Quote from The Gestalt Prince on November 30, 2022, 5:05 pm

I previously did a breakdown of what I noticed with Lily's character, as she is my favorite female character in the books (all things considered). I thought I would do the same with James, as his presence in the books is equally short. Just as a note before I start, I hate James Potter; however, I'm going to be as fair as I can, given my biases.

1. Pre-Hogwarts
   1. James was born to Fleamont and Euphemia Potter, a relatively old couple who were desperate to have a baby. After James was born, he was pampered and given everything he wanted. A note on Fleamont:
      1. Fleamont was known to have been teased in school for his name, which was responsible for his reputation with a wand. His combative nature may have been passed down to his son by telling the latter not to let others walk over him. For better or worse, James seems to have this same mindset, as we see later.
2. The Hogwarts Express (1971)
   1. James comments on what Severus says about Slytherin, saying that it's better to leave Hogwarts than be in Slytherin. He has a clear prejudice against the house, and he shows active disdain for anyone who thinks positively of it; granted, Slytherin has a bit of a reputation, but the point stands.
   2. When Sirius says his whole family is in Slytherin, James is confused, as he thought Sirius was fine. Another point toward prejudice against Slytherins.
   3. When James says he wants to be in Gryffindor, and Severus makes a small sound of disapproval, the former immediately becomes hostile; this is in contrast to the previous show of disdain, where James insults Slytherin and Severus doesn't engage. James shows signs of wanting to escalate the situation with Severus, and he feels validated when Sirius launches insults to attack Severus as a person.
   4. When Lily and Severus leave, either Sirius or James trip Severus and call him 'Snivellus'. There are a few ways to interpret the above:
      1. If James tripped and insulted Severus, then he is not only willing to bully Severus physically, but he's also willing to insult Severus in the same way his own father was insulted.
      2. If James tripped Severus but didn't insult him, then he is willing to bully Severus physically, but he's not willing to name-call, possibly due to his father's influence.
      3. If Sirius tripped and insulted Severus, then James is simply an accessory to Sirius's behavior at this moment in time. If that is the case, then Sirius may have influenced James into becoming more of a bully.
      4. If Sirius tripped Severus but didn't insult him, then James is willing to do to Severus what Fleamont's bullies (or 'bullies') did to him, but he's not willing to become violent.
3. The Sorting (1971)
   1. James is a Gryffindor. I don't really have to elaborate more on this point.
4. The Marauders' Map (1975 - 1976)
   1. The Marauders' Map was created in James's fifth year for no specific reason other than to see where everyone else was. The best interpretation is that James and others wanted to keep an eye out for professors, staff, and prefects; the worst interpretation is that James and others used the Map to spy on specific people (Severus).
5. The Werewolf Incident (1975)
   1. The short version from James's perspective is that he finds out about Sirius's "prank", he saves Severus, Dumbledore swears Severus to secrecy, Severus now owes his life to James, and rumors spread that James saved Severus. There are a few things:
      1. The motive behind saving Severus isn't known, but we can infer that James doesn't want Severus to be killed. So, either:
         1. James was saving Sirius and Remus from being punished for potentially killing Severus.
         2. James draws the line at life-threatening pranks.
         3. James doesn't want to lose his favorite target.
      2. We don't know if James and Sirius were sworn to the same secrecy, and we don't know if Dumbledore knew of their knowledge of Remus's condition. So, either:
         1. James and Sirius were sworn to secrecy, but one or both told the story anyway.
            1. If it was Sirius, then James is innocent (for this specific thing).
            2. If it was James, then James doesn't care about keeping his word.
         2. James and Sirius weren't sworn to secrecy. This makes Dumbledore complicit in James's entitled behavior.
      3. It's implied, but not directly stated, that the Shack wasn't secure. I've talked about this on another post, but I'll reiterate it here.
         1. If the Shack wasn't secure at this point in time, then the Marauders are complicit in endangering the staff and students of Hogwarts, as well as the people of Hogsmeade.
         2. If the Shack was secure, then James didn't save Severus, Severus owes him nothing, and James/Sirius is lying about James saving Severus.
6. Animagi (1975/6 -)
   1. We know that James is willing to risk his wellbeing to become an Animagus, so that he can safely spend time with Remus.
   2. He's also willing to risk the safety and wellbeing of an entire village and school so that Remus doesn't injure himself in the Shack, as well as Remus's own safety, in the form of running around outside. According to Sirius and Remus, there were "close calls", and no mention of this behavior stopping.
      1. On the part of risking Remus's safety: if Remus is caught, he will be punished, full-stop. He's a werewolf, freely roaming around in wolf form. The Marauders could go to Azkaban, and Remus could be "put down".
7. Snape's Worst Memory (1976)
   1. James fancies Lily, enough to write their initials together on his exam paper.
   2. He responds to Peter's struggle in the exam with impatience, and says out loud that he runs around with a werewolf once a month.
   3. He is a thief, and he's willing to show off his stolen goods (the Snitch) as well as his hand speed for attention. When Sirius tells him to stop showing off, Harry gets the impression that Sirius is the only one who can tell James what to do.
   4. He draws Sirius's attention to Severus, inciting the following events.
   5. James insults Severus before disarming and restraining him. We know that at this point, James is not only willing to instigate the bullying with name-calling, but also physically assaulting his targets. One thing we don't know is if his wand was out before Severus's.
      1. If James had his wand out, then he approached Severus with every intent to cause harm.
      2. If James didn't have his wand out, then this shows how fast he is compared to Severus; he could see this as a sort of contest to see who's faster.
   6. James takes the time to glance over to where Lily is, while in the process of bullying her friend. We don't know the relationship between Lily and Severus at this point (I address this in my post on Lily), but the fact remains that James wants to see what she's doing.
