For what it’s worth, I too thought Mr. White was Lucius before seeing everyone else convinced it was Counsel. It seemed more in line with canon, and “white” evokes Lucius’s awesome white hair.
On the other hand, Harry could be mistaken, and using codenames that seem to indicate who the person behind is when they in fact bear no relation sounds like a thing Voldie would do.
Well, I read canon a loooong time ago but IIRC in book 7 in one of the first chapter Voldie goes around humiliating Lucius, in particular taking his wand without offering a replacement, and insulting him for believing he (Voldie) would give Lucius his wand in exchange.
The conversation with Mr. White (” most delinquent of my servants”) and the fact that he humiliates him similarly by removing part of his magic ability is reminiscent of that.
Also, before I thought Mr. Grim was Peter Pettigrew, but now that we know that Black is the actual bad guy, it’s even clearer that Mr. Grim = Sirius Black. In particular, Voldie says to him “I was surprised to see you here tonight; you are more competent than I suspected”, which in retrospect clearly means “I thought you were rotting in Azkaban”.
Also, before I thought Mr. Grim was Peter Pettigrew, but now that we know that Black is the actual bad guy, it’s even clearer that Mr. Grim = Sirius Black.
Mr. Grim is also a reference to canon, because The Grim is an omen Harry sees which turns out to be Sirius in his black dog animagus form.
Although in canon, Lucius (and the Malfoy family) falling into Voldemort’s disgrace was caused by several events which did not happen in HPMoR, including giving away one of Voldemort’s horcruxes (the diary in book 2), failing to steal the prophecy from a handful of teenagers (book 5) and Draco’s failure to kill Dumbledore (book 6).
In HPMoR, Lucius did not fail Voldemort that often.
“In retrospect,” said Harry’s voice, which seemed to be operating entirely on automatic, “you should have been suspicious when you managed to get that one Death Eater hauled off to Azkaban without a trial.”
“We thought Malfoy was distracted,” whispered the old witch. “That he was only trying to save himself. There were other Death Eaters we managed to get then, like Bellatrix—”
Harry nodded, feeling like his neck and head were moving on puppet strings. “The Dark Lord’s most fanatic and devoted servant, a natural nucleus of opposition for anyone who contested Lucius’s control of the Death Eaters. You thought Lucius was distracted.”
True, but he was also a lot less useful—Voldemort intended to take the gloves off and have the entire Ministry either dead or imperiused within the next 24 hours, meaning Lucius’s political connections suddenly mattered a whole lot less.
For what it’s worth, I too thought Mr. White was Lucius before seeing everyone else convinced it was Counsel. It seemed more in line with canon, and “white” evokes Lucius’s awesome white hair. On the other hand, Harry could be mistaken, and using codenames that seem to indicate who the person behind is when they in fact bear no relation sounds like a thing Voldie would do.
It is a thing Tom Riddle would do. The Voldemort personality seems to have been deliberately less clever.
Well, the Dark Mark was not THAT stupid. Also, it’s the kind of clever thing you can only pull off when impersonating someone who is not that smart.
Could you elaborate on the evidence pointing to White that you see? In what way is it more in line with canon?
Well, I read canon a loooong time ago but IIRC in book 7 in one of the first chapter Voldie goes around humiliating Lucius, in particular taking his wand without offering a replacement, and insulting him for believing he (Voldie) would give Lucius his wand in exchange. The conversation with Mr. White (” most delinquent of my servants”) and the fact that he humiliates him similarly by removing part of his magic ability is reminiscent of that.
Also, before I thought Mr. Grim was Peter Pettigrew, but now that we know that Black is the actual bad guy, it’s even clearer that Mr. Grim = Sirius Black. In particular, Voldie says to him “I was surprised to see you here tonight; you are more competent than I suspected”, which in retrospect clearly means “I thought you were rotting in Azkaban”.
Mr. Grim is also a reference to canon, because The Grim is an omen Harry sees which turns out to be Sirius in his black dog animagus form.
Although in canon, Lucius (and the Malfoy family) falling into Voldemort’s disgrace was caused by several events which did not happen in HPMoR, including giving away one of Voldemort’s horcruxes (the diary in book 2), failing to steal the prophecy from a handful of teenagers (book 5) and Draco’s failure to kill Dumbledore (book 6).
In HPMoR, Lucius did not fail Voldemort that often.
He hung Bellatrix out to dry:
True, but he was also a lot less useful—Voldemort intended to take the gloves off and have the entire Ministry either dead or imperiused within the next 24 hours, meaning Lucius’s political connections suddenly mattered a whole lot less.
Thanks, good points.
But it doesn’t explain how Harry would know.
Maybe he recognized the voice, assuming it was not disguised by a charm?
It was disguised. And Harry he admits in chapter 120 only figuring it out after the fact.