Alright witches and wizards, now that the release of the first installment of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is just a few weeks away, I thought I’d break out the butterbeer and pumpkin juice and celebrate one of the greatest series of books in history, Muggle or otherwise…
Confession. I came a bit late to the Hogwarts Express. I read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in college and always planned to read the rest at some point, but Merlin’s beard people, those books are LARGE. It’s a commitment, and there were always so many other books and manuscripts that were pressing.
Well, this summer I received the boxed set for my birthday and plowed through those books faster than you can say “expecto patronum.” (By the way, my Patronus is a space monkey. In case you’re wondering).
When I read the series I was just stunned at Rowling’s talent, ambition, the depth of the world building, the immediacy of the characters, the attention to detail. To say I admire Rowling is kind of like saying Dobby sort of likes Harry. I kept putting down the books, looking at my wife, and crying, “It’s not fair. This is so good. It’s not fair.”
But rather than just talk about how awesome Harry Potter is (AND I COULD GO ON), I thought we’d delve a little deeper into some of the writerly things that make Harry Potter so great.
So stay tuned for a week of Harry Potter themed posts!
In the meantime, one of the more stunning things to me about Harry Potter, which I will talk more about tomorrow, is how much Rowling is able to accomplish with a third person limited perspective. With a few scattered exceptions, we’re only inside Harry’s head, seeing his thoughts, and seeing everyone else filtered through Harry’s perspective.
It’s astounding how many compelling, memorable, hilarious, and terrifying characters Rowling draws with that constraint. We know so much about what makes the other characters tick, and yet we’re never seeing their thoughts. Go look! Not a single “Hermione thought such and such.”
So. Before we delve into how she does it, let’s talk favorites.
Who is your favorite character??
jjdebenedictis says
Snaaaaaaape.
After the fourth book, I thought, "This guy isn't nice, but if he's doing what I think he's doing, then he's really brave."
Anita Saxena says
Nathan, this is an unfair question. It's like you're asking me who I love the most in my family. I love them all, I tell you. ALL. Each character is so developed, so rich. It's an amazing saga.
Beth says
Tonks!
Keira of LoveRomancePassion says
Weasley Twins… why oh why did Fred have to die?! I liked him best.
TKAstle says
Favortie HP character? Are you kidding? Asking me to choose one is like asking me to coose a favorite family member. Can. Not. Do. It.
They are all so complex and so flawed and so perfect. Just like real people. Just thinking about it makes me go, "Hagrid. No, Harry. No, Luna, No, Tonks, No wait, Dumbledore. And the twins. But what about….." You get the idea.
TKAstle says
Oh, and YAY for HP week at Nathan's place!
patlaff says
Snape, hands down.
Elaine AM Smith says
Snape – first, last and always.
Anyone could write Harry.
JK made me believe in Snape.
Hey Nathan, one job is so much easier than two; no?
Rebecca says
Oh, I JUST re-read the first book last week, this is wonderful timing!
And my favorites are the Weasley twins, and not just because they're fun, they're rule breakers, and the joke shop is awesome.
More than that, I love them because they are GOOD PEOPLE. Remember in the first book how they helped Harry with his trunk before they even knew he was famous, just because he was a kid who needed help? Remember at Christmas when they made Ron put on the sweater Mrs. Weasley made him ("Come on, get it on, they're lovely and warm.") and insisted that Percy join them for dinner ("Christmas is a time for family.")?
I just LOVED that the characters who were rule-breakers were also the characters with the deepest commitment to family values. Just blows me away how Rowling even made the minor characters so rich and wonderful.
Bryan Russell (Ink) says
Snape. Snape, Snape, Snape!
What a wonderful use of a character, both hero and villain. Think how dull so much of the school stuff would be without Snape… all that time, with Voldemort so often off stage, we have Snape. Ah, the ambiguity of that character… golden.
Emy Shin says
My favorite character used to be Hermione (and she is still my role-model!), but as I grow older, I can't help but fall for Snape. 🙂
Jenni B says
I sort of love Professor Trelawney. 🙂 She's so out of it. But my absolute favorite character is Dumbledore, especially when he's being cheeky.
Unrepentant Escapist says
Snape! It's always great to find people as bitter and psychologically messed up as I am in fiction.
Kristen Torres-Toro says
Ooh- this is going to be a great week!
Favorite characters: Kreature and Luna.
Stephanie McGee says
Fred, George, Hagrid, and Hedwig
Shayda Bakhshi says
Hermione! I love Hermione. Smart, strong, and awesome.
