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ABOUT HIM
I do believe my interpretation is very well logic to the canon even though very different from the majority of the interpretations of other fans - though my Barty Jr.'s story does get a little Alternate Universe from the end of Goblet of Fire book, because I do not write him having the Dementor's Kiss but create something more for, and about him, for a short time to come until I have him dead later that year.
I recommend reading the following in the order from top to bottom to avoid confusion.
-HIS HOGWART'S HOUSE | | THE LONGBOTTOM TORTURE |
| HIS TRIAL | | HIS FATHER'S LOVE | | THE SICK JUNIOR |
| AFTER AZKABAN & THE AU PART | | HIS EARLY YEARS |
| HP WIKI VS. ... | | HIS DEVOTION AS A DEATH EATER |
| KILLING HIS FATHER | | SCHOOLING BEFORE HOGWARTS |-
HIS HOGWART'S HOUSE
My version is not a Slyherin but a Gryffendor with many Slytherin characteristis, and some Ravenclaw. A Gryffindor is unlikely, maybe, but still possible. It's only the essence of the person that sorts them into a certain House - it has nothing to do with the depth of the character.
Harry could've strongly belonged into Slytherin - it was a difficult choice for the Hat even between such "opposites" of Houses, so the line between which house a person belongs to, can be very thin, and maybe blurry, and so the crucial element is, to what the child's values weight on and how genuine they are, at the time. "Do you know why I sorted you into Gryffindor?" "Because I asked it."
Junior had ambition in him, but it may not have been as great as his father's, and in my view, he really didn't care for his own much, because his father's ambition was making him unhappy. Until his teenage years pushed him into more genuinely living by some of his Slytherin/non-gryffindor characteristics than he had before. But if and when ambition had a role in his furure choices before Azkaban, it was not genuine and so the Sorting Hat didn't regard his ambition much. And he didn't seem - when he was sane and emotionally relatively healthy - to pull all the shit he did, without regret. I think I mention later, that in my view, Junior was rather unstabled, which made the choice for the Hat even harder.
The book doesn't tell what the child Junior was like, and people can change very essentially if life is a bitch enough or if they just feel like it is - but certainly he might have changed a lot in Azkaban. As in, the Slytherin charasteristics take over his essence, as his heart and mind grew horribly twisted and hurt.
Gryffindor; courage, boldness, daring, loyalty. Slyhterin; ambition, cunning, resourcefulness. Ravenclaw; intelligence, knowledge and wit. All of those and more I could see in the young Barty Junior. He doesn't need to have all the Gryffindor characteristics to belong into the House, and valuing courage, boldness, daring and loyalty does not label him good nor bad. But he wasn't a true Gryffindoe in the way certain others were.
So, in my Junior's case the Death Eater path choice was more like; "This is where I lose myself, when I keep running away from you. And this is who I am when, when I don't know myself anymore. Breathe your life into me - I can feel you. I'm falling. Falling faster. Breathe your life into me - I still need you. I'm falling. And this is how it looks when I am standing on the edge. This is how I break apart when I finally hit the ground. And this is how it hurts when I pretend I don't feel any pain.
And this is how I disappear, when I throw myself away."
I assume, he was likely, in the author's intent, a Ravenclaw or a Slytherin. But as said, anything's possible, because she didn't let us know anything about what he was like or held in valie, when he was a child, and she did write, emotionally and mentally deeply affective events happen to him at young age.
THE LONGBOTTOM TORTURE
Nobody seems to care that Jo PUT WEIGHT in her writing, on how Junior may NOT have been invovlved in the Longbottom torture while NOT confirming at ANY point that he was guilty of it. Why shouldn't that be significant?
Don't you think she likely meant something by the way she put that part of Junior's story? If she really meant him to have part in the Longbottom torture so simply and cruelly - I'd suppose she'd weighted on such image, instead of the opposite. And it's not the first time in the history that even innocent people get imprisoned while evidence speak loudly enough against them.
But because Junior was a Death Eater for sure, back then, and so certainly had it in him to cast some unforgivable curses and was somewhat cruel - I personally chose the middle road; that he did take part in the torture but not entirely out of his own free will.
His emotion in the book's version of the trial, must have been genuine and not an act - because he didn't choose to wait for Voldemort or harbour revenge on his father but he wanted to DIE and even within a year, and he was dying, indeed. As in - doesn't seem like a cold-blooded torturer-murderer-Voldemort-devoted-fannatic to me.
So, though the book does not confirm this but only says that he was there when it happened - in my view he really did take part in the torture of the Longbottoms. But not as if he really wanted to. Bellatrix Lestrange, who was extremely loyal to and fanatic about Voldemort or any of the Lestranges - just happened to ask him to join them in the torture, while it's obvious that a truly loyal Death Eater would do anything for Voldemort - especially in such situation as Voldemort having disppeared - and at least Bellatrix was a psychopath, so what other choice did Junior have but to agree to take part in the crime. As for how he was able to actually do it; The Lestrangaes most likely talked about Voldemort in a glorifying and praising way and about how he would reward them if they found him - and in the deepest Junior was looking for acceptance from Voldemort and had probably had more of it - (pretended or genuine, who knows) - than he felt he'd had from his father and in the light of that and his bitterness, he might have very well ended up wanting to find Voldemort again, so bad that he'd be able to cast the Unforgivable curse and got carried away.
I theorize something more for the Longbottom torture, in the "His devotion as a Death Eater" part.
But his choices, from becoming a Death Eater in the first place to everything else he did before he got caught, were not so much hate driven but more out of desperation and youthful foolishness, combined to Voldemort being excpetionally good in manipulating people.
HIS TRIAL
In my vision the trial happened like in the book. And he behaved so because he still held on to some hope when it came to his father. Regardless of anything they may have had or missed in the past - his pleading oozed the attitude 'but-I'm-your-son-you're-my-daddy-you-don't-really-want-to-do-this-to-me' - and even more so as he turned to his mommy, pleading her to make the father see that. Mothers usually have an unconditionally genuine love-bond to their children and sometimes end up reminding fathers that they do too. That is what I think Junior was counting on at that point. He was not innocent at all, but he held on to a hope which is the 'when love is blood, you're never on trial'. (Personally I don't think it has to be a blood tie, just love as strong as that. Generalizing, of course.) This trial was the first time we meet Junior. We knew nothing about him before that and so to me the first impression was that. Besides, as already said, the fact that he was dying in Azkaban within a year, is a reason to believe his emotion and distress in the trial was genuine.
