Monday, January 24, 2011

Characters: Harry Potter part 1

Characters: Harry Potter

Please note that, with as popular as this series is, it is a gospel truth that every single one of these characters has a camp that loves them and a camp that hates them. To be perfectly honest, no one cares which camp you belong to; people have differing opinions, and they make the world go 'round.
HOWEVER!!!! This is not the page where you justify your love or hatred for a character; if you really can't go one more minute without doing so, please go to either Paint The Hero Black or Villain Whitewashing Service. This page aims to be completely, totally, and in all other ways neutral.
Also note that you may not support a trope with non-canon examples of a character's behavior or personality, unless it came straight from J. K. Rowling herself. So if you read something about a character in a fanfic, it does not go here. Any instance of that is termed "fanon", and all examples from fanfiction go there. Fridge Brilliance can go here, butonly if it is supported by canon or Word Of God.
Which character do these stipulations apply to? Every single one listed on this page. No exceptions. At all. None. PERIOD.
Are we all clear on that? Good. Now go forth and trope!

Among the Loads And Loads Of Characters from the Harry Potter series:
    open/close all folders 

    The Trio 

Harry James Potter


AKA the Boy Who Lived.
At the age of one, Harry, whose parents have just been killed by the Big Bad Voldemort, is about to be killed as well. Due to The Power Of Love from his mother's self-sacrifice, however, he survives and rebounds the curse upon Voldemort, getting a lightning bolt-shaped scar as a souvenir. The series' resident Dumbledore, Dumbledore, then arranges to have his Muggle aunt and uncle take him in... or else. For ten long years, they grudgingly complied, forcing Harry to live in the cupboard under the stairs and being both cruel and neglectful of him. Harry's bullying cousin, Dudley, doesn't make things any easier.
Then, on his eleventh birthday, everything changes. Letters (from "no one") begin arriving in Harry's "home", growing by the number each day. Harry's aunt and uncle, acting suspiciously, refuse to allow him to read even one, and after several days, leave the house and go to a tiny house in a cliff in the middle of a storm. Unfortunately, the ones who sent the letters are not deterred by such means, and Harry is eventually told of his past, and the wizarding world.
Thus, Harry's adventures at the Hogwarts Academy for Witchcraft and Wizardry begin, starting off as light-hearted, and growing darker in nature each year, as he makes friends, learns of his destiny, and matures.
Nineteen years after he permanently ends Voldemort's lousy ass, he's married to Ginny Weasley and is the father of three children: James Sirius, Albus Severus, and Lily Luna Potter.
  • Achey Scars: The lightning-shaped scar created by Voldemort starts aching whenever Harry is close to him, and in the later books, whenever Voldemort is feeling a particularly strong emotion.
  • All Of The Other Reindeer: Public opinion of Harry in the Wizarding world would oscillate between hero-worship to complete rejection at the drop of a hat. But Harry was not particularly saintly in his isolation.
  • Alternative Character Interpretation: There are those who think he's a completely selfless Messiah and then there are those who think he's a totally self-absorbed Jerkasswho milks his celebrity (and Woobie status) for all it's worth. It also happens several times in-universe!
  • Because Destiny Says So: Played with. Harry's destiny has been predicted by a self-fulfilling prophecy, but according to Dumbledore, it's only self-fulfilling because Voldemort insists on fulfilling it.
  • Belated Backstory: Regarding all his connections with Voldemort.
