But why did Peter Pettigrew betray his friends?
If there’s one unsolved question in the Harry Potter series, it’s this one. Why did Peter Pettigrew turn Death Eater and what pushed him to betray his friends?
The Harry Potter books provided us with a fair bit of Marauders background, though, of course, never as much as most Marauders fans would probably like. Still, we know about how James, Sirius, Remus and Peter met, how they became friends, how they became animagi, and even how they all died.
But do we know enough to understand why Peter Pettigrew would betray his friends?
More from Harry Potter
- Tom Felton is the star of the new Harry Potter x CASETiFY collection
- Create a magical event worthy of Hogwarts with this new Harry Potter-themed party planning book
- Can Fantastic Beasts hold up to the Harry Potter franchise?
- Show off your Wizard’s Chess skills with this Harry Potter set that’s now over half off
- Harry Potter continues to inspire generations – including Jack Harlow
If you ask me, the answer is no.
Sure, this might be one of those things J.K. Rowling doesn’t want to be answered, in the sense that friendships are complicated things and she might want us all to be able to put our own reasoning on Peter. But this is still a big unanswered question that affects so much of the series that it just bugs me we don’t know for sure.
Let’s just look back at what we know: Peter was friends enough with James, Sirius and Remus to have his name on the Marauders map. Hell, he was friends enough with them to risk the animagi transformation, which we all know can go terribly wrong. And yet, somehow, in the year after they left Hogwarts he just up and switched sides?
Watch your favorite shows on fuboTV: Watch over 67 live sports and entertainment channels with a 7-day FREE trial!
Not just that, he actively spied, not just on the Order, but on the people he called friends, lobbied Sirius by selling the idea that Remus, the dark creature, wasn’t to be trusted, so he could become James and Lily’s secret keeper, and then delivered them straight to Lord Voldemort.
I’m just saying, that’s an almost unbelievable transformation, and it goes way beyond I was mad at my friends for something.
Next. The Marauders: The importance of “Mischief managed” to Harry Potter fans. dark
So why did Peter Pettigrew do it? We don’t know, but if JK Rowling is going to answer one question about the Harry Potter series, we hope it’s this one.