Remus Lupin

Full name: Remus John Lupin
Nickname: "Moony," given to him by his friends James "Prongs" Potter, Sirius "Padfoot" Black, and Peter "Wormtail" Pettigrew
Birthdate: March 10 (Exact year unknown)
Ancestry: halfblood (one Muggle parent or grandparent)
Appearence: greying, light-brown hair, shabby, patched clothing, often looks tired and sickly

Childhood and Early Life

Remus Lupin has been a werewolf since he was a small boy, when he was bitten by the werewolf Fenrir Greyback after Remus's father offended Greyback in some way.

Unlike most werewolves, he was permitted to attend Hogwarts by Albus Dumbledore, who arranged for him to be safely shut away in the Shrieking Shack during his transformations.

At Hogwarts he entered into the most significant relationships of his life: his friendship with James Potter, Sirius Black, and Peter Pettigrew. The four of them were famous pranksters known collectively as the Marauders. After they discovered Remus's lycanthropy in their second year, the other three boys spent years studying to master the difficult and dangerous animagus transformation, which would allow them to take on the forms of animals and keep Remus company on full moons. The transformation was eventually successful and they were not only able to keep him company, they were also able to make the painful and difficult transformation easier for him.

Thanks to their adventures on full moon nights, the four friends eventually created the document known as the Marauders' Map, which was later passed on to James's son Harry.

Unfortunately, the four friends graduated directly into a war and in the atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia created by Voldemort and his Death Eaters, Sirius Black, and perhaps James and Lily Potter, came to suspect Remus of being a traitor, a mistake that cost James and Lily their lives and resulted in Sirius's incarceration in the dreadful Wizarding prison of Azkaban as their murderer.

Nothing is known of what happened to Remus between the time of the Potters' deaths and Sirius's imprisonment and the day James's son Harry and his friends Ron and Hermione find him sleeping on the train to Hogwarts at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

"I was also playing with that [intolerance] when I created Professor Lupin, who has a condition which is contagious, of course, and so people are very frightened of him; and I really like Professor Lupin as a character because he's someone that also has a failing, because although he is a wonderful teacher (one I myself would have liked to have had as a teacher) and a wonderful man, he does like to be liked and that's where he slips up. He's been disliked so often that he's always so pleased to have friends, so he cuts them an awful lot of slack." (interview, 2003)

Remus is up there with Atticus Finch in the category of fictional characters I would name my children after if I didn't know they would hate me for inflicting names like "Atticus" and "Remus" on them.

I love Remus's intelligence, his sarcasm, his innate kindness and compassion towards Harry, Neville, and others, and his sheer coolness - shooting chewing gum up Peeves's nose, setting up an obstacle course for the final instead of a written exam, etc.

At the same time, he is one of the series's most complex and therefore fascinating characters. Lupin definitely has a dark side, evident in his black sense of humor, his skill at manipulation, the cold-bloodedness he exhibits in the Shrieking Shack scene at the end of Prisoner of Azkaban. He employs the same considerable "people skills" he uses to put Neville and others at ease to needle Snape at virtually every opportunity, without once cracking his pleasant facade. The more I think about it, really, the more I understand why James and Sirius might have doubted his loyalty, and I'm sure it's a very lucky thing for everyone that he turned out not to be the traitor!

Because I am a sucker for a really good tear-jerker, I have to admit that the tragedy of his life also appeals strongly to me: the fun and high spirits of his years as a Marauder contrasted with the betrayal, loss, sadness, and death that followed. Remus has had a difficult and tragic life, but he's risen above it to become a basically good and kind man and a tower of inner strength.

"I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know..." (p.68,PoA)

"Well - let's drink to a Gryffindor victory against Ravenclaw! Not that I'm supposed to take sides, as a teacher..." (p.182,PoA)

"Mr Moony presents his compliments to Professor Snape, and begs him to keep his abnormally large nose out of other people's business." (p.211,PoA)

"Your parents gave their lives to keep you alive, Harry. A poor way to repay them - gambling their sacrifice for a bag of magic tricks." (p.213,PoA)

"Do you think I could have a look at that rat?" (p.255,PoA)

"You should have realized if Voldemort didn't kill you, we would. Good-bye, Peter." (chap. 19, PoA)

"Did you like question ten Moony?" asked Sirius as they emerged into the entrance hall.
"Loved it," said Lupin briskly. "'Give the five signs that identify the werewolf.' Excellent question."
"D' you think you managed to get all the signs?" said James in tones of mock concern.
"Think I did," said Lupin seriously. "One: He's sitting on my chair. Two: He's wearing my clothes. Three: His name's Remus Lupin..." (chap. 28, OotP)

"There's nothing you can do, Harry ... nothing .... He's gone." (chap. 35, OotP)

Cultures around the world have legends of people who can transform into wolves, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes not.

In the world of Harry Potter, the transformation is definitely involuntary. Werewolves, also known as lycanthropes, come into being when they are bitten by another werewolf. After that, the infected person is a normal human being most of the time, but on the night of the full moon, he or she takes on the form of a wolf. The transformation is extremely painful to undergo and may take several days or longer to recover from.

In wolf form, werewolves are almost indistinguishable from normal wolves. Unlike normal wolves, however, they deliberately seek out human prey to kill or infect (they are harmless to animals) and, when in their transformed state, are considered one of the most dangerous creatures in the Wizarding World.

Because of this, werewolves are feared and treated with a great deal of prejudice by the rest of the Wizarding World. Known werewolves are often shunned and prevented from attending school or finding good jobs.

Luckily, it is possible to manage the condition with the aid of a recently developed potion, called the Wolfsbane Potion, that allows the werewolf to keep his or her human mind during the transformation, and thus to be safe for other humans. Unfortunately, the Wolfsbane Potion is extremely difficult to make and therefore expensive and hard to find, so many werewolves do not have access to it.

There is no cure.

In the films, Remus is played by David Thewlis, a British actor best known for his roles in fantasy and period films. His filmography includes roles in Black Beauty, Total Eclipse, Restoration, Dragonheart, Seven Years in Tibet, The Big Lebowski, Gangster No. 1, Kingdom of Heaven, and The Omen. He has lived with actress Anna Friel since 2001 and they have a daughter, born in 2005.

In the upcoming film Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the role of teenage Remus Lupin will be played by James Utechin.

Remus Lupin is one of the most popular characters in the Harry Potter series and his popularity is reflected in the vast quantity of fanfiction and meta (essays and other discussions) written about him.

Many of these fanfics focus on romantic pairings. The two most popular "ships" for Remus Lupin are Remus Lupin/Nymphadora Tonks, which became "canon" at the end of Harry Potter and the Halfblood Prince, and the "slash" (male/male or female/female) ship of Remus Lupin/Sirius Black. Some of the other common ships for Remus include Remus Lupin/Lily Evans (usually set before her relationship with James Potter), Remus Lupin/Hermione Granger (after she has come of age), Remus Lupin/Severus Snape, and Remus Lupin/Regulus Black.

A smaller percentage of fanfictions are "gen," that is, containing little or no romance. Many of these fics focus on the friendship between Remus, Sirius, James, and Peter (known collectively as MWPP in the fandom) as teenagers, or on the period known as the "Lost Years," after James and Lily's murder and Sirius's incarceration and before Harry, Ron, and Hermione find Remus sleeping on the train at the beginning of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.

This lens is fan-made and is not affiliated in any way with J.K. Rowling, David Thewlis, or any of various publishing and production companies. All proceeds go to Room to Read.