Love for Obscure Canon Characters, Part One: Phineas Nigellus Black

[mayhap]

I like Phineas Nigellus [Black]. I like him quite a lot. Even though it's not clear if Nigellus is his last name or what.

He's snarky and sarcastic. He wasn't, according to Sirius (a biased source if I ever heard tell of one, makes Harry look downright impartial), particularly popular as a Hogwarts Headmaster, but he seems to have had no entanglements with any Dark Lords. He says, "We Slytherins are brave, yes, but not stupid. For instance, given the choice, we will always choose to save our own necks."

He's a fanon Slytherin in canon. I will cling to him as all the other generations of Slytherins go on having utterly incomprehensible motivations.

Comments

[vlamidala.livejournal.com]

I've always assumed Nigellus was his last name, given that niger is "black" in Latin. (Plus, now that we know some of the Black family history, it makes sense that they would be called that - even if Sirius and Phineas aren't exactly poster children for the Dark Arts.)

[fromastudio]

Phineas Nigellus is so da bomb. ^_^

[mayhap]

Yeah, the idea that a family who were so proud of their heritage went and translated their name at some point, which wouldn't seem to offer them any particular benefit, is kind of ill-thought-out, but I can't think of anything better, so ... *shakes fist at J.K. Rowling*

[vlamidala.livejournal.com]

Er... maybe it's one of those things where a family's surname gets translated without really asking for it to be? Like with immigrants to the US.

...but I don't know why they'd do that within England.

Don't mind me, I'm drunkx0red.

Happy New Year, btw. :D

[mayhap]

Hey, that was remarkably coherent. No alcohol here. Happy New Year! :D