WTF Tonks?

[sistermagpie]

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.

Comments

[elanor-x.livejournal.com]

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.

[spare-change.livejournal.com]

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*

[static-pixie.livejournal.com]

I think your final point actually fits in nicely with that essay you did on Harry's needing to become a part of the Black family a while ago, and to understand it from all angles. Tonks is as much a Black a Draco, whether she or anyone else will acknowledge it or not. And the thing about Tonks that's kind of beautiful is that she's about the least malicious person you could ever meet in the series; I can't remember her ever doing anything for the specific purpose of being cruel. So that JKR would connect her in particular with the Blacks like that and would parallel her with Draco does a lot for the family's image, I think.

And in terms of the Merope Gaunt storyline, it gives it a positive spin, which I think is a good thing. Slytherins are so emotional, but every time we've actually seen them get ridiculously emotionally attached to something, it's been in a negative way (Mrs. Black's insanity over the loss of her children, Merope Gaunt's dying and using a LP, even Draco's connection to his mother caused him to attempt to hex Harry from the back), I guess to keep people thinking Slytherin's this bad house (except for Slughorn's attachment to Lily, I guess). But with Tonks and Remus, you have a Gryffindor who's hiding behind all these high moral reasons from something everyone can recognize he shouldn't be hiding from, and a "Slytherin"(sorta) who's doing the right thing by being absolutely unable to let go. It's the upside of that selfish Slytherin ambition. :)

And that reflects Harry and Ginny as well, I think, because they got together despite the fact that everything about it was completely immoral (Ginny's younger, she's his best friend's little sister, he's thinking thses lustful thoughts about her), and yet, it was a good thing they did (at least for Harry, which...well, it's JKR). But then they broke up over these moral issues. Which I guess isn't really better or worse than Tonks and Remus, but it does provide that contrast, and give you the downside of Gryffindor. I feel as though a lot of book six was about finally recognizing that Slytherin's selfish ambition really is very close to passion, and that passion is not necessarily a bad thing to have.

[pir8fancier.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree she is important; what I wish was that she didn't tread the line between being comic relief and a useful "tool" in the story. She and Hagrid are the two characters that frequently remind me (and not in a good way) that these are, essentially, children's books. And yet they do play critical roles. So when JRK trots out the sight gags with these two, I start cringing, because it dilutes the important roles that they do play.

Would you email your superb paper on DM that you read at PR? It really was delightful: pir8fancier@gmail.com. And if you don't want to, cool as well

[kerosinkanister.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't be surprised if this was the whole reason for giving her the power.

On that I think it's more just something that's cool. But even then it was only the cool thing in OOTP. It was used for other purposes in HBP, like you say, so maybe there will be some bigger reason for her having the power in DH. It certainly seems like her ability to disguise could be a major plot point.

As far as criticism of Tonks I don't care at all about Remus/Tonks or that plot line, beyond being happy for the characters if they're happy. But Tonks, like all the prominent female characters, aside from McGonagall, seems to be criticized quite harshly in fandom by women. I know I posted on that before but it's as if women aren't happy if the female characters act in ways they themselves wouldn't. Ginny's a slut for going out with a few guys. Tonks is weak because of Remus. Molly isn't a good role-model for not choosing to have a career. Hermione acts completely OOC for dealing with Ron/Lavender badly. Cho is a bitch for going out with Harry.

All while horrible men are romanticized. There seems to be a lot of self-misogyny in this fandom.

[nemesister.livejournal.com]

Great points. Plus, it's a red herring like Percy/Penelope, that's what JKR herself pointed out. (Although, I never buy or even really notice Rowling's red herrings. Heh.)

Plus, it introduces us to the concept of the changing patronus that I might be important in DH.

Most importantly of course it's a variation of the love theme, showing it's positive and negative effects and highlighting that a grown up like Lupin is not immune to it either.

I personally love the side effect of showing how both intuitive Harry and analytic Hermione can be off in their explanations of the world. It might all seem logical to them, but they don't have all the information. Even when they disagree, it doesn't mean that one of them has to be completely right.

That side story is far from being added randomly.

[misscake]

It's funny you posted this now. I'm almost to the end of HBP, finally completing my total re-read that I started in February, and I was pondering the whole Tonks storyline last night. I really do hope that it's all tied in somehow and we get some clear answers on why she was the way she was in HBP. There are some really interesting theories out there.

[jodel-from-aol.livejournal.com]

Oh, yes. I also finally realized that Tonks is there primarily to serve as an *example*. I didn't go to Phoenix Rising and hadn't heard of that paper, but certain points tend to surface independently in any number of places, eventually, and this seems to be one of them.

The poor girl is a beast of burden, laden with a heavy load of exposition.

The lively, friendly Tonks with the Suish power of OotP was introduced predominately to serve as a *contrast* to the drippy, mopey one in HBP. She seems to have been given that fancy Mary-Sue power just so the author could take it away.

I had missed that it wasn't so much grief as fear that was crippling her, but boy, howdy does that ever fit. Particularly with the Dementors now a-breeding. (One suddenly wonders whether people with fancy, rare, Suish powers are particularly sensitive to the kind of Dementor-fog that was blanketing London.)

But to let us know that Tonks was a mess because of depression did soften us up nicely when we were told later that Merope did the same thing. Given the way once an element is used in this series it almost invariably gets used again, I would advise watching out for it to happen to someone in the final book as well. Probably at the worst possible time.

It would be nice if the shapeshifting ability finally served a real purpose in DHs, but I am not going to hold my breath and wait for it. I doubt that Rowling is suddenly going to toss Tonks into central plot action between now and the end of the series.

Tonks also served as another heads-up, bearing the expositionary news that somebody's Patronus can change. I'd suggest keeping an eye out for that in DHs as well.

[malafede.livejournal.com]

It shows someone losing their powers due to stress.

Do you think this will be reused? Wouldn't it be amazing if Voldemort loses due to being stressed? Poor overworked Voldie.

It's really great how Tonks is in the middle of all these interesting storylines that connect a lot of stuff together. Sort of like Draco, except from the protagonists side. The parallel is really interesting. There is really the Sirius angle if you squint. Spare_change's theory aside, it's such a stretch but I would love Draco/Tonks interaction. She would smack him around and be a positive influence without being patronizing, which isn't in her character, and I think that could help bring up the best in him.

[niwatorimegami.livejournal.com]

You know, I was under the impression that Tonks' hair changed to mousy brown because that is the color of Lupin's hair. That she had him on her mind all the time, and subconsciously got stuck in Lupin mode. But I'm having trouble remembering if they explicitly stated that she lost the ability to control her powers, or if that was just the assumption based on her haggard appearance.