, seemingly using any and all wands that he got ahold
of with no issue, despite not yet winning the wand’s allegiance.
& -Regularly used non-verbal magic.
Wands and incantations generally help witches and wizards to channel their magic- allowing
them to achieve a more accurate/potent result.
However, truly powerful witches and wizards are able to produce magic regardless of these
two factors.
Peter was one of those wizards.
So, as you can see, Pettigrew was able to achieve A LOT during his time in the wizarding
world.
Sure, when it comes to Death Eaters, Pettigrew is no Snape, or Bellatrix, but he did end
up becoming a reasonably powerful wizard.
And that’s it for this video!
What do you guys think?
Am I missing something?
Let me know down in the comment section below.
Until next time,
Remember
It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live