Episode #9: Draco Malfoy
It’s time to talk Draco, the guy you love to hate. Harry’s other, other arch-nemesis (you know, besides Snape and Voldemort…) is a constant source of consternation to our beleaguered hero. And in Book 6, Draco openly joined the ranks of the Death Eaters, filling his father’s incarcerated shoes. He’s certainly come into his bad self.
What can we expect from Ye of Bad Faith? Is Draco destined for doom, or is there, perhaps, a light at the end of his tunnel? We’ve discussed Draco in the past, but today we give him the full podcast treatment. Enjoy!
And your news:
- Harry Potter popular with Scottish kids.
- Name Book 7 contenst from The Guardian.
- Lucius Malfoy: 12th richest fictional fictional character.
- Potter, The Movie, wins BAFTA.
- A wee bit of Potter, on the Wii.
Also see our past post on Draco Malfoy. You can listen to the podcast by using the player below, or download an mp3 directly.
December 2nd, 2006 at 9:16 pm
Great discussion, as always.
I’ll cop to liking Draco - he’s such a great villain! He starts out as a seemingly simplistic enemy - the spoiled, snobbish, bullying nemesis to the hero, but later we see him developed into a multi-faceted villain with possible redemptive qualities.
In the early books, Draco seems to start out lazy and somewhat cowardly - hiding behind Crabbe and Goyle and his parents’ money and power, and doesn’t seem to put much effort into school (we find out in the Borgin & Burkes scene in Book 2 that his grades were poor his first year). But in Book 6, he’s clearly begun to exhibit other qualities: his plan to get the death eaters into the castle and save his parents took intelligence, hard work, and a certain kind of courageous determination to persevere on a difficult mission alone - the qualities of the other 3 houses besides Slytherin, and the same qualities that Harry has. Of course, he exhibits these qualities in a twisted way, but they’re still present. And as noted, Draco, like Harry and unlike Tom Riddle, loves, and he suffers for it in Book 6, crying in bathrooms and talking to Myrtle. Given the set -up of the books, the house qualities, the importance of love, I think it significant that Draco should exhibit such tendencies, even if they are twisted and misdirected - it’s got to mean something.
Given the relationship between Narcissa and Draco, I too wonder if she will die for him in Book 7, or vice-versa - making for some more interesting parallels to the Harry-Lilly relationship.
December 3rd, 2006 at 1:20 am
It is interesting that you are making a parallel to the Harry-Lilly relationship. I have always looked at Draco as the opposite yet equal of Harry. They both have reputations that preceed them based on little that actually has to do with THEM. Draco is a Malfoy and expected to be cunning, evil, racist, generally “slytherin-like”, and death eaterish. Harry on the otherhand is the son of Lilly and James Potter who died fighting Voldemort and he is a Gryffindor. Harry is the Boy Who Lived.
Neither of these boys ever really had much of a chance to make names for themselves in the wizarding world. Their fates (which were completely contrary to eachother) were decided for them by their parents and those around them before they were even born. Remember how the Sorting Hat chose Slytherin for Draco almost immediately after it was placed on his head. Was that because Draco demonstrated qualities that made him so obviously a Slytherin, or rather because it was expected of him?
If given the choice, both boys would probably choose to live in obscurity. Yes, Draco benefits from his family’s heritage and money, but look where it has gotten him. Like you mentioned, we saw in the bathroom with moaning myrtle that Draco did not take the task assigned to him by Voldemort easily.
I have often wondered what would have happened: a)if Harry wouldn’t have been so turned off by Draco at Madam Malkins and when he first entered Hogwarts and b)if Harry had been sorted into Slytherin (which probably would have happened had Harry not had such an adverse reaction to Draco in the first place). Would Harry have been seduced by the dark side or would he have been able to pursuade the Slytherins to join his side of the battle?
In any event, we definitely have not seen the end of Draco and I wonder what will come of His and Harry’s relationship in book seven. I predict that they will make a tentative truce to fight Voldemort (as Draco will have seen that serving someone like Voldemort is Counterproductive to everything he stands for) and I still think Draco will die.
June 22nd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
I think Draco will die, but he will die by the Death Eaters hand(s) or Voldemort himselves. This is a kind of wacky thery, but that’s what I think