Harry Potter and the Love/Hate Characters
Or: The Characters who didn't make my favorites or least favorite character list but I still have something to say on them list! XD
Anyway--these are all characters like I said, who I don't consider a "favorite" in the sense that I don't always love reading about them, but at the same time I don't hate them or reading about them either. Some cases I like them when I shouldn't, or I hate them when I shouldn't, but there's something about them that I like in some way.
HP Characters I Love/Hate:
Again, all links lead to HP Wiki. All quotes from HP books and/or movies, owned by JK Rowling.
(There is no particular order to this list, as I can't really rank characters I love/hate, especially not in relation to each other, because my opinion of them sometimes completely changes depending on what scene I'm reading/watching them in, or for other reasons.)
-Draco Malfoy: After book six (and the in-your-face slash subtext and implications between him and Harry too), I don't know how anyone can't really feel for this kid. I hate that the potential for him after that book wasn't carried out in Deathly Hallows too, which was one of the biggest dissapointments I had about the final book. Nonetheless, he's definitely one of the characters I think most interesting in the series, and one of the ones I think actually had it pretty bad off. With a flamboyantly evil Death Eater and demanding father, it could not have possibly been very easy for him. He never really had the chance to be the good guy (with the exception of Dumbledore's offer when Draco was supposed to kill him), which I think he's somewhat jealous of Harry for, so he instead tries to be the villain but obviously doesn't like it very much, but is too scared to try and break away. His relationship with his mother is something else I find very interesting too, because there seems to be a real love and fondness there that you don't normally see with Death Eaters (although his mother never was an official death eater which is another thing I'm curious about why). He's really at times adorably vain and overconfident, although he can be really rude and cruel I think it's really because he feels that's the way he's supposed to act--he's never really had friends or people close to him to treat him any other way (with the exception maybe of his mother). I really wish in the final book there had been a moment where Draco officially switches sides and helps out Harry, because I think it would've been very possible and a wonderful plot twist. *sigh* Oh well.."
"I haven’t got any options! I’ve got to do it! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family!"
-Bellatrix Lestrange: Despite all the evil she's done, I simply cannot hate her. I have no idea why, but even in the scene in the final book where she was torturing Hermione and Ron was banging on the cellar door, the only thing I was feeling was sorry and sad about Hermione, not any real anger towards Bellatrix at all. I think it might be because she's literally insane, like an overgrown kid, she almost doesn't even know what she's doing is wrong. Like in the scene (especially in the movie) after she kills Sirius and Harry tries to crucio her, the little pout and fear she gets in her eyes makes me feel sorry for her, and I don't blame Harry for not being able to do the Cruciatus Curse. Maybe I'd feel differently about her if we had known what she was like before Azkaban (if indeed it's there that she lost her mind, not before), but she just seem so completley brainwashed by Voldermort--she's one of the only Death Eaters that I can indentify that is not involved in the cause for selfish reasons. She's not in it for power, or protection, or anything like that--she doesn't seem to have any hesitations or real fear of the Dark Lord and is completely devoted to him. It really makes me wonder what she was like as a child, where her obvious pure-blood mania stems from, and how she was treated. It probably had some influence on her current mental state.
"Come out, come out, little Harry! What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!.... Did you love him, little baby Potter?"
-Ginny Weasley: I have recently come to the reluctant conclusion that the main reason I've hated Ginny Weasley is because of the ridiculous out-of-nowhere canon of Harry/Ginny. Her crush as a kid is cute, but I honestly don't see Harry returning it later on and especially not so all-of-a-sudden as he does in book 6. His sudden crush makes her seem like such a Mary-Sue, perfect at everything: althetics, school, self-confidence, spells, friendship, and then she's apparently she's gorgeous on top of it. But after rereading earlier books before their ridiculous relationship, as well as
poppyfields13's ron/luna fic One Day with Ginny as a fairly important minor character, and trying to see Ginny from the fabulous and fantastic Luna's point of view, she does seem like a pretty strong and cool character. She does have faults (her overconfidence and somewhat argumentative traits), but she's just as lovable a Weasley as all the rest of them--and she's the female one too, which also makes her a bit cooler. XD I'd probably like her a lot more if she had just been loyal to Harry through friendship--like Fred and George and Ron, or even (as I've suddenly realized) like Cho as an ex-girlfriend I'd find her much more likeable and be able to stand those scenes, or even if they were more founded and Harry showed some interest in her in the five books before. But her suddenly becoming the "perfect girl" turns me completely against the Ginny/Harry relationship, and frustrated with the canon. I'm slowly becoming accepting of it, but I still really don't like it.
