The chapter title (“Kreacher’s Tale”) implies that something will be revealed, not least the identity of R.A.B. Before we get into that, Harry wakes up and after seeing Ron and Hermione sleeping, his thoughts go to Dumbledore. His conversation with Aunt Muriel, along with Rita Skeeter’s interview regarding her new book about Dumbledore, are the catalyst for his growing doubt over Dumbledore. Seven questions instantly enter his mind:
~ Could Dumbledore have let such things happen?
~ Had he been like Dudley, content to watch neglect and abuse as long as it did not affect him?
~ Could he have turned his back on a sister who was being imprisoned and hidden?
~ Why hadn’t Dumbledore told him?
~ Why hadn’t he explained?
~ Had Dumbledore actually cared about Harry at all?
~ Or had Harry been nothing more than a tool to be polished and honed, but not trusted, never confided in?
We know that the number seven is important in the series. These seven questions of Harry’s confusion and doubt over Dumbledore’s early life as well as his plans and mission for Harry are questions of identity. Harry’s faith in Dumbledore is shattered and he just wants to know the truth as Harry tells Hermione later on in this chapter. This might be a stretch (or not), but contrast this with the so-called seven “I Am’s” of the Gospel of St. John, which are about the identity of Jesus revealed (as opposed to concealed in Dumbledore’s case), which encapsulates the entire gospel. In Harry’s case, Dumbledore’s identity is being questioned and put in a very disturbing light. Harry has to know.
I find it fascinating that Harry never visited Sirius’ room, although quite understandable in light of Sirius’ death because Grimmauld Place became as much a prison for Harry in HBP as it did for Sirius in OOTP. Now serving as a place of refuge, Harry is wandering around, trying to get his mind off of Dumbledore. He sees that the house has been searched and automatically thinks it’s Snape. This is a bit of foreshadowing as we know that the culprit was indeed Snape. Harry finds a letter from his mother to Sirius, and J.K. Rowling’s words here are poignant and beautiful in describing Harry’s emotions over reading the words of Lily Potter, making his mother more real than any photograph can ever hope to do. Consider:
“He stood quite still, holding the miraculous paper in his nerveless fingers while inside him a kind of quiet eruption sent joy and grief thundering in equal measure through his veins…Impatiently brushing away the wetness in his eyes, he reread the letter, this time concentrating on the meaning. It was like listening to a half-remembered voice.”
Lily’s letter is torn at the very end so Harry doesn’t know what his mother meant when she wrote, “I don’t know how much to believe, actually, because it seems incredible that Dumbledore…” The reader won’t know either until later on in the novel, but notice how it goes back to Dumbledore. More questions are posed here. What was Lily writing about concerning Dumbledore? Why did Dumbledore still have James’ Invisibility Cloak especially if we know Dumbledore doesn’t need it to become invisible? Hermione finds Harry and they have a discussion on Dumbledore. Rowling’s words sum up this half of the chapter, “He looked away, trying not to betray the resentment he felt. There it was again: Choose what to believe. He wanted the truth. Why was everybody so determined that he should not get it?”
Then Harry passes by Regulus’ room and he sees the sign of the door. We find out that his full name is Regulus Arcturus Black, which means that he is R.A.B. The handwriting is the same as it is on the fragment of parchment accompanying the fake locket. Soon the Trio (Ron by this time appears for the first time in this chapter) opens the door to Regulus’s room and looks for the real locket. Soon they realize that they had that very locket in their hands when they were cleaning up Grimmauld Place in OOTP and their thoughts go to Kreacher, who has been known to nick items that were about to be thrown away. A few thoughts on Kreacher’s tale that follows:
1. Kreacher’s tale about Regulus’ death is vastly different than what we learned from Sirius in OOTP. From what we hear from Sirius, Regulus panicked about what he was being asked to do as a Death Eater and tried to leave, before being killed on Voldemort’s orders. Sirius’ information is secondhand in light of what Kreacher says.
