Remus Lupin

Template:HP character Remus John Lupin, nicknamed Moony, is a fictional character in the Harry Potter book series written by J. K. Rowling. He first appears in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban as the new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor. In the films, he is portrayed by David Thewlis as an adult, and James Utechin as a teenager.

There is evidence to suggest that Lupin is a more powerful wizard than he lets on. In Prisoner of Azkaban, he produced a handful of flames in his bare hands, a possible show of wandless magic. In Order of the Phoenix, he is the only fighter besides Dumbledore who came through unscathed from the battle at the Department of Mysteries. Similarly, he emerges physically unharmed from the Battle of Hogwarts in Half-Blood Prince, even remarking that a Killing Curse had barely missed him at one point.

Lupin often acts as the voice of reason within the Order of the Phoenix. He is more willing than Molly Weasley to let Harry and the other students know what is happening, but he also will not allow them to be inducted into the Order and stops Sirius from telling them too much.

Lupin is a half-blood born, according to the series, to a wizard and a muggle woman on March 10, 1959, . He was bitten by the vicious werewolf Fenrir Greyback when he was a small child, and became infected with lycanthropy; the condition being incurable, he was doomed to live the rest of his life as a werewolf. Lupin and his parents feared he would be unable to attend Hogwarts, but headmaster Albus Dumbledore allowed him to enroll—provided certain protective measures were taken. A house was built in Hogsmeade with a secret passage leading to it from under the Whomping Willow. Lupin was smuggled into and confined in this house for his monthly transformations. The transformation from human to werewolf is difficult and painful, and if the creature is isolated, it will become frustrated and harm itself if unable to attack. The villagers mistook Lupin's howling as extremely violent ghosts. The house was dubbed "the Shrieking Shack" and became known as the most haunted building in Britain. Although it was never actually haunted, Dumbledore promoted this rumour to discourage curious villagers from exploring. It eventually became the Marauders' secret hangout when they achieved complete Animagi transformations.

When Remus started Hogwarts, his condition was kept secret, but James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew deduced the truth in their second year. By their fifth year they secretly (and illegally) learned how to become Animagi to keep Lupin company during his transformation, as his lycanthropy was not transmittable to them in their Animagus forms, nor was he tempted to attack them when transformed. Additionally, James and Sirius' Animagi (a stag and a large dog) were large enough to keep Lupin's werewolf form in check. His friends nicknamed him "Moony" because of his condition. During their sixth year, Sirius Black played a prank on Severus Snape (although Sirius Black, James Potter and Peter Pettigrew hated Snape, Lupin claimed he had no reason to hate him until the 6th book). Black revealed to Snape where Remus went every month, knowing Snape could be killed if he approached Lupin in his werewolf state. Snape, determined to get them in trouble, followed Sirius' directions. James stopped Snape part way down the tunnel, saving his life. However, Snape saw Remus in werewolf form and was sworn to secrecy by Dumbledore. Snape never forgave Sirius and believed James' only motive in foiling the plan was to avoid expulsion from Hogwarts.

Remus was a prefect, although he had trouble disciplining his friends. He did not become Head Boy, however. In an interview, J. K. Rowling linked this to Remus' desire to be liked, "because he's been disliked so often." Remus' main failing is, "he's always so pleased to have friends, so he cuts them an awful lot of slack."^[1] In Order of the Phoenix, Sirius said Remus was the "good boy," and Rowling says he was the "mature" one. According to Sirius, Lupin did not participate in his and James' bullying (of Snape, in particular), but Lupin regrets never having told them to stop. He is also one of the co-creators of the Marauder's Map, which later falls into Harry Potter's ownership.

Lupin loathes and fears his monthly transformations: when he faces boggarts, they take the form of a globular full moon. These transformations became less severe in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when the Wolfsbane Potion provided by Snape allowed him to have some control over them, and to retain his mind.

He was in the original Order of the Phoenix.

Professor Lupin first appeared in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, in which he taught Defence Against the Dark Arts at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. At the end of the year, Severus Snape, furious over Sirius Black's escape and his resultant loss of the Order of Merlin promised to him by Cornelius Fudge, made public that Lupin was a werewolf, whereupon Lupin resigned in anticipation of the public outcry against a werewolf teaching at Hogwarts. During his tenure, he gave Harry private lessons in casting the Patronus Charm, the only known means of defence against Dementors. His students, excepting a few from Slytherin, held him in extremely high regard and loved the hands-on style of his classes. Harry and his friends considered him to have been their best Defence teacher, although his competition was hardly stiff in this regard: his predecessors were Professor Quirrell, who was possessed by Voldemort, and Gilderoy Lockhart, a fraudster; he was succeeded by Barty Crouch Jr, who at least appears to have taught well when he pretended to be Alastor Moody, and a domineering and vicious Ministry of Magic official, Dolores Umbridge, who deliberately gave the students a watered-down and incompetent course. (It could be argued that the list of successors should unofficially include Harry Potter himself, who quite adequately trained Dumbledore's Army during Umbridge's reign). His most recent successor was the intimidating and suspect former potions master, Severus Snape.