HIS FATHER'S LOVE
And his father did love him, unconditionally. Thus being betrayed by his son in such a way naturally hurt extremely much, causing him to disown him - but of course to that affected also that he was very proud of his status as highly appreciated and respected judge, which Junior had now put to shame. Not only by being a DE but by taking part in such an unthinkable, cruel crime. I think what Junior had done and sending him to Azkaban crushed the father in two ways and affected his behavior in the trial. Because he really loved the boy and because it shamed his name and for a time the love turned to not-so-genuine hate. For a time he probably didn't even want to hear the kid's name mentioned. Of course only the film says in Dumbledore's words "crushed Barty to do it but the evidence was over-whelming" and in Barty's words about the tragicness of losing one's family and life going on ect. - the book doesn't show any of that or that Barty would've felt remorse about sending his son to Azkaban. But I don't think it has to mean he didn't feel sorrow for it, or had "a heart of stone" like Sirius put it, or that he didn't love his child. Heck no, some people just cope with bad things in different ways - I like to dig deeper in this detail too instead of be done with the first impression, while the very first impression to me, the one from the trial, was what it was.
But no, I don't think he regretted sending him to Azkaban as it is, but only that he sentenced the boy there for life. After all, the boy had taken part in torturing (with an Unforgivable Curse) two persons into madness and also ruined two families's life by it, the Longbottom's and his own - all that is something you should not get away with too easily. But I daresay he did regret the sentence to a high degree; wishing that he'd have at least made the sentence shorter than life or that there would've been some alternate, good enough punishment for the crime - after all Azkaban is an extremely inhumane prison and it was his son, who he must have loved more or lees. And he also definitely regretted the disowning, which was in a way even worse punishment than a life sentence in that inhumane prison, not to mention combined to it. And of course that he had let his son slip away and end up doing something like that. And so, there had easily been love from both sides. (Hence, my fan video "Breathe Into Me".)
For the father also agreed to help in rescuing the boy from Azkaban and keeping him alive and taken care of, at home, in relatively good circumstances, can be interpretated at least in two different ways: It may speak for still loving him or in the least for still caring about him. After all, if you truly loved someone once, you never really turn cold about them. Never really - no matter what they've done. But Junior of course by the time believed his father did all that out of love for his wife only and thus that it was all his mother who saved him, but as said in another section, it was not necessarely the trurh.
My point is; the whole trial incident is much more powerful, if they had love for and faith in each others instead of the most popular interpretation where there was never love at all.
When love plays any part in the relationship - disowning and the life sentence in such a prison, would be taken as just as unforgivable and cruel as the crime for why it happened. And when a heart gets broken, it can grow back twisted and only the power of forgiveness could save it, and that they never found. At that point of their life any hope for their relationship was blown away forever. Which could also be one reason for why his father restrained him the way he did, as well as the trust issue - (after all that had happened, the boy would surely want Voldemort back), and well, love comes in a way that it was the easiest to Junior too - seeing to how that curse makes a person carefree and feeling good. Read; the father regretted sending him to Azkaban for life and even though he'd saved him later, he had let him suffer there for a year, during which Junior had re-lived the disowning and sentence over and over and over again, in cold, dark, inhumane place, alone - in belief that it's for life. Plus, Junior too probably moarned his mother's fate. As in, now his father saw in the Imperius Curse, two good sides; Junior would feel good and it would keep him from continuing the search for Voldemort.
The fact, that he wouldn't even let him occasionally out of the house for years, to breathe the fresh air, was a thoughtless over-ptotectiveness. If the truth had leaked to publicity, it would have neant that his wife would've died in Azkaban for nothing, and the son who he still loved would've ended up back in Azkaban or received the Dementor's Kiss. So, I see a little bit of mistreating with over-protection there, while I naturally do see the necessity of the basic decisions he made, which was the protecting everything and everyone, including the son.
THE SICK JUNIOR
As for the genuinely sick, cold and violent characteristics Junior shows later - I'd say that added to such extreme emotional blows before he was rescued from Azkaban, for which his heart had grown back cold and twisted, the 13 years constantly under the Imperius Curse (which is bound to damagae one's mind/brain) and suffered in such limited circumnstances, and then breaking free from it and realizing what had been happening, could've turned Junior into the person he is during the 1994-1995.
I'm not saying he didn't pick up some rather negative characteristics from his father or that he didn't have some violent tendenses in the first place because obviously he did - but just saying that I don't think they were that bad all along but the trial and everything after it, more essentially affected and developed them, him, into what he is in the end.
AFTER AZKABAN & THE AU PART
My Junior was usually the incredibly thoughtless, head-strong kid, looking for accapetance and attention, whose bitterness finally blinded him with hate and desperation - for a time long enough to drive him to his final mistakes. And even though the family ties seemed to be broken when the mistake was revealed, they as we know, were not broken truly - but I think the trust was gone forever. That for one, caused the 13 years of mostly suffering even more until there was no turning back, when the boy lost his mind, and therefore possibly, even if he'd wanted to, he couldn't so easily figure out right from wrong anymore - but for as analysed about broken hearts, he probably didn't even want to.
Wants to say he was rescued by Voldemort, who hadn't yet abandoned or betrayed him, he helped Voldemort back to power, killed his own father... Imperioed a boy into crucioing a girl in order to bring Harry to Voldemort... So it was only after being sentenced to Azkaban for life and being publicly disowned by his father, when Junior truly turned against him and embraced Voldemort and became loyal to him. Not all the sudden but developed into it (fast) - so yes, even my Barty Jr. truly was a devoted and fanatic Death Eater at one point of his life even though not from the beginning, and not evil at heart, or sick at mind all along.
