Speaker 1: Welcome back to Muggle Snuggle. I'm Nigel and it's time
Speaker 1: for another boring episode to help you sleep. Just close
Speaker 1: your eyes and listen. There is no rush. Let the
Speaker 1: words just drift over you like soft gray clouds on
Speaker 1: a very quiet afternoon to night. We're going to talk
Speaker 1: about Bellatrix La strange afore the madness. It's a fan
Speaker 1: fiction topic, really a bit of speculation bullil canket in
Speaker 1: the books. We'll go slowly, very slowly, let your mind
Speaker 1: wonder and just drift off. First, let's picture huh. In
Speaker 1: the books, our introduction is in order of the Phoenix,
Speaker 1: chapter thirty six, the only one he ever feared. She
Speaker 1: comes out of the Department of Mysteries. We'll laugh, scribed
Speaker 1: as having a tall, wild, dark haired woman wearing a
Speaker 1: black robe, her long dark hair streaming behind her. She
Speaker 1: had a curvy figure and her eyes were heavily lined
Speaker 1: with cold. That's the picture. That's the starting point. A
Speaker 1: tall woman, wild hair, dark eyes, a lap that's described
Speaker 1: as high and cold. We assume, we assume she was
Speaker 1: always like that, a fanatical evil follower. But why was
Speaker 1: she was there a time before? This is where the speculation.
Speaker 1: The sleepy gentle speculation begins. We know from Half Blood
Speaker 1: Prince chapter twenty, The Unbreakable Vow some key details. Narcissa
Speaker 1: Malfoy is, Bellatrix is Cis, and in that chapter, Narcissa
Speaker 1: is terrified, she's desperate. She goes to Snape and she's crying,
Speaker 1: and Bellatrix is there, suspicious, wary of Snape. But listen
Speaker 1: to what Narcissa says. She says he's her son, her
Speaker 1: own son. She's talking about Draco, and Bellatrix's reaction is interesting.
Speaker 1: She tries to calm her sister. She says, Sissy, it's
Speaker 1: all right, she's protective, she's a sister. That's a human detail,
Speaker 1: a family detail. It doesn't erase the evil, but it
Speaker 1: complicates it. It suggests there was a person there once
Speaker 1: who loved her family. Let's go further back, before Hargwarts,
Speaker 1: before the dark Lord Bellatrix Black. She was born into
Speaker 1: the sacred twenty eight, the pure Blood families. Her family
Speaker 1: was fanatical. We know from the Black Family tapestry mentioned
Speaker 1: in Order of the Phoenix, chapter six, The Noble and
Speaker 1: Most Ancient House of Black, that many and that family
Speaker 1: were obsessed with blood purity. Bellatrix would have been raised
Speaker 1: in that drilled into her. Maybe she believed it, or
Speaker 1: maybe she just accepted it, like like a child accepts
Speaker 1: the rules of their house. There's no rush to judge
Speaker 1: her for that part. Just consider a young girl absorbing
Speaker 1: the world her parents gave her. Then, Hogwarts, we don't
Speaker 1: know much about her time there. We know she was
Speaker 1: in Slytherin. We know she was older than the trio.
Speaker 1: She would have been in school around the same time
Speaker 1: as Serious Black. Her cousin and Sirius hated her. We
Speaker 1: get that from Order of the Phoenix chapter six. Again,
Speaker 1: Syria says, I hated the lot of them, my parents
Speaker 1: with their pure blood Mania, my slimy cousin Lucius Malfoy,
Speaker 1: and Bellatrix, who was even worse. He called her a
Speaker 1: vicious black. But he also noted something else about her.
Speaker 1: In Order of the Phoenix chapter twenty nine, Career's Advice,
Speaker 1: he tells Harry that Bellatrix was a fanatical follower of Voldemot,
Speaker 1: that she was one of the most dangerous of the lot.
Speaker 1: He says she and her husband Rudolphus LaStrange, were among
Speaker 1: the first to rally to Voldemot's side in the First War.
Speaker 1: They were death eaters, he says, and they were caught
Speaker 1: along with the girls. But noticed that along with the Carrows,
Speaker 1: Alecto and Amicus, they're a brother and sister team, a pair.
Speaker 1: Bellatrix and Rodolphus were a pair, her husband and wife.
Speaker 1: That's another human detail her relationship. And this is where
Speaker 1: the theory, the sleepy theory, really starts to unfurl. What
Speaker 1: was she like before she married Lodorphus, before she met Voldemort.
