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Hey brother!
Okay guys, here is the full list of people
who destroyed Voldemort's Horcruxes.
Let me know if just, maybe it feels like
one of them doesn't belong.
You've got Harry Potter, Ron Weasley, Hermione Granger,
Dumbledore, Dumbledore, Neville Bigbottom,
Voldemort, Voldemort, and Vincent Crabbe.
Ah, are you kidding me with the last one?
Crabbe who has zero, zero lines for the first six books,
gets to enjoy the honor of having destroyed
a piece of Voldemort's soul?
I mean the list is otherwise a list of the main characters.
It's like the main characters and Crabbe.
Was there no one better, like, I don't know,
maybe a certain best friend of Crabbe's
who was well on his way to having a redemption arc
and who was definitely way more of a main character?
I mean, it's not not funny, but yes, you Draco.
How did this happen?
How was Draco so fervently robbed of this honor?
Him and his whole family
are on their way away from Voldemort.
And that totally should have been the final nail
in the oh my gosh, yes,
Draco did actually have some good in him coffin.
But don't worry, Draco, we see you.
We understand that you were robbed.
And honestly, so were we.
We needed your redemption arc, Draco.
It is a crucial missing cog to the story,
the ramifications of which echo forward to this day.
And so today we discuss.
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- [Ben and J] Hey brother!
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Now look, on the surface,
I know it can be hard to feel bad for Draco Malfoy.
I mean, he's born
into one of the wealthiest wizarding families in the world.
He wants for almost nothing.
He is very popular amongst his classmates.
He's a school prefect.
He's a star Quidditch player.
He's Snape's favorite student.
- Malfoy, perhaps?
- I do feel bad for Draco because despite all of that,
he is simply born into a family
that has definitely lost its way.
I mean, the Malfoys, plain and simple,
are on the wrong side of what is right and good.
They support the Dark Lord and the Dark Arts,
and they believe in pure-blood elitism,
and generally just believe themselves
to be superior to almost everyone.
And every single one of those things
is just intrinsically wrong.
Like, they own a slave.
And Draco is a victim of these circumstances.
He is raised to parrot all of these beliefs.
I mean, even before he gets to Hogwarts,
we see him spouting off
about how terrible he thinks Hufflepuff is,
and what a savage he thinks Hagrid looks like.
And yes, I know it's easy to think
well, like, "Hey, look at Harry.
He was raised by terrible people
and he's still immediately recognized right from wrong."
- I think I can tell the wrong sort for myself, thanks.
- And that is very true.
But Harry was also raised as an outsider.
As someone who didn't belong
and was constantly bullied by his own family.
- Bring my coffee, boy!
- Draco, not so much.
He was raised like a prince.
He was told he was amazing, told he was superior.
And I think even to a young boy,
his family's success would have been pretty obvious.
How could he not think himself superior
when raised in a house like this?
And I mean,
it's not like wizard kids are known to spend lots of time
with other wizard kids before they start going to school,
so I'm not even sure how much exposure
he'd even have to other kinds of thinking.
Which, side note, the Wizarding World
totally needs some form of elementary school.
Like, they just do.
It's just a fact.
Welcome to Pigbimbles kids!
Today we're gonna learn
how to not accidentally blow up your aunts.
Do you see just how immediately useful
these kinds of lessons could be?
But either way, even if he is hanging out
with other kinds of kids,
you know the Malfoys aren't the kind of family
that are gonna spend time with other families
that don't also share their belief system.
"Oh, these are my friends, Judy and Bill,
the muggles from down the street," said no Malfoy ever.
I mean, come on. They don't even live on a street.
It's a manor.
And on top of his extremely limited worldview,
Draco also just so happens to be
the exact same age as Harry Potter.
The Boy Who Lived, or as far as the Malfoys are concerned,
the boy who ruined everything, gosh, we were so close!
Draco thought he was going to arrive at Hogwarts
as the next best thing since magically-sliced bread.
