#professor quirrell

Of all the Defense teachers we meet, we know the least about Quirrell. He appears meek, cowardly, a joke; but he conceals a lot. Namely, the fact that he’s possessed by the Dark Lord. JKR has written a bit more about him: That he was a timid, sensitive boy who, bullied for his delicate nature, had developed an interest in the Dark Arts to make himself seemstronger. Not to be stronger, but to seem stronger. How tragic then, that this interest has led him to lose his values, himself and his life, and in the bargain… to not even get to play the hero. The man who could handle trolls and get at least close enough to dragons to acquire an egg, spent the last year of his life sporting a fake stammer and a twitchy manner.

Let me go on a tangent:

In this book, Ollivander says Voldemort “did great things, terrible, but great”. Harry squicks at the thought. There is also Harry’s moment with the Sorting Hat.

“Hmm,” said a small voice in his ear. “Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, I see. Not a bad mind either. There’s talent, oh my goodness, yes — and a nice thirst to prove yourself, now that’s interesting… . So where shall I put you?”

Harry gripped the edges of the stool and thought, Not Slytherin,not Slytherin.

“Not Slytherin, eh?” said the small voice. “Are you sure? You could be great, you know, it’s all here in your head, and Slytherin will help you on the way to greatness, no doubt about that — no? Well, if you’re sure — better be GRYFFINDOR!”

Then we have Hermione’s:

“Harry — you’re a great wizard, you know.”

“I’m not as good as you,” said Harry, very embarrassed, as she let go of him.

“Me!” said Hermione. “Books! And cleverness! There are more important things — friendship and bravery and — oh Harry — be careful!”

He taught Muggle Studies before taking over the Defense post. It’s hard to imagine Dumbledore would leave the subject to a Muggle hater, so QQ’s ridiculous ideas about good and evil (see below) had to be at least reasonable. But he longed to seem strong, and so he was vulnerable.

Though he didn’t seem strong, and ultimately wasn’t strong, he was stronger than he looked, which was his only actual source of power.

Before his death, QQ says this:

“He is with me wherever I go,” said Quirrell quietly. “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… . Since then, I have served him faithfully.”

And then he loses and dies. The first book seems to put greatness and goodness in opposition to each other, in the amoral attitude Ollivander and the hat demonstrate and the openly immoral attitude QQ picked up from his master, while Hermione brings the two together right before Harry’s showdown with QQ where he wins out and goodness and greatness converge.

Dobby would go on to say he has heard of Harry Potter’s greatness, but never of his goodness, making this officially a running theme. To my recollection, Krum even complains that people used to draw Grindelwald’s mark to make themselves appear impressive.

Harry had a nice thirst to prove himself, which would have made him fit in Slytherin, apparently; Quirrell got taken in by the Dark Arts and then by Voldemort because he wanted to prove himself too. Reminds you of anyone?

Snape.

And…

Pettigrew.

For a supposedly pathetic wizard, Pettigrew is extremely capable. He has achieved everything James and Sirius – supposedly “exceptionally bright” – achieved; he has also outsmarted them at every turn. JKR confirmed that he and Snape were motivated by similar things in joining Voldemort – a desire to make themselves impressive and important. The desire to be great (and probably a healthy fear for their lives, to be honest) overcame all these people, but only one of them ended up great - the one who found his belief in friendship and bravery. The one who had to forsake any ambition to be impressive and powerful (he couldn’t have felt impressive when he had to ascent that he had been playing Dumbledore’s pet, etc.) ended up impressive and powerful, outsmarting Voldemort himself as goodness and greatness converged in him.

PP and QQ never did; both doomed themselves to feigned meekness as the only source of power and died after leading a rather pathetic life despite being more powerful than they looked. It seems that Peter always defaulted to lowering himself so as to not attract ire from James and Sirius, until they could not even conceive of the possibility that he was the traitor, out of the two people it could have been. A desperate attempt to curry favor with Voldemort… you know the rest. QQ seems to have used this more manipulatively, but with some resentment, I can only imagine. Why would he bother to tell Harry, who is about to be dead, that he’s actually strong and powerful and fooled everyone? I know, plot. But in-universe, there had to be a proper, character-driven reason, and it happens to align with what JKR has written about QQ.

And I think there’s a lesson here. Greatness, divorced from goodness, exists (y’know, as far as those constructs exist) – and falling for it is extremely dangerous, even – perhaps especially – for good people at heart.  And also, there is nothing sadder and more pathetic than pretending to be Machiavellian and amoral when you just don’t have the guts to actually do it; if you’re gonna commit to an act to impress others, it’s going to cost you and build up tremendous resentment (and probably will impress no one in the long run); if you’re gonna commit to an act to make others underestimate you, it might work, but resentment will build up anyway. Appear too powerful and you’ll put a target on your own back; appear too weak and you’ll put a target on your own back. It must mean strength comes from somewhere else.

Even the great amoralist has said: “He who has a why to live can bear almost any how.” There might not be such a thing as good or evil, but seeking power can make one very weak indeed.