Lucius & chronology

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

So. Let's consider what we could learn by closely reading Lucius' cv (on his user profile):

Lucius Malfoy
Slytherin Prefect, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, 1969-1972
Hogwarts Head Boy, 1971-72

Board of Directors, Wizarding Wireless Network, 1973-present
Board of Governors, St. Mungo's for Magical Maladies & Injuries, 1981-1986
Board of Advisors, Daily Prophet, 1981-present
Board of Directors, Nimbus Racing Broom Company, 1986-present
Board of Directors, Obscurus Books, 1975-1980, 1988-present
Board of Governors, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft & Wizardry, 1989-present

Member, Committee for the Regulation of Magical Commerce, Ministry of Magic, 1984-present (Chairman, 1988-1990)
Member, Committee for Muggle-Born Labour Services, 1985-present
Consultant, Department of Mysteries, 1987-present
Consultant, Department of Magical Law Enforcement, 1983-present

I'll start. In general, Lucius' career seems to be fairly conventional for a man of social means and influence. He serves his first directorship beginning a year out of Hogwarts in 1973 (the WWN) and then adds a second in 1975 (Obscurus Books). His commitments begin to multiply, though, in 1981 -- which, as we know, corresponds with Voldemort's rise (culminating in canon, but not in game, with the Potters' deaths at the end of October). It also corresponds with Lucius' transition into fatherhood and a new phase of adult responsibility, so the political and the personal go hand-in-hand as we see him expand his corporate service to include St. Mungo's and the Daily Prophet -- surely the Lord Protector's hand, not just Lucius' ambition, is behind these particular appointments.

Why does he suspend his service on the Obscurus Books board in 1980, though? If it's so obscure, surely it wouldn't have needed to be eschewed in order to make time for the bigger things ... and if it were so very obscure (and immaterial), why would he have gone back on its board in 1988? What on earth is Obscurus Books?

In the middle 80's we see a steady increase in Lucius' influence and commitments:

in 1983, he begins as a consultant at MLE
in 1984, he steps onto the Committee for the Regulation of Magical Commerce
in 1985, he joins the Committee for Muggle-Born Labour Services (is this when the program began?)
in 1986, he joins the Board at Nimbus Racing Brooms
in 1987, he becomes a consultant at the Department of Mysteries
in 1988, he becomes Chair of CRMC
in 1989, he goes on the Hogwarts Board

The only thing he steps down from is the St. Mungo's board (in 1986).

I keep coming back to the gap in his service at Obscurus Books, which is (ahem) the most obscure of his "appointments," and I wonder what sort of cover operation that is.

In any case, I take this cv as a pretty neat chronology of the Lord Protector's influence over various wizarding institutions.

Thoughts?

Comments

[black-dog.livejournal.com]

[. . . continued]

In this sense it's interesting to look at Lucius' interventions at Hogwarts. He's not actually on a crusade to shut down Hermione's access to the Journals, for instance -- it's enough that she learns she mustn't become a distraction and a nuisance. McG and others can sometimes play him, as in the matter of the Book, not necessarily because he's stupid (though Sirius at one point suggests he is) but because he's busy enough to gloss over details sometimes. He's a bureaucrat with a checklist rather than an obsessive crusader.

I'm thinking of posting separately on the different types of evil this game seems to be at some pains to distinguish -- from moral cowardice and laziness to active perverseness. Lucius moral failing seems to be to approach everything instrumentally, without giving serious attention to ends. And he's awfully good at it, and can maybe do more real harm than a committed maniac like Bella.

[lapin-agile.livejournal.com]

He seems like a reasonably typical executive, immersed from day to day in an almost overwhelming proliferation of meetings and decisions and monitoring followup. But he's not so much passionate about his mission as he's passionate about efficiency, getting things done.

I like this reading of Lucius. Indeed, I think this is just the personality type we see.

The point I'm not sure about is whether the 1981 additions to his portfolio are Lucius' own initiative (and fruits of his own logical trajectory of interest and influence) or whether they are markers of Tom Riddle's sphere of influence. It's difficult in canon to read through the accounts of his wave of terror (which so often focus on the attack at Godrics Hollow) to know how much concrete political power he and his circle had managed to exercise prior to October 1981. I don't have a convenient way to check that here (I've just moved away from my books), but my sense is that we err if we take 1981 as a starting point for the Death Eaters rather than as a period of climaxing power (if, perhaps, an early climax). Our view of that moment is skewed by its (then) surprising consequences.

Maybe someone else will have canonical details more easily to hand (or mind).