...Yeah, you're not going crazy; you're actually reading a thread about the Toad.

I was reading a few fics lately, and I was struck by how their portrayals of Umbridge differed from canon. Some toads turned out to be Death Eaters in disguise, while others were willing to torture Harry in ways worse than the blood quill. THEN, I encountered an interview with Imelda Staunton (great actress. See her in Vera Drake), who said something along the lines of "[Umbridge] believes in the Ministry and perhaps obsessed with the need for control, but isn't the sort to advocate murder so easily, like Bellatrix. I think that she genuinely believes she's helping other people with her sadistic, Knight Templar tendencies. The problem is she thinks she's infallible - and that the Ministry is infallible.".

...So how do you write Umbridge well? Where do you draw the line in her vehemence? What kinds of acts would you make her do?

Hell, what kind of motives would you attribute to her? The need to regulate but not kill "half-breeds" and Muggleborns? Genuine, heartfelt belief that a Big Brother Ministry would improve Wizarding welfare? Or just psychotic sadism, a kindergarten teacher meets Hannibal Lector?

I feel dumb saying this, but canon!Umbridge is hard for me to decipher. What lies behind all that girlishness?


...it'll probably explain this thread's purpose better if I told you that I'm currently writing Umbridge in my fic.

 

To write Umbridge well, the first place to start is not using Umbitch anywhere in the story. Don't use it frequently at least. The only way I can see it is a one-off by Ron trying to show his wit.

 

We have seen that she is a vile woman who hates and tortures children but is willing to act otherwise, and is willing to use the Cruciatus on them, in addition to being actively racist. I would believe she knows her way around the Ministry and is capable of creating circumstances in her favour.

I'd say she is a fan of power and regulation, as long as she's on the favourable side of course.

If you were looking for more specific advise, you'd need to describe the situation she finds herself in in your fic.

 

I think she's be a lot easier to understand if she hadn't tried to Cruciate Harry in book 5. Everything up to that point pointed to what the actress said about her, but to me that showed definite instability, at least.

 

I always thought she was McCarthy-like, with a mix of meglomania and a modicum of magical power.

 

This.

In other words, write her as a politician. Don't make her a dark-lord-in-waiting or write her one dimensionally; give her a politician's single-minded self-assuredness, bureaucratic fanaticism and sadistic megalomania in one neat care package, and make her just as poweful an ally to some as she is an enemy to others.

 

Okay... write her as a politician. But what type of politician? Would she be astute and slippery enough to adapt (or at least pretend to adapt) her more hardcore beliefs if it means advance in the Ministry (i.e. in an Amelia Bones/Millicent Bagnold/insert-non-Fudge administration)? Or is she too unhinged and/or stupid for that?

Some (bad) fanfics seem to depict Umbridge as a frothing, crazy crusader who is as dim as a faulty bulb. But wasn't Umbridge smart enough to be appointed High Inquisitor - and get away with all the crap she put Hogwarts through?

Urgh, I could get rid of her and use a Ministry OC, but those are usually disapproved of.

 

I think that, despite her sadism, she's desperate for people to see her side. Yes, she's willing to use a Blood Quill or the Cruciatus Curse, but I'll bet she'd pull back the minute the targeted person yielded (genuinely or otherwise). She did pull back when Hermione let loose with the crocodile tears, and if we were allowed to see her POV after the detentions with Harry, I could imagine her being genuinely distraught over not getting through to him. Any rational person - especially those familiar with Blood Quills, would have simply said "I'm sorry, I was wrong I'll do better DON'T TORTURE ME!" and I'll bet she would've been satisfied.

However, once back in the Ministry under Voldemort's reign, I think she was beyond redemption at that point.

 

As a politician, I think Umbridge is a demagogue, she use emotion to gain and keep her power. At her core, she is convinced of the superiority of the wizards over everyone else and she will do anything to promote her belief through legal mean; she will use the system not change it or revolt against it because she believe in the Ministry (and will protect it against anyone). She doesn't understand how someone may not share her beliefs; somepeople may call her an extremist.

While her actions are despicable, I think she's, at least, honest in her belief and act in good faith. Since she also appear to be a sadist, her mean to reach her end [legal supremacy of wizards over magical beings and muggle] are very questionable.

 

I'd go with this, except she doesn't seem a sadist so much as a bully. She grew up an ugly girl who played by the rules and learned to use them against her enemies. Once she matured, she saw that compromises in ethics were justified to reach higher in the Ministry, and so long as she stuck by the principles of its rule, she didn't have a problem sleeping at night.

I'd say she's a fanatic bully with some esteem issues that uses the cute little girl affectations to convince herself she's a woman of character, and not a tyrant. Politeness, always. Loyalty, always. Adherence to rules; as the situation requires- don't bend them if you don't have to. Use them as the controls over the less-loyal, less-worthy; as they are meant to be.

