Remus John Lupin

Families

Married

• Spouse: Nymphadora Tonks
• Children:
  • Edward Remus Lupin

Parents

• Family: Married
  • Father: Lyall Lupin
  • Mother: Hope Howell

• Lupin considers it so highly probable that his child will be a werewolf that "if, by some miracle, it is not like me, then it will be better off, a hundred times so, without a father"¹
• The third movie generally shows him in a tweed coat.² The book describes him in robes, not muggle clothing.³
• He seems to have worked as a teacher/tutor even before coming back to Hogwarts.⁴
• He uses tea bags, not loose tea.⁵

Analysis

The overall impression I get is that Remus is familiar with the non-magical world, but that the movie over-emphasises the extent to which the magical world's fashion has kept up with the times. I talk more about that though in the Culture section.

Of more concern here, I think the movie did much to cement the impression of Lupin as not just a bookworm, but as the brains of his group of friends.⁶ As I note as I look at James Potter, this view really does not make sense. Lupin is the one that feels the need to study, whereas James and Sirius (not Lupin or Lily) are the ones that [McGonagall] describes as the cleverest students in the school,⁷ and exceptionally bright.⁸ I do not doubt the man did well in school, but he worked for it, whereas his more intelligent friends found the material easy.

In many ways, this quote adequately says all there is to say:

We got a very good look at his character in Book 3, when he didn’t tell anyone that Sirius was an animagus. In other words, he concealed crucial information about someone he thought was trying to kill Harry, and his reasoning was that he didn’t want to admit to Dumbledore that he’d made some questionable decisions more than a decade earlier. Seriously? Dumbledore being disappointed is a bigger concern than your best friend’s son’s life? That’s messed up. And Lupin just goes downhill from there, until he eventually abandons his pregnant wife. In some ways, I think it’s a good thing that he died. At least he went out a hero. If he’d lived, he probably would have been a deadbeat dad that left Tonks and Teddy when it turned out that married life was a bit tougher than he expected.⁹

The man is, despite his placement in Gryffindor, a coward. He has better reasons for being one than most of us, his disease provides him better justification than most of us ever have, but does not change the reality. Because of a change that occurs a few nights a year, he holds himself aloof from all relationships.¹⁰ Because he cannot face that disease, he (temporarily) abandons his wife. He shows his Gryffindor attributes in going back to her when his face is sufficiently rubbed in the shame, yes. He deserves some credit for that, I maintain however, that the above quote is indeed a fair summation of the man. I believe he would have, given time and stress, again lapsed. He was his fundamental nature to let people down.

Worse, it was not just his wife he abandoned. His rationale is both pathetic and absurd. He states that because he is a warewolf, his child will probably be a warewolf, and will therefore be better off without his/her warewolf father. It would, apparently, be better that the child face the disease without the help from someone who can empathise with the pain of both the disease and the resulting social ostracism. As a werewolf himself, he apparently has nothing of value to offer his child on coping with the affliction. As a being, he is allowing those nights to define the totality of his contribution to the child's life. Like many before him, he has internalised the prejudice against himself, and become his own worst enemy.