2. Voldemort’s actions are to be expected of a man such as himself. House-elves are disposable and once again we see one of Voldemort’s oversights when Hermione mentions, “It would never occurred to him that they might have magic that he didn’t.” I am reminded of Dumbledore’s words to Harry in HBP that Voldemort would never expect a sixteen-year-old to find the Cave and that age is foolish when it underestimates youth. You can add magical creatures to Dumbledore’s words. Voldemort’s oversight of Kreacher leads to Regulus finding out and taking the locket horcrux.
3. After Regulus finds out what Voldemort had Kreacher do, Regulus later takes Kreacher to the Cave and we find out that Regulus drinks the potion himself, replaces the real locket with the fake, and orders Kreacher to leave him and to keep the locket safe. Why didn’t Regulus use side-along apparition with Kreacher? Regulus could have lived, but once out of the Cave, Regulus chances of living would be none if he left the Death Eaters. Regulus went out on his own terms and sacrificed himself to get the horcrux.
4. Kreacher’s tale opens more questions. We learn in Regulus’ note that he discovered Voldemort’s secret. How did Regulus discover that the locket was a Horcrux? The reader is left in the dark, although it’s possible that he could have overheard a conversation between Voldemort and Bellatrix. After all she said that the Dark Lord charged her with guarding his most precious…
Finally we see that Harry does the right thing in reaching out to Kreacher by telling him that Regulus’ work must be finished and by giving him the fake locket that was owned by Regulus. Of course an important part of this was Harry remembering Dumbledore’s words regarding Sirius’ treatment of Kreacher. This is the beginning of an improved relationship with Kreacher, which will culminate in the end battle where we see him leading the Hogwarts house-elves to battle.
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post, Johnny! Will have to read the chapter tonight. Why is it, though, that I keep getting an image of Jack Nicholson in A Few Good Men shouting, “You want the truth…You can’t handle the truth!!”
Excellent summary of the chapter. We (at least I) have all assumed that Regulus knew that the locket was a horcrux. But did he? Perhaps all he knew was that it was important to LV. It is also not certain that Bellatrix knew that the cup entrusted to her was a horcrux. Can anyone shed some light on these questions?
Sorry! I wrote the above comment relying on my memory. When I checked the book I found that RAB knew that the locket was a horcrux. [See page 609 of the American edition.] I will stand in the corner for 5 minutes.
Excellent recap for an excellent chapter.
One of my favorite scenes in the book is in this chapter, and my wife and I will sometimes quote it to each other when we come across similar situations; namely, Harry and Kreacher’s utter confusion at the other’s utter confusion. “How did you escape from the Inferi?” “Master told Kreacher to come back.” “Yes, but how did you escape from the Inferi?” “Master told Kreacher to come back.”
Good points on Voldemort discounting House-elves. Just like Voldemort not realizing the power of love, with which Harry’s mother saved him, so Voldemort is always underestimating — or not even estimating in the first place! — things he doesn’t care about or thinks beneath him.
I love this chapter because it is the first time that we get to see Kreacher as a character not just a creature. We begin to understand why he acts the way he does, that he remains loyal to the Black family’s ideals not because he believes them, but because of his loyalty and love for Regulus. I think that Harry sees this along with the reader.
Derek D, I’m glad you quoted Harry and Kreacher’s confusion because I love this part too! I think that if it were the Harry from GoF, or even OotP, that he would not have questioned Kreacher’s loyalty to Regulus at this moment because he himself held the same loyalty for Dumbledore. However, because of his confusion regarding the ‘truth’ about Dumbledore he now questions why Kreacher would follow his orders so emphatically. It’s possible that at this moment Harry sees a little of himself in Kreacher.