Speaker 1: We have this image at her accession with him, and
Speaker 1: it's deep, it's profound. In order of the Phoenix chapter
Speaker 1: thirty six, the one we started with. In the fight
Speaker 1: at the ministry, she screams at Harry, I was the
Speaker 1: most loyal of all. I was the one who fought
Speaker 1: for him. I was the one he trusted. And when
Speaker 1: Voldemort says enough, she stops instantly. It's like a switch.
Speaker 1: That's obedience, that's devotion. It's more than just fear. Its need.
Speaker 1: Let's think about that need. Let's let our minds wander
Speaker 1: to it. In Half Blood Prints, chapter two, Spinner's End,
Speaker 1: Bellatrix and Narcissa are talking. Bellatrix is giving Narcissa instructions
Speaker 1: on how to behave, And she says this very clearly.
Speaker 1: She says, Voldemont does not need weaknesses, he does not
Speaker 1: need sentiment. He needs servants who are strong. She understands
Speaker 1: his philosophy, she embraces it, she grieves in it. But
Speaker 1: what if that belief was cultivated. What if before him
Speaker 1: she was just a girl, a girl who wanted to belong,
Speaker 1: to be important, to be seen. The Blacks were a
Speaker 1: declining family, serious ran away, Regulus died mysteriously. Maybe she
Speaker 1: needed something to cling to. And then there's the prophecy
Speaker 1: that's from Order of the Phoenix, chapter thirty seven. The
Speaker 1: last prophecy, the one with the power to vanquish the
Speaker 1: dark Lord, approaches born to those who have thrice defied him,
Speaker 1: born as the seventh months dies. Voldemart heard it and
Speaker 1: he acted on it. And Bellatrix what was her role,
Speaker 1: We don't know exactly, but she was a top lieutenant.
Speaker 1: She was there, and after Voldemort's downfall, she and her
Speaker 1: husband and the Carrows went after the long Bottoms, Nevill's parents.
Speaker 1: They thought the long Butttoms might have the prophecy. They
Speaker 1: tortured them with the crutiateus curse until they went insane.
Speaker 1: It's in Goblet of Fire chapter thirty six, the Parting
Speaker 1: of the Ways, and it's in Order of the Phoenix
Speaker 1: chapter twenty three, Christmas on the Closed Board. Nevil visits
Speaker 1: his parents at Saint Mungo's. His mother gives him gum wrappers.
Speaker 1: It's a quiet, devastating scene. Bellatrix did that. That's an
Speaker 1: unforgivable fact. But here is the the sleepy, complicated part.
Speaker 1: Why them, Why the long bottoms? It seems random, a mistake.
Speaker 1: Voldemort thought it might be them. He sent his best people.
Speaker 1: But was there a personal animosity? We don't see it.
Speaker 1: We don't hear of any prior connection. It was business,
Speaker 1: it was duty, and that that suggests a level of cold,
Speaker 1: fanatical efficiency, which brings us back to the question was
Speaker 1: she always like that? Or did the First War the violence,
Speaker 1: the loyalty tests, the proximity to Voldemort's darkness shape her
Speaker 1: into that. That's look at her trial. It's mentioned briefly
Speaker 1: in Goblet of Fire chapter thirty six. Barty Crouch Junior
Speaker 1: is freed from ours Baar, and we learn that Barty
Speaker 1: Krouch Genia sent his son to Ascabin without a public trial.
Speaker 1: But Bellatrix she got a trial. It's mentioned in Order
Speaker 1: of the Phoenix, chapter thirty two, Out of the Fire
Speaker 1: by Amelia bones I presided over her hearing too. Bellatrix
Speaker 1: was strange. It was a public trial. She was defiant,
Speaker 1: she didn't show remorse, that was the impression. But a trial.
Speaker 1: Why did she get one when others didn't? Maybe because
Speaker 1: she was a black, maybe because the evidence was overwhelming,
Speaker 1: or maybe maybe there was a moment in that court
Speaker 1: room where someone expected a different answer, a flicker of
Speaker 1: the person before and then ask Gaban twelve years with
Speaker 1: the dementors. The dementors feed on happiness. They drain you,
Speaker 1: They leave you with your worst memories for twelve years.
Speaker 1: That would break any one. It would certainly fuel madness.
Speaker 1: It would turn any lingering humanity into screaming despair. So
Speaker 1: when she escapes in Order of the Phoenix, chapter thirty five,
Speaker 1: Beyond the Veil, and she's that wild, cackling, coll led woman,
Speaker 1: is that the result of twelve years in hell? Or
Speaker 1: was the seed already there? We can't know. The books
Speaker 1: don't tell us. We only see the aftermath. Let's consider
Speaker 1: her loyalty after the return and in half Blood Prince.
