Look Gia and percyfan, I haven’t read all of your posts but clearly you do not get my points AT ALL.

1. Percyfan, are you saying that “Quidditch Through The Ages” is essential reading for all? Because frankly I do not wish to subject myself to J.K.Rowling’s indulgent crap ever again. And whether you like it or not, Harry Potter 1, a horribly flawed novel, remains in the Harry Potter canon. You cannot discredit whatever happens there and so I’m free to criticize any unrealistic event in that book.

Gia, I can list at least dozen of football academy in England, Spain, France etc that start training players for profession leagues at the age of 11. Considering J.K.Rowling’s background, she obviously took some ideas from football as a sport. You obviously do not know the intensity with which sports fans regard the game and how far one has to go if one wants to be even remotely good at a sport. But once again, what I have problem with isn’t the fact that Harry doesn’t take Quidditch seriously. But the fact that despite his lack of seriousness, he manages to excel right away in an environment where other kids have acquainted themselves with the sports years before him and have even tried to play it before. In real life, a kid at the age of 11 who has never heard of football would take months and a lot of obsessive training to look remotely OK at it.

By the time Harry stops caring for Quidditch because Voldermort etc, his status as a hero Seeker has already been established in the books. Why can’t you understand this simple point? J.K.Rowling can write another series about Quidditch, but it was obvious that her main intention in creating the sports was for Harry to have an environment in which he looks like hero, even though his succeed reeks of plot devices. Of course, when she started writing book 4 or 5, the same thing where the protagonist struggled for a little bit before emerging victorious would have gotten old. She’s not exactly stupid enough to not have changed it up.

2. Are you being deliberately obtuse? Obviously J.K.Rowling is not enough of a simpleton to not succeed in deceiving you. The whole point system renders any speculation impossible. It’s simple mathematics: if Gryffindor has A points at the start of the morning, then in class:

(A) Transfiguration: Suzy-first year earns 10 points, Tom-first year loses 5 points, Jake-first year earns 5 points, Annie-first year loses 10 points all because of a few flicks of the wands.
(B) Defenses Against Dark Art: Harry-fifth year earns 20 points, Hermione earns 10 points, some doofus like Neville loses 10 points maybe for doing something clumsy
(C) Divination: Mickey- 4th year loses 5 points, Annie loses 20 points, Kim earns 5 points

The list goes on and on and on and on and on and on.

Do you see? Just observing the way the points get won and then lost in one morning can make your head spin. Hogwarts has existed for thousands of years, of course its students would know not to assign dramatic reasons to the number of points.

Quit yapping about book 1. I know what happened. That was the only instance when they could tell what tipped the scale because everybody was in the same room and doing the same thing, which was listening to Dumbledore talk.

4. The matter is not with Harry Potter being an ordinary human being. The matter is that Harry Potter being an ordinary douchebag while getting sold as a hero. I literally have to reiterate my point every time I reply because you seemed to not have read it at all. Of course a lot of people can relate to him, but most of people, and I’m not exaggerating, are douchebags.

Do you know how often date rapes happen?
Do you know how often a child suffers from abuse from his/her parents?
Do you know how often a person cheats on his/her significant others?
Do you know how often a person in general commit a cowardly and petty act?
If you look at any person, I can guarantee you that that person has done something very regrettable in his/her life.

If you think that the average person is good, then I’ve got news for you. J.K.Rowling wanted to write an everyday Joe? Fine, but punish him harshly, put him through shit, give him unbearable amount of loneliness and maybe let him do his heroic act without anybody knowing it. Because that’s what life is. You won’t become a hero just by circumstances. I’m sick of this trope because it reinforces the idea that without an almost superhuman strength of character one can become an incredible human being. It’s not true. Just like in the case of J.K.Rowling, even though kids bought her books and somehow ate them up, she won’t ever be regarded as a great writer. Any strength that Harry possessed came from the fact that he had no other choice: either act like a hero and risk death or act like a coward and guarantee death.

I have pointed out plenty of instances before, percyfan. Do not force me to rewrite everything.

But he is a typical hero, don’t you see that percyfan? How many instances can you find in Western culture of story-telling where a nothing special guy stumbles into a bizarre circumstance and rises up to meet the hero-standard and saves the day? That’s why it’s particularly tiring to read about him.

5. Okay, it was my idea to put Draco as Harry’s friend. And the person who suggested this simply said that it would make the books more interesting and I agree. So let’s argue about whether it’ll make the books more interesting or not.

I agree that it’s not an unique idea, but hardly anything is in literature, everybody gets influenced by some other writers.

