• MagisterSinister [he/him,comrade/them]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Which is fitting, given that he also casually dismisses Hermione wanting to end chattel slavery, acts like a total asshole to all the girls he dates and immmediately starts to bully Draco when he wants to become his friend, but that's how the character acts when you do a close reading, not how he was most likely intended. He's supposed to be super altruistic, always likeable best friend Wizard Jesus. I don't think making him a sadist jerk with avoidance issues was a conscious effort on Rowling's part, but something unconscious that was completely overlooked by both Rowling and the overwhelming majority of the readers. Because while Harry acts like that, he isn't coded like that at all. And it's not just how he's coded, he is explicitly referred to as a morally superior person within the text itself, it's just that Rowling really struggles to write a morally superior character.

      • Orannis62 [ze/hir]
        ·
        4 years ago

        immmediately starts to bully Draco when he wants to become his friend

        It's been a real long time since I've read the books and I have no real desire to revisit them, but I don't remember this happening at all and now I'm confused

        • richietozier4 [he/him]
          ·
          4 years ago

          yeah, i mean in his introduction Draco called Hagrid a half breed and was more interested whether Harry's parents were "the good types" than the fact that they were dead and he was an orphan

            • NotARobot [she/her]
              ·
              edit-2
              4 years ago

              The whole house system was kind of dumb and didn't make much sense the way she made it. Like everyone is basically placed into one of 4 categories: smart people, brave people, nazis, and everyone else

      • Cromalin [she/her]
        ·
        edit-2
        4 years ago

        The shriekcast is discussing this, and it's pretty great