Peter pettigrew gryffindor why

This is the key reason Peter Pettigrew became a Gryffindor. Think about the image we get of Pettigrew before his betrayal. He wanted to be a hero but was always outshone by his more impressive friends. Unfortunately, he let that failure twist him until he became the despised character we saw in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. He becomes a Gryffindor. Of course, Pettigrew would ask the Sorting Hat to put him in Gryffindor, the House of heroes and champions, and the Hat would have no reason to refuse.

Also, there was his decision to become a spy, a position that put him in a lot of danger. This may have been morally wrong, but Pettigrew could have just stayed out of the war if he were a true coward. He may have been on the wrong side, but he still fought. The noise they had heard was the house-elf Dobby apparating away with some of the prisoners in the cellar. When he opened the door, he was tackled by Ron and Harry, who had freed themselves of their restraints.

Ron managed to wrestle Pettigrew's wand from him. He began to strangle Harry, but Harry reminded him that he owed him a life debt. When Pettigrew hesitated, his brief moment of mercy caused his silver hand to turn on him, strangling and killing him, despite Harry and Ron's best efforts to restrain it. Despite Pettigrew living his life full of cowardice, opportunism and betrayal, the Sorting Hat had always considered its choice of sorting him into Gryffindor as correct.

The Hat took Pettigrew's death as evidence of his innate bravery, which many remained doubtful of. Harry, while disliking Pettigrew for his despicable cowardice and betrayal, nevertheless felt some pity for the way he had to die, and was perhaps one of the few to accept Pettigrew's subtle regret of his life choices. Pettigrew was an extremely short man no taller than Harry when he was thirteen or Hermione when she was fourteen years old with grubby skin, small watery eyes, and a pointed nose, all of which were lingering attributes of his animagus rat form; he even spoke in a squeaky voice that is another lingering attribute of his rat form.

In his youth, his hair was mousy brown, but by his mid-thirties, it had thinned, lost a lot of its colour, and acquired a large bald patch. He was also described as "fat" in his youth, but when forced to return to his human form in the Shrieking Shack , he looked as though he lost plenty of weight in a short time, mostly due to his stress of fearing Sirius' wrath. The stress he endured also apparently caused him to appear middle-aged by his mid-thirties. In , he cut off his right index finger as part of a ploy to fake his own death, which is reflected in his "Scabbers" form, and, fourteen years later, he cut off his entire right hand at the request of Lord Voldemort.

Voldemort used magic to give Pettigrew a shining silver, glove-like replacement. As a Death Eater, he bore the Dark Mark on his left inner forearm. Peter Pettigrew was characterised by weakness. Despite having been Sorted into Gryffindor , he did not possess true bravery, possibly proving that the Hat saw potential in him rather than any actual inborn courage, potential that he never lived up to. The Sorting Hat may have mistaken his adoration of James and Sirius for steadfastness, or sensed in him a desire to surround himself with respected individuals and believed that he would make a compatible friend to a Gryffindor; Pettigrew clearly looked up to strong, courageous people and it is possible that the Sorting Hat put him there because he wished to absorb that quality.

It is also likely that Pettigrew requested the Sorting Hat to place him in Gryffindor , with his friends, just as Harry Potter would later request not to be placed in Slytherin. Indeed, he underwent a Hatstall when being sorted, being considered between Gryffindor and Slytherin by the Sorting Hat , though the hat ultimately decided that it made the right choice to this day, citing the manner in which Pettigrew died as what some would call dubious evidence.

In his youth, he latched onto James Potter and Sirius Black, more talented and popular students, idolising them and living vicariously through their accomplishments, as well as joining them in bullying other students, such as Severus Snape, whom he would not have been likely to cross without James and Sirius to back him up.

Due to the huge difference in terms of talent, bravery, and popularity, Peter was more of a hanger-on than an equal. However, the three Marauders did love Peter as a friend and brother, which made the eventual betrayal of James especially bitter.

Pettigrew defected from the Order of the Phoenix and betrayed his closest friends to Lord Voldemort when his life was threatened, showing selfishness and disloyalty at the core of his being. When cornered by Sirius and Remus, Peter shamelessly begged for mercy, despite having used and betrayed them. But if there was one thing that he feared more than death, it was most likely the Dementor's Kiss ; the thought of being left to the Dementors ' mercy would've terrified anyone.

