History Characters / HarryPotterAndTheMethodsOfRationality

* AdaptationalBadass: Quirrell goes from the one-note, incompetent, card-carrying, borderline comical villain of whose background we know virtually nothing in ''The Philosopher's Stone'' to an extremely complex, supremely intelligent, mind blowingly dangerous ''person'' (because he's so complicated, it's hard to call him a full "antagonist"). [[spoiler: Naturally, this also applies to Voldemort, who is less of an AxCrazy genocidal maniac DrunkOnTheDarkSide and much more a TooCleverByHalf ManipulativeBastard ''par excellence''.]]

* VillainousBreakdown: He has a minor one after he realizes [[spoiler:how affected Harry is by Hermione's death right after hearing a prophecy saying Harry would end the world.]] He becomes obsessive and paranoid, to the point of ranting out a stream-of-consciousness version of his planning process in front of Professor [=McGonagall=] on the off chance she may be able to help him.

* TooCleverByHalf: A quintessential example. Harry is extremely clever and capable, even by adult standards, but he still screws up multiple times due to overestimating himself and refusing to trust more experienced wizards with serious matters.

* SaveTheVillain: He does that to [[spoiler:Lord Voldemort]] of all people, partially because of his belief that nobody should die if it's not necessary, but he also has purely pragmatic reasons to do so, such as saving his enemy's magical knowledge for further use.

* GoodCounterpart: He is a one to Voldemort, even more so than in canon. [[spoiler:Instead of simply having a part of Voldemort's soul in him, Harry ''is'' Voldemort. He has the basic personality and intelligence of Tom Riddle, but with the addition of the scientific education and an 'impulse to care' taught to him by his parents. Dumbledore even calls Harry "good Voldemort" on one occasion.]]

* AntiAntiChrist: [[spoiler: Numerous prophecies spoke of him destroying the world. Harry has no intention of doing so... unless "destroying the world" means "building a better world", which he is all for.]]

* DarkMagicalGirl: Parodied. She imagines herself to be this and plays up the role after [[spoiler:staging a fake dark ritual and "sacrificing her soul" to Harry Potter]].

* DistressedDamsel: Though usually very capable, she finds herself unable to act when [[spoiler:held on trial by the Wizengamot]].

* HurtingHero: Strongly implied by his autobiography, in which he laments not having any authority to guide him, as well as by his inability to cast the Patronus Charm.

* AuthorityEqualsAsskicking: Mildly deconstructed as Draco points out the disadvantages of being both the commander and the most powerful wizard: he needs to exhaust himself casting the powerful spells and risk himself in combat when he should be focusing on command.

* ImprobableAge: Let's just get it out there: there is no plausible way an eleven year old child, even a genius level one with training from an esteemed physics professor, would be able to successfully quote and defend as many high level scientific principles as Harry does throughout the story in his quest to reconcile the principles of magic with the natural laws of the universe. [[TropesAreTools Then again]], if he couldn't, [[AnthropicPrinciple there wouldn't be a story at all]].

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: According to Quirrell, Perenelle is an evil person who killed her lover for power, created the 'Nicolas' persona as a deception and manipulated the wizarding world for centuries. Most people, including [[BigGood Dumbledore]], are unaware of the truth and see the Flamels as good people who keep immortality for themselves out of benevolence.

* StarterVillain: [[spoiler:What Dumbledore intended him to be for Harry in his quest to "destroy the world".]]

* WeaponOfChoice: [[spoiler:[[OneHitKill Avada Kedavra!]]]]

* GoodCounterpart: He is a one to Voldemort, even moreso than in canon. [[spoiler:Instead of simply having a part of Voldemort's soul in him, Harry ''is'' Voldemort. He has the basic personality and intelligence of Tom Riddle, but with the addition of the scientific education and an 'impulse to care' taught to him by his parents. Dumbledore even calls Harry "good Voldemort" on one occasion.]]

* HiddenDepths: Both of them are far more intelligent and sophisticated than they appear at first glance. They just enjoy playing the DumbMuscle role because it's more appropriate for the position of being Draco's lackeys.

* DoubleReverseQuadrupleAgent: [[spoiler:''[[UpToEleven Quintuple]]'', even. In a battle between only three armies.]]

* LethalJokeCharacter: Intentionally invoked both by themselves and Quirrell. On their part it's by embracing a TastesLikeDiabetes persona to make their opponents underestimate them, most dramatically in the first battle. On Quirrell's side he puts Hermione in charge, even though he and the other captains agree she has no chance... and then ''also'' puts every one of their suggestions for a third captain under her control, knowing that she would be smart enough to call on their tactical abilities to supplement her own.

* TastesLikeDiabetes: [[InvokedTrope Intentionally]]. As noted above, their general image as an army is a group of super-nice, goody two-shoes who have a cheery name and their insignia is a smiley face.

* GracefulLoser: Unlike Hermione, he doesn't mind being Harry's inferior and doesn't see losing to him as a particularly big deal.

%%* NinetiesAntiHero: As [[spoiler:Monroe]] his goal was to defeat [[spoiler:himself, or rather his own personal parody of a villain]] in battle to become a hero to the wizarding world, but then it turned out that no one supported him in doing so, and he grew disgusted with how cowardly his fellow wizards were to refuse to stand up for themselves.

* BeingGoodSucks: He firmly believes in this, stating that so called 'heroes' are just slaves who will never truly rise above the people they sacrifice themselves for. [[spoiler:He himself has never felt any enjoynment from being a hero back when he was playing the part.]]

** In his big Christmas speech, his argument for authoritarianism runs on the assumption that the world isn't running that way already due to sheer inertia and stupidity. He not only offers no arguments against freedom and equality as concepts, but seems completely unaware that anyone is even notionally in favor of them much less in any serious way.
* EvilCounterpart: [[spoiler:To Harry, by the virtue of two of them being essentially the same person.]]

* StarterVillain: [[spoiler:What Dumbledore intended him to be for Harry in his quest to "destroy the world"]]

* TooCleverByHalf: When he thinks he has people or a puzzle figured out, he will refuse to update his opinions until forced to do so. All of his major setbacks are results of systematically out-thinking himself. It eventually [[spoiler:leads to his defeat. He fixes the main mistake his canon version made by manufacturing many more horcruxes and hiding them better, but he takes absolutely no precautions towards somebody defeating him non-lethally. (Harry thinks this is part of his insanity.)]]

* GoodCannotComprehendEvil: While the story mostly espouses [[EvilCannotComprehendGood the opposite trope,]] Harry has some trouble understanding evil people and tendencies. Professor Quirrell's cynicism in particular is too 'alien' for him to properly comprehend.