• @NounsAndWords
    link
    1577 months ago

    I think it was just a contrivance to both make a sport for the books while also allowing the Main Character to automatically be the most important person all the time (like basically everything else in the books).

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      607 months ago

      Yeah the truth is that Harry is more or less completely useless at anything other than quidditch in the books. He’s just a symbol that actually talented people rally around

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        607 months ago

        Functionally, he’s good at being reliably moral. See: the mirror of erised, the second GoF task, going willingly to his death.

        • @[email protected]
          link
          fedilink
          367 months ago

          Reliably moral by traditional wizarding standards*. Hermione is more reliably moral by standards external to the wizarding world.

          • threelonmusketeers
            link
            fedilink
            English
            177 months ago

            Hermione blackmailed a journalist and kept her in a jar for several weeks. The following year she cursed a fellow student and left them permanently disfigured. I’m not sure that I would consider her more reliably moral… a good person overall, but with flaws.

            • @[email protected]
              link
              fedilink
              197 months ago

              Idk, just because she doesn’t turn into a human welcome mat doesn’t make her immoral. And Rita is as much a journalist as anyone on Fox News is, which is to say, not at all. Hermione recognized that nobody would do anything about Rita spreading her harmful bullshit and took direct, decisive action.

              • @NounsAndWords
                link
                27 months ago

                I read that part as a(nother) self insert for Rowling venting about tabloids which were absolutely writing about her at the time.

          • FenrirIII
            link
            67 months ago

            He’s kind of a dick though…

            • @NounsAndWords
              link
              17 months ago

              Fame went to his head for a bit there, then he got pissed that everyone had opinions about him…kinda like a certain author I know of…

      • @danc4498
        link
        English
        97 months ago

        Reading Enders Game after reading the Harry Potter series felt like those were two opposite ends of the spectrum.

        Harry was special because fate made him special and all things revolved around him regardless of his actions.

        Ender was special because the author said he was the smartest kid in the room and all things he did worked because if it didn’t work, then he wouldn’t be the smartest.

          • @CheeseNoodle
            link
            English
            57 months ago

            I always got the impression that Ender was better at overarching strategy but didn’t have Beans attention to detail and ability to micromanage. They both complimented eachother really well though Bean went very underappreciated.

            • @NounsAndWords
              link
              67 months ago

              I think that’s exactly how they described it in the book. Bean was like a surgical instrument, precise and perfect for those small details/strike teams, but not as great at the larger overarching tasks.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        67 months ago

        I mean, Ron isn’t exactly brilliant either. I guess that just leaves the authorial self-insert?

    • @namelivia
      link
      197 months ago

      This is the point, the entire thing is just so Harry can be the main character