"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."
-Nymphadora Tonks: Similar to Ginny, again, I'd like her so much more if it wasn't for the sudden love confession. She's clumsy but brave, one of the only female members of the Order of the Phoenix, plus she's funny and strong. She's very friendly and in good spirits most of the time--which was a stark contrast to most of the other members of the order. She also seemed like just a very realistic person. But then this fun and interesting character gets suddenly depressed in the next book after Sirius's death, and then suddenly bursts with this love confession for Remus Lupin (who to begin with, was one of the characters JK Rowling should've outed as gay). Although she's better than Ginny, in the sense that she doesn't change or suddenly become this "perfect" person, nor does her marriage to Lupin or relationship become the focus of her character. For this reason, I'm able to somewhat accept it as canon, although I see it as very one-sided and thus that makes me sad--she's been the inspiration for many-a Lupin angst fic, but I wish she'd have ended up with someone who would more obviously reciprocate her feelings and not have someone else. Like, as it was suggested in a fic I read, Charlie Weasley! The one who studies dragons and didn't end up with anyone. That would probably be a dangerous enough relationship for her to happily endure, plus--they're the same age! They were in the same year at Hogwarts! There is plenty of potential there for them having known each other or having a previous relationship before the Order of the Phoenix. I don't mind the age difference so much as I mind the fact that Lupin is obviously gay and the romance is once again out of nowhere and in this case, fairly one-sided. But romance aside, Tonks is a pretty cool character, and undoubtedly one of the most interesting Hufflepuffs in the series.
"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus. It's Tonks."
-Molly Weasley: I don't hate Molly Weasley, but there are times she really annoys me in the later books--though she always ends up making up for it. Her, as Harry puts it, "mollycoddling" of Harry does annoy me (although I completely understand why she does it) and her cruel jabs at Sirius (again, I understand why--though I don't like it) lost some points in my eyes, but her constant treatment of Harry like her own son makes it impossible to not love her. XD I personally love the fact that she can go from shouting and screaming at Fred and George and just turn and speak very sweetly and fondly to Harry in the next second. That always makes me laugh. And the scene where she was trying to get rid of the boggart just broke my heart.
"Beds empty! No note! Car gone - could have crashed - out of my mind with worry - did you care? - never, as long as I've lived - you wait until your father gets home..."
-Alastor Mad-Eye Moody: Main reason he's on this list and not my favorites is that I don't know as much of his personality as I think I do. I was pretty fond of him in book 4, but then he ended up not really being Mad-Eye, so it's difficult to figure out what was really his personality or just Barty Crouch Jr. Nonetheless, his sarcastic sidecomments and typical grumpy demeanor I find lovable--I can tell why Tonks was fond of him anyway. And I was in complete shock when he got killed off, and was really saddened and in denial for a good hundred pages after.
"Constant Vigilance!"
-Rita Skeeter: I think Dumbledore's description of her, "enchantingly nasty", really is the perfect way to describe her. She's annoying, intrusive, self-serving, yet at the same time she's quite entertaining too. She's not an evil person per se, I don't think so at least, but she's not exactly lovable either with all the lies and exaggerations she writes about. More often than not, I find myself on the verge of laughing at the gall she has to write and publish what she does. And while I was rolling my eyes at the interview she had in Deathly Hallows, at the same time I was pretty happy that she was still alive and doing alright despite Voldermort taking over everywhere. I guess she's just a person I love to hate, or rather dislike, because (sorry Hermoine!) she doesn't make my blood boil and her determination to get a good story amuses me.
"Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations…"
That's all for now! Although I'll probably encounter another character when replying to people's comments who I'll want to talk about later (like Peter Pettigrew--I don't really like him, so he doesn't belong on this list, but he's worth talking about a bit...), so there will probably be another list coming anyway.
(XD I'm so fantastic at not procrastinating, huh? Back to work on short story now!!)
