Why Harry Potter Fans Are Divided Over Kreacher's Actions

The "Harry Potter" movies and the entire Wizarding World that has blossomed from it, including the "Fantastic Beasts" series, feature plenty of amazing creatures. In the very first film, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," we meet quite a number of them. There's a unicorn, a centaur, a troll, and more. A select few create bonds with the main characters, whether that's Harry (Daniel Radcliffe), Ron (Rupert Grint), and Hermione (Emma Watson); or Newt (Eddie Redmayne), Jacob (Dan Folger), and Tina (Katherine Waterston). In the "Fantastic Beasts" films, Pickett the Bowtruckle is Newt Scamander's helper and right-hand man along with Teddy the Niffler. This isn't too surprising given that Newt is a magizoologist, so having magical creatures around is kind of in the job description.

For Harry, magical creatures tend to gravitate toward him usually based on the circumstances involving his history with Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes). This leads him to encounter house-elves pretty early on — most notably Dobby (Toby Jones). Of course, all "Harry Potter" fans know that Harry famously frees Dobby. In return, Dobby devotes himself to helping Harry, even at the cost of his own life.

Fans also discover that not all house-elves are so willing, especially given the way that they are treated. Kreacher, in particular, the Black family house-elf that we meet in "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," is hasty and rude toward Sirius (Gary Oldman) and Harry. However, Kreacher's history is decidedly complicated, and some fans remain divided over his actions in the series.

According to a recent thread on Reddit, some fans of "Harry Potter" believe that Kreacher's actions were well-founded in the books and movies. In one post, fans argued that Kreacher may have been within his rights to lie. "Here's a scorching hot take for you: Kreacher was entirely within his rights to lie to Harry about Sirius' whereabouts leading to his death," u/1yaeK wrote. "Now I absolutely love Sirius, but from Kreacher's perspective, being a slave and being mistreated by Sirius, I don't think he did anything wrong."

In response, another Reddit user admitted that they agreed, but still quibbled with how Kreacher lashed out against Harry's godfather. In their comment, u/Mobile-Entertainer60 argued that Kreacher betraying Sirius is fair but his lying to Harry isn't. "I think Kreacher betraying Sirius by going to the Malfoys is entirely justifiable. Sirius treats him badly and wanting revenge is understandable," they wrote. "Kreacher betraying Harry, presumably to Harry's death (some speculation on how much Kreacher knew about the [Ministry of Magic] plot, certainly enough that when Harry asks for Sirius he knows to lie) is much less morally defensible."

Indeed, house-elves are basically slaves to wealthy magical families. Fans repeatedly witness their mistreatment at the hands of both the Malfoys and even Sirius. According to Harry Potter Fandom, in the books, Hermione advocates for house-elves, launching an organization called the Society for the Promotion of Elfish Welfare. Although Kreacher's actions in betraying Sirius are not legally admissible, would it be entirely invalid for Kreacher to want to defend himself against those who enslaved him?