One of the main points that I put out here was that Draco was the only developed character in the Harry Potter verse whose thoughts didn’t revolve around Harry. Everybody was obsessed with either helping Harry or killing him. Which is highly unrealistic because human nature dictates a very high amount of narcissism, regardless of the circumstances. No one would ever think “fuck you Harry. I have my own business to take care of” except Draco, which would make it a very realistic portrait of a friendship.

Gia, please read again the part about “what could have happened” and “what happened”.

If you just read again the part in The Deathly Hallows where Dumbledore praised Harry to high heaven. And if you think that one book can discredit Dumbledore’s judgement. During his youth, his hubris and love for Grindelwald temporarily made him foolish. Yes, he did make an unforgivable mistake during this time, but since then, his mind had achieved a state of unheard of clarity. He himself dictated the events of the books. J.K.Rowling didn’t mean anything deeper when she had Dumbledore extolled Harry’s virtues. His intelligence was enough to guarantee that she expected what he said on this matter true.

6. He was hardly abused. Uhm. I beg to differ. Any psychologist would categorize the Dursley’s treatment of Harry as emotional abuse.

Here are the signs of emotional abuses, you can google it:

“Constant belittling, shaming, and humiliating a child.
Calling names and making negative comparisons to others.
Telling a child he or she is “no good,” “worthless,” “bad,” or “a mistake.”
Frequent yelling, threatening, or bullying.
Ignoring or rejecting a child as punishment, giving him or her the silent treatment.
Limited physical contact with the child—no hugs, kisses, or other signs of affection.
Exposing the child to violence or the abuse of others, whether it be the abuse of a parent, a sibling, or even a pet.”

Any question? Or do I have laboriously start quoting passages in which the Dursleys do these things to Harry?

Once again, I said clearly that I did not expect everyone who had suffered from abuse to have mental illnesses. But to give Harry Potter struggle with one would have been very realistic and encouraging to people out there who do too. And if you think that having mental illnesses after having been abused for years indicates a lack of strength or that thinking that person who has been abused for years might have mental illnesses is insulting, then you need to check yourself. Google up ableism.

7. I wish. If I could see Harry Potter as an intentional antihero I’d have burst a gland in rage. If an antihero escaped all those ordeals and got regarded as a hero in a kid’s book, then I must say with even more certainty that Harry Potter is the Antichrist.

Read the report cards again. Even though they both passed the same numbers of subjects, if you compared the scores themselves, you would see that Harry got most of his higher than Ron’s. Say in a class where the passing mark is 5. And you passed 10/12 subjects with the scores of 6 and your friend passed the same numbers of subjects with the scores of 8. Would you say that you and your friend was equals academically? Don’t be absurd.

Right, point out ONE thing Ron was better than Harry, while Harry trumps Ron in everything else. How many times do I have to reiterate this? J.K.Rowling is not stupid enough to not be blatant in her attempts to turn Harry into a banal hero on the shoulders and at the expense of his friends. She would always make one concession now and then. But make no mistake, she didn’t do so in order to create an universe that would reflect the reality but rather mask her clumsy intentions to write a few feel-good books that ended up having harmful effects.

8. Let’s drop this, because I have no energy to explain again about the point system, Quidditch flaws, and many other plot holes that I’d have to find those forsaken books for proofs.

9. Right.

Listen, what do you think that the centaurs did to Umbridge which traumatized her so much? Did you read the part where Ron made the hoof noises that jolted her up and sent her into panics? Do you think that in that circumstance, Umbridge would’ve tried to resist the centaurs or submit to them in order to mitigate the physical harms? A lot of victims of rapes don’t receive bruises or marks because they submit right away so they have to get rape kits to collect evidences of the crimes.

You’re crazy if you think that J.K.Rowling, so well-versed in the folklores, would turn away form the tradition for no purpose. Rape exists in subtext. But it still exists. And Hermione left Umbridge in the woods despite having read a lot about magical creatures and knowing that centaurs would commit rape in this case. She even laughed at Umbridge afterwards. She was obviously not contrite and condoning rape and violence in the case where someone inconveniences her.

And Umbridge suffered from trauma. I don’t know what you’re think. Do you think that a mentally ill person would go around screaming or something? Loads of people with depression/bipolar disorder/PTSD/etc go on with their days without anyone detecting anything wrong.

Now, you would agree with me that in real life if a girl permanently disfigured another one because she got betrayed, she would have to face criminal charge, wouldn’t you? The whole thing just stinks of hypocrisy. If a bookworm commits a crime, he/she’s a criminal. Point blank. What she did to that girl was unforgivable and just horrific.