Unpopular Opinion: Popular Characters We don't Like
Quote from Heatherlly on July 31, 2023, 1:34 pmQuote from SanctuaryAngel on July 31, 2023, 11:24 amSide note, as someone in the medical field, I don't agree with the medical analogies like Lupin = AIDS. There is no comparison. Two very different conditions, in two very different worlds. Both are terrible in their own way, but still not enough to connect them both.
I'm old enough to remember the absolute worst of the AIDS epidemic, and JKR is more than a decade older than me. She should know better than to make that comparison, but who knows? Maybe she was way more sheltered from it than I was.
I think a lot of questions were asked during her question and answer sessions and she didn't always think thoroughly about them. The way I see it the internet for the public was at its earlier stages. I don't think she thought that most of these Q&A would live on like they do.
Quote from Dark Angel on August 1, 2023, 12:52 amQuote from JaySM on July 31, 2023, 10:57 pmA character I absolutely hate is Mundungus Fletcher. He reminds me too much of someone I know in reality so I think I'm biased.
Both Umbridge and Petunia are close second. Harry's power struggle with Umbridge felt too real to me and when she dished out her "punishments" I felt like lashing out on Harry's behalf. With Petunia it was attempting to hit Harry with a frying pan and locking him up in the cupboard. It's not anime. That stuff hurts. Harry didn't seemed to pleased by it either so I'm just going to dislike her based on how she reacts to him.
Rereading the books, reminds me how strongly I dislike James Potter and Sirius Black. At least the villains are transparent. I can appreciate honesty.
Unpopular opinion but I dislike Peeves. I don't know why but I find him really annoying.
Well, Umbridge is definitely a character that is hated even more than Voldemort because she represents a real evil, she's not a cartoonish villain.
With Petunia, I remember considered the frying pan thing slap-stick comedy like the one presented in Tom & Jerry 😭 Granted, I was 8 or 9 years old maybe when I attempted to read the first book bit later I understood that she was serious 😱
I find Mundungus Fletcher and Peeves annoying.
With Petunia, I remember considered the frying pan thing slap-stick comedy like the one presented in Tom & Jerry 😭 Granted, I was 8 or 9 years old maybe when I attempted to read the first book bit later I understood that she was serious 😱
I can see that. For me the first two books are more like children's books that are over the top and like slap-stick comedy and the others that follow more like young adult or junior or whatever they are calling them these days. I personally think of them as Harry might be exaggerating on some things since he is a very young child and the books are mostly told through his point of view. I think we are shown in the books how Harry can let his imagination get the best of him. And this is just me. I am not saying everyone else should read them like this.
Quote from Naaga on August 1, 2023, 4:10 amQuote from Salvyus on August 1, 2023, 3:32 amWeird opinion: For some reason I'm convinced that certain characters were meant to be good and JKR just failed to present them as such by making them do things that look good through Harry's eyes, not bothering to see if they were the right thing to do objectively. So I see their flaws as JKR's mistakes, not their own lol
I feel it's not failure of JKR to present those characters that way, rather she actually created flawed characters because no human being is perfect and I like it that way. People like Hagrid, Weasley twins, McGonagall, Molly etc. were not meant to be paragons of all good and well in the world, Harry liked them because they treated him well, that's the reason.
Whole books were about Harry's POV and he liked those characters who were nice to him and demonised those he hated. We often saw awful acts of beloved characters but since Harry liked them, he didn't think much about it. Contrasting his narration of every bad thing of characters he hated which included comments on their behaviour, uglifying their features and thinking worse of them, it was Harry's opinion readers were being fed and readers have to objectively analyse good and bad based on their own perception.
I confess I didn't hate characters much after reading the books, my hate actually started after interaction with fandom especially Snaters. They gave free pass to worst behaviour of other characters while hating or even inventing worse headcanons about Snape like nazi, incel, obsessed, creep, child abuser etc, which led to my hate for seemingly good characters. I'm not denying they were good, I'm denying that they were really and perfectly good.
Great comment. I agree with what you wrote. I do think JKR did a great job at writing characters. None of them are perfect,even Harry. So when someone is described as ugly, I believe that it is Harry's opinion and it depends if he likes them or not. I can't always trust him. I for one do not think that Pansy Parkinson looks like a pug dog. I think she just has a chata nose.