But I wanted to give him a chance, to explore how his story might have continued in this interpretation. My Junior won't receive the Dementor's Kiss but he'll die by Voldemort's wand. I'm in belief that wizards honour life-debts very high. And Junior here owed his life to both of his parents and in this case in every way a person can owe his life to another. Well, in the book he doesn't show any remorse but we did not get to know everything that happened between that moment and the Kiss. There was a slight possibility for some alternate universe events. And, Dumbledore is a great man. He couldn't save Barty Junior anymore but he was still able to remind him of certain things Junior already knew but had been ignoring or forgotten. Hence, he wasn't all about Voldemort in the first place and he wasn't hate driven to join the Death Eaters and he'd remember all of that. And so, not forgiving his father, but maybe understanding him better.
Actually, that doesn't even necessarely need Dumbledore's words to remind him. Just without them, coming around to that would take a much longer time. Because not only the life debt but Junior also - even in that twisted emotional and mental state - remembered that his father had loved him. He refered to it, when he talked to Dumbledore. So that feeling of being loved by his father, must have once been strong and meaningful to him.
He was helped to escape by Snape, returned to Voldemort, received his long awated reward but a lot had happened, the times had changed, and so had he, while he had always in the deepest been his father's son = able to do anything to achieve what he thinks right or needed. Even if he knew nothing could erase the things he had done, nothing could really take away his guilt, he may have wanted to try to do something right - even once in his life. And for doing that he had now a great chance…
But to be true to the original storyline, he never used the chance - after all he was physically and emotionally exrtremely damaged and confused, at this point torn between his love for Voldemort and his long abused love for his parents, while as said he could not actually forgive his father. It was no doubt way too late for him in every way. But just guess how many delicious scenes I could come up with, between my Junior and Bellatrix the Voldemort Wannabe?
HIS EARLY YEARS
What kind of a child he was, is very much up to one's own personal characteration, as absolutely nothing, is canonly/officially known about that, or even implied. It's commonly agreed that something about his father-relationship drove him into deatheaterness, but the book never confirms what it was; only likely it had to do with lack of attention and possibly with lack of approval. But anything certain isn't told about his childhood. Of course some views most likely cross the line. As in, it's unlikely Rowling meant there to be any incest - nothing in the serie implies she'd write such themes or subtext. And seriously, the books are also targetted at children - so such themes most likely didn't even cross her mind.
I've read of a fascinating view where he was a total and murderous mental case already as a child/young teenager. But since that would make him probably a very fanatic Death Eater in the first place, too - which I later here analyze to be quite impossible - I don't think it's likely he was too sick in his early years. But those fics are still great!
So, there is almost unlimited possibilities to view the child Junior and his teenage years, and have him realistically develop to what his story has to become at a certain point, while also remaining possible to the author's intent. In my view he was unstabled and spirited, but still quite your normal kid - but just utterly a Daddy's boy, which caused whatever negative feelings he had because of his father, to thousand-fold in his heart, in comparation to your typical father-son relationship. (More about him in this part you're reading now, and in my fanfiction stories.) But I've also read about a fascinating view, in which he was a total mental case already at the age of 13. I don't know why, the fic didn't go indepth.
Most people think Junior really was utterly devoted to Voldemort as a replacement father of sorts or that it was the driving element. I never did and never will. Junior was not looking for downright a father-figure replacement or love in Voldemort but only the acceptance/approval he had been essentially missing from his father and also wanted to get back at him in power matters and stuff related to his father's ambition. But he didn't need Voldemort to replace his father in any truly emotional way, like love and closeness - that he had from his father and it's not as if he'd found that from Voldemort anyway.
Some think Senior seemed distant to Junior in the book. Perhaps because Junior, in the trial, kept using the word "father" instead of "dad"? At least that's all I can think of for a reason. Well, that may be likely but I can easily see other reasons too. The first time I read the book, was in my mother language. We use our word "father" no matter how close or distant the relationship. We too have our words for "dad" and "daddy" but the point is, we still use the word "father" the same as any other. This naturally affected my view, BUT; they might have been close but grown essentially distant throughout the past few years or it was just the way they addressed parents in the family, whereas in official situations people usually go for formality. Which leads me to a theory I prefer, as a lover of psychology;
Junior reckoned that addressing his father that formally would help him avoid Azkaban. For it was a very official situation and not one at home or randomly somewhere. And the man was obviously a proud and ambitious person. And at the moment, indeed he was not Junior's Dad like at home but in a role of a judge, and drop-dead furious too by the way and in a shock-type of state of mind. Addressing him with fluffy family terms probably would've echoed to even more deaf ears than what he did say. You know you've gotta try everything, right? Beg, plea, keep a respectful distance, while still reminding him that you're related, and in the end remind him frankly "But I'm your son! I'm your son!" So, yeah. Maybe they were distant or maybe they were close. In my interpretation they were close. If Junior believed that "I'm your son!" might save his ass, there must have been closeness enough in their relationship.
You see, I can't bring myself to dismiss the trial's events and emotional elements that would have to be extremeley affecting to any family, to any father. Which ought to also mean that the trial events and emotions in itself do not tell that much about the man.
Many fail to see that those pieces of information that imply their relationship was somehows especially distant, are not reliable ones even when put together. As in, what the realtionship really was, when a hater - (Sirius) - isn't speaking his opinion on it, or the son isn't mentally and emotionally twisted and hurt or panicking, or a situation utterly shocking and dramatic = father rageing, son panicking and mother collapsing...
In short; we never got to interpret them on their own land (at home), on neutral base (like on the streets on a free time), or by their regular behavior and communication with each other.
We only know the man Barty Sr. was in 1994-1995 after all that drama + 13 years of living with it all. He couldn't have possibly forgotten or pushed much aside any of it and so begin to truly heal if at all, because he was constantly bound to the loss and hurt by having to protect and ristrain his son. He could not allow himself to forget that the fate of the society as well as his son's life, was in his hands and depended on how cautious he was with protecting. So - I really, really wouldn't trust in the first impression image of a man gone through so much and having dealt with it so long. And of course he was the worst kind of workaholic at that time - 'cause what else he had left, except an utterly bitter son to protect and restrain, while he had to give the outsiders an image that he was living alone?
