The choice to use Quirrell got me thinking about the book villains and how much I didn't like Barty Crouch Jr. as the antagonist of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.
AVPM dumps a villain from book 1 right into the plot of book 4 and the weird thing is, nothing changes. In the musical, Quirrell takes over the role that Barty Crouch Jr. plays in the book, and in my opinion, he does a better job. Quirrell is just a much more interesting character, especially in his final conversation with Harry at the end of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:
"I met him when I traveled around the world. A foolish young man I was then, full of ridiculous ideas about good and evil. Lord Voldemort showed me how wrong I was. There is no good and evil, there is only power, and those too weak to seek it..." (Quirrell, 291)In contrast, it seemed to me Barty Crouch Jr.'s main role was giving us a more clear picture of his father, as we see at the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire:
"The Dark Lord and I," said Moody, and he looked completely insane now, towering over Harry, leering down at him, "have much in common. Both of us, for instance, had very disappointing fathers...very disappointing indeed. Both of us suffered the indignity, Harry, of being named after those fathers And both of us had the pleasure...the very great pleasure...of killing our fathers to ensure the continued rise of the Dark Order!" (678)I am beginning to think we could've done without Barty Crouch Jr. entirely. I'd love to hear your defenses of Barty Crouch Jr. Change my mind if you can, because for now, I'm thinking AVPM was on to something by replacing him.
Join me tomorrow for my next Harry Potter themed A-Z post. B is for...Butterbeer!