Pettigrew, James, and Sirius bullying Snape, not brave enough to do it on his own. Pettigrew was an opportunist, who allied with the side that seemed strongest and appeared to be winning — thus becoming "friends" with James and Sirius in school, and then leading him to become a Death Eater when the opportunity arose.

He was loyal only to himself and acted in whatever his best interest was at the moment. He expected that he would be rewarded for leading Voldemort to Harry Potter , and later had the same expectations with Bertha Jorkins , assuming Voldemort would reward him for capturing a Ministry of Magic employee, despite not knowing the extent of her usefulness.

He only returned to a broken down Voldemort simply because he had no other choice, as the other side was aiming to kill him, and would have gone to anywhere else if he had more options, seeing Voldemort at the time was too weakened to be the victorious side, along with the task of caring for his lord being tedious and unpleasant.

In spite of others claiming that Pettigrew was a " weak, talentless thing ", he was at least cunning enough to escape his former friend Sirius after Voldemort's first defeat, frame him for his crimes, and fake his own death while killing twelve people with one curse, living for years in his Animagus form. He originally formulated his plan to return to the Dark Lord without being accused a traitor by his colleague Death Eaters: to turn Harry in as a welcome back present and be honoured above all others; though a well thought out plan and he waited patiently, it was upset when Pettigrew's form was exposed prematurely.

He also managed to manipulate Bertha Jorkins to accompany him with ease, when he brought her to Lord Voldemort. In moments of desperation Pettigrew was willing to amputate his own limbs to serve his purposes, such as his finger to fake his death, and his hand to revive Voldemort, the latter being promised with a worthy reward. He was, however, foolish enough to stop by an inn for food en route to returning to Voldemort, which led him to run into a Ministry employee; if Pettigrew had not been cunning enough to persuade Bertha into his trap, he might have exposed his own duplicity to the world at large then, as Voldemort had noted.

Despite Pettigrew's cowardly streak and his repressed regret of his treachery, he was ruthless and callous towards others if it benefited himself, as he massacred twelve muggles to frame Sirius, [5] , murdered Cedric Diggory in cold blood per Voldemort's orders, [20] and would have throttled Harry had he not been reminded of the life debt he owed. Harry Potter saving Pettigrew's life, causing Pettigrew to feel some gratitude towards him. However, despite his treacherous and cowardly nature, Pettigrew did feel some regret for betraying his friends, and he hesitated to kill Harry when reminded of his life debt , in Though he quickly tried to undo the moment of weakness, his "tiny merciful impulse" resulted in his being strangled to death by his own silver hand.

This suggested that he may have consciously felt some gratitude towards Harry for sparing his life. Though he valued his own life more than the lives of his friends, Pettigrew felt guilt for betraying Lily and James, but did not have the courage to admit his treachery until it was forced out of him, or to turn against Voldemort.

He did feel rather under-appreciated when Voldemort claimed him to be an unintelligent and disloyal servant when comparing to Barty Crouch Jnr. Without James, Sirius, and Remus protecting him, Peter found no courage to go against Snape, who would in turn bully him in return throughout their time as Death Eater colleagues. During his time as Scabbers the rat, under the Weasley family 's care, Pettigrew was lazy and unmotivated, as all he did was sleep and eat, and only on one occasion did, he bit Goyle's knuckle on his owner's behalf.

This could be because Pettigrew enjoyed being pampered and waited hand and foot, believing that as a pet rat he did not have to do much and can relax instead, at least until Sirius' escape from Azkaban prompted him into action. Even after returning to his Death Eater services, he continued to show certain levels of laziness and carelessness that leads to mistakes, such as foolishly stopping at an inn for food while on his way to Albania that led him to meeting with a Ministry employee and former schoolmate , or neglecting his duties of guarding Barty Crouch Snr that allowed him to escape.

Pettigrew also developed a bit of nosiness, having been eavesdropping behind doors during his stay at the Snape family house, resulting in Severus slamming the door in his face. Pettigrew was so meek that he did not dare request for reassignment when Voldemort sent him to assist Snape, in which Snape treated him as a mere slave for household chores.