And the only thing implying that he'd worked too much and for that didn't get to know his own son, is Sirius saying so. But how could Sirius know? As far as we know, he wasn't a friend to Juniior or know anything about the Crouch family. Not to mention that he naturally had a low opinion on Senior, who had thrown him into Azkaban without a trial while he was innocent. I'm sure Senior worked a lot, and that Sirius didn't just make up it all. For he did fight in the same war as Barty, but the point is; he didn't know anything but what the man's work morals seemed to an outsider. And was Sirius even literally working with him, inside the Ministry?
Barty and Junior, if they weren't so always, probably did grow more or less distant during those years with the boy mostly at Hogwarts and the father loving his important job. But the father working too much may not have been the main reason, and he may have still known his son well enough. In my view it was much more the lack of approval than lack of attention, that destroyed them. That, Sirius could not know, so naturally he'd assume it was lack of attention and not knowing each other, and his hate probably affected how much he actually cared about the accurate case. The point; Sirius probably wasn't completely off the truth but how close to it he in the end was, is very qurstionable.
So, Senior being a distant father - I'm not ready to sign that belief until I'm able to dismiss all those - in my opinion essential - psychological points seeing to the image the book gives. I mean, is it not safe to assume Rowling may have thought of them too as she wrote them to happen. (So please note; of course some of his characteristics we can see in GoF would've always been there. So I'm not saying Senior would've been completely different person before the trial and all, but easily could've been essentially and remarkably different. In example; not necessarely a distant father.)
I also believe he wasn't quite as extreme with his family, as he was with the Death Eaters and such. Because he naturally loved his family, more or less, whereas he despised and detested dark wizards. That's likely to make a remarkable difference even with extremenist personalities. Of course, maybe it didn't in Barty's case. We really don't knoe enough about him as he was before that trial, to form a certain opinion on that matter. But as said, I think it did make a difference to him. After all, he did not leave Junior to rot in Azkaban unlike he said in the trial, and many other details made me think he wanted what's best for his family. My fan fiction "Screaming In Our Hearts" is explaining Junior's trial and everything that followed it. And I'm going to write a fic that tells the actual Longbottom torture night all the way up to the trial.
To tell you more about the early years of my Junior's life... I have visioned he was a true Gryffindor in a way, but also with many strong Syltherin features too, but his heart in the deepest that of a Gryffinfdor. He was close with his father and they had their good times and the boy had felt the feeling of being loved by him, but the father in the end put his job as a judge ahead his family, for too long took his job as a judge more important than that of as a father. When daddy's little boy was always there but the father did not take care of the relationship, anything good and beautiful is sure to slowly turn into bad, through loneliness, uncertainty, bitterness, all the way to occasional moments of hate. If dad was not enough there for him when he needed him the most after his mother got deathly ill but selfishly drowned his own sorrow into his precious job, and the kid happened to be in sensitive age at the time, things would certainly get worse fast. But they never got so distant, that the father didn't know his son. It was the lack of approval that triggered the worst to happen. Nothing to do with knowing the person.
Junior was a mama's boy only to a degree; his mother worshipped him so that he had not grown to see and respect her as a parent but look at her as an utter equal or even worse. He had a more genuinely strong and moving emotional bond to his mother than to his father because he'd spent more time with her and because she was always (too) kind and gentle no matter what and tried to get her baby out of anything stupid he'd pulled. But that's all to his mama's-boyness. (Junior reckoned his mother might be willing to try and help him in the trial.)
A boy child has a need and tendency to look up to his father more, in any case and a child needs at least one true parent. My Junior had a spirited nature and as said, he didn't think his mother as an authority figure or someone to look up to, and so couldn't even come to feel childlike devotion for her. His father certainly was someone to gain all that. And as said, he was his father's son. Thus, Junior was always a daddy's boy in his own heart and world. And also in his father's. (Junior broke down and grew deeply bitter because of the events in his trial, as he had thought "But I'm your son!" might help. And the father was in fury, in shcok, and wouldn't listen, because his boy would not be a Death Eater, the very least a torturer. The boy becoming a DE wasn't a surprise really but just extremely unpleasent and he knew his child would not take part in a torture like that out of free will, while the torture crime was such a shock that he wasn't thinking anything clearly. Especially as it was all publicly revealed. And as I've said, the disowning wasn't what it seemed - he never stopped loving Junior as his son.)
If you've seen the film 'Liar, Liar', starring Jim Carrey and Justin Cooper - something along that essence I imagine the relationship between the child Junior and his father. I said 'something along' and 'essence' - not a copy of it. My basic point with this; Like Max, Junior worshipped his daddy regardless of all the disappointments and his father absolutely loved him but just didn't get what he was doing wrong until he thought he'd lose the boy. But Junior and his dad didn't get a Disney ending because there are additional elements to them as their family situation and personalities are different than and they obviously had more issues than Max and his dad.
In them, I don't see people afraid to or uncomfortable with showing their love. Or living in grand halls though of course they had a big house. What I see, is just your typical, close-with-each-other family, which however ended up into a complete destruction, for one because of selfishness and wrong choices especially during the hard times. So I write with a thought, that rich people do not necessarely live in any special way, and that hard times and huge emotional blows change people - so even Senior, just like Junior, could've been essentially different person before all that is described in the Goblet of Fire book. Their hard times and blows were so extreme that even strong persons may change. Like Senior seemed uncomfortable around children and not knowing how to talk to them: Maybe he became like that after what happened withi his own son even though he had in their time been fine around him. While as already told in another way, I got the impression from the trial scene that it destroyed something very special for both, the father and the son (and the mother.) But as said, love never really dies, so they both saved their son - but after all that had happened, there wasn't much to save.
I have always imagined Junior took his growing up harder than he would've needed to, that he grew up a relatively happy childhood, but to him something too importabt was going wrong, and what didn't seem all that bad to his parents, however did feel too bad to him. So, in my view they both were to blame for Junior's fall, and the trigger to it was a more sneaky one in a basically good but very complicated father-son relationship.
HP WIKI VS. ...