  • Blessed With Suck: See also The Chosen One, I Just Want To Be Normal, and Chronic Hero Syndrome, below.
  • Blind Without Em: Though he seldom drops his glasses.
  • Brilliant But Lazy: He supposedly struggled with his Potions and Transfigurations classes, but his O.W.L. scores demonstrate that he was actually exceedingly adept at the subjects. (That said, there are subjects where he is legitimately bad, such as Divination and History of Magic. But the former skills are ones he never needs, whereas the latter is one where Hermione more than picks up the slack.)
  • The Chosen One
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: AKA "my saving people thing." This is eventually exploited — with tragic results — by the Death Eaters.
  • Cinderella Circumstances: Harry at the Dursley's household, before he got his acceptance letter from Hogwarts. However, his uncle never does stop treating him like crap.
  • Conveniently An Orphan: Played with, since his home situation is not really "convenient".
  • Dead Guy Junior: Harry James Potter is himself an unintentional example, since his parents named him while (obviously) they were alive. He plays it straight as an arrow with his own kids, though. Between the three of them, Harry honors no less than five dead people. And Luna.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Deceased Parents Are The Best: Places his dad on a pedestal, which breaks, and harbors tender feelings for his mother.
  • Doorstop Baby
  • Expy: Of Wart from The Sword in the Stone, believe it or not.
  • Foe Yay: If Draco didn't always remind Harry the antipathy he had for him, most of his lines would have resembled attempts at flirting.
  • Green J. K. Rowling's Eyes
  • The Hero
  • Hero With Bad Publicity: In the second book; at the end of the fourth book and continuing through the fifth book; in the seventh book.
  • Heroes Want Redheads: He ends up with Ginny Weasley.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: He does this near the end of the seventh book; however, this results in Harry's resurrection and Voldemort's final Karmic Death.
  • Ho Yay: See also Foe Yay.
  • I Just Want To Be Normal: The Boy Who Lived, The Chosen One, a Psychic Link into the insane mind of a Complete Monster, Weirdness Magnet... Well, with all this heaped on him, I guess you can't blame him.
  • Ineffectual Loner: Harry often tries to discourage his friends from helping him. This in spite of the fact that he's often quite helpless without them.
    • When, in Deathly Hallows, he wishes that Ron and Hermione were with him, it's a sign that he has started to accept that he needs help from his friends.
  • Iron Woobie
  • It's Not You, It's My Enemies: How he breaks up with Ginny Weasley.
  • I Want My Beloved To Be Happy
  • Jerkass Woobie: He has plenty of legitimate reasons to be upset. However, he takes it out on others more than is really good for him.
  • Jerk With A Heart Of Gold: Played with. Harry can be an asshole, but he's more often kind, protective, and self-sacrificing.
  • Kid Hero: Technically by the final book, Harry is an adult by wizard estimation
  • The Kirk
  • Laser Guided Tykebomb: Raised to be this.
  • Martyr Without A Cause: At times.
  • Marty Stu: Harry is perhaps the ultimate Subversion of this trope, an in-universe example due to circumstances beyond his control, media attention, tragic events, coincidences and sheer luck, good or bad. But he's a completely normal, flawed person reluctantly caught up in a series of very painful adventures that are usually misunderstood by the rest of the wizarding world.
  • Meaningful Name:
    • First name: Harry. A common name and yet a kingly name. (So far, eight kings of England have been named "Henry." "Harry" and "Hal" are the two most common nicknames for Henry.) An Everyman's name — think of the expression "every Tom, Dick, and Harry". Note that Tom is the birth name of a certain villain with whom Harry shares a lot of history. As to the Dick in the story, I'll leave that to someone more in the mood.