Pettigrew was one of only two known Death Eaters who dared referred to Voldemort by name, [5] [24] the second being Barty Crouch Jnr. Despite Professor McGonagall claiming that Peter was less talented than his friends, and Voldemort later denoting him as a poor wizard, he showed a surprising amount of magical capability when pushed. It is likely that Pettigrew was always a skilled wizard, but his potential or power was overshadowed by that of his friends and peers, as well as by his shy personality, and this would become apparent as he grew into adulthood and gained further experience.

From what was known, Peter was remarkably skilled in magic and seemed to be as magically-skilled as the other three Marauders , and was quite adept in the Dark Arts perhaps the most capable of the four in that aspect. Peter Pettigrew's relationship with his parents is unknown, but after Pettigrew faked his own death, the Ministry gave an Order of Merlin to Mrs Pettigrew along with her son's finger — the biggest part of Peter that was found.

It is also unknown if his parents knew about his faked death. The Marauders , former friends whom he betrayed. During his seven years at Hogwarts , Peter came to greatly admire James Potter and Sirius Black for their popularity and magical ability, as well as James' renowned skills as Chaser for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. Though they accepted him as a friend and included him in their various mischief-making endeavours, it was clear he was considered more of a hanger-on than an equal.

Nevertheless, they were close throughout their time at school. When they discovered that a member of their group, Remus Lupin , was a werewolf , they illegally became Animagi so as to be able to accompany Remus while he was in his transformed state, rather than shun him as many would have.

The four of them eventually came to be known as the "Marauders". While James, Sirius, and Remus considered Peter a true friend and would have willingly died for him, Peter proved that he lacked any similar conviction or sense of loyalty. When Lord Voldemort first started gaining power, Peter immediately defected from the Order of the Phoenix and joined the Death Eaters out of fear for his own life. Peter later framed Sirius for the crime by pretending to confront him, then cutting off his own finger before taking his rat Animagus form; he killed twelve Muggles in the process, and landed Sirius in Azkaban for twelve years.

Sirius had convinced James to use Pettigrew as Secret-Keeper in what he believed to be a brilliant gambit. This was proven to be a fatal mistake that Sirius would regret for the rest of his life. When Sirius learned the truth, he became obsessed with avenging the deaths of his friends. Remus, unaware of the truth until twelve years later, thought Peter died in a heroic confrontation with Sirius. When Peter's treachery was revealed to James' son, Harry Potter , both Sirius and Remus showed no mercy nor sympathy for Peter's lack of courage if anything, both were disgusted by him , and were absolutely intent on killing Peter, and were only stopped by Harry's insistence that Pettigrew was not worth their becoming murderers.

As Remus had forgotten to take his Wolfsbane Potion in the wake of discovering Pettigrew's continued existence, he transformed under the full moon and was completely uncontrollable. Peter was able to escape, but for his freedom he owed Harry a life debt that would later cost him his own life. Peter's escape led Sirius to remain a wanted fugitive for another two years, and only Harry, Ron , Hermione , Dumbledore, Remus and, later, members of the second Order of the Phoenix knew of his innocence for those two final years.

Severus Snape , whom he used to bully, and who bullied him in return. Pettigrew, who probably would not have fared well duelling with a wizard as skilled and powerful as Snape, only got away with doing so because he had more talented friends backing him up.

Or perhaps his intense dislike of Pettigrew was due to the former betraying Lily , the woman he loved, to Voldemort. It is possible that Snape regarded Pettigrew as being too negligible of a person to be worthy of hating, as he showed very little care for Pettigrew during their time in Spinner's End , aside from maintaining a sense of superiority over Pettigrew in every chance possible and making him even remotely useful around the house.

When the Dark Lord later assigned Pettigrew to work as his assistant, Snape took to treating him like a slave, forcing him to clean his house and serve food to his guests, while refusing to let him in on their meetings. Pettigrew, though very dissatisfied with Snape's abuse, found little courage to argue or request the Dark Lord for reassignment, and seemingly had to obey out of fear of Snape, as he flinched as though Snape threw something at him when ordered to serve Bellatrix and Narcissa wine, all the while could not look at Snape eye-to-eye when protesting.

Severus did not condone Peter's habit of eavesdropping, and even slamming the door in his face to get him to stay away from listening any further. With the feeble protests Pettigrew made proved his ineptitude and cowardice, Snape openly and contemptuously mocked him for it, showed his "assistant" no respect whatsoever, and regarded the treacherous coward as a negligible vermin. As with the rest of the Death Eaters and Order of the Phoenix alike, Snape would address Pettigrew as "Wormtail" instead of his real name during their later years of life.

