Skip to main content

harry potter - Did Draco Malfoy Demonstrate Any Level of Redemption By the End of the HP Series?


REPHRASED: J.K. Rowling has said that "all of her main characters, except for Voldemort, can be considered redeemable." Based on the following examples, was Draco Malfoy redeemed in the series, either fully or partially? Supplemental information about Draco can be reviewed at Accio Quote (a quick read).


Consider:



  • Draco spends the first five books regurgitating Death Eaters propoganda striving to become one; once he becomes a Death Eater at sixteen, a new reality sets in for Draco, and he finds he can't handle it (not unlike Regulus Black). At the end, he is not seen supporting Voldemort, but rather sitting with his parents in the Great Hall.


  • Draco spends all of year six attempting to kill, or figure out how to kill, Albus Dumbledore, on the orders of Voldemort; he ultimately chooses not to kill Dumbledore, even though Voldemort has threatened to kill Draco and his family if Draco fails to perform the task.

  • Draco facilitates the entry of the Death Eaters into Hogwarts; however, when talking with Dumbledore on the ramparts of the Astronomy Tower, he expresses upset that Fenrir Greyback was given passage into the school, where his friends reside.

  • Draco is seen in one of Harry's visions torturing fellow Death Eater Rowle; however, Harry notes how "gaunt and fearful" Draco appears while doing this, and hears Voldemort telling Draco to perform Cruciatus (I'm assuming it's Cruciatus) on Rowle or else face Voldemort's wrath himself.

  • In Deathly Hallows, when the trio is captured by Fenrir Greyback and the Snatchers and taken to Malfoy Manor, Draco does not identify Harry to Bellatrix, Lucius, or the other Death Eaters. It seems logical Draco knew it was Harry, as Ron and Hermione were with him, undisguised and not under the effects of a stinging jinx, as Harry was.

  • In Deathly Hallows, Draco hunts down Harry in the Room of Requirement as Harry is looking for the Ravenclaw diadem Horcrux and holds Harry at wandpoint, demanding return of Draco's hawthorn wand that Harry took from Draco before escaping Malfoy Manor; on the other hand, he attempts to prevent Crabbe from trying to kill Harry.

  • In Deathly Hallows, the Malfoy family is ultimately seen abandoning Voldemort's side and seemingly just pull out of the fight altogether.

  • In the epilogue scene of Deathly Hallows, Harry and Draco give one another a tacit nod, but do not speak.


Draco Malfoy did horrible things; he also seemed to re-think some of his choices. Do the above canon-based examples demonstrate no, partial, or full redemption on Draco Malfoy's part?



Answer




Redemption: The action of saving or being saved from sin, error, or evil.


Lets take a look a the the progression of Draco Malfoy throughout the books:




  • Books 1 - 5 : Ignorant, bigoted, selfish, spoiled. Draco lives a life of no consequences, anything he does wrong will be corrected by his father's money and / or influence.




  • Book 6: Suddenly his father is in prison. The protective bubble of a consequence-free life is shattered, and he is given a seemingly impossible task which will literally destroy his family if he fails. He is afraid of this new world.





  • Book 7: Things are becoming worse and worse for the Malfoys. It becomes obvious to Draco that Voldemort doesn't care about anyone. He begins to realize his family (and friends) are important to him, and that they won't be safe under Voldemort. Therefore he starts to change, he doesn't reveal Harry Potter, he tries to save his misguided friend (Crabbe). At the end the Malfoys defect from Voldemort's army, choosing family over (assumed) power.




I think this illustrates a lot of growing up that Draco experienced in his last two years in the books. He realized that friends and family (relationships) were important, at least important to him, and were more important than the supposed power under Voldemort.


Voldemort had no concept of family, friends, or love. All of his associates (with perhaps the exception of the insane Bellatrix) followed him out of fear, not out of admiration or affection. How long til Voldemort saw his lieutenants as potential threats? Along the same lines is a quote from Gandalf:



[Speaking of Sauron]...and he does not share power.



Draco and his family realized there was no future in Voldemort's world (a world of perpetual evil). So they had to turn away from it.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

harry potter - Did Dolores Umbridge Have Any Association with Voldemort (or Death Eaters) before His Return?

I noticed that Dolores Umbridge was born during the first Wizarding War, so it's very likely she wasn't a Death Eater then (but she is pretty evil -- who knows?). After that Voldemort was not around in a way that could affect many people, and most wouldn't know he was planning to rise again. During that time, and up through Voldemort's return (in Goblet of Fire ), did Umbridge have any connection with the Death Eaters or with Voldemort? Was she doing what she did on her own, or was it because of an association with Voldemort or his allies? Answer Dolores Umbridge was definitely not a good person. However, as Sirius points out, "the world isn't split into good people and Death Eaters". Remember that he also says that he doesn't believe Umbridge to be a Death Eater, but that she's evil enough (or something like that). I think there are two strong reasons to believe that: Umbridge was proud to do everything according to the law, except when she trie...
Post a Comment
Read more

futurama - How much time is lost in 'Time Keeps on Slippin''

In time Keeps on Slippin' , Farnsworth creates a basketball team which he matures by abusing Chronitons. This leads to time skipping forward by random, but ever increasing amounts. How much time was skipped in this way? Answer Unfortunately, I don't think a good estimate can be made for this, for two reasons: Many of the time skips move forward by an indeterminate amount of time. At one point, the Professor mentions localized regions of space skipping forward much more than others. We then see two young boys on the street below complaining about having to pay social security, only to suddenly become senior citizens and start complaining about wanting their money. Thus, each individual could have experienced a different amount of time skippage.
Post a Comment
Read more

aliens - Interstellar Zoo story

I vaguely remember this story from my childhood: it was about an interstellar zoo that came to Earth with lots of bizarre and unusual species, and humans would file through and gape at all the crazy looking creatures from other planets. The twist came at the end when the perspective shifted to the other side of the bars and we discovered that the "creatures" were traveling through space on a kind of safari. They thought they were the visitors and we were the animals. Neither side knew that the other side thought they were the zoo creatures. Answer Got it. Zoo, by Edward D. Hoch. Published in 1958. Link to Publication History Link to PDF
Post a Comment
Read more

tolkiens legendarium - Did Gandalf wear his Ring of Power throughout the trilogy?

After Gandalf discovered that Sauron was back and sent Frodo on his quest to Rivendell, did he continue to wear Narya (one of the Three Rings)? It seems like a huge risk to continue to wear it after the Nazgûl (Ringwraiths) started to try and reclaim the One Ring; if they managed to get the ring to Sauron, couldn't he be corrupted by his power? Whatever powers Narya bestows upon him couldn't possibly be worth the huge risk, could it? Answer When Sauron forged the one ring and put it on his finger, the other ring bearers were immediately aware of him and his intentions and removed their own rings. There is no reason why they couldn't merely do so again. As soon as Sauron set the One Ring upon his finger they were aware of him; and they knew him, and preceived that he would be master of them, and of all they wrought. Then in anger and fear they took off their rings. "Of the Rings of Power and the Third Age," Silmarillion
Post a Comment
Read more