Speaker 1: She's there at the astronoment hour in chapter twenty eight,
Speaker 1: Flight of the Prince. She's part of the circle that
Speaker 1: captures Harry and she wants to kill him. She says,
Speaker 1: let me have him, let me have him. Voldemort denies her.
Speaker 1: He wants to do it himself, and she accepts it.
Speaker 1: She obeys again, that deep obedience, but also a desire,
Speaker 1: a violent desire. Where does that come from? Is it
Speaker 1: pure hatred for the boy who lived? Or is it
Speaker 1: something else? A need to prove herself the most loyal,
Speaker 1: the strongest. And then the end, the Battle of Hogwarts.
Speaker 1: In Deathly Hallows, chapter thirty six, the floor in the Plan,
Speaker 1: she's hid by a curse from Ron, Hermione and Luna,
Speaker 1: the combined stunning spell. It hits her and she falls back.
Speaker 1: She dies quietly, unremarkably, in the chaos. After all that fire,
Speaker 1: all that fury, all that madness and devotion, she falls,
Speaker 1: and her last moments we can imagine might have been
Speaker 1: a flash of something, a memory the Black Sisters as children,
Speaker 1: a moment of friendship, a feeling of love. We don't know. J. K.
Speaker 1: Rowling doesn't tell us. She's silent, on that. So what
Speaker 1: is the conclusion of this sleepy, meandering exploration. There is
Speaker 1: no hard conclusion. That's the point. The theory the fan
Speaker 1: fiction is that she wasn't always a monster, that she
Speaker 1: was a product, a product of her family's ideology, a
Speaker 1: product of a dark wizard's charisma, a product of a
Speaker 1: brutal war, a product of twelve years of soul crushing despair,
Speaker 1: the madness, the high court laugh, the wild eyes, the
Speaker 1: fanatical devotion. It might have been a shield, a way
Speaker 1: to survive, to belong, to be the most loyal, because
Speaker 1: loyalty gave her identity. Does this excuse her? No? Never.
Speaker 1: The torture of the long Bottoms is an unforgivable act.
Speaker 1: Her role in the wars is evil. But understanding. Understanding
Speaker 1: is different from excusing. Understanding is just looking at the
Speaker 1: whole picture, letting all the pieces sit there. The sister
Speaker 1: who comforted Narcissa, the cousin, serious despised, the wife, the
Speaker 1: death eater, the prisoner, the mad woman, the loyal servant.
Speaker 1: They're all in there, all in the same person. Let's imagine,
Speaker 1: just for a moment, a sleepy hypothetical moment. Let's imagine
Speaker 1: a different life, a life where she met some one
Speaker 1: else first, a kind person, a huffle puff maybe, some
Speaker 1: one who valued loyalty for its own sake, not for
Speaker 1: a dark cause. Some one who saw the girl behind
Speaker 1: the black name. What would she have been? We don't know.
Speaker 1: It's just a thought acquired what if to let your
Speaker 1: mind wander with before you fall asleep. But that's not
Speaker 1: the story we were given. The story we were given
Speaker 1: is the tragedy, the tragedy of a person who chose
Speaker 1: again and again the path of darkness, who embraced it, who
Speaker 1: fought for it, who died for it. That before is
Speaker 1: a ghost, a whisper, a possibility that was crushed under
Speaker 1: the weight of history and choice. We can examine the echo,
Speaker 1: but we can't change the song. So as you lie
Speaker 1: there drifting off, think on Bellatrix, not the cackling, sapping villain,
Speaker 1: but the person. The girl who was a sister, a cousin,
Speaker 1: a student, the woman who was a wife, a follower,
Speaker 1: a prisoner, the human being who perhaps once had a
Speaker 1: moment of quiet happiness that the dementor stole from her forever.
Speaker 1: It doesn't make her good, but it makes her more
Speaker 1: more than just a monster. A monster is easy. A
Speaker 1: person is complicated, and complicated is sleepy. It's something to
Speaker 1: ponder slowly in the dark, with no rush at all.
Speaker 1: There is no rush. There is no judgment now, just thoughts, soft, gray,
Speaker 1: tired thoughts about choices and consequences and the long, dark
Speaker 1: shadows of the past. Let them drift, let them fade,
Speaker 1: Let the questions have no answers. That's all right. Some
Speaker 1: stories don't have neat endings, especially the sad ones. You've
Speaker 1: listened so well. Your breathing is slow now, your mind
Speaker 1: is quiet. The story of Balatrix is just a story,
Speaker 1: a dark one, but just words. They can't hurt you.
Speaker 1: They're fading now, fading into the quiet, just like she
Speaker 1: faded from a girl to a name, to a mad
Speaker 1: woman to a memory. Close your eyes now, sleep well,
Speaker 1: good night,