I think in this chapter we also gain a window into the Black family dynamics. We see them as more than just a stereotypical ‘dark’ family (with the exception of Sirius). I get the sense that Regulus somewhat accidentally became a Death Eater. I think that loyalty is a main theme of this chapter (and the series as a whole) and we see many different kinds of loyalty represented here, just a few being: Regulus to his family’s ideals, the Death Eaters to Voldemort, Kreacher to Regulus, Harry to Dumbledore and Hermione and Ron to Harry. None of these are presented as equal or even unchanging throughout the series.
I agree we see Kreacher as more than just a creature, aerisflowers, and we see why he acts the way he does. I’m trying to remember Sirius’s account of Kreacher from OotP, but I wonder how much of his brokenness is due to his inability to complete Master Regulus’s orders. Not only does the order presumably hang over him in the standard elvish way, forcing him to punish himself (has he punished himself repeatedly ever since Regulus’s orders? Or did Regulus’s death break that part of the house-elf code?), but since he loved Regulus, he has continued to live with the guilt and despair and failure ever since then. Dwelling on those emotions for so long, and the grief of the rest of the family only adding to it, is enough to mess with anyone’s sanity.
When I first read this chapter, I worried that Harry offering Kreacher the fake locket would count as giving him clothes (since you wear a locket), but apparently it needs to be fabric?
It seems to me that Voldemort underestimates not only house-elves, but, once again, love. Regulus said that for Kreacher to go with Voldemort was “an honor.” So it seems that Regulus doesn’t switch sides until Kreacher comes back. Then, Regulus decides to destroy the horcrux, and he drinks the potion himself (instead of making Kreacher drink it). Was it love for Kreacher that prompted the change?
Wikipedia offered some insight on RAB’s name. Arcturus, like Sirius, is a star. The name means “guardian of the bear” in ancient Greek, and is called “Star of Joy” by Polynesian navigators. “Regulus” is Latin for “prince” or “little king,” and is another name for the basilisk. Regulus is also a star, one of the four “royal stars” according to ancient Persian astrologers. It is the brightest star in the constellation Leo, so Regulus is also known as “alpha leonis.” The Arabic name for the star Regulus means “the heart of the lion.” Gotta say, Rowling does a great job naming her characters.
The last question, much like the last horcrux, is the key to overcoming Harry’s biggest hang-ups.
“Or had Harry been nothing more than a tool to be polished and honed, but not trusted, never confided in?”
I would argue that he needs the answer to that final question before he can walk into the fray and sacrifice himself.
Harry needs to believe that it is his FREE WILL that drives him to sacrifice, not predestination. Thus, the crux of his concerns about Dumbledore boil down to a deeper question about his status as either an active participant in his own life or a pawn, a faceless tool in Dumbledore’s scheme.
That is why the seventh question is so poignant, and colors his development throughout the book, up through the climax. It is, essentially, a question of free will.
Regulus isn’t just a star name, either. It’s the name of a famous Roman general, Marcus Atilius Regulus, whose death, according to legend, had a striking parallel to R.A.B.’s. Google him if you don’t already know it — the essential part is that, out of principle, he voluntarily returned to a place where he knew he would be killed by torture. (Though this is considered historically questionable; the legend is doubtless the reason Rowling chose the name.)
In my opinion, Regulus Black is the Black King of alchemy (not Kingsley Shacklebolt, sorry John). The name obviously fits. In addition, the Black King usually dies by drowning (like Regulus) and at his death the matter is at its blackest black. This would accurately describe the state of the war against Voldemort both at the time of Regulus’ actual death and at the time that Harry learns of it from Kreacher.
I too wondered why Regulus allowed himself to drown rather than apparate away with Kreacher. Your reason, that the death eaters would find him and kill him anyway if he left is good. I also thought he might have been afraid that Voldemort would legilimize him and realize he had taken to horcrux, which would have endangered Kreacher and probably his parents, too, so he would have sacrificed himself to protect him. I think the death eaters didn’t know what had happened to him and put out the story that he was dead as a warning to any other death eaters thinking of fleeing.
