Worst Characters in Harry Potter?
James F. Potter
When I read the books this summer, I assumed that we as readers are supposed to recognize James Potter's murder as a kind of poetic justice: James and Sirius treated Peter Pettigrew like crap--and were arrogant enough to assume that Peter would still worship them to the end.
Then I started perusing fandom commentary worshipping the marauders and realized wtf...wow.
...guess my interpretation isn't what JKR had in mind.
Quote from Shell Cottage on September 14, 2026, 8:09 pmJames F. Potter
When I read the books this summer, I assumed that we as readers are supposed to recognize James Potter's murder as a kind of poetic justice: James and Sirius treated Peter Pettigrew like crap--and were arrogant enough to assume that Peter would still worship them to the end.
Then I started perusing fandom commentary worshipping the marauders and realized wtf...wow.
...guess my interpretation isn't what JKR had in mind.
Especially how jkr now hated by many people especially of her view of people she considered lesser,I would say her morality is pretty messy. In the book,it really shows that she is always seeing her hero as the one who is right and if make mistake,It was either they are idiots,rather than them choose to confront their mistake and make amend (f*ck you james potter and sirius black,I never liked you after reading SWM,no matter how you nice to harry potter)
Quote from Shell Cottage on September 14, 2026, 8:09 pmJames F. Potter
When I read the books this summer, I assumed that we as readers are supposed to recognize James Potter's murder as a kind of poetic justice: James and Sirius treated Peter Pettigrew like crap--and were arrogant enough to assume that Peter would still worship them to the end.
Then I started perusing fandom commentary worshipping the marauders and realized wtf...wow.
...guess my interpretation isn't what JKR had in mind.
- Prisoner of Azkaban: July 8, 1999 (UK) / September 8, 1999 (US)
- Goblet of Fire: July 8, 2000 (Worldwide)
- Order of the Phoenix: June 21, 2003
I put the publishing dates because it is my belief that the Mauarders fandom started at Prisoner of Askaban, which I understand. I was happy that Harry had found a connection to his father. I was glad he found Sirius. So that is 4 or 5 years before OotP. Many of were shocked what we learned about James Potter in OotP. JKR told us in interviews that he changed. So we held out until book 7 waiting to see. We got nothing. Granted what we have gotten a fandom that acts like James Potter. I've come across some of them and you really can't discuss theories or headcanons. But I don't want to go on about them, just pointed out that they had time to build up until OotP. Before DH came out they tried to shut down Snape and Lily theories. Someone would mention that they knew each other would be met with hate. I remember someone mentioning about Petunia saying "that awful boy" and many people thought it might be Snape, but in came the comments that it was James and there was no more to discuss. So add another 4 or 5 years and you see that the Mauarders fandom had a big head start.
One person asked:
Right, back to the topic at hand. This is what JKR said about Lily’s feelings for James:
MA: How did they get together? She hated James, from what we’ve seen.
JKR: Did she really? You're a woman, you know what I'm saying. [Laughter.]
And is this topic is covered on this site. Here in this thread:
https://alwayssnape.com/forum/topic/the-extremely-dsyfunctional-friendship-of-snape-and-lily/
Honestly this made me shake my head. I can understand Lily being attracted to James, but I can't understand her not being turned off. What James said to Lily in Snape's worst memory wasn't cute to me it was scary, "Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you". No wonder some people think that James gave Lily a love potion. Also by JKR saying this many people take Lily's short smile as being flattered by James and that is why many fans hate Lily. It isn't that she chose Snape over James. It is that she chose James.
So this is one reason I am not big on author's intent. Also I do think many things need to be considered when using the author's intent when interpreting a text. What is her background? Age? Politics? What is her personal history? Where was the interview taking place? Who was her audience? Which one of her books was she on? I personally think there are so many factors. I was glad when I first heard about the literary analysis of "Death of the Author". It freed me. Especially since one of my books from childhood was Alice in Wonderland.
I
Quote from IFFIN on September 15, 2026, 9:48 amQuote from Shell Cottage on September 14, 2026, 8:09 pmJames F. Potter
When I read the books this summer, I assumed that we as readers are supposed to recognize James Potter's murder as a kind of poetic justice: James and Sirius treated Peter Pettigrew like crap--and were arrogant enough to assume that Peter would still worship them to the end.
Then I started perusing fandom commentary worshipping the marauders and realized wtf...wow.
...guess my interpretation isn't what JKR had in mind.
- Prisoner of Azkaban: July 8, 1999 (UK) / September 8, 1999 (US)
- Goblet of Fire: July 8, 2000 (Worldwide)
- Order of the Phoenix: June 21, 2003
I put the publishing dates because it is my belief that the Mauarders fandom started at Prisoner of Askaban, which I understand. I was happy that Harry had found a connection to his father. I was glad he found Sirius. So that is 4 or 5 years before OotP. Many of were shocked what we learned about James Potter in OotP. JKR told us in interviews that he changed. So we held out until book 7 waiting to see. We got nothing. Granted what we have gotten a fandom that acts like James Potter. I've come across some of them and you really can't discuss theories or headcanons. But I don't want to go on about them, just pointed out that they had time to build up until OotP. Before DH came out they tried to shut down Snape and Lily theories. Someone would mention that they knew each other would be met with hate. I remember someone mentioning about Petunia saying "that awful boy" and many people thought it might be Snape, but in came the comments that it was James and there was no more to discuss. So add another 4 or 5 years and you see that the Mauarders fandom had a big head start.
One person asked:
Right, back to the topic at hand. This is what JKR said about Lily’s feelings for James:
MA: How did they get together? She hated James, from what we’ve seen.
JKR: Did she really? You're a woman, you know what I'm saying. [Laughter.]
And is this topic is covered on this site. Here in this thread:
https://alwayssnape.com/forum/topic/the-extremely-dsyfunctional-friendship-of-snape-and-lily/
Honestly this made me shake my head. I can understand Lily being attracted to James, but I can't understand her not being turned off. What James said to Lily in Snape's worst memory wasn't cute to me it was scary, "Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you". No wonder some people think that James gave Lily a love potion. Also by JKR saying this many people take Lily's short smile as being flattered by James and that is why many fans hate Lily. It isn't that she chose Snape over James. It is that she chose James.
So this is one reason I am not big on author's intent. Also I do think many things need to be considered when using the author's intent when interpreting a text. What is her background? Age? Politics? What is her personal history? Where was the interview taking place? Who was her audience? Which one of her books was she on? I personally think there are so many factors. I was glad when I first heard about the literary analysis of "Death of the Author". It freed me. Especially since one of my books from childhood was Alice in Wonderland.
I
Its true @iffin that many snape fans hate lily not because she did not love snape,but because she choose james out of many different male student that have fancies her. If we seeing from death of author,Lily is close first to severus,then to her female friends, then after she is hiding,close to sirius and peter. We did not see her female close friend (either they died or they just did not close enough). The one friend she close to what we knew the name is marlene (because lily is crying all over night,so they must be very close)
So fans dont like her because she choose to mary her former best friend biggest enemy,not to mentions she did not truly knew that potter and severus still have grudges in final year,even after james supposed to be grew out of it
