Is Regulus Black good or bad?

Answer 1

In the Harry Potter series, Regulus (1961-1979) was the younger brother of Sirius Black. Unlike his brother, Regulus was favored by his parents over Sirius because he, Regulus, shared their pureblood prejudices; soon after leaving Hogwarts, he joined the Death Eaters. JK tells us "Regulus got in a little too deep. Like Draco. He was attracted to it, but the reality of what it meant was way too much to handle." Regulus is the son of Orion Black and his wife (and second-cousin) Walburga. The Black family was one of dark wizards. According to Sirius Black, Regulus's older brother, the Blacks believed that to be a Black made one wizarding royalty, and the family shared many of the Death Eaters' ideas about blood purity. Regulus is a minor character who has attracted much attention and speculation on the part of fans of the series. Very little information about him is given through any of the books so far, but some of that information suggests that he may have played a more significant role than has yet been revealed. Readers of the series have picked up on this possibility because Rowling's writing style frequently involves small hints that lead to more significant revelations.

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When Lord Voldemort rose to power, Regulus became a Death Eater. Sirius speculated that his parents probably thought he was a "right little hero" for doing so. According to Sirius, when Regulus realized what was expected of him as a Death Eater, he wanted to quit. At this point Regulus was allegedly killed on Voldemort's orders, or possibly by Voldemort himself, because one doesn't quit being a Death Eater. Although J.K. Rowling has stated Regulus is dead, she did not seem to indicate that the allegations of Regulus' death via the Death Eaters or Voldemort are accurate. Sirius conjectured about how his brother met his end, but it has not been confirmed that his death is to be attributed to Voldemort or the Death Eaters.

Near the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Dumbledore attempts to recover a locket believed to be a Horcrux created by Voldemort. Instead, he finds a different locket containing a message signed with the initials R.A.B. Some have interpreted this as Regulus A. Black. Rowling was asked in an interview whether Regulus was R.A.B., and called this theory "a fine guess". However, she did not intend her reply either to confirm or deny the guess. Support for the theory that Regulus Black is R.A.B. has been gathered from the translation of Half-Blood Prince to other languages. In the Dutch translation of the novel, Regulus Black is called Regulus Zwarts and the initials in the locket are R.A.Z. In the Norwegian edition, Regulus Black is called Regulus Svaart, and the initials R.A.S. are in the locket, while in the Finnish translation, Regulus Black is called Regulus Musta, and the initials are R.A.M. These make the theory that R.A.B. is Sirius's brother quite plausible. = R.A.B. Confirmed by Portugese Publisher = Here's the translated quote: On the 26th of October, 2005, Nimbus Network received a message from Isabel Nunes, responsible for the translation and coordination of the Portuguese versions of the Harry Potter series. In that message, Mrs. Nunes told us directly who R.A.B. was: Since it is common knowledge, and it was already confirmed by JKR (when we asked her about the character's sex), I don't mind telling you: R.A.B. is Regulus Arcturus Black. Although we wanted to tell everyone who R.A.B. was, we asked Mrs. Nunes for more details about the revelation - it wouldn't be professional to disclose an information this important. The answer arrived three days later: Dear Nadir I've decided to send the confirmation due to many speculations concerning the identity of RAB. It may bring doubts about its credibility, so I'll explain: there is an informal group of translators of the Harry Potter books who kept in touch during the translation of HP6, which, while exchanging ideas and information's, managed to overcome some difficulties. JKR's agent was posed a question concerning the sex of RAB (this is not the first situation of this kind, as has also happened with the characters of Sinistra and Blaise Zabini). It's always needed to proceed through writers' agents because there isn't any direct contact with the writer. We were truly amazed when the written answer had not only the sex but the true identity of R.A.B. To be truly honest, we don't have any clearance to disclose this but we hadn't been told otherwise. There was not any direct concerning about not publishing this information. Then we decided to keep the information in secrecy, at least until we had any confirmation from J. K. Rowling. Mrs. Nunes also told us that she had already talked about that issue with Steve Vander Ark, and apparently he shared the same opinion, so she didn't felt responsible to keep the information in secrecy. = More on R.A.B. = The initials R.A.B. are the main clue to the identity of a character revealed in the final chapters of the sixth book of J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. The character's identity is left as an unsolved mystery, apparently to be revealed in the final, seventh book. In Chapter 28 of Half-Blood Prince, the following note was found in a locket recovered by Albus Dumbledore and Harry Potter: To the Dark Lord

I know I will be dead long before you read this

but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret.

I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can.

I face death in the hope that when you meet your match

you will be mortal once more.

R.A.B.

The locket was recovered in the belief that it was one of Lord Voldemort's Harry, along with Hermione and Ron, start to investigate who might have had the initials R.A.B. Hermione searches the books in the school library for the names of any wizards with the initials, but only finds two: Rosalind Antigone Bungs and Rupert "Axebanger" Brookstanton. Neither Bungs nor Brookstanton seemed very likely candidates to be the writer of the note. There are no candidates specifically mentioned in the books having exactly R.A.B. as initials, apart from those identified by Hermione. However, there are several characters with surnames beginning with "B" and with unknown given or middle names, or whose initials might match "R.A.B." if they preferred to use their middle name as if it were their given name. There could also be characters who changed their surname, as by marriage. J. K. Rowling has stated in interviews that the sixth book of the Harry Potter series is to a large degree the first part of a two part story. She has also stated that no new major characters will be introduced in the final book. Readers have drawn the conclusion that the mysterious R.A.B. must represent a person or persons already known in the existing books and that it is possible to determine the identity of R.A.B. by careful study. A wide fan-following of the Harry Potter series began speculating almost instantaneously about the identity of R.A.B., since this would likely and markedly affect the plot of the seventh book. The character who has the greatest support as a candidate to be R.A.B. is Regulus Black, the younger brother of Sirius Black, who has been mentioned in passing but has not had any plot significance yet. Previously mentioned in the interview quoted above, Anelli suggested to Rowling that R.A.B. could stand for Regulus A. Black. The following conversation ensued:

Rowling: "Well, I think that would be, um, a fine guess.".

