Lily Evans-Potter Bashing

[lunalotte88]

So, I was surprised when I first found out about Lily-bashing.

Comments

[winter_ruins]

The only person in the entire books who I'd consider a Sue/Stu is Harry Potter. In the first book. He definitely got fleshed out in the next six, but the first was almost painful to read.

I... what? I didn't even realize people were calling Lily a Sue. What?

[lunalotte88]

I would consider James Stu-ish, because he was very talented and everybody seemed to like him, despite being a bully. We have been told that he has changed his ways, but we haven't seen how he acted then; we've just seen how he acted as the teen bullying Snape. Now, I don't hate James, but I'm not really a fan of his, and I can see where the pro-Snape anti-James camp is coming from.

[summeriris]

We know that Lily would not have married him if he had not changed his ways, she married him, ergo he changed his ways. We know he supported Remus because Remus tells us. We know he and his family provided a safe home for Sirius because Sirius tells us. The facts are in the books, true in this instance we are told rather than shown, except for the one glimpse of James playing with Harry as a baby. Ad he did save Sbape's life with no thanks from Snape.

[chalts]

James can't be a Stu for the same reason Lily isn't a Sue: he's a background character, certainly integral to the plot, but never there to remove the tension. Mary Sue and Gary Stu came to be hated tropes because of their effect on the story, not because of some nebulous idea of people liking them.

(Also, people liked Tom Riddle too, aside from Dumbledore.)

[lunalotte88]

You're right; I take back my statement about James. :P

[dustbunny105]

everybody seemed to like him, despite being a bully.

Sadly, not unheard of in real life, especially when the victim is an acceptable target.

[sunlit_music]

Sadly, not unheard of in real life, especially when the victim is an acceptable target.

I know this post is late, but *nothing* makes it acceptable to target a victim for bullying. I agree that this sort of thing does sadly happen a lot in real life though.

[dustbunny105]

Ack, I meant to have scare quotes around "acceptable target". I don't believe bullying is acceptable regardless of the target and I apologize for implying otherwise.