Lily Evans , former friend whom he betrayed. Peter first met Lily Evans during the Sorting ceremony at Hogwarts, during which they were both Sorted into Gryffindor.

Peter regularly took part in bullying her then-best friend Severus Snape , and as such, he did not make any better an impression on her than James or Sirius did. After Lily ended her friendship with Snape, she eventually married James Potter. She seemed to be much closer to James' circle of friends by that time, especially when they all joined the Order of the Phoenix. She even affectionately referred to Peter as " Wormy ," from his nickname "Wormtail," and noted that he "seemed down" on the week before Harry Potter's first birthday , as she tells in a letter to Sirius Black.

She would not have known that it was because he was enlisted in the Death Eaters and playing spy. Peter, out of fear of his own life, and what Sirius described as " finest moment of [his] miserable life ", betrayed Lily's location to Voldemort without a moment of hesitation. Harry Potter , to whom he owed a life debt. Harry Potter initially believed Peter Pettigrew had been courageous for challenging the alleged traitor, Sirius Black , despite appearing so comparatively timid and weak; Harry even compared him to his own friend Neville Longbottom.

As Scabbers, Harry felt that Hermione should at least feel responsible when Crookshanks allegedly ate him, when in truth Peter faked his death a second time.

Though he was disgusted by Pettigrew's disloyalty and cowardice when he learned the truth, he could not stand to see his father's two best friends become murderers, and requested that they leave Pettigrew to face the Dementors instead. Pettigrew managed to escape, leaving Harry unable to prove his godfather, Sirius Black 's innocence. However, because of Harry's intervention to save Pettigrew, the latter owed Harry a life debt.

Harry, on the other hand, felt regretful for sparing Pettigrew's life and did not want such a bond. Originally Peter spared no thought on betraying Harry and his family to Voldemort, and even prepared to turn Harry in the moment he catches wind of the Death Eaters regaining momentum as a welcome-back present.

However, perhaps due to this debt, Pettigrew consciously felt gratitude towards the boy, as he suggested that Voldemort should use another wizard's blood for the rebirth ceremony , and hastily implying that Harry meant nothing to him when Voldemort raised the issue, an act that seems to be denial rather than honesty. Of course, Voldemort also saw this as an attempt for Wormtail to desert him once more, out of sheer regret of ever returning.

A year later, Pettigrew met Harry again in the Little Hangleton graveyard , where Pettigrew bound Harry to Tom Riddle Snr 's grave and then cut Harry's arm to use his blood in a potion that would restore Voldemort to his former glory.

Throughout this meeting, Wormtail struck Harry for struggling, but did not make eye contact when returning Harry his wand , per Voldemort's orders. Pettigrew's life debt was finally repaid during the Skirmish at Malfoy Manor , when his momentary hesitation to strangle Harry was interpreted as a sign of weakness by the silver hand he received from Voldemort, and it turned on him. Though both Harry and Ron Weasley attempted to stop it, Peter Pettigrew was strangled to death by his own hand.

Ronald Weasley , his former owner and enemy. After framing Sirius Black for the crimes of betraying James and Lily Potter and murdering twelve Muggles, Pettigrew went into hiding in his Animagus form, and disguised himself as a rat named Scabbers. Viewed 31k times. Sorcerer's Stone - Page - US Hardcover Are there any canon examples of Peter Pettigrew displaying any of the aforementioned traits in a positive way?

Improve this question. Slytherincess Slytherincess k gold badges silver badges bronze badges. Peter joining the death eaters would require a certain degree of daring and nerve, to abandon his friends. But it clearly was not chivalrous, and he wasn't brave at heart. Even Voldemort said Peter only returned out of fear. But in Harry's case it is shown that the hat takes the student's preferences in to consideration. So perhaps Peter wanted to join Gryffindor strongly enough that that is where it put him?

Peter not killing harry was another sign of cowardice. He knew the dark lord wanted to kill harry himself and thought the dark lord might kill him if he killed harry. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes. Two points: Are there any canon examples of Peter Pettigrew displaying any of the aforementioned traits in a positive way? He chose not to kill Harry Potter in Malfoy dungeon for which his silver hand killed him.