Anyway--these are all characters like I said, who I don't consider a "favorite" in the sense that I don't always love reading about them, but at the same time I don't hate them or reading about them either. Some cases I like them when I shouldn't, or I hate them when I shouldn't, but there's something about them that I like in some way.
HP Characters I Love/Hate:
Again, all links lead to HP Wiki. All quotes from HP books and/or movies, owned by JK Rowling.
(There is no particular order to this list, as I can't really rank characters I love/hate, especially not in relation to each other, because my opinion of them sometimes completely changes depending on what scene I'm reading/watching them in, or for other reasons.)
-Draco Malfoy: After book six (and the in-your-face slash subtext and implications between him and Harry too), I don't know how anyone can't really feel for this kid. I hate that the potential for him after that book wasn't carried out in Deathly Hallows too, which was one of the biggest dissapointments I had about the final book. Nonetheless, he's definitely one of the characters I think most interesting in the series, and one of the ones I think actually had it pretty bad off. With a flamboyantly evil Death Eater and demanding father, it could not have possibly been very easy for him. He never really had the chance to be the good guy (with the exception of Dumbledore's offer when Draco was supposed to kill him), which I think he's somewhat jealous of Harry for, so he instead tries to be the villain but obviously doesn't like it very much, but is too scared to try and break away. His relationship with his mother is something else I find very interesting too, because there seems to be a real love and fondness there that you don't normally see with Death Eaters (although his mother never was an official death eater which is another thing I'm curious about why). He's really at times adorably vain and overconfident, although he can be really rude and cruel I think it's really because he feels that's the way he's supposed to act--he's never really had friends or people close to him to treat him any other way (with the exception maybe of his mother). I really wish in the final book there had been a moment where Draco officially switches sides and helps out Harry, because I think it would've been very possible and a wonderful plot twist. *sigh* Oh well.."
"I haven’t got any options! I’ve got to do it! He’ll kill me! He’ll kill my whole family!"
-Bellatrix Lestrange: Despite all the evil she's done, I simply cannot hate her. I have no idea why, but even in the scene in the final book where she was torturing Hermione and Ron was banging on the cellar door, the only thing I was feeling was sorry and sad about Hermione, not any real anger towards Bellatrix at all. I think it might be because she's literally insane, like an overgrown kid, she almost doesn't even know what she's doing is wrong. Like in the scene (especially in the movie) after she kills Sirius and Harry tries to crucio her, the little pout and fear she gets in her eyes makes me feel sorry for her, and I don't blame Harry for not being able to do the Cruciatus Curse. Maybe I'd feel differently about her if we had known what she was like before Azkaban (if indeed it's there that she lost her mind, not before), but she just seem so completley brainwashed by Voldermort--she's one of the only Death Eaters that I can indentify that is not involved in the cause for selfish reasons. She's not in it for power, or protection, or anything like that--she doesn't seem to have any hesitations or real fear of the Dark Lord and is completely devoted to him. It really makes me wonder what she was like as a child, where her obvious pure-blood mania stems from, and how she was treated. It probably had some influence on her current mental state.
"Come out, come out, little Harry! What did you come after me for, then? I thought you were here to avenge my dear cousin!.... Did you love him, little baby Potter?"
-Ginny Weasley: I have recently come to the reluctant conclusion that the main reason I've hated Ginny Weasley is because of the ridiculous out-of-nowhere canon of Harry/Ginny. Her crush as a kid is cute, but I honestly don't see Harry returning it later on and especially not so all-of-a-sudden as he does in book 6. His sudden crush makes her seem like such a Mary-Sue, perfect at everything: althetics, school, self-confidence, spells, friendship, and then she's apparently she's gorgeous on top of it. But after rereading earlier books before their ridiculous relationship, as well as
poppyfields13's ron/luna fic One Day with Ginny as a fairly important minor character, and trying to see Ginny from the fabulous and fantastic Luna's point of view, she does seem like a pretty strong and cool character. She does have faults (her overconfidence and somewhat argumentative traits), but she's just as lovable a Weasley as all the rest of them--and she's the female one too, which also makes her a bit cooler. XD I'd probably like her a lot more if she had just been loyal to Harry through friendship--like Fred and George and Ron, or even (as I've suddenly realized) like Cho as an ex-girlfriend I'd find her much more likeable and be able to stand those scenes, or even if they were more founded and Harry showed some interest in her in the five books before. But her suddenly becoming the "perfect girl" turns me completely against the Ginny/Harry relationship, and frustrated with the canon. I'm slowly becoming accepting of it, but I still really don't like it.