Until the climax of Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin believed Sirius Black was guilty of murdering 12 Muggles and one wizard, betraying Lily and James Potter and murdering Peter Pettigrew. He eventually discovers the truth—that Sirius is innocent, and the very alive Peter was the traitor. He helps Sirius explain the truth to Harry, Ron and Hermione in the Shrieking Shack, and they all confront Peter, who has been disguised for the previous twelve years as Ron's pet rat, Scabbers. However, Remus forgot to take the Wolfsbane potion, which prevents the violent state of mind when turning into a werewolf. Since Harry, Ron, and Hermione are distracted by Lupin, Peter manages to assume his Animagus form and escape.

Lupin reappears as a member of the Order of the Phoenix in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Half-Blood Prince, but his role in those books is smaller than in Prisoner of Azkaban.

In Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin is described as having "light brown hair" that is greying, and he wears shabby, patched clothing. In Order of the Phoenix, he has a pale face with premature lines. Because of few employment opportunities for werewolves, as most in the wizarding world are prejudiced against them out of fear of the violent transformations, Lupin depends primarily on the kindness of others for support. In fact, with the passing of additional anti-werewolf laws by the Ministry of Magic under Dolores Umbridge's direction in Order of the Phoenix, employment of Lupin becomes practically impossible and technically illegal.

He becomes a member of the newly reformed Order of the Phoenix in the fifth book, and part of the advanced guard who removes Harry from the Dursley family home in the opening chapters of the book. Lupin lives in Grimmauld Place, headquarters of the Order of the Phoenix with Sirius Black, but doesn't stay there often as he is usually out to complete secret tasks for the Order. Later he participates in the battle at the Department of Mysteries where he duels Lucius Malfoy. He came out unscathed while Lucius was bound by invisible ropes by Dumbledore.

In Half-Blood Prince, he is hiding undercover as a spy amongst his fellow werewolves, who are under the leadership of the werewolf Fenrir Greyback, who originally bit Lupin as a child, and joined forces with Voldemort. Remus admits to Harry that due to prejudice in the wizarding world, he has found the werewolves' siding with Voldemort hard to counter, as the Dark Lord offers them more freedom than they are currently allowed.

At the end of the book it is revealed that Nymphadora Tonks has fallen in love with Remus (Remus is c. 15 years older than Tonks). He resisted becoming involved with her because of the risks from his being a werewolf, and he said he is "too old, too poor, and too dangerous" for her. However, the two are seen holding hands in one of the book's last scenes.

The Leaked, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, shows that Remus Lupins death is confirmed on page 743 of the book.

• In the film adaptation of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Lupin's werewolf is portrayed as an anthropomorphic wolf, although the books inform us that there are only minor superficial differences between the appearances of a true wolf and a transformed werewolf in the Harry Potter world. The werewolf in the movie appears to have been based on the lycanthropes depicted in Goya's painting "The Witches' Kitchen."
• In the movie, Lupin is shown with a small moustache, though there is no evidence in the books that he has one. He seems to be more cheerful than in the books, and also seems to have a slide projector and a gramophone, which didn't appear in the book. Also, his clothes are not shabby with tears and patches like they are in the book, but rather ordinary and humble. Along with his signature shabbiness, Lupin, in the American editions of the books, has been drawn with almost shoulder-length, greying hair. However, J.K. Rowling has never given a description of the length of Lupin's hair. Also, in the book, Lupin's hair is said to be a light brown colour that is slightly graying. However, in the film, it is portrayed as a sort of red. In addition, in the movie he is depicted with several scars running diagonally across his face to which there is no reference in the books.
• In the film, Lupin has a conversation with Harry about Lily Potter, Harry's mother, which does not appear in the books.
• In the movie, Lupin's nickname is spelled as "Mooney," instead of "Moony," as a reference to special effects supervisor Karl Mooney. In the movie Lupin never explains that he is in fact Moony.
• It was noted in the books that Prongs and Padfoot (James and Sirius), as a stag and a large dog, were able to keep Lupin in check during his transformations; however, Sirius struggled to do so on his own when Lupin transformed in the movie. In the book, Sirius had little problem containing Lupin.
• In the book, Lupin is one of the Order members that rescues Harry. However, in the movie, he is first seen at Grimuald Place talking with Sirius Black.

This character's name is a clear example of Rowling's use of descriptive names for her characters, settings and other story elements. His first name, "Remus," is an allusion to Romulus and Remus,^[2] the legendary twin founders of Rome, who as infants were cared for by a she-wolf.

His last name, "Lupin," recalls the English word "lupine" (meaning "characteristic of or relating to wolves"), which in turn is derived from Latin lupus ("wolf"). In the folklore of northern France, lupin is also the term used to refer to a type of werewolf, noted for its shyness (in contrast to the more aggressive and violent loup-garou). "Lupin" is also the name of a genus of flowering plant.

His middle name, John, means "God is gracious."

Rowling has stated that Professor Lupin is the kind of teacher she wishes she had had. He is good-natured, kind, and able to extract the best in everyone (for instance, spotting Neville Longbottom's lack of confidence and helping him to overcome it by teaching him how to defeat the boggart). The fact that he's a werewolf and needs to take a potion to avoid hurting people for the rest of his life makes him a symbol of the consequences of prejudice and segregation, as well as society's often negative reaction to the ill and the disabled.^{[citation needed]}

• Lupin's entry at the Harry Potter Lexicon
• Lupin's entry in Mugglenet's Harry Potter Encyclopedia
• Remus-Lupin.net
• Remus Lupin on Harry Potter Wiki, an external wiki