    • Middle name: James. Named for his father. Another name that's both common and kingly. Two English kings have been named James; the most famous English translation of the Bible is the King James translation; in some traditions, James was the brother of Jesus.
    • Last name: Potter. To "potter" is to sit around and do nothing. Also, a potter is someone who makes pots — a rather humble yet important skill, somewhat akin to being, say, a carpenter. A potter's field is a cemetery for vagrants.
    • Henry F. Potter is the Scrooge-like villain in the movie It's a Wonderful Life. Like Harry, he's rich. Like Harry, he has no surviving family. Like Voldemort — Harry's opposite — he seems to have no understanding of love.
  • Messy Hair: In The Order Of The Phoenix, there's a brief exchange about this: Mrs. Weasley tried to tidy up Harry's appearance but couldn't do anything about his hair, and asks: "Doesn't it ever lie flat?" Harry shook his head in response.
    • The first four movies have Harry with messy hair, but the rest of the films just gave Harry a crewcut.
  • Messiah Creep: Although there were messianic overtones right from the first chapter of the first book.
  • Naive Newcomer
  • Non Idle Rich: Most definitely. Beyond the fact that he doesn't have to ever worry about money, his parents' Undisclosed Funds don't really impact his personality at all; he spends the last few books aiming to get a job as, essentially, a wizard cop.
  • Not So Different: In Chamber Of Secrets, Harry notices some very disturbing similarities between himself and Voldemort. At the climax of Deathly Hallows, he sees parallels not only between himself and Voldemort, but also Snape, going so far as to think of them as "lost boys" whose only real home was Hogwarts. This is probably the point where Harry truly became a man.
  • Parental Neglect: The Dursleys never really cared about Harry and pretty much only gave him the basest of needs as he grew up.
  • The Power Of Love: The reason he survived the Killing Curse as a kid is because his mother's Heroic Sacrifice invoked this on him. Plus, Dumbledore claims that Harry's greatest strength is his ability to love, even though Harry wants to know What Kind Of Lame Power Is Heart Anyway.
  • Rage Against The Mentor: Harry is displeased when Dumbledore up and dies (most inconsiderate), leaving him a seemingly impossible quest with 10% completion and some unbelievably vague clues about the Deathly Hallows; and he has to find out secondhand about Dumbledore's torrid past, including how Albus was BF Fs withWizard Hitler.
  • The Scapegoat: In a bid to keep the public from learning of the return of Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix, The Ministry leads a media campaign against Harry, smearing his name in the dirt.
  • Soul Fragment: When Voldemort tried to kill the one-year old Harry and failed, he accidentally made him into a Horcrux, forging a connection between their minds.
  • Soul Jar: One of the biggest shocks (for some) in book seven was learning that Harry was a horcrux for Voldemort.
  • The Unchosen One: Dumbledore helps Harry become this in Half-Blood Prince.
  • Undisclosed Funds: The books never make clear exactly how rich Harry is, but between his parents' money and becoming sole heir to the Black family fortune, it's implied to be "very".
  • The Un Favourite: In the Dursley household.
  • Wangst: His behavior is the later books is considered this by some. Of course, he's a teenager. With many, many horrible problems on his hands.
  • What Beautiful Eyes: Along with his trademark lightning bolt shaped scar, his Green Eyes (inherited from Lily) are his most frequently commented-on trait.