"The thing about growing up with Fred and George is that you sort of start thinking anything's possible if you've got enough nerve."
-Nymphadora Tonks: Similar to Ginny, again, I'd like her so much more if it wasn't for the sudden love confession. She's clumsy but brave, one of the only female members of the Order of the Phoenix, plus she's funny and strong. She's very friendly and in good spirits most of the time--which was a stark contrast to most of the other members of the order. She also seemed like just a very realistic person. But then this fun and interesting character gets suddenly depressed in the next book after Sirius's death, and then suddenly bursts with this love confession for Remus Lupin (who to begin with, was one of the characters JK Rowling should've outed as gay). Although she's better than Ginny, in the sense that she doesn't change or suddenly become this "perfect" person, nor does her marriage to Lupin or relationship become the focus of her character. For this reason, I'm able to somewhat accept it as canon, although I see it as very one-sided and thus that makes me sad--she's been the inspiration for many-a Lupin angst fic, but I wish she'd have ended up with someone who would more obviously reciprocate her feelings and not have someone else. Like, as it was suggested in a fic I read, Charlie Weasley! The one who studies dragons and didn't end up with anyone. That would probably be a dangerous enough relationship for her to happily endure, plus--they're the same age! They were in the same year at Hogwarts! There is plenty of potential there for them having known each other or having a previous relationship before the Order of the Phoenix. I don't mind the age difference so much as I mind the fact that Lupin is obviously gay and the romance is once again out of nowhere and in this case, fairly one-sided. But romance aside, Tonks is a pretty cool character, and undoubtedly one of the most interesting Hufflepuffs in the series.
"Don't call me Nymphadora, Remus. It's Tonks."
-Molly Weasley: I don't hate Molly Weasley, but there are times she really annoys me in the later books--though she always ends up making up for it. Her, as Harry puts it, "mollycoddling" of Harry does annoy me (although I completely understand why she does it) and her cruel jabs at Sirius (again, I understand why--though I don't like it) lost some points in my eyes, but her constant treatment of Harry like her own son makes it impossible to not love her. XD I personally love the fact that she can go from shouting and screaming at Fred and George and just turn and speak very sweetly and fondly to Harry in the next second. That always makes me laugh. And the scene where she was trying to get rid of the boggart just broke my heart.
"Beds empty! No note! Car gone - could have crashed - out of my mind with worry - did you care? - never, as long as I've lived - you wait until your father gets home..."
-Alastor Mad-Eye Moody: Main reason he's on this list and not my favorites is that I don't know as much of his personality as I think I do. I was pretty fond of him in book 4, but then he ended up not really being Mad-Eye, so it's difficult to figure out what was really his personality or just Barty Crouch Jr. Nonetheless, his sarcastic sidecomments and typical grumpy demeanor I find lovable--I can tell why Tonks was fond of him anyway. And I was in complete shock when he got killed off, and was really saddened and in denial for a good hundred pages after.
"Constant Vigilance!"
-Rita Skeeter: I think Dumbledore's description of her, "enchantingly nasty", really is the perfect way to describe her. She's annoying, intrusive, self-serving, yet at the same time she's quite entertaining too. She's not an evil person per se, I don't think so at least, but she's not exactly lovable either with all the lies and exaggerations she writes about. More often than not, I find myself on the verge of laughing at the gall she has to write and publish what she does. And while I was rolling my eyes at the interview she had in Deathly Hallows, at the same time I was pretty happy that she was still alive and doing alright despite Voldermort taking over everywhere. I guess she's just a person I love to hate, or rather dislike, because (sorry Hermoine!) she doesn't make my blood boil and her determination to get a good story amuses me.
"Attractive blonde Rita Skeeter, forty-three, whose savage quill has punctured many inflated reputations…"
That's all for now! Although I'll probably encounter another character when replying to people's comments who I'll want to talk about later (like Peter Pettigrew--I don't really like him, so he doesn't belong on this list, but he's worth talking about a bit...), so there will probably be another list coming anyway.
(XD I'm so fantastic at not procrastinating, huh? Back to work on short story now!!)