 

This sounds pretty plausible. She sounds like someone who would use the rules to get other people in trouble, then turn around and stick her tongue out to them. She'd also be someone who jumped on the bandwagon of hating muggleborns because she needed to find someone lesser than her. I'm not sure if the term bully fits in the classical (schoolyard) sense, but she would bully those around her with whatever power the establishment has blessed her with.

As far as her politic skills go, she's more of a simpering suck-up than a svelte charmer, and it would depend on her superiors how far she'd advance. I wouldn't, however, go too far with the up-sucking, I'd picture her as someone who would bring her opinion forward (slightly modified, if need be) but would agree with her superior if they were more powerful and not agreeable.

Towards her inferiors (in the hierarchy) I don't think she would accept much dissent, expecting obedience and similar opinions.

 

Yes, I'd reckon she would. Like many non-elected persons in positions of power, she'd be very good at not only adapting her environment and political/authoritarian means to get her way, but adapting the way she does it too. I don't think she's an idiot - she may be a bigot, and blinded by various doctrines, but only willfully; she subscribes fully and wholeheartedly to what she believes in and - as would many a politician in the same position - when given the chance to act to the extent of her power and not be answerable for it, she leaps.

@Blaise; once upon a time, maybe, she probably would have been desperate for people to agree with her. Since then, though, with a decent political prefix and having nodding heads wherever she turns, she'd probably have become somewhat more set in her beliefs. The progression from the 'why can't you see you're wrong?' mindset in her case would, I'd argue, be the 'you're wrong - you can't see it, but you are' scenario. The third dimension to this comes in when she goes out of her way to make sure that those people who are wrong are controlled/ignored/regulated accordingly, provided they're too far past redemption. We see her trying to ingratiate herself with some students - those students who are able to see the light - but then use every power she has available to her to make life harder for everyone else. From her higher-ups she no doubt yearns for approval in the most sycophantic way imaginable, but anyone who doesn't outrank her is to be controlled. Approval or accordance from them is unnecessary.

@Wordhammer: nice interpretation, what with the sticking within the rules she's set stuff (until the rules are simply removed in DH), but I'd still go with 'sadist' over 'bully'. Bullying implies stupidity, whereas sadists get a perverse pleasure out of their torments. She enjoys getting her way, but despite however many other routes she could have taken at the end of OotP, her eyes light up at the thought of Crucio'ing Harry. She is like a crusader in that sense - convert please -> you should convert -> I'll trick you into converting -> convert, or die.

 

Hm, I'm starting to see where you guys are coming from. Umbridge seem to be the type of person who regards rules to be of paramount importance. So basically, a sycophant with a sadistic streak, an obsession with politeness/order, and set in her radical beliefs (wizards over "half-breeds", pure/half-bloods over Muggleborns, etc.)

Thank you, guys. Now I can write her without creating a one-dimensional fanatic with low intelligence and a lack of emotional control, as many bad fics too. It's interesting to see that Umbitch has these nuances even in canon though. No wonder Stephen King thought of her as being a better "creation of imagination" than most the Death Eaters.

...unrelated question: are there any ways of getting a beta-reader, and how does beta-ing usually work?

 

Umbridge is Rowlings version of Adolf Eichmann, she is a metaphor for Hannah Arendt's "banality of evil". This is demonstrated by her ability to function inside the Fudge and the Thicknesse administrations, just "following orders" and doing evil without becoming fully conscious of it. Even her role as chief of the Muggle-Born Registration Commission is a hint in this direction, she is the planner and executioner of Voldemorts "final solution" for the "mudblood problem".

 

You can ask around the forums for a beta; many people would be willing to help. You can also post your first chapter or so in WbA and ask for betas then.

The way I understand betaing working is you send your completed draft to your beta once you think it's done, then they make corrections/suggestions and send it back. You can keep doing this if they found some glaring plot issues or something, but generally once is enough. I also see a beta as a person to bounce ideas off of (if you like).

 

I can assure you that JKR didn't put this amount of thought into Umbridge's character.

 

One of my favorite portrayals of Umbridge personally has always been the one seen in A Sense of Duty Imprisons You by Silverbirch.

I think that it fit with her canon portrayal well, going past the "Hurr durr I is evil" characterization seen in many fanfics.

 

Read your rec. A nice one, and proving my point. Umbridge is one of those wheels in the bureaucratic machine that grind anything and everyone to dust without even realizing what they're doing.

 

Umbitch, toad, Bumbledore, Gred and Forge, and using any other nickname is an automatic FAIL. It's not witty, original, or funny; it's just immature and overused.

 

The actress describes Umbridge, as exactly the same way, most Dumbledores are written in Indi!Harry fics.