Improve this answer. SQB But I didn't do anything to "steal" it! I don't recall vaguely waving my hand in front of Slytherincess muttering "those aren't the answers you are looking for" — DVK-on-Ahch-To. But did he let him live out of bravery though? He was stricken by guilt for having had his life saved once before by Potter. Can you really call that brave to be guilt triped into not completing an action?

I'd say he's another example supporting Dumbledore's statement that they sort students into houses too early at Hogwarts.

One might also reference the fact that the Sorting Hat takes the individuals wants into consideration, as seen in Chamber of Secrets when Harry questions why he was put into Gryffindor, and at the end of The Deathly Hallows, when Harry tells his son that the Sorting Hat takes his choice into consideration. Perhaps Peter simply asked to be put in Gryffinder. Show 4 more comments. Jeff Jeff k 28 28 gold badges silver badges bronze badges.

From book 5: But this year I'll go further, listen closely to my song: though condemned I am to split you still I worry that it's wrong. Though I must fulfill my duty and must quarter every year; still I wonder whether sorting may not bring the end I fear. I myself am not sure the hat Sorts solely on potential. Slytherincess: Not solely on potential, no. But potential plays a BIG part in it. Of course, there's also the possibility that it has quotas :- Perhaps in Pettigrew's year they were a bit light on the Gryffindors.

Jeff - I really like your answer a lot! I think it's mostly spot on, although, as I mentioned previously, I don't think potential is the only consideration. It would certainly be important, though. I have one niggle - I don't see Harry as hungry for power at eleven, rather as hungry for autonomy and the freedom to be himself.

When the Sorting Hat considered him for Slytherin, I interpret that as the hat sensing the part of Voldemort's soul that occupies Harry's body. Which leads me to ask: did the Sorting Hat know Harry was a Horcrux? Or did it just sense Voldemort's Slytherin qualities? Slytherincess: At eleven, Harry Potter had spent his entire life being dumped upon and overshadowed.

His first magical act was punishment of his cousin coupled with freeing a prisoner. It is only natural and normal for someone to feel angry about this and to wish for the power to stop their abuse. At some level, Harry DID want power. His true nature, however, tempered that greatly and helped him become the man he was at the end of book 7.

Jeff his first magical act wasn't freeing the snake; it's mentioned that he also made his hair grow back after his Aunt had cut it horribly, shrunk an awful sweater she was forcing him to wear, and flew to the top of the school when being chased by bullies, all prior to that incident. However, Slytherin also values ambition and resourcefulness, both of which Harry has displayed many times ambition to be an Auror, to defeat Voldemort, etc.

Show 10 more comments. Aegon Eideann Eideann 5 5 silver badges 8 8 bronze badges. Recall this sentence from the Order of the Phoenix chapter Absolutely not. It was cowardice. Peter even says in PoA that he joined Voldemort's side because of the power he Voldemort has and the danger otherwise.

He was after protection. That's not anything to do with bravery. At all. Pryftan You're mixing two or three different times in Peter's life here. But after that, I think finding and resurrect the Dark Lord is brave, when Peter could have instead just continued to hide from the world without seeking the Dark Lord, or sought out the Dark Lord but betrayed him while he was weak.

How do you know that he was lying? As for hiding out rather than seeking the Dark Lord? Voldemort himself says that he returned out of fear and not loyalty. Fear from what exactly? The inability to hide from his friends perhaps? Or is Voldemort wrong here also? He always sought protection and the brave don't do that, generally speaking, do they? Doesn't mean he doesn't have guts say framing Sirius but bravery?

He hasn't any. And cutting your hand off for a cause isn't about bravery but sacrifice. It's also arguable that he fully anticipated Voldemort to replace his hand for all we know he was told directly that he would. Okay sure it must have been scary but that's just a moment in time but having moments of bravery isn't the same thing as being brave in general.

Pettigrew was nearly a Slytherin Pettigrew certainly had many traits characteristic of Slytherin. According to Pottermore , he was a Hatstall between Gryffindor and Slytherin, meaning that he was, in the Hat's estimation, about evenly balanced between them: The only true Hatstalls known personally to Harry Potter were Minerva McGonagall and Peter Pettigrew.

People change The Sorting Hat does not use any unusual magic to determine students' aptitudes.