Melissa: "Forgive me if I'm remembering incorrectly, but was Regulus the one who was murdered by Voldemort?"

Rowling: "Well Sirius said he wouldn't have been because he wasn't important enough, remember?"

Melissa: "But that doesn't have to be true, if [R.A.B.] is writing Voldemort a personal note."

Rowling: "That doesn't necessarily show that Voldemort killed him, personally, but Sirius himself suspected that Regulus got in a little too deep. Like Draco. He was attracted to it, but the reality of what it meant was way too much to handle."

Many believe these comments to be indirect confirmation that R.A.B. is Regulus Black. Rowling had already been asked about Regulus prior to the publication of The Half-Blood Prince, during World Book Day online chat, March 4, 2004. Rowling answering the question: "Will we be hearing anything from Sirius Black's brother, Regulus, in future books?" said: "Well, he's dead, so he's pretty quiet these days." Regulus is mentioned three times in The Half-Blood Prince, by Albus Dumbledore, by Horace Slughorn, and then by Remus Lupin, early in the book. In comparison, his brother Sirius was mentioned by Hagrid in the opening chapter of the first book, with no further mention until The Prisoner of Azkaban, where he was the title character alongside Harry. Regulus was a Death Eater who tried to disassociate himself from Voldemort. He was killed on Voldemort's orders (Sirius notes that Regulus was too unimportant to warrant Voldemort doing this himself). The note left by R.A.B. addresses Voldemort as The Dark Lord, and Death Eaters are one of the only groups who customarily refer to him thus. Regulus' middle initial is unknown (it does not appear on the family tree tapestry at 12 Grimmauld Place, the Black family home and headquarters of The Order of the Phoenix). However it is possible he may have been given the middle name Alphard (after his uncle), or Arcturus (after his grandfather), as those names do appear on the Black Family Tree. The family tree was derived from a hand-drawn sketch of the tree made by J.K. Rowling herself, and from information extracted from the novels and various interviews. The object which had replaced the real Horcrux was a locket. Dumbledore believed the real Horcrux to also be a locket, once the property of Salazar Slytherin. Chapter Six of The Order of the Phoenixx == In several foreign-language versions of the series, the surname Black has been translated into the respective language to carry the same meaning (the colour black). In those cases, the 'B' in R.A.B. has been changed accordingly. For example, the Dutch edition uses the initials R.A.Z. (as in Zwarts) in the note, the Norwegian edition has R.A.S. (as in Svaart ["Svart"]) and the Finnish edition has the letters R.A.M. (as in Musta). The fact that the translation of the name Regulus Black and the initials R.A.B. are consistent across various language editions gives fair support to Regulus Black that other known characters do not have. However, translation of the Harry Potter books into authorized editions in other languages are performed by translating co-authors other than J. K. Rowling, although she would undoubtedly have approval and veto authority over any crucial plot details. Nevertheless these alternate editions might not be considered absolutely canonical. The author is not fluent in many of the languages and cultures that the series is printed in, and therefore must relinquish much literary license to the translators. The translations of R.A.B. and Black themselves could conceivably have come about coincidentally, or the translators may have switched both the name and the initials based on their own assumption that R.A.B is "Regulus Black". The translating authors may have even been instructed as to what names and initials to use, as a carefully planned deception to throw readers off the "real trail" to the true identity of R.A.B. Therefore, the mere observation that the translations support the "R.A.B. is Regulus Black" theory, does not necessarily provide conclusive proof of the matter. Regulus Black is not the only possible candidate for the identity of R.A.B. Several other characters in the Harry Potter series have last names starting with the letter "B", and whose first and/or middle names have not been provided. It is conceivable that a character from one of these other families might actually be R.A.B. As an example, there is the co-founder of the Borgin and Burkes dark magical objects shop in Knockturn Alley - a "Mr. Borgin", whose first name is unknown. The other co-founder is identified as Cataractus Burke. At one time, Tom Marvolo Riddle was an employee at the shop, and while he was in that capacity he visited Hepzibah Smith in order to gain access to some of her ancient heirlooms. It is also possible that a known character may have taken a nickname with the initials R.A.B., or posess an alter ego, in the manner that Professor Snape showed in calling himself "the Half-Blood Prince". One widely spread but disputed theory, that has been discussed at length at various fan forums, is the idea that R.A.B. may in fact be the initials of two or three persons, not just one. This is defended by the notion that Dumbledore needed Harry to assist him in the task of retrieving the Horcrux in the cave. However, the theory is strongly contradicted by the note itself - which is written in first person singular. On seven occasions, the writer of the note said "I" did this or that, and never made even the slightest passing reference to "we" or any accomplice. Ending a note written completely in the first-person singular tense, with a signature using the initials of two or more persons, would seem absurd. This makes the theory that R.A.B. represents the initials of more than one person very doubtful. Nevertheless the problem remains that someone may have had to assist R.A.B. with the task, and one leading candidate that does not contradict the canonical text might be a house-elf, for example Kreacher, which belonged to the Black family.