The Harry Potter Wiki says that the father never loved his son at all and the son killed the father because he (the son) despised him (the father.) Now, first off - I don't think that's exactly a fact, that the father never loved him. That is never said in the book, even Junior said he believed his father loved someone more than he ever loved him, the son, and not that he thought he never loved him at all - and in any case truth is a relative concept. But surely Junior despised his father at the point in when he killed him. Who wouldn't? The man had publicly disowned him, and sent him to that inhumane prison for life, and even when rescured him, held him captive by the darkest of magic. Surely this would make one also doubt the parent's love. I know that never-loved view is the easiest way to have all those things to happen. But to me, the easiest way isn't the interesting one, nor the best.
I think it much more interesting for me that the father-son relationship was close but never worked too well though he's in a way so much like his father but in many things so different... They can't understand each others in many things and too often forget to respect each others. I think they had it all and they wanted it to last, especially the boy longed for his father, but a complicated relationship takes more work than the father was willing and able to do on it. But I do not like to think their relationship would have been doomed from the beginning because of the father never really trying or caring. Rather as in that he wanted a child, and was proud to have a son, (which is why he was named after him), but became a father at too young age, and being ambitious to a high degree he didn't think of or even fully understand the responsibility that having a child, truly brings. And then the mother's illness came to picture, making life even harder.
I want to say a little about the mother at this point: the day she and the father saved Junior from Azkaban. Those moments have always fascinated me the most in the family's story in any case but especially in this interpretation of mine, where they all were close to each others. And so the mother could trust that, even though the father and son had fallen apart for ever, the father would take care of their son, keep him safe and taken care of. Because it was her wish and she also knew the father too, still loved his son; that the disowning wasn't what it seemed. And so those moments were just as painful to the father as they were to the other two - even if Junior didn't believe any of it anymore. His mother's sacrifice was just the most ultimate even for a mother; willing to die in such inhumane prison, so that her son could live free, even though the boy had commited such an unthinkable crime.
You know, it's not as if the father wasn't making a huge sacrifice in the rescue too; his beloved wife would die a horrible, lonely death in the inhumane circumstances and he could never forget any of the pains or the shame, because he would see his son every day for the rest of his life. He must have still loved Junior and think of him as his son.
But I don't think it was simply the parent-child love-bond that made them do it, though of course it was essential - but also as essentialy something the Archbishop Fulton Sheen has talked about; being able to bear and love the unbeautiful because one had already seen the beautiful.
So I prefer something potential-to-end-happily, something beautiful, turning bad and to worse and to the bitter end because of selfishness, strong hate and desperation sprung out of love, and of wrong choices. I think it's in a way, more tragic my way.
HIS DEVOTION AS A DEATH EATER
I'm fully aware how fanatic and devoted BCJ was as a DE during his life after he was out of Azkaban. But I've already made a point that he might have turned into that extreme loyalty and fanatism after the Azkaban year and been far less devoted and fanatic before it. His behavior in the trial can be interpretated in so, so many ways. To begin with, it is NOT even confirmed in the book that he had tortured the Longbottoms! It's actually the opposite of that - it's being numerous times implied in many characters's words, that he may not have been involved. And even if he had, it's not written in stone that he'd done it filled with glee or even vaulunteered to.
Anyone who is fanatic about Voldemort, is not in their right mind, and would gladly go to Azkaban, care about Voldemort's possible return and wait for him. All this is what the Lestranges did. And what Barty Jr. did NOT do. He could not have been a fanatic Death Eater during the first war.
I do believe he was devoted enough to remain loyal. But I think his development as a Death Eater was rather complex, instead of him being a full blown DE from the beginning.
And so here's more indepthly WHY I genuinely interpretated that BCJ was not remarkably fanatic or devoted in the first place:
It doesn't mean that becoming a DE would be a whim. Of course the decision had built up by his past years - it's just the devotion and fanatism that essentially and remarkably increased only after the Azkaban.
Azkaban is a place where anyone who has nothing to hold on to, would lose their mind and values or whatever was left of them when being thrown in there. In that extremely inhumane and torturous, cold and insane place, one has to live and feel over and over again their worst and most painful memories, while being fed off of their happy ones, which would only increase the affect of the most worst and painful ones. BCJ most likely re-lived over and over and over again, for a year but in genuine belief that it would be for life, the disowning and being sent to hell by his own father who he - for one reason or another - had thought would never do such a thing, and who he had in the end begged and pleaded not to. And also maybe how his mother was hurting in that trial.
Like everyone else, Bellatrix Lestrange had her traumas and pains too, and went even more insane in there than she was before she was thrown in, but she obviously never lost her will to live - why? - because she was proud to suffer in that place for her master, she believed in and she CARED about the return of their master much more than of anything else in her life. And she yearned for it, she was looking forward to it, probably thought of nothing else but it. And Sirius - like Bellatrix, he either didn't lose his will to live, and he didn't even go insane - why? - because he held on to his innocence and the fact that Peter was still out there and so he had hope to get out one day, not to mention that he harboured revenge towards Peter.
But BCJ was dying after only one year. (It is implied in BCJ's words that he indeed had been downright dying, as the Dementors sensed one healthy and one dying, leaving the prison, and Polyjuice Potion changes only the appearancs, not the healths of the bodies.) So, he had lost will to live and even that soon. According to Sirius, he'd stopped even screaming for his mother, already in a few days.
Thus, to me it seems, that to begin with, something else was much more important to BCJ than anything related to Voldemort and that he didn't see any kind of hope or pleasure in anything at all. But for the fact that what had been more important to him, had so uttely betrayed and abandoned him to torment and death, whereas Voldemort hadn't and so made Voldy look even better and more worthy of suffering in his eyes than before, he most likely was - subconsciously - set to the Bellatrix-Lestrange state of mind of worshipping Voldemort to the I'd-do-anything-for-Him-and-everyone-who-wouldn't-deserve-to-be-punished degree, during the time.
That, as well as his utmost bitterness for and will to revenge his father's betrayal of him, immediately had the space to truly live in him and he came to live by it when realized he would get out of that hell and have the chance to look for Voldemort. And you know, I'd say all of that would happen all the more certainly if BCJ hadn't tortured the Longbottoms but still been sentenced for it like that by someone who was supposed to have faith in him and love him. But as analysed, it could easily develop like that even if he was guilty of the torture.
