Albus Dumbledore is a very popular character that fans love, but should we really love him? In my opinion, no, we shouldn’t. Dumbledore is a manipulative man who treats his family poorly, and uses people for the “greater good.” He might have saved the world from Voldemort and from Grindelwald and made many academic achievements, but in the end he is just not a good guy. One example of this is the way he treats his brother and sister. Now, some might argue that he was just a teenager at the time, stuck with a lot of responsibility for his age, but at one point he put all of that responsibility on his younger brothers and ignored both of them. There’s a difference between him not being a good figure for his younger siblings and completely leaving them high and dry. Then, perhaps the biggest reason I dislike Dumbledore so much, is the way he treated Sirius Black. For twelve years he knew that there was an innocent man in a dreadful prison. He knew how loyal Sirius was to the Potter family and he let him rot in Azkaban and let his godson and the whole world believe that he was a criminal. Even after Sirius got free, Dumbledore kept him locked up in a place that represented all of the childhood trauma he went through. There was also a similar situation with Harry, who lived in an abusive household in a small cupboard under the stairs. Dumbledore knew all of this, because Harry’s Hogwarts letter was addressed to the cupboard, but kept him there, isolated and treated like vermin for eleven years, then continued to send him back there every summer. The Dursley’s couldn’t have been the only option to keep Harry safe, yes living there protected him, but he also would’ve been safe at Hogwarts or with a trusted member of the Order, but no Harry was forced to go through that. Dumbledore didn’t even step in when Harry was hit or forced to do chores. The Dursleys were terrified of him, you can see that Petunia reacted from the Howler he sent in Order of the Phoenix, they would have been scared enough to do whatever he said. All in all, Dumbledore is a toxic character who might’ve been a martyr, but nothing more.
Severus Snape
In the end of the series, Snape grew a lot. He was given a back story and a redemption arc, and his iconic quote, “Always,” became very well-known. Snape’s popularity grew as well, and like Dumbledore, I can agree that he was a turning point in the war, but is he a good person? That’s a fairly complicated question with an even more complicated answer. Snape wasn’t always a bad person, but the reasons JK Rowling gave for him turning bad were absolutely terrible. He was bullied and the woman he loved didn’t love him back, but whose fault was that? Snape was bullied by the Marauders because he wasn’t a likeable person, is that a good excuse? When Harry saw Snape’s memories through the pensieve, we see a scene between him and Lily where it’s made clear he was hanging out with future Death Eaters, pure-blood supremacists, and other terrible people. In his school years, he wasn’t just a victim. This, however, does not excuse the behavior of James Potter, a subject on which there’s a lot of controversy.
Many people argue that just because he was the protagonist’s dad doesn’t mean he was good, they back this idea up with how he bullied Snape. James was a kid who was simply jealous of Snape, so he lashed out. He had loved Lily for so long but constantly faced her rejection, he couldn’t see why on earth Lily would choose Snape over him, especially when Snape was hanging out with such bad people. And we can’t just look at how James bullied Snape, we also have to look at how he treated his friends. For one thing, he took Sirius in after he ran away from his parents. He also spent years trying to find a way for Remus not to be alone on full moons. He didn’t care that his best friend turned into a wolf once a month, he only cared about finding a way for him to not feel so alone, and he succeeded. He was a jealous, arrogant, teenager, who made a huge mistake, but he was also a good friend. And better yet, he grew up; Snape never did. More than the Death Eaters Snape hung out with, you can see the kind of person he was, reflected in the way he treated Lily. He called her a mudblood when she only tried to stick up for him, which shows that his pride was more important than the person who always stood by his side. He can blame James for taking Lily away from him, but Lily was strong and independent. She chose James because she saw the way he treated his friends, and she saw the way he changed, the only thing she got from Snape was betrayal and pettiness. Even as an adult he used his school experience as an excuse. James bullied him over a decade ago so that gives him the right to bully his son. He also becomes a bully to everyone, to children. He was Neville’s greatest fear, and he often threatened his students, students for whom he should be looking out, as their teacher. Does his difficult past excuse all of his future behavior? Even as Dumbledore’s spy, it wasn’t his choice, he had made an agreement with Dumbledore. He only cared about Lily’s safety, the sole reason he switched sides. The fact remains, the war never would’ve been won without him, but he was still a harmful bully.
Albus Severus Potter
That is what Harry named his third child and Merlin does that make me mad. Harry names his son after a man who manipulated him and stood by as he was abused throughout his whole childhood, and also after a man who hated and mistreated him and his friends for six years. JK Rowling completely disregards Remus Lupin and Rubeus Hagrid, both parental and positive figures in Harry’s life. She also leaves out any of Ginny’s family, Molly and Arthur, parental figures to both Harry and Ginny, and Fred who died in the war, along with Regulus, Moody, and Tonks. There were countless people who meant so much to this couple who were just brushed to the side for the two most toxic characters (other than Umbridge) in the entire series.
The Patil Twins
The problem with these characters comes out during the Yule ball when they are dressed in formal Indian clothing. Now, there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that until we actually see the gowns they wore. Their costumes in the movie were very simple, and completely inaccurate because in reality, Indian formal-wear is intricate with beautiful details, not basic dress robes that look like t-shirts.
Dean Thomas
Even he as a character with a larger role, is barely given any time. With the inaccurate representation that shows very clearly that they were just thrown in there specifically to be minorities’, none of them even play main characters. On top of the lack of representation, JK Rowling has made some severely transphobic tweets that she claims were all just misunderstandings, but still caused the cast of Harry Potter to speak out against her. With her terrible representation in her books, are we really supposed to believe that she’s an ally?
Now for the big question: Should we even be reading Harry Potter at all? The series was written by a problematic author, who declines to include any LGBTQ+ characters and writes only four POC characters. Cho Chang, a Chinese, stereotypical smart girl, has a very racist name. Her name is Korean even though she is meant to be a Chinese character, and the naming of this character was obviously ignorant, filled with the assumptions that all Asian cultures are alike. Would reading the stories mean we are unconsciously transphobic? Daniel Radcliffe puts it best, “To all the people who now feel that their experience of the books has been tarnished or diminished. I am deeply sorry for the pain these comments have caused you. I really hope that you don’t entirely lose what was valuable in these stories to you…. And in my opinion, nobody can touch that. It means to you what it means to you and I hope that these comments will not taint that too much.” The story means what it means to you. For many people like myself, they grew up with the Harry Potter series and fell in love with it. It means a great deal to me, as the books that got me into reading, and while I despise many of Rowlings’ shortcomings, I still cherish the series. Why would she have the right to take away something as special as the Harry Potter universe?
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