And it really irks me a lot.
Update: Man, I have gotten tons of great responses here and a lot of activity. The comments section turned out way better than Reddit. Thank you all! <3
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I would like to highlight Harry’s character development throughout the series. Although he made several questionable choices in GOF, OOF, and HBP, we should consider that he is a teenager throughout most of the series. Teenagers, umm, well, aren’t great decision-makers. As a teenager, I mostly acted mainly on impulse instead of rational thinking.
And talking about individuals defending themselves, not all perspectives find a receptive audience. A perfect example is in OOF, when Dumbledore testifies before the Minister of Magic about Voldemort’s return. His statements are met with scepticism and disbelief, mirroring a similar experience Harry had trying to convince others at Hogwarts.
If you want to share counter-examples, I’d be happy to hear them.
Nobody ever explained anything more than the likes of “Voldemort’s back! You have to believe me!” If anyone actually gave account or explained anything at all, the good guys would have a lot more allies than they do. Hell, actually talking is how they convinced a bunch of people to let Harry teach them dark arts defense in Order of the Phoenix. It seems that actually talking is how every good event happens, and that not talking is how every bad event happens.
Examples? You can’t go on a rant and then not give examples.
Hey look, there it is again in the one I’m at now. Hermoine to Potter: “What’s wrong with your hand?” Potter: “Nothing.” (This was the Dolores torture). Hermoine actually finds out, which is refreshing. “You’ve got to tell Dumbledore.” Harry: “No. Dumbledore’s got enough on his mind right now.” Freaking stupid, Harry.
This “is anything happening?” “No, nothing.” exchange with Potter is constant in this series.
Dude the ball tops of my thigh bones were literally sliding off the bones (they failed to fuse for me) in middle school. I was limping and would have insane attacks if pain when they moved a fraction of a millimeter.
Parents, teachers, friends: what’s wrong? Me: nothing
Kids hiding bad things is the most real part.
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People hide important things for dumb reasons in the real world, but it’s unsatisfying, lazy and overused in fiction. Especially in HP.
Dumbledore thought Harry was a Horcrux mate, he was avoiding him since the start of the year.
Sirius’ death is a pretty obvious example
I call it “plot by stupid” but TV tropes calls it idiot plot. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/IdiotPlot
Tbh, it’s always kinda confused me why hp got such acclaim. They’re decent books! I enjoyed reading them several times. However, I wouldn’t call them hallmarks of fiction or anything.
I say this with as much respect as possible – which is very little (if I am honest) – but do you not understand how fiction works?
If characters in a story – any story – reacted how most people would it would be BORING AS FUCK.
The entire point of heroes, or protagonists, or whatever they are called, is that they don’t react like normal people would.
If they did they wouldn’t be heroes. And then we wouldn’t have a story.
If Romeo and Juliet had behaved like sensible adults then no one would ever have heard of them because they would have waited until they were grown up and then run away together. But that wouldn’t have made a good story.
If Luke Skywalker had any fucking sense he would have stayed home and not got involved. But then he wouldn’t have been a hero. Also he’d have been killed by The Empire. But that’s beside the point.
Anyway.
- You don’t have any imagination
- Why the hell are you attributing your claim to heroes specifically? What does that have to do with anything?
- Man have you not seen a lot of fiction. People react realistically in a ton of them all the time, including kids shows like Avatar: TLA and Steven Universe
- My novel has people reacting realistically the entire way through, and it’s a science fantasy
- Luke Skywalker acted realistically. He wanted to leave and join the fucking resistance like his friends. Just like a lot of real-life people would, especially the oppressed. Hell, how many people did 9/11 cause to join the military? Hell, how many people join the military without having suffered tragedy?
1 – I have a surprising amount of imagination. More than I need, to be honest. 2 – Because villains CLEARLY don’t react to events with the reactions of “normal, sensible people”. If villains reacted with common sense, then they wouldn’t try to blow up the fucking world every two minutes. They would talk it through. They would sit down with the good guys, or go to therapy. 3 – See 1, but substitute “fiction” for “imagination” 4 – Good for you. I am sure your parents are very proud of you. Unless you’re an orphan, then I apologise for bringing up your parents. 5 – Luke wanted to join The Empire, not the resistance. What do you think “Transmit my application to the academy” meant? He was signing up to be a good little fascist just like all the other fascists.
