Harry Potter Plotholes: Why Did Sirius Black Forgive Remus Lupin?

How come it doesn’t make sense for Sirius Black to forgive Remus Lupin?

Freya Yuki
4 min readAug 19, 2017

What did Remus Lupin do to Sirius Black? How come the latter shouldn’t have forgiven him? Or is it all right for him to be forgiven?

Remus Lupin and Sirius Black: Who are they?

Remus Lupin and Sirius Black were both first introduced in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, book 3 of the HP series by J.K. Rowling, and they’re supposed to be really good and close friends.

How come Sirius Black shouldn’t have forgiven Remus Lupin for abandoning him and leaving him to rot in Azkaban Prison for crimes he didn’t commit?

Sirius Black is Harry’s godfather and the best friend of James Potter (Harry’s dad) while Remus Lupin is a werewolf and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry during book 3.

What did Remus Lupin do to Sirius Black?

Sirius Black was wrongfully imprisoned for crimes (which included murdering a lot of people) he didn’t commit. Remus Lupin didn’t stand up for him or defend him even though they were supposed to be friends.

Let’s discuss this issue in story format, shall we?

But, first, here’s a question:

“Would you forgive someone who has hurt you?”

“No,” Cyrus firmly said. “But that’s not really the question, not entirely anyway. Someone was just being all nice as usual. The real question is ‘what was the reason why Sirius Black forgave Remus Lupin for betraying him and abandoning him?’ and ‘why was it so easy for Black to forgive Lupin and why did he forgive him so fast?’”

“Cy, stop being mean,” Alfred complained. “And what’s wrong with forgiving someone? What if they’re really sorry? What if they didn’t mean it? What if-”

Do you think it was right for Sirius Black to forgive all those who betrayed him and didn’t even bother to ask him for his side of the story?

Cyrus scowled, eyes darkening in anger. “Really sorry? Didn’t mean it?” He scoffed. “Maybe if we’re talking about something simple, that could be plausible.

“But is that what you want to hear when your life has been ruined, when you’ve lost years of your life being imprisoned in Azkaban for crimes you didn’t commit, when you’ve been tormented by Dementors?”

Alfred frowned. “Uh-”

Cyrus sighed. “Look, I don’t care if he’s a forgiving person, which doesn’t seem all that likely actually, considering how he still loathes Severus Snape even after all these years. But don’t you want to know the reason why he forgave Remus Lupin?

“Did they even talk about this in detail? Moreover, even if Black was inclined to forgive Lupin, would he really do it so fast? Is it so easy to get over being betrayed and hurt by your friends?

Sirius Black doesn’t come across as a forgiving person since he’s still at odds with Severus Snape even after all these years. So, why would it be any different when it comes to Remus Lupin and everyone else who betrayed him? How come he forgave them all so easily?

“Honestly, Lupin’s betrayal should have hurt him the most because they were supposed to be good friends and the werewolf was part of his circle of friends in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

“Remus may not have been his best friend, but he still trusted the guy, didn’t he? Why would it be so easy for anyone to forgive someone who has broken their trust and betrayed them?”

Alfred shook his head, looking confused. “But- they’re friends. Friends should forgive each other, right? I-”

“If someone betrayed you and hurt you badly and practically ruined your life, will you be able to easily forgive that person and be friends with him or her again as if nothing happened?” Cyrus asked.

Your thoughts and opinions

So, what do you think about all this? What can you say about this topic/issue?

Notes:

-1st pic is by Cor-Sa (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

-3rd pic is by Cor-Sa (CC:BY-SA) from deviantArt

-Unfortunately, it looks like Medium doesn’t have a way to embed code, so I can’t paste the code for the poll here. And that’s why I just used a screenshot of the poll instead. The poll can be found on the original post for those who want to vote

-This post was also imported/reposted on Niume, but I’ve deleted it from that site and moved it here on Medium instead. The original post can still be found on Potter Plotholes

Disclosure: “Potter Plotholes is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.” Read more

Originally published on potter-plotholes.tumblr.com.

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Freya Yuki

Writer, blogger, storyteller, theme creator. Writes about many different topics and subjects like books, anime, movies, news, tutorials, guides and more.