Ronald Bilius "Ron" Weasley


The id of the series' resident Power Trio. Ron, the youngest of six brothers, has something of an inferiority complex. He first met Harry on Platform 9 3/4, and the two became fast friends on the Hogwarts Express before they'd even reached Hogwarts. Throughout the books, he sticks with Harry through thick and thin, though with some occasional difficulty — being constant sidekick to The Boy Who Lived sure doesn't help that inferiority complex.
Nineteen Years Later, he's married to Hermione and has two children named Rose and Hugo.
  • Action Survivor: He's more than competent, but he's neither as clever as Hermione (except at wizard chess) nor as naturally talented as Harry.
  • Adaptation Decay: In the movies, some of Ron's cooler moments — most notably his Go Through Me moment at the end of The Prisoner of Azkaban — are either left out or given to other characters. Specially Hermione, whose movie counterpart is sometimes regarded as a Mary Sue by fans.
  • Always Second Best: Goes through this motion occasionally with Harry.
  • Belligerent Sexual Tension: With Hermione.
  • Berserk Button: Normally a pretty easygoing guy, Ron tends to go nuclear when Hermione is taunted for being a "mudblood" or otherwise mocked by Draco or Snape. He is particularly sensitive to being mocked about his family's lack of wealth.
  • Big Eater:
    Hermione: "Do you ever stop eating?" 
    Ron: "What? I'm hungry."
  • Book Dumb
  • Chekhov's Skill: The first book has Ron's skill at chess put to good use, by getting past McGonagall's giant chess set in order to get to the Philosopher's Stone.
  • The Chew Toy: If there's a Homemade Sweater From Hell or Magic Misfire to be endured, poor Ron is the most likely candidate. Subverted in later books when Ron grows increasingly despairing and resentful of this, and it stops being quite as funny.
  • Conflict Ball: His fight with Harry in Goblet Of Fire? Being a prick to Hermione in the same book because she went with Krum to the Yule Ball? Acts like an even bigger prick to her in Half Blood Prince because she might have kissed Krum? The poor guy seems to get handed this a lot. Things get just plain ugly when he gets saddled with a literal Conflict Ball in the form of Slytherin's locket.
  • Darkest Hour: Facing down the horcrux in book seven, among numerous other moments.
  • Deadpan Snarker: Leading to a Crowning Moment Of Funny, his reaction to Peeves' jingle, in book seven.
  • Die For Our Ship: And that's if he's lucky.
  • Foil: To Harry.
    • The Generic Guy who is often Overshadowed By Awesome — specifically, by the Boy Who Lived.
    • The Lancer
    • Nakama, with a huge nuclear family to contrast with Harry's orphanhood.
    • Perpetual Poverty, in contrast to Harry's wealth.
    • The Unfavourite: Ron is not outstanding in any way amongst the Weasley family, and he knows it. In DH, the locket-horcrux attempts to use this to sway Ron from the mission at hand, telling him that his love interest prefers Harry and mother would have preferred a daughter. Ron doesn't fall for it, but he comes perilously close.
  • Go Through Me: It's (one of) his Crowning Moment Of Awesome.
  • Hot Blooded
  • Magic Misfire: Several times in book two, due to a broken wand, though said wand helps him and Harry out of a predicament later, when Lockhart tries to wipe their memories because they found out just a teensy bit too much about Lockhart's career.
  • Make Out Kids: With Lavender.
  • The McCoy
  • Meaningful Name: Averted. "Weasley" doesn't indicate what you would think it would. His middle name sounds like "bilious", but, likewise, he's not known for bile. Word Of God says that JKR chose the name "Weasley" because she felt that weasels had got a bad press in children's books.
  • My Sister Is Off Limits: Mostly played for comedy, as Ginny doesn't really care what he thinks. Harry is more worried about it, though, as Ron is his friend. It turns out that if it's with Harry it's OK.
  • Overshadowed By Awesome: His two best friends, Harry and Hermione, are The Chosen One and a Genius Prodigy respectively and all of his brothers have either been Prefects, Headboys, or Quiditch Aces. It goes without saying he suffers a massive Inferiority Complex for much of the series.
  • Plucky Comic Relief: More so in the films than the novels
  • Red Headed Hero
  • The Resenter: To Harry.
  • Ron The Death Eater: Trope Namer. The poor boy is not popular in fanon. Character Derailment or not, he does not deserve the horrid treatment that he's sometimes given by the Fan Dumb.
  • Undying Loyalty: "You'll have to kill us too!"
  • The Un Favorite: This is what Ron thinks of himself.
  • Why Did It Have To Be Snakes: Ron has a fear of spiders.
  • The Woobie: Picked on by his big brothers, grows up in poverty, gets taunted mercilessly by the local bullies, constantly overshadowed by both his best friends, endures being a more or less constant Butt Monkey...and that's a very brief summary of what he goes through.
  • You Shall Not Pass: End of the first book.

Hermione Jean Granger


The last third of the series' resident Power Trio, who serves as the superego and always has a smart solution. Like Ron, Harry met her on the Hogwarts express on the first day of school, though they didn't become friends until an incident involving a troll at Halloween. Throughout the books, Hermione serves as The Professor, being practically married to the library.
Nineteen Years Later, she's married to Ron and has two children, Rose and Hugo.