Also, Professor McGonagall. And the twins. And Luna. And Harry and Ron and Dumbledore and Sirius and […]
I saw JKR on Oprah, and she related this story about how a young girl in her twenties had just "bloomed out of the pavement" in front of her recently. The girl had said, "You are my childhood."
Too true. I started reading HP when I was eleven, same as Harry. The last one came out when I was 19. HP has always been more than a series for me–it was, to sound as trite-but-true as possible, my childhood.
Looking forward to this week's posts! 🙂
Angela says
I heard book 2 on disc in my car and almost drove off the road laughing about Gilderoy Lockhart. As a writer, this beautiful and devious hack gave me a certain wicked pleasure.
The Red Angel says
So glad you got the opportunity to finally read the HP series! I must agree, Rowling has an amazing way with characterization and does a spectacular job of creating the Wizarding World.
I'm disappointed though…I have yet to receive my letter to Hogwarts! D:
Well, besides the obvious one (Harry Potter), my favorite character is quite probably Luna. She's so quirky, and such a good friend!
~TRA
https://xtheredangelx.blogspot.com
M says
Nymphadora Tonks is by far my favorite character, partially because of how three-dimensional she feels in the story, and partially because of her unrealized potential within the series. And really, how cool would being a Metamorphmagus be?
She's quirky and easy-going, but at the same time, she knows what she wants and what she believes in, and she goes for it. She's a member of the infamous Black family, but she makes a name for herself separate from them. She's the half-blood daughter of a pureblood witch raised in a pureblood family, and she's a trailblazer. It takes a rare kind of courage to live with the kind of conviction Tonks had, and from the first time we see her, she's jumped off the page to me. I was devastated with the ending of Deathly Hallows.
ritaliccious says
Sirius was my favorite. I too read the set in record time. (2 weeks to be precise).
Spoiler Alert!!!
I fell in love with Sirius and was destroyed when he was killed. Absolutely a wreck. Couldn't speak about it without dissolving into tears. My fiance had to keep reminding me that I didn't really know him. And that he wasn't real.
Nandy says
Harry is the best. How can anyone pick another character as their favorite if they know Harry is there waiting to be chosen? Seriously, Harry is so special because he's real, vivid and caring. I mean, everything about Rowling's story is real and vivid, but Harry is just too great to tell. Well, I also like Molly Weasley in a weird way, she's the mom Harry never had and she's got it all.
Silver the Wanderer says
Long live Sirius Black! 😀
Looking forward to your posts this week!
Anonymous says
I'm seeing very few Draco Malfoy comments…and Fred and George! The former is the only one that is mentally involved in both sides (Snape is the wizard equivalent of a double agent but is always on the side of good in the series–there really should be a prequel actually) Fred and George are just witty and great characters!
Jenny says
Snape! By far the most engaging character. Is he good? Is he bad? (We all knew the truth!) The chapter dedicated to his side of things in Deathly Hallows had me bawling–Dumbledore's comment about sorting too early, the eyes! I'm so nervous about how they'll handle that in the movie…
Yay to Nathan for hosting a Harry Potter Week! I could participate in this lovefest forever.
Jenny says
Oh, and I'm with Emily about Ginny. She totally rocked! (Plus I'm partial to redheads named Jenny, I mean, um, Ginny)
Marilyn Peake says
Harry! Followed by Dumbledore, Hermione and Tonks.
Marilyn Peake says
… oh, and Mrs. Beasley. I think she's such an awesome Mom!
Liz says
I love Hermione. Probably because she reminds me so much of myself.
The role Rowling gave Neville Longbottom in the Deathly Hallows was absolutely brilliant.
Lyn South says
Severus Snape is my favorite character. The depth of the character, the internal contradictions… the question of whether he's a good guy or a bad guy (and I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't read the books and is only going through the films).
Another favorite "character" is the whole wizarding world itself. They didn't build a theme park in Orlando for nothing! 🙂
LeeAnn Flowers says
Fred and George. They're a two-fer. Their comic relief kept me cackling, particularly their parting gift to Delores in the fifth book. A spoiler slipped through so I knew what to expect in the end of the last book, but I still cried all the same.
Kristi Helvig says
Hermonie. Now I just need to find a spell to take back the Petronus you stole from me. 🙂
sally apokedak says
Fred and George were my favorites in all the books. And I loved Sirius and hated it when he died.
Khanada says
It's been awhile, and it's hard to pick a favorite, but I have to mention Snape. I wonder, though, if it would've been different for me if Rickman hadn't portrayed him. He would still be up there on my list, but I'm not sure I'd mention him first.