   7. James is willing to choke his victims with chemicals. Some people equate this to waterboarding, but waterboarding is purely psychological (with proper technique). The Scouring Charm used on Severus fills his mouth with soap from the inside. James could have easily choked Severus to death here by restricting his airways with cleaning chemicals.
   8. When Lily confronts him, he tries to make himself more macho via deepening his voice. He also gives the excuse that Severus "exists"; therefore, he is to be bullied. He is also notably distracted from his attention on Severus.
   9. He is willing to hold Severus hostage (in terms of bullying him) until Lily goes out with him, promising to not bully Severus if she goes out with him. We'll come back to this point.
   10. He is willing to expose Severus's pants to the crowd of people watching, and he is amused by it.
   11. When told to let Severus down, James drops him violently.
   12. It isn't until Lily draws her wand on James that he becomes more wary, and he says earnestly that he doesn't want to hex her. After being told to let Severus go, he complies.
   13. He is violently outraged when Severus calls Lily a Mudblood. And when Lily rejects his outrage, James says he would never call her a Mudblood. He draws the line at "race-charged" words but is more than willing to cause bodily harm to others because he can; Lily calls him out for hexing people in the corridors for fun.
   14. When Lily leaves Severus behind, James continues bullying the latter, and it's heavily implied that he exposes Severus in front of the crowd.
8. The Motorbike Scene (1977/8)
   1. Rowling wrote a short prequel to the Harry Potter books in the form of James and Sirius fleeing from both Muggle police and Death Eaters on Sirius's flying motorbike. James or Sirius levitates the Muggle cop car in front of the Death Eaters, so that the two groups can crash into one another. Dear God:
      1. They broke the Statute of Secrecy.
      2. Either James or Sirius (I don't remember who) deliberately causes a crash. There are two main points here:
         1. Culprit
            1. If Sirius is the culprit, James is an accessory/accomplice to reckless endangerment and potentially depraved-heart murder.
            2. If James is the culprit... then he has no regard for the safety of Muggles.
         2. Aftermath: I haven't heard anyone talk about this. What goes up must come down, and as the car went up, it would have to come down again. There are some possible outcomes to this crash.
            1. Everyone is inexplicably fine, and there are magically no consequences.
            2. One or more parties are severely injured from the crash, with potential deaths.
            3. The Death Eaters, angry at losing James and Sirius, take their frustrations out on the Muggle policemen, assuming the latter group survived the crash.
9. Lily (1977 -1981)
   1. We know that James and Lily started dating in seventh year, but before the dinner date with Petunia and Vernon, which would have happened prior to the latter couple moving into 4 Privet Drive at the end of 1977. Whatever he did was enough, in Lily's eyes, to earn her approval.
      1. During said date, James escalates the hostility between him and Vernon by bragging about his wealth, causing Vernon and Petunia to leave and Lily to cry. Granted, Vernon is just as guilty, but this is about James.
   2. We are told by Sirius and Remus that James stopped randomly hexing students for fun, and that he deflated his ego a bit. We're also told that whatever was going on between him and Severus was largely unknown by Lily, and yet Sirius and Remus seemed to know about it. There are a few things:
      1. James and Severus still fought, and Lily didn't know about it. In seventh year, James was Head Boy, and Lily was Head Girl. They are responsible for maintaining order among the student body. Any student who attacks a prefect is someone to keep an eye out for. The fact that Lily doesn't seem to know about this, when it is both James's and Remus's job to punish such behavior and report it to fellow prefects and members of staff, is damning evidence. Either:
         1. Severus was the aggressor, and James neglected his duties and lied to Lily for no reason.
         2. James was the aggressor, and he abused his status as well as lied to his girlfriend about changing his behavior.
      2. Sirius and Remus are biased in favor of James and against Severus. Sirius despises Severus, and Remus is a known liar. What they say about James and Severus, when there are no other sources to counter them apart from Harry's viewing of SWM, cannot be trusted. And because of this, we cannot trust them when they say that James stopped bullying.
         1. The exception is the part about deflating his ego, as the fact that he lied to Lily shows that he was being cautious about what she knew about.
10. The Marauders (1971 - 1981)
    1. Sirius
       1. From what we see, James listens to Sirius more than other people. It's possible that Sirius influenced James into becoming more of a bully than he might have been, assuming certain things I've mentioned previously.
       2. James trusts Sirius's judgment more than anyone else (including Dumbledore), even if it means distrusting or thinking less of his other friends (Remus and Peter).
       3. James sees Sirius as his source of validation.
    2.  Remus
       1. We know that James found out about Remus's condition sometime in second year; we don't know how close they were as friends prior to this, but James didn't end their friendship because of this condition.
       2. We know that, after Remus was discovered, James, Sirius, and Peter would sneak out to spend time with him before the transformation. We don't know how secure the Shack was during these visits, but I'm going to address that later.
       3. We know that, even after Remus becomes a prefect, James and Sirius continue to bully Severus, even when Remus is present.
       4. We know that James is willing to openly talk about Remus being a werewolf.
       5. With Remus being opposed to James's bad behavior, and the fact that James believes Sirius when the latter believes their old friend to potentially being a spy, we can infer that James isn't close to Remus later on in life.
    3. Peter
       1. From what we see in SWM, James doesn't seem to like Peter as much as his other friends.
11. The Potter Murders
    1. Not much to say other than James is a poor judge of character, as he distrusts Remus in favor of Peter.
    2. In a letter from Lily to Sirius, she notes that James wants to go back out and join the fight instead of being cooped up with Lily and Harry all the time.
    3. He is also willing to charge headfirst at Voldemort without a wand. While he did try to buy time for Lily and Harry, this was the worst way possible. Had he kept his wand on him, he would have maybe lasted longer.

Let me know if I missed anything.