And yet, everyone only cared about Harry
and no one cared about Draco.
The end result?
Draco doubles down on his family's beliefs
and puts up a second layer of blinders.
And that's how he operates through most of high school,
as someone who uses his family's weight
to fight all of his battles.
- Wait 'til my father hears about this.
My father can afford the best.
But my father did say this.
Father always said that...
Wait until my father hears about this.
My father and I have a bet.
That's for my father.
♪ I'm gonna be like you, Dad ♪
- Yeah, yeah, yes.
We know, Draco, we know.
- My father will hear about this!
- The thing about it though,
is Draco is never stepping up to the plate himself.
This is always his tactic, just weaponizing his status.
That is, until book six, where he is tasked with a job.
The biggest job: killing Dumbledore.
And for the first time,
Draco can't just pull rank to get the job done.
He has to actually do it himself.
He has to fight this battle,
and it really shows him just how hard
any of the battles that Harry has been going through
the past five years can be.
He is entirely isolated,
and the only silver lining, if you wanna call it that,
is that it is finally an opportunity
for him to think for himself.
He can finally look at the world
through no other lens than his own.
And I think it is this experience
that finally allows him to take the blinders off
and start to see things clearly and where to stand,
even if it takes awhile.
One way or another,
I would argue this is totally where Draco
starts to turn away from the dark side.
Like, yes, he takes the Dark Mark,
and he does complete the plan
and get Death Eaters into the castle.
But also remember what he's up against,
which is Voldemort and death.
Like the terms of the agreement
are do this or I will kill you.
And on top of that,
it's not even intended to be a doable job.
It is just a school year-long punishment
for Lucius's failures.
And for plot convenience.
I mean, we find out later that Voldemort's actual plan
is to have Snape kill Dumbledore,
which he is positioned to do,
but which Voldemort puts off for nine months
just so he can torture the Malfoys.
"My Lord, surely killing the enemy general
right away is advisable.
We have the gun to his head!
Putting it off for nine months,
letting him get a foothold
out of pettiness is a bad idea, yes?"
It is a bad idea.
When push comes to shove though,
even though Draco got the Death Eaters there,
he still can't do it.
He can't kill Dumbledore.
Why?
It's not because he's not capable.
It's because he spent an entire year
experiencing the true terror of Lord Voldemort
and understands now who the real bad guy is.
I mean, you can just see him cling haphazardly
to the frayed strings of his old belief system,
trying to convince himself not on the wrong side.
"I got this far, didn't I?
They thought I'd died in the attempt,
but I'm here and you're at my power.
I'm the one with the wand.
You're at my mercy!"
"No Draco.
It is my mercy, and not yours that matters now."
This is also the moment Dumbledore offers him sanctuary,
and you can tell Draco totally considers it.
Like, he does hesitate.
He drops his wand a little bit,
but then the other Death Eaters show up
and sort of force him into an unwinnable position.
What I love about the scene so much though,
is that Dumbledore, despite the circumstances,
is complementing Draco's plan.
And you can tell that Draco
just really, really appreciates the praise.
"So the Death Eaters were able to pass
from Borgin and Burkes into the school to help you.
A clever plan, a very clever plan.
And as you say, right under my nose."
"Yeah, it was!"
And let's talk about his plan.
Because even just the way Draco goes about it
is proof to me that he is way different
than the other Death Eaters.
For one, he's using the Room of Requirement,
as inspired by Dumbledore's Army the year before.
He's using enchanted coins to communicate with Rosmerta,
as inspired by Dumbledore's Army a year before.
He purchases Peruvian Instant Darkness Powder
from Fred and George,
and even admits the idea of using the mead as a poison,
he got from Hermione!
All of these ideas are borrowed from the good guys,
but Draco recognizes how useful they are.
And this separates him from the other baddies,
who cannot do this.
They are just too proud, too arrogant
to ever admit the other side did something well.
But not Draco.