    Hogwarts Students 

Gryffindors

Neville Longbottom


A socially awkward, forgetful boy who hides a painful past: his parents were tortured by Death Eaters to the point of permanent insanity and don't recognize him anymore. He is the usual Butt Monkey of Harry's group. Like the protagonists, Neville appears in all seven of the books, with varying importance to the plot. When not at Hogwarts, he lives with an extremely outspoken (and frightening) grandmother, whom he often talks about. Eventually becomes one of Harry's closest friends, and goes through a lot of great Character Development to become truly awesome.
Nineteen Years Later, he's married to Hannah Abbott, and he's the herbology professor at Hogwarts.
  • All Up To You: He gets deputized by Harry during the Battle of Hogwarts to kill the last Horcrux.
  • As Long As There Is One Man
  • Belated Backstory: A little bit, mostly regarding his parents.
  • Butt Monkey
  • Crouching Moron Hidden Badass: Later on.
  • Die Or Fly: How his magic was revealed.
  • Fridge Brilliance: According to Dumbledore in the 1st book “ It takes a great deal of bravery to stand up to your enemies, but a great deal more to stand up to your friends” something that Dumbledore, as brought to light in the 7th book, would be all too aware of. Another subtler one: Neville’s added ten points in the 1st book puts Gryffindor on top to win the house cup. In the final battle, Neville’s slaying of Nagini was what made Voldemort finally mortal, allowing Harry to finally defeat him for good. In other words Neville’s contribution thanks to his bravery allowed two pivotal victories.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: It's too easy to laugh at Neville's constant screw-ups, not to mention the fact that he lives with a near-tyrannical grandmother. But then in the fourth and fifth books, we learn exactly what happened to his mother and father, and how it has affected him. Then we feel guilty for having laughed.
  • Inept Mage: Up until book five, his only good subject was herbology.
  • Memetic Badass: Neville would have done it in four books. Five, max.
  • Missed The Call: The prophecy that predicted The Chosen One who would defeat Voldemort pointed to two possible candidates — Neville and Harry. Voldemort chose to go after Harry, thereby (accidentally) collapsing the waveform and cementing Harry as the subject of the prophecy.
  • Parental Abandonment: The most tragic case in the series: Alice and Frank Longbottom were tortured into insanity by Death Eaters and are now locked away in St. Mungo, and they're so damaged that they cannot even recognize their son.
  • They Wasted A Perfectly Good Plot: Let's be honest, a lot of the fandom was hoping that Neville would get to avenge his parents in a fight against Bellatrix.
    • The guy stood up to Voldemort, which even impressed the Dark Lord himself. Then he killed his beloved pet Horcrux snake Nagini with the Sword of Gryffindor. Give the guy credit for that.
  • The Woobie: Was this for a while once the Butt Monkey-ness made way for sympathy. Eventually, he got enough badass points to finally graduate to Grade-A arsekicker
  • Took A Level In Badass: Year 7
  • Worthy Opponent: In a culmination of his Badass credentials, Voldemort himself considers him this in the climax of the last battle and even gives him We Can Rule Together speech which he of course doesn’t hesitate to refuse

Ginevra "Ginny" Weasley


The youngest child of the Weasley family and the first daughter born to that line in several generations. Ginny has something of a childhood crush on The Boy Who Lived, and has almost no dialogue during the first four books (because whenever the Sympathetic POV is near, she's struck dumb by his presence). In the second book, Ginny finally gets to go to Hogwarts... but as she has trouble making friends and feels quite lonely, she's an easy prey for Voldemort's Brainwashing through his diary.
From the fifth book onward she starts displaying an actual and more open personality, revealing a variety of talents no one had ever suspected, and starts being popular with guys; by the sixth book the situation has reversed: now it's Harry pining away in silence for Ginny. Word Of God is that her Character Development made her Harry's perfect match, but since most of it had to take place where the narrator couldn't see it, fans are... divided on the issue.
Nineteen years later, is married to Harry, with whom she has has two sons and a daughter.

Fred and George Weasley


Ron's next-older brothers, Fred and George stick out for their constant wisecracking, penchant for practical jokes, and lack of educational excellence. They have been friends with Harry for almost as long as Ron has, since they are on the Gryffindor Quidditch team as Beaters. In the grand tradition of Einstein, their poor grades do not stop them from opening a successful business selling joke/novelty items of their own invention.