That is how I see the developement of his fanatism and devotion as a Death Eater. And I think it's completely logic and possible. But I've reveived arguments about that.
They think he was always fanatic but just wasn't as tough as Bellatrix and that's why he gave up. But to me that makes no sense. We are talking about a mental toughness during a mental torture; which happens to depend on the strength of one's emotions and motivations to endure the torture. It also depends on the driving motivation.
In 1995 BCJ says his dream and greatest ambition was to serve Voldemort and to prove himself to the man and he cared about being honoured by him. To me those words ooze extremely strong emotion and motivations. They would've driven his mental strength, and so he would have been as tough as Bella. Or at least much tougher than he was. So I really don't think he could've been a fanatic and 100% DE in 1981.
And do I think Bellatrix would let someone, who isn't a 100% DE, to roll with her and her husband? No, I don't. As I already said, the book does not confirm that BCJ rolled with them in the torture but does more of the opposite.
There is also a possibility that Bellatrix didn't know Junior was a Death Eater until Voldemort disappeared, and so not know how many percent of a DE the boy was. And perhaps she meant to crucio Junior too in order to find out about Voldemort's whereabouts, (as Junior was the son of the very person who lead the war against them), and so Junior had to reveal that he too was one of them and certainly had to give an impression that he was 100% for their master even if he wasn't. (Damn, why didn't I think of that before, when I analyzed how my Junior ended up taking part in the Longbottom case? So I add that to it. That is definitely my view of the matter.)
They believe some people are more sensitive to dementors than others and that they made Junior feel his mother's pain about his evilness. As far as I've understood, the dementors do not make a person feel another person's feelings but they make a person re-live over again their own most painful memories, which naturally will make them re-feel their own feelings about the memory. Not someone else's. So, if BCJ's giving up had to do with his mother's feelings about his undertakings, it was through his own regret and pain about the matter. Thus it has everything to do with how evil he was.
And they think GoF shows that Voldemort held Junior in high regard. But hey, it's not as if Voldemort had numerous options in to who he could grant the honour of helping him back into his body. All he had was Wormtail because he knew of no one who was still alive and free and looking for him. Until he learnt that BCJ was, though not exactly free. So that does not yet say that he had always held him in high regard as a DE but only from that point on and especially after BCJ told him he was willing to risk everything for him. And as said, that might have become of BCJ during his Azkaban year. So, note that Voldemort asked Junior if he was ready to risk everything for his master. Why would he ask if Junior had always been all for him. And Voldemort would've easily read Junior's mind after asking that and so found out the man really was all for him now, and with all this, have the trust to assign the extremely risky task at Hogwarts, to him.
Another person has agreed with me that Junior wasn't as fanatic DE before Azkaban as he was afterward, but also given their own, potentially valid view for why he lost his will to live. Viewing that he was still "certainly devoted nonetheless" because most of the loyal ones believed their master to be dead and as captured servants would lose their hope.
Could Junior really have been one of those who genuinely believed Voldemort was dead? I mean, if he had truly believed so, and because of that chose to give up instead of to wait - then why did he say: "All I could think of was to continue searching for my master." or something along that line, when he was telling about his years under the Imperius Curse after he was out of Azkaban? To me it seems that makes a paradox. How likely is it that he'd all the sudden come to change a genuine belief, on that drastical level?
The only ways he could hope to get out were if his father pardoned him or Voldemort saved him. Now which option do you think he'd thought more likely to happen. And he must have all along had some hope that Voldemort was still out there because he downright obsessed about finding him after getting out. Whereas with his family he saw no hope and as said that disowning and sentence most likely was what he re-lived and felt over and over again. Thus, I'm more soon to believe it was his family issues that made him give up regardless of whatever devotion he felt for Voldemort.
Remember all that I analyzed earlier, about the possible psychological process during his Azkaban year and about his part in the Longbottom torture. It was completely possible that he wasn't genuinely and strongly devoted to Voldemort untill that process took him there.
But in the least; he could not have been as fanatic and evil as later, because he was so much softer than Bellatrix. Bellatrix wasn't downright panicking, screaming and sweating in the trial, whereas Junior was doing al of that and more, all through the trial. She wasn't screaming for her mother in her cell, whereas Junior was for his, in his. The psychological process I analyzed, would also explain why he, in 1995, had such a drastical revision in his head about that. About how gladly he had suffered in Azkaban for Voldemort and about how he in fact had faced the consiquences for his loyalty to Voldemort, and so also, about what in fact had been more important to him in the first plcae.
For all this, in my eyes, his family was more important and emotional matter to him, than Voldemort. Thus he was also, in the deepest, more devoted to his family.
So, I could imagine, that Junior - in my view anyway - joined the DEs basically out of his own free will and choice, which had subconsciously developed throughout some years and needed only the right words and "promises" to pull the trigger. And so he'd have to have some genuine will and strength to do the DE stuff. But still he didn't pull everything without some hesitation/need of manipulation. I'd bet using the Imperius even cruelly might have been lots of fun for him. But he didn't crucio anyone before the Longbottoms. Also if he did kill, not in cold blood though tried his best to please his master (and revenge to his father.) Of course any of the Unforgivable are as bad as each other but that's just why he was slightly out of place with the use of them and probably didn't feel too purely proud afterwards, if not downright regretful either. Maybe somewhere in the middle or on and off between those feelings. Junior really didn't seem to me like an evil person at heart. But someone desperate and foolish, also apparently unstabled, playing with fire. Then it all blew up in his hands and the consequences turned him into a pretty sick, damaged person. Again, hence, my fan video "Breathe Into Me".
Voldemort didn't give the Dark Mark to just anyone but would check the person's attitudes about blood-purity and stuff - I know. But BCJ was gifted in Occlumens and we don't know exaactly how gifted, while he naturally must have had motives and attitudes strong enough if he even consider joining Voldemort's causes for whatever reason, not to mention actually asked Voldemort to have him - and they would naturally show clearly. And let's not forget that some Death Eaters were blackmailed into joining. So accepting someone with not perfect attitudes but good enough to remain loyal, would not seem too unlikely to me. Isn't Igor Karkaroff quite a shining example of how Voldemort wasn't that picky on his followers... Karkaroff could've even been one of those who were blackmeiled into it. I really think Junior stood all the chances in the world, even in my interpretation.
