sistermagpie | WTF Tonks?

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WTF Tonks?

So mere weeks before the release of DH I somehow have something to say about a storyline in HBP. It's two years late, but I need to pick every bone. I was reading stuff today about strong and weak characters, some of which I disagreed with, and unsurprisingly the Tonks storyline came up. I'm not really taking a position here on whether the story was good or bad for whatever reasons, but what I do think was that

Tonks storyline was useful for several reasons in terms of what JKR needed in the plot:

It gives Lupin, the last Marauder, a happy ending, which JKR may have wanted to do for its own sake.

It gives her another way to keep Sirius talked about through Hermione's false conclusion that Tonks was in love with Sirius. Any way to get Sirius in is good, imo, because I think he'll be coming up again in DH.

What it adds to the Fleur vs. The Weasleys storyline. It gives JKR a way to show that the female Weasleys feel about Fleur is obvious. Fleur's negativity is clear in her comments about the radio and the house, but the fact that it's so believable and acceptable that Mrs. Weasley might be trying to set Lupin up with another woman sets up Fleur's anger in the end because although we might have cheered them on (or not) we have seen the Weasleys being unwelcoming and obvious they don't want her in the family. When Fleur accuses them of "'oping" the engagement will end now that Bill is injured, it can't be denied, because they've been 'oping so much it seemed believable that Molly was actively trying to break them up.

These last two I think are cool, because they get into Rowling's mysteries (link to a past post that can be skipped), and also a paper I loved at Phoenix Rising about how Rowling uses repetition. Whenever there's a revelation in the books, the elements of it are probably going to have been presented to us already in some other way. In Tonks' case it gives JKR a way to show two things that will be important in other storylines:

It shows someone losing their powers due to stress. Yeah, it could be unfortunate they're both women and it's for love, but love is after all a big theme in HBP. And Rowling has to some way show the possibility of someone losing their powers. Being a Metamophagus, Tonks is a good candidate for this, because she's the only witch who walks around with a sign of her powers that people can see all the time. When her hair goes mousy when she's usually kept it pink, it's like Harry can see her "power" light isn't on. (At the same time, she does retain her basic magic power, so it's not like she becomes useless. She just telegraphs that powers can be lost this way. I wouldn't be surprised if this was the whole reason for giving her the power.

At the same time, Tonks is not losing her powers over lost love. She's lost her powers because she's worried she *will* lose someone she loves. And that's the other storyline she's illuminating, which is the Draco one. When I first read HBP for a while I wondered if Voldemort hadn't put some sort of wasting-away curse on the Black family. Turns out it wasn't genetic, except that Tonks had inherited the Black gene for suffering operatically. Harry does specifically connect Tonks and Draco the second time he notices Draco's physical decline, saying he's lost weight "like Tonks." Ultimately they are deteriorating for the same reason, worry that they will lose their loved ones. (Though of course Draco's also worried about himself, and got other issues.)

Anyway, that's my defense of the Tonks storyline, or at least what I think it's doing there. It's kind of reflecting a lot of minor issues about other storylines, and presenting certain technical things that are important elsewhere.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Harry does specifically connect Tonks and Draco the second time he notices Draco's physical decline, saying he's lost weight "like Tonks."
Yes! I haven't paid attention to this before, but may be the comparison was supposed to be a hint what Draco is afraid of before the scenes on the Tower and in the bathroom.

It does--and yet I totally didn't think of it that way when I read the book the first time. But I think it is showing us that kind of worry, not just stress.

It's kind of reflecting a lot of minor issues about other storylines, and presenting certain technical things that are important elsewhere.

I agree with this 100%. It's just that I see it reflecting other issues and presenting a different set of technical issues.

Because to me it was also clear that this storyline is still a mystery and hasn't been resolved yet (loved that old post you linked to, btw). And that Tonks is under Imperius. Or a love potion. Or being blackmailed in order to protect her other family members.

Or something else. I can't figure out exactly what it is -- I think that's one of the mysteries that will be cleared up in DH -- but I will eat my hat if it was really just her pining for Lupin. The law of narrative conservation would suggest that Tonks is a metamorphagus for a reason. And a member of the Black family for a reason. And that we got all the info at the start of HBP about recognizing victims of Imperius for a reason.

AND THE REASON IS TONKS! (Funnily enough, pre-HBP Amalin wrote a fic that anticipated a lot of this.)

So perhaps the reason Tonks and Draco both look wasted is probably because at various points Tonks was metamorphaging into Draco. Hence all the scenes where their paths overlap. (Also: remember how Draco mentions Greyback to Borgin in order to threaten him? And then how Tonks' Patronus turned into a wolf?) I can't figure out the whole story yet but clearly there is something there. Didn't JKR herself say that the Tonks storyline was a red herring? The question is just what it was a red herring for, I think.

Anyway, I have a post of DH predictions (HARRY IS A HORCRUX! DUDLEY IS MAGICAL! etc.) that I will put up at some point, and TONKS WASN'T REALLY AFTER LUPIN is definitely one of them. Probably the Death Eaters see Lupin as a weak link (which, let's be honest, he is: remember that his Marauder buddies thought the exact same thing), and so he is useful for that reason. I dunno. All I know that the truth is not what we see!

*insert raving conspiracy theories and much mouth-frothing here*

The biggest thing against that theory is really that aside from how sloppily it was written, basically Tonks is perfectly suited to have fallen for Remus (and vice versa).

I mean, let's trot out some cliches here: she's a spunky, spirited, lively and mischievous attractive woman. He's a gentle, unassuming, soft-spoken yet firm man, sort of a Giles type (*groans at self*). He's bookish yet subtly tormented, she's enthusiastic and around him long enough at Grimmauld to 'get to know' him a little bit in snatches, to see a little past his shabby surface to the sparkling depths beneath. Or something. It's like... oh god almighty, it's like Jane Eyre. -.-

That said, I HATE Remus/Tonks. I mean. I hate it. I can just see what JKR was thinking, is all. ^^; She writes pretty cliche romance (H/G, J/L, R/Hr-- it all fits a pattern), and R/T fits that pattern of opposites attracting to a T. It's like... I want to let you down gently, or something. I'll eat MY hat if Harry & Ginny, Ron & Hermione, and Remus & Tonks aren't all together and alive at the end of book 7, and oh btw with babies coming in the epilogue. It's just. Plot, I'm sure to be surprised by. But JKR's characterization is gloomily consistent, once you get into her framework. Many people think they see her framework (with regards to Draco, say) when they don't, but it's all a question of not projecting and just picking up on little cues. That said, I have NO IDEA what the cues say about Draco overall, aside from him being important to put all the Hogwarts Houses in harmony again, to make Harry reconsider Slytherins and to provide a connection to Purebloods and the Blacks all in one go (among other things), so whatever happens will probably serve those purposes (meaning, he too is unlikely to die, and will probably marry Pansy, since she has no other obvious purpose and the hair-stroking on the train was so typical of JKR's style of giving 'clues' to romances).

So basically, unlikely as it is, Dudley may very well be magical-- because it's a plot point, not a characterization point. And Harry may be a horcrux, though JKR said the Sorting Hat isn't one 'cause they are never that obvious & public, and Harry is quite public, haha-- but he may be. It's just that I agree with Sister M in that Tonks really is there as a consolation prize for Remus. Who therefore won't die. Well, it would just be too cruel to kill Remus, too, and he needs -something- no that Sirius is gone and he's even shabbier, haha. And who better than Ms Joie-de-vivre herself, etc. ^^;