Meet the Other Phone. A phone that grows with your child.

Meet the Other Phone.
A phone that grows with your child.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To thing Harry Potter is an unlikeable character?

122 replies

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:18

I’ve just finished re-reading the books for the x amount of times, and each time I read it, I dislike Harry more and more.

I love the book series. It’s a good a series but I honestly think Harry is just an awful character

OP posts:
takealettermsjones · 06/03/2023 14:22

YABU for not saying why!

FooFighter99 · 06/03/2023 14:23

Awful in what way? Surely you have to cut the kid some slack, both his parents died in an horrific way when he was 1.... That's going to fuck you up, even just a little bit, not to mention all that followed afterwards

Helenloveslee4eva · 06/03/2023 14:24

He’s a horcrux. I suspect he’s not meant to be likeable …

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:24

I don’t know exactly why. I just think he’s rude, obnoxious, refuses to take advice from people who actually know what they are doing, and other stuff too

OP posts:
whatadayforadaydream · 06/03/2023 14:25

I don't think he is necessarily meant to appeal to adults, but rather to children.

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:26

whatadayforadaydream · 06/03/2023 14:25

I don't think he is necessarily meant to appeal to adults, but rather to children.

Eh semantics. All the same Grin

OP posts:
shmiz · 06/03/2023 14:26

The point is that people are not perfect !!
YABU !!

YDBear · 06/03/2023 14:26

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:24

I don’t know exactly why. I just think he’s rude, obnoxious, refuses to take advice from people who actually know what they are doing, and other stuff too

So, a typical teenager then. And yes, unlikeable.

JamSandle · 06/03/2023 14:27

A complex character I think.

ChocSaltyBalls · 06/03/2023 14:28

I think for me the problem is I now just picture him as that tosser Daniel Radcliffe

JackieDaws · 06/03/2023 14:29

Read a different book.

takealettermsjones · 06/03/2023 14:29

He lived for ten years with caregivers who abused and neglected him, insulted him, made him live in a cupboard, and never even hugged him... It's remarkable he doesn't actually end up at St Brutus's.

As it happens he is generally polite, well behaved, and hard working (as much as any teenager is). He talks back to the Dursleys and Snape but who wouldn't? I actually think he's almost unrealistically good, considering his childhood.

MXVIT · 06/03/2023 14:30

I think its outrageous that he's lauded as the hero when Hermione literally saves their arses every other page throughout every book

they'd have been toast in first year without her.

BeetleyCarapace · 06/03/2023 14:30

I'd be a bit of a walloper sometimes too if I'd spent my formative years in a cupboard under the stairs.

KingValkyrie · 06/03/2023 14:31

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:24

I don’t know exactly why. I just think he’s rude, obnoxious, refuses to take advice from people who actually know what they are doing, and other stuff too

He's a teenage boy. Teenagers are stupid, impulsive, and utterly convinved they know best. Plus he grew up orphaned, isolated, gaslit and abused. He's survived an attempt on his life and is targetted for death by a supervillain. Despite that he is polite, does ok at school, and has a fairly accurate moral compass. He doesn't judge on appearances or social standing, he's generous, kind to house elves and bullied kids, and brave as fuck sometimes. Given all that happened it would be unrealistical and weird if he wasn't a bit damaged.

TellSomeoneElse · 06/03/2023 14:31

Yes, I suppose he’s pretty unlikeable, but so are some people. I quite like that he isn’t some infallible hero, it would make his character much less believable..

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:32

MXVIT · 06/03/2023 14:30

I think its outrageous that he's lauded as the hero when Hermione literally saves their arses every other page throughout every book

they'd have been toast in first year without her.

Very true!! Although Hermione has her faults too. Like the hex she put on Marrietta Edgecomb. I can’t remember reading if that was ever fixed.

Imagine being permanently scarred because of a school club

OP posts:
SaturdayGiraffe · 06/03/2023 14:33

Complicated characters create more emotional resonance than simple ones.

MXVIT · 06/03/2023 14:33

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:32

Very true!! Although Hermione has her faults too. Like the hex she put on Marrietta Edgecomb. I can’t remember reading if that was ever fixed.

Imagine being permanently scarred because of a school club

Chat Shit Get Banged, Marrietta.

CupEmpty · 06/03/2023 14:33

Ron is way worse. Ron is awful and has very little redeeming features. No idea what Hermione saw in him, she was far too good for him.

KingValkyrie · 06/03/2023 14:33

MXVIT · 06/03/2023 14:30

I think its outrageous that he's lauded as the hero when Hermione literally saves their arses every other page throughout every book

they'd have been toast in first year without her.

He says this himself to Hermione in the first book, and several times throughout. He's the hero because Voldy literally picked him to be the hero, and tried repeatedly to kill him, and murdered his parents, and Cedric. Harry's heroism is a gentler type of heroics, not as flashy and obvious as some others. He chooses to walk into fire to save others.

TellSomeoneElse · 06/03/2023 14:34

MXVIT · 06/03/2023 14:33

Chat Shit Get Banged, Marrietta.

🤣

Walrussy · 06/03/2023 14:34

Soubriquet · 06/03/2023 14:24

I don’t know exactly why. I just think he’s rude, obnoxious, refuses to take advice from people who actually know what they are doing, and other stuff too

The refusal to take advice/rely on others drives me mad, but it makes perfect sense. He's independent to a fault because he's never had anyone to look after him. Orphaned and abusive relations. Also because it would be a crap series if he just got the adults involved everytime he ought to.
He's definitely very unpleasant in OotP but then he has PTSD and is a 15 year old boy.

lazycats · 06/03/2023 14:34

I don’t know exactly why

Cool.

TellSomeoneElse · 06/03/2023 14:35

CupEmpty · 06/03/2023 14:33

Ron is way worse. Ron is awful and has very little redeeming features. No idea what Hermione saw in him, she was far too good for him.

Book Ron was so much better tho, he was actually quite funny, and again, had his reasons for his flaws. They gave pretty much all his decent lines to Hermione in the films or cut them altogether.

Swipe left for the next trending thread