KILLING HIS FATHER
As I re-read from the book the other night, I noticed that Junior told Harry that it was "a very great pleasure" to kill his own father, but he was described to look "completely insane" when he said it. And he did not smile with glee about killing his father - of that we do not know how he felt as he merely said that he'd killed him and no tone of anything was described. The wicked, gleeful smile he had only when he recalled the moment when Voldy had cast the Imperius Curse on the father. He felt that the fact his father was now imprisoned and controlled, was the sweetest moment of his life. Not the killing of him. I wouldn't be surprised of course if even that was, but the point is, the book does not suggest so. I thought the more essential motivation than the natural unforgiveness and despise Junior felt for his father, was the fact that he just was out of his mind and morals & Voldemort told him he must stop his father at all costs, and Junior, according to himself, wanted to prove himself to Voldemort.
And as I already pointed out in the "After Azkaban and the AU part" section - he remembered in the book that his father had loved him - even in that horribly twisted and Voldemort-fanatic state of mind. So that feeling of being loved by his father, must have once been strong and meaningful to him. And he was in a life debt. For all this, I really, really don't think he actually wanted to kill his father. And as analyzed in the section mentioned, he might have even come to regret it, in time.
SCHOOLING BEFORE HOGWARTS
Many are confused of how wizarding children were educated before they go to Hogwarts. And some even assume that all pure-bloods were home schooled, which is false assumption as it is.
"'Where do wizarding children go to school before Hogwarts?'
JK Rowling replies -> They can either go to a Muggle primary school or they are educated at home. The Weasleys were taught by Mrs. Weasley." JK Rowling's World Book Day Chat,
March 4, 2004
She does not imply that pure blood has anything to do with the choice between muggle primary school and home schooling. Because certainly it wouldn't have in the Weasley's case as they didn't think themselves above muggles in any way. Mrs. Weasley was a stay-at-home mother of a poor family which number of members increased quickly and muggle schooling is not free of charge. There lies more than enough reason for them to home school their kids.
The Crouch family then: We have no certain information on them for life style and values. We can assume they were rich but even so, rich people don't necessarely live in any special way - so that wouldn't label the schooling choice anyway. The values we can interpret from Barty Sr.'s behavior; Barty Sr. fought Voldemort and the Death Eaters with such an extreme attitudes that he may have felt strongly about muggles and half-bloods rights and all that stuff. And anyway, as he with that fight, certainly did oppose the prejudice people like Malfoys, Blacks and Voldemort had - he and his family were seen as "blood traitors" with no hope. So why would he care much about the matter in less significant matters (such as schooling his kid.) I think Senior was more eager to gain power and honour in values that really matter to the majority of the wizarding society, and pure blood was not one of them. Senior also knew how to dress convincingly like a muggle, which also might imply he didn't have any kind of attitude problems when it came to muggle stuff. These are also some of the reasons why I genuinely think the Crouches might have even lived amongst muggles and Junior gone to a muggle primary school.
"'What education do the children of wizards have before going to Hogwarts?'
They are, as many of you have guessed, most often home educated. With very young children, as you glimpsed at the wizards' camp before the Quidditch World Cup in 'Goblet of Fire', there is the constant danger that they will use magic, whether inadvertently or deliberately; they cannot be trusted to keep their true abilities hidden. Even Muggle-borns like Harry attract a certain amount of unwelcome attention at Muggle schools by re-growing their hair overnight and so on."
J.K.Rowling's Official Site F.A.Q
Note that she said most of them, as in that there were exceptions who were NOT home schooled but went to school amongst muggles. Like she said in her first answer - it's one or the other and apparently really has nothing to do with the blood purity. And to me, the exceptions going to a muggle school make all the sense in the world - even with that valid basic reason why most are kept home schooled.
Because I don't think Harry was too good example to bring up. Harry couldn't have kept from accidental magic because he didn't even know he was a wizard until just before he left to Hogwarts. But children who know themselves so from the very beginning - like pure-bloods such as Junior here; it ought to be possible to teach them to control their powers to some degree so to minimize the risk of accidental magic. I don't see why the parents wouldn't do this in any schooling case because the kids need to learn it anyway, as they live out there; as far as I've understood, there were very few areas in Britain that were completely muggle free, and it's never just about the wizarding secrecy overall but about the child's personal safety - hence, what happened to Dumbledore's 6-year old little sister! The control teaching may work or may not and that could affect the parents' decision on the schooling style. And of course the child's attitude. Which leads me to...
The deliberate use of magic young children have the tendency to do... A parent can easily threat to draw the child out and into home schooling if they choose to knowingly break the law of underage wizadry. How many kids do you know to prefer being home schooled over the more social and thus more fun normal school - especially if the child has no siblings - like Crouch's son didn't.
So, there was an unknown number of little wizards and witches going to muggles' primary schools and very likely without bigger problems in it, and the blood purity is basically completely irrelevant to the schooling style choice. It depends on how the parents have prepared their children, and on the child's attitude, and in the end how much the parents trust their child.
In my interpretation Junior was one of those who went to a muggle primary school; Barty Crouch Sr.'s behavior and attitudes made me think they were pro muggles - as in, they did socialize a lot with "their kind" but were interested in us muggles, appreciated and respected us, and so lived amongst us. And Junior was a powerful and skilled-to-be wizard - it probably wasn't too hard for him to minimize the risk of accidental magic, which as said probably is been taught to wizarding children for the sake of the child's safety, no matter how they lived, due to muggles living pretty much everywhere. And as he didn't wish to end up into a lonely home schooling, he swore to do and did his best in not deliberately use magic and in avoiding accidental magic.
AND FINALLY...