Harry, Hermione, and Dumbledore are all big favorites for me, too. (Did anyone say Ron? I just don't remember seeing him…)
From the films, I love Luna! Never noticed her all that much in the books, but I just love her in the movies!!
Really looking forward to this week!
Chassily Wakefield says
Harry, no question, despite all of the fantabulous characters in the books. I love them ALL (well, except Voldy, Umbridge, Pettigrew and a few others, LOL), but The Boy Who Lived holds a special place in my heart above the rest. Long live Harry Potter!
toni says
RONNIKINS!!!! He's my favourite character ever. I love his family, his humor, his loyalty, and how he makes mistakes sometimes but always tries to set them right.
Bascially though, I just have a thing for redheads.
Yay Harry Potter Week!!! 🙂
Michelle4Laughs says
No question. Neville. Poor tortured soul.
Kathryn Packer Roberts says
Oh man, I love them all. But I guess two of my favorites (besides Harry, of course) would have to be the twins, Fred and George. They are great! Very funny.
Haste yee back ;-) says
Maybe that's my problem… I write from Third Person Watching!
Haste yee back 😉
J. T. Shea says
NEWSFLASH! J. T. Shea has never read a Harry Potter book! A huge omission he intends to rectify. He HAS seen and vastly enjoyed the movies, and has started reading and greatly enjoying THE PHILOSOPHER'S STONE, which is THE SORCEROR'S STONE before it was translated into American.
J. T. has bought most of the Harry Potter books. But he reads dozens of books at a time and sometimes loses them in the stacks that fill the shelves and floors and tables and every other flat or slightly inclined surface in his house, where all the rooms are really libraries.
But Nathan, you WERE sometimes reading more than one book by the same author, even while still an agent! First Tolkien, now J. K. Rowling. How naughty!
Judging from the movies and the early parts of the first book, Harry is my guy. A kid on a great adventure to extraordinary places with extraordinary people. A kid who is himself both ordinary (understandable, accessible, comprehensible) and extraordinary (predestined but not predetermined). Like the young protagonist of my WIP in some ways, but not in others.
BTW, fellow commenters, thanks for the general absence of nasty putdowns of Harry and his creator, which are not unheard of in writers' circles. But no thanks for all the spoilers!
Becca C. says
Harry, because you have to love the point-of-view character. Draco, because he's so deliciously mean but has a really soft, human side too. And Snape, because he is the bravest character I've ever read. Snape really makes you think that if he could deceive the evilest wizard of all time, and fool our main characters as well, you can do anything xD
Adam Heine says
Severus Snape. I never for one second thought the guy betrayed anybody.
Well, anybody good, I guess.
Bethany Robison says
Professor Lupin. I liked that he was steady/supportive and mysterious/dangerous all at the same time. I hoped he'd take on a larger role in Harry's life in the 6th and 7th books, but, alas…
B.J. Anderson says
Sirius Black for sure. I was pretty broken up about his exit.
Marilyn Peake says
HaHaHa. Can't believe I said "Mrs. Beasley" … I meant "Mrs. Weasley". Have been a little too rushed and busy today.
Katherine Hyde says
Who do I love? Harry. Who do I identify with? Hermione. Who do I think is one of the most brilliantly drawn characters since Dickens? Dolores Umbridge. The combination of her cruel and creepy personality with her ultra-feminine style is SO disturbing! It's brilliant!
Dick Hannah says
Snape with little hesitation. There would have been no hesitation had a played a more pivotal role in the final book. I think she did the series a disservice by casting him in such a weak light in Deathly Hallows after he was such a large figure in Half Blood Prince.
Dick Hannah
http://www.puborperish.blogspot.com
Christi Goddard says
Lessee… enormous Snape tattoo on my leg, 350,000 words of fanfic, and a black cat named Snape. I'm going to err on the side of caution and say my favorite character is Severus Snape.
Though Remus Lupin is definitely second, then Lucius Malfoy third.
Shelli says
Choosing a favorite character is like trying to pick your favorite aunt or uncle at a wacky family reunion. In the end, I'd have to choose Snape. So loathsome, and yet so sympathetic at the same time. I loved the twist Rowling gave him at the end.
I agree that Rowling is fantastic, but you're missing a big point. One of the great things to see in her books is her progression as an author. That to me is inspiring, not overwhelming. Overwhelming is Markus Zusak's The Book Thief. 🙂
Mary E. Ulrich says
Prof. Dumbledore would be first followed by Mrs. Weasley, mom extradinaire.
Theresa Milstein says
Harry, Hermoine, Dumbledore, and Snape. You said four, right?
If I had to choose just one, it would have to be Harry.