Discussion AlternativeCharacterInterpretation / HarryPotter

• Many also question if Harry actually is a good friend. Some have argued that Harry is a Hollywood Nerd who is fundamentally a jock, who likes sports and girls, coasts off Hermione for his homework yet refuses to listen her or even dismisses her when he wishes to^note For instance in Deathly Hallows, Harry privately concurs with Xenophilis Lovegood that Hermione is "narrow-minded" and while he agrees later that Hermione was right about the Hallows he does not apologize to her and moreover has severe Moral Myopia when it comes to class and school discipline (i.e. his insensitivity to Ron, and his plagiarism of the Prince's notebook in Book 6, poor sportsmanship). Such fans also raise eyebrows to Harry/Hermione Shipping Goggles since Harry in the books does not really come across as a very good friend to her^note (taking Ron's side in Book 3, he got mad at her for reporting the Firebolt anomously sent to him to McGonagall despite that it was a big red flag (To be fair, Hagrid did call him out for that), and generally getting very morose and depressed whenever he and Ron fight, but taking Hermione for granted and moreover not showing the slightest remorse or consideration about how his use of the Prince Textbook is unfairly giving him an advantage over Hermione's labour in class), while also criticizing him for Gaslighting Ron into the Sidekick Glass Ceiling^note Like after becoming Captain in Book 6, he doesn't defend Ron despite him more or less winning the Quidditch Cup the previous year, while Harry sat out of the final for his poor sportsmanship and then resorting to a cheap trick to make Ron feel like he won but still remain insecure, while Ron once again served on the winning team of the Quidditch tournament when he got himself suspended again.

I know Alternate Character Interpretation are fines but this really feel like pulling a Ron the Death Eater by warping things or taking them out of proportion. Harry is a bad friend because he happened to disagree with Hermione a few times in the series and because he doesn't play favorite with Ron as captain of the team?

Edited by Silverblade2

"Arthur and Molly Weasley: Are they really the Good Parents everyone makes them out to be? One theory suggests that they're selfish and wanted to make life as hard for their children as theirs was, or at least they're irresponsible considering how many children they have. These theorists point to the fact that Arthur kept a menial job at the Ministry because he liked it so much, even though he could have been paid more elsewhere. (Then in Goblet of Fire it's suggested that he's being kept down there for liking Muggles too much.) They also look at the Unfortunate Implications of Molly apparently wanting a daughter so badly that she kept having children until she got one, which made the family bigger than it needed to be (and also left Ron as The Unfavorite)."

I personally don't believe the theories that Molly and Arthur are selfish people due to the boggart scene in Order Of The Phoenix.

• Most of the fandom blames Snape for the ruined friendship between him and Lily but some people have pointed out that neither were good friends to each other. Snape became a Death Eater whereas Lily knew he had been the victim of extreme bullying from James's hands, but did not do anything to stop it. She broke off her friendship with Snape after he fell to the dark side but never seemed that bothered by the fact that James had been a major factor in ruining Snape's life, and she later married him.

Have these guys read the book? Lily DID try to stop James from bullying Severus in the very first scene when she appears as a teenager. She tried to pull him out of death-eating as well, we see it in Snape's memories in Deathly Hallows, when she called him out of hanging out with guys who are doing worse than James, while Snape said it was just a joke. And as far as i remember Snape and James were both at each other's throats, but Snape is the only one whose perspective we see, so James being " a major factor in ruining Snape's life" seems like an exageration.

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