Sorry – meant “the horcrux” not “to horcrux”
I have always been a little perplexed on the use of the word “ornaments” in Lily’s letter. She is writing to thank Sirius for Harry’s birthday present, which would indicate she was writing sometime after July 31st, but before October 31st. In the sentence prior to the word “ornaments”, she mentions the ugly vase Petunia sent for Christmas (which Harry broke while riding his toy broom). So is JKR using the word “ornaments” to describe knick-knacks or did she make a mistake and think of Christmas ornaments because of the prior mention of the holiday? Is “ornaments” a British term for little decorative items placed around the house?
Obviously not an earth-shattering question, but would be curious to know what others think.
Jensenly, when I was a child living in England, we always referred to all the decorative porcelain statuettes, pretty vases, commemorative plates and “precious moments”-type things on my grandma’s mantle as ornaments. So there you go.
Excellent, SJ. I knew someone could clear that up for me!
Very nicely written post! I like how you point out that even Lily’s letter points us back to Dumbledore, she knows information that ’she’s not sure that Dumbledore would like them knowing’ (to paraphrase), and coming from his mother, it’s doubly intriguing to Harry.
I liked how Lily and Harry form their “G”s in the same way, and that Harry experiences each one as a “little wave from beyond the veil”, a hearkening back to the veil in the Death Room of book 5, and the Celtic idea of a veil dividing our world from the spirit world.
I believe that Regulus did figure out that the locket being a Horcrux. Voldemort was known for occasionally boasting about his “experiments” and his “pushing the boundaries of magic farther” to his Death Eaters, sure, in his arrogance, that no one would figure out his secrets. Regulus, being intelligent, did.
I see one of the greatest reasons why Dumbledore did not or could not confide to Harry about their mutual personal ties that both of them living in Godric’s Hollow, and in Dumbledore’s personal quest to search for the three Hallows of the Brother’s Peverell DD could not say to Harry by the way I have the Elder wand come by and have a look see! These facts or (truths) where kept hidden from Harry to keep him safe, just as R.A.B. choose to provide safety for Kreacher and the rest of the Black family to keep the old “muggle-hater line” going. There is also a theory that one reason why Regulus A. Black was so disillusioned and changed his allegiances was that he discovered the truth about Tom Riddle’s secret of his true blood status, in Lord Voldemort’s own words a filthy half-blood mud-blood. (I Can not back this theory up, I don’t remember where I read this, has anyone encountered this also).
Later we see that Harry is simply obsessed and driven completely way off track by searching for The Hallows and giving less priority (questing) of finding the remaining Horcruxes. Hermione’s “job” at this time in the story is to slow Harry down and to help him focused and on task, that is to find and destroy Horcruxes.
Sorry I’m so late to this, but excellent chapter, Johnny. Great catch on the seven questions/identity.
Kreacher’s story is so moving. It’s the first time we have any kind of extended story from, and interaction with, an elf. Kreacher really contrasts with Dobby. Dobby hated his masters (or at least the current ones), but Kreacher loved his family, even if he despised Sirius’ deviation (but that was entwined with Sirius’ contempt and unkindness to him).
Kreacher reveals that elves can love. He also reveals that some humans love their house elves and be devoted to them. There’s no doubt in my mind that Regulus turned on Voldemort because of his callous treatment of Kreacher. Regulus may or may not have understood what the Horcrux was, but he finally understood Voldemort’s evil and determined to fight it.
That Kreacher could be turned to loyalty to Harry so speedily shows how these creatures needed love and respect, rather than the kind of fear and mistreatment Dobby endured. I suspect he was saddened when the Trio didn’t return home to 12 Grim.
A Horcrux issue confusing to me is that Regulus writes LV that he intends to destroy it. Yet he doesn’t do a thing with it, giving the locket to Kreacher and then dying. So was this a bluff?
I also found Lily’s letter touching. Until Snape’s Memories, it’s the first time in the books we’ve actually heard her voice. And then in the Pensieve, Harry got to see his mother alive.