I mean, this is all proof of his open-mindedness
to other schools of thought in finding a creative solution.
I mean, to me, it's pretty clear that Draco has,
at least internally, turned on Voldemort,
but also finds himself in a completely no win situation
because now he is definitely responsible
for Dumbledore's death,
so nobody on the other side is ever gonna trust him.
And yet he still hates Voldemort,
so his only real hope is to just hunker down
and hope somebody else defeats him.
Which is the exact same situation the rest of his family in.
I mean, his mom Narcissa makes an Unbreakable Vow,
intentionally trying to intervene
on the plan to kill Dumbledore.
She also then lies to Voldemort about Harry being dead.
And Lucius has left wandless,
stuck playing host to the man
who was actively punishing him and his entire family.
And for his part,
Draco does at least lie
about recognizing Harry and Hermione
when they're brought to Malfoy Manor.
And he stops Crabbe and Goyle
from using Avada Kedavra against them
in the Room of Requirement.
What I'm trying to say is, all of the pieces are there,
but Draco has never given that moment
to visibly demonstrate his change of heart.
I mean, how much more satisfying would it have been
if Harry, Ron, Hermione, Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle
come tumbling out of the Room of Requirement,
barely escaping the Fiendfyre.
They staggered to their feet.
They survived, but oh no, Draco has the diadem.
He stares at them, the fire, and the Horcrux,
then casts it in, not exactly what he's just done,
but sure that it settles the debt he owes Harry
for saving him from the fire.
In the end,
all you really get is a line about the Malfoys
being huddled together in the Great Hall after the battle,
unsure if they're supposed to be there.
And Draco does share a curt nod
with everyone in the epilogue,
at least suggesting they are on
I don't entirely hate you terms.
And that's what we call progress, people.
I don't hate you.
That's a seven book-long rivalry resolved?
The Malfoy family certainly ends the war
a little bit more humble than they began,
but I still feel like we were just robbed
that true moment of change.
And not just for my own personal satisfaction either,
but for the legacy this incomplete arc leaves in its wake.
I mean, I know from personal experience
that if you're all high on finishing the books
for the first time,
you log onto Wizarding World
to figure out what house you're in and you get Slytherin,
it can make you feel bad.
And I mean, it shouldn't,
there's nothing wrong with being in Slytherin.
But it can certainly take some time
to arrive at that conclusion yourself,
and Draco having come full circle
I think would have done wonders to help ease this news.
Because Draco is the main Slytherin student in the books,
and coming full circle would have really cemented the idea
that not all Slytherins are bad.
And yes, there are good Slytherins,
but it almost seems like there's just like a little asterisk
next to their name, doesn't it?
Like, yes, Snape actually loved Lily the entire time
and was actually working for Dumbledore, cool!
But he was still actively a jerk to Harry
and bullied his students to the point
where some of them made him his greatest fear.
Slughorn is pretty harmless and good natured overall,
but he's still definitely always just in it for himself.
I mean, even when the castle is actively under attack,
he is hesitant to take action.
Regulus Black is probably the best example we have
of someone coming back to the light,
but even so, he was still a Death Eater first.
And I mean, let's face it,
he's basically an offscreen character.
But we got to know Draco.
We get to see him grow up, witness his character arc.
And at the end of the day, I think he is still redeemable.
And he totally should have gotten that Horcrux kill.
I mean, Crabbe?
(sighing heavily)
I ask you.
Voldemort treats all of his own followers so terribly.
Having one of them turn on him
and be part of his demise just works, it fits.
Anyway guys, what do you think?
Did Draco deserve more of a redemption arc
or are you happy with where he landed?
I'd love to hear all of your thoughts
in the towel section down below.
Guys, thanks so much for watching today's video.
Don't forget to leave a like on it if you haven't already
and subscribe by clicking that button right there.
If you'd like to see what Draco's Patronus would be,
you can check out this video right here.
But Ben, until next time,
I will see you in another life brother.