I hope this wasn't too confusing. Shouldn't be if you read all of the above text. What I'm trying to show in my interpretation of the Crouch father and son, is that an end-up like that (Junior joining the Death Eaters, torturing the Longbottoms and sentenced to Azkaban by his own father, and finally Junior murddering him), does not have to spring from extreme circumstances. I have currently written my first two fanfiction stories.
My Barty Jr.'s looks as a teenager come from one of my favourite actors, Jamie Bell. And Crouch Sr.'s from a film director Thomas Vinterberg. 'cause he and Jamie, at least in mine and some other's eyes look quite alike. Some photos in the fan video "Breathe Into Me".
SAID ABOUT MY BARTY JR.
(By other rolepleyers's characters in roleplay game topics.)
Goblet of Fire RPG:
"that strange sick hippie"
-Draco "Ferret" Malfoy
(We had a DADA lesson going on and he was teaching them about Unforgivable Curses and cast the Imperius Curse on Draco, making him kneel in front of Harry and say 'I love you' like he meant it. And I'm not a slasher - I just thought it amusing if Draco would confess even a pure kind of love to Harry.)
"boozer"
-Ron Weasley
(For as known he had to take a sip of 'something' once in an hour during the school year.)
"the slimy piece of shit, that caused just about every catastrophe last year"
-Ron Weasley
"Daddy's little boy"
-Bellatrix Lestrange
(In a game topic set to the prison of Azkaban, where they were arguing about many things and Junior was having rather mixed feelings about his father.)
"Arrogant scoundrel"
-Lord Voldemort
"When it came down to Barty Crouch Junior, Bellatrix's hate may have sprung from a personal disappointment on his undertakings, or from the man's big-mouthed behavior, which was hard for anyone to stand. It wasn't hard to imagine it had a big part also in this conflict."
-Lord Voldemort
(Bella and Junior were literally fighting over the fact that Junior didn't get caught with the Lestranges but only later by Karkaroff's disloyalty and Voldy had to put them back in line when he just happened to come around. Yes, first I went by that movieverse idea of the way Junior got caught but eventually I decided it doesn't serve anything more and so stuck to the book. In emotional elements I always stuck to the book.)
"blood-eater mutt"
-Alastor Moody
(After they let him out of the trunk where Junior had kept him all year. There were numerous others too but this is the only one I can recall.)
The Marauders RPG:
"Son of the famous and powerful Bartemius Crouch senior's does not read law books or the Hogwarts: a History after all, but 'Uncle Scrooge'! Some muggles' comic book, where half-naked ducks run around without pants!"
-Sirius Black
(Junior and Sirius are in same detention ordered to wash the floor of boys' toilet - in a muggle way, without any magic - Junior isn't doing anything to do his part and Mr. Black has a problem with it.)
"The girl lifted her eyes off the table to Barty Junior, looking at him suspiciously. Where on earth would this thing end up? Would it have been better to stay in bed and play with matches?"
-Reika McCharleston
(She was about to join this not-too-risk-free organization Junior has started in his 5th year of Hogwarts.)
Harry Potter 1981 RPG:
Coming soon.
FAN ART, FICTION & VIDEOS
Three of the digital fan art is signed "JK" as in JudasKiss which is my old internet name that I don't use anymore except on the Harry Potter Portal Message Boards.
| VIDEOS | | OTHER DIGITAL ART | | FAN FICTION STORIES |
VIDEOS:
>> Barty Crouch Jr. - Breathe Into Me (On YouTube) <<
>> Barty Crouch Jr. - Breathe Into Me (On my own site) <<
Made by: Benjamin (bendaimmortal / peterpanlegend / TheVampireOutlaw)
Clips from: Goblet of Fire, Jumper
Song by: Red
Description: Made Jan 25th 2010. This is from him to his father, before and during his Death Eater time but before he ends up torturing the Longbottoms, as in that he wasn't a lost case yet. Of cousrse he didn't let him know he was a Death Eater, but you know... this as just generally a please-see-my-pain-before-its-too-late.
>> Barty Crouch Jr. - Perfect (On YouTube) <<
>> Barty Crouch Jr. - Perfect (On my own site) <<
Made by: Benjamin (bendaimmortal / peterpanlegend / TheVampireOutlaw)
Clips from: Goblet of Fire, Jumper, Undetow
Song by: Simple Plan
Description: I made this in May 2008. This video is about Junior's teenage years before he became a Death Eater and about his Death Eater time before he got caught.
OTHER DIGITAL ART:
Text clarifications & other information on the Artist's comment section.
X Escape from Azkaban
X Innocent until proven guilty
X Azkaban
X The Crouch Family
FAN FICTION STORIES:
They're not random but related to each other unless stated otherwise. And they're NOT SLASH at any point. I don't write slash if it's not canon.
X When The Sun Turned Cold
IN PROGRESS. CHAPTER 2 COMING UP.
Summary:
Chapters: 2
Rating: PG-13 (Mild language.)
X Screaming In Our Hearts
COMPLETED.
Summary: Focuses on the day his parents save him from Azkaban but looks into his feelings throughout the year too.
Chapters: One-shot.
Rating: PG-13 (Just to be safe.)
X Use well the days
COMPLETED.
Summary: With Sirius Black in an essential role in the first chapter, where Junior and he are in the same 'sadistic' detention and end up finding something in common. Set to Junior's 4th year at Hogwarts.
Chapters: 4
Rating: PG-13 (Mild language, mild violence.)
Kävijälaskurin tarjoaa: Lainalaskuri
© Page design / Ulkoasu: Benjamin | © Text content / Tekstit: Benjamin © Graphics: Benjamin
Harry Potter pictures used on this site are © Warner Bros and the other picture © 20th Century Fox.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't own the pictures used in the graphics on this site but they belong to all their rightful owners..
This is a non-profit fan site for entertainment and educational purposes only.
No cpyright infringement intended.
© Page design / Ulkoasu: Benjamin | © Text content / Tekstit: Benjamin © Graphics: Benjamin
Harry Potter pictures used on this site are © Warner Bros and the other picture © 20th Century Fox.
DISCLAIMER:
I don't own the pictures used in the graphics on this site but they belong to all their rightful owners..
This is a non-profit fan site for entertainment and educational purposes only.
No cpyright infringement intended.