Dean Thomas



Colin Creevey



Slytherins

Draco Malfoy


Hogwarts' resident bully, despite being smaller than most other Slytherins. Is the son of an influential and filthy rich man, who used to be a Death Eater. Merely bullies Harry throughout the first few books, occasionally setting off a major plot point. Usually seen hanging around with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.
By the sixth book, things have taken a major turn: the newly-resurrected Lord Voldemort demands that Draco assassinate Albus Dumbledore, or die in the process (which is what he's probably hoping for, according to Draco's mother). Draco's mother, in desperation, goes to the Reverse Mole Snape and begs him to forge an Unbreakable Vow so that he would kill Dumbledore if Draco could not. Sure enough, Snape is the one who does the deed.
By the last book, he appears in the Room of Requirement with his cronies to stop Harry, Ron, and Hermione from... whatever it is they're doing (they're finding the last Horcrux, but they don't know it). One of his cronies turns on him and unleashes a Hellfire that ends up incinerating the whole room and killing himself. Harry goes and save Draco anyhow, which in turn saves his own ass later on. Nineteen years later, Draco is married (but not to his marginal school love interest) and has a son, Scorpius Hyperion Malfoy.

Crabbe and Goyle



Ravenclaws

Luna Lovegood


A Cloudcuckoolander of staggering proportions, probably because her father edits the Wizarding version of the "Weekly World News." Word Of God claims that she's the anti-Hermione, in that she's willing to put her faith in anything that comes her way. Though an oddball primarily used for comic relief, she is also one of Harry's most loyal supporters, forming a secondary Power Trio with Neville and Ginny that leads Dumbledore's Army in Harry's absence. Has an uncanny ability to speak aloud what others are only thinking.
  • Agent Mulder: Again, an inversion of the trope. Agent Mulders tend to prevail, but most of Luna's wackier beliefs are proven wrong, and Word Of God says she learns to be more skeptical in her adulthood.
  • Alliterative Name
    • Stealthily Punny Name: 'Luna'= 'Moon'. 'Moony' = 'Dreamy'. 'Lunacy' = 'Fullmoon-triggered insanity'. Those are obvious, with the right vocabulary. What takes the cake is 'Moon-eyed'. Not only are her eyes constantly wide, bulging, and unblinking in quasi-surprise, pointing to the usual definition, but they are described as "pale" and "silvery".
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Not her herself, but but how most Hogwarts students see her claims. "Yeah right, Luna. Nargles don't exist, now if you'll excuse me I have to go take care of my griffin."
  • Brutal Honesty
  • Cloudcuckoolander: As a Charm Point.
    • Also somewhat a case of Deconstructed Trope, as it is brought up that Luna faces the treatment that many real life Cloud Cuckoolanders face during the educational years. She has, for example, always been an easy target of teasing by other students, and before her 4th year, her only friend was Ginny. Neither of these facts seem to bother her especially much, though.
  • Conspiracy Theorist
  • Cute Witch
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: To say she is beloved by the denizens of the internet is...putting it mildly.
  • Hyper Awareness
  • Loners Are Freaks: Or rather the inverse of that; freaks are lonely. She got better by the 5th book, though.
  • Moe
  • Mysterious Waif
  • Oracular Urchin - Especially how her actress looks and portrays her. Lampshaded in that a future son is named Lysander, from the fairy-filled play, "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
  • Plucky Girl
  • Promoted Fangirl: Her actress, Evanna Lynch.
  • Sixth Ranger: Literally no. 6, counting the main Power Trio and first two members of her secondary trio (Neville and Ginny), Luna doesn't even get a name-drop until Book 5.
  • Strange Girl
  • We Need A Distraction: After the Battle of Hogwarts, Luna graciously distracts the crowd so that Harry, Ron, and Hermione can make a break for the Headmaster's office in peace.

Cho Chang


Harry's first crush, Cho is a popular, attractive girl and his opposite number on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team. A Love Triangle forms when she starts dating Cedric. She is torn up after Cedric's death and seems to become less popular as a result. She begins showing an interest in Harry and he has his First Kiss with her. However, he lacks the emotional maturity to help her deal with her grief over Cedric and they split up on bad terms.

Hufflepuffs

Cedric Diggory

Hogwarts Triwizard Tournament champion (In reader's POV, the other Hogwarts Champion), Cedric is an intelligent and talented Hufflepuff student. He believes in fair play and is very gentlemanly.
For more character analysis, go here.


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