I honestly feel the hate for canon Harry is a bit much. He has a good grounding to make an amazing character. JKR just was never able to flesh him out and ended up denying the huge potential of his character.

He was really quite intelligent and quite witty with his sarcasm. But he also had a darker side to him that was never detailed enough as it should have been. Harry's a survivor at heart but he could have been so much more if JKR didn't nerf him for plot. If he had only been more motivated to improve his skill with magic and a bit more aggressive he would have become a character I could really respect.

It might just be me, but I always feel disappointed with Harry when he doesn't put Draco in his place. Draco is a schoolyard bully at best, where as Harry is fighting against Voldemort, Death Eaters and a whole slew of other things. Or in book 6 when Hermione was being a condescending bitch. Hermione called him a cheater for following instructions in a textbook. Hermione does the exact same thing, Harry's textbook just has better info though.

Canon Harry is likeable at times, but other times I just have to shake my head at the stupidity. To me, if here were just a tad more motivated and aggressive he could have become something great.

Thoughts?

 

Congratulations! You have figured out DLP's POV on Harry.

 

DLP doesn't have a collective pov of Harry. Most of us interpret him differently. Some like the ending to DH, and thought it was justified, some didn't. Same thing with Harry.

That's why there's fanfiction.

We all wanna portray Harry the way we see him, and the way we want him to change. Because if there's no change, there is no fanfiction.

That said, I don't hate canon Harry. I have a lot of disagreements with him, but I don't hate him. His nobility and shit did tend to get in the way of some potential epic ass-kicker.

 

The only problem I have with him, to be honest. I like him well enough, overall.

 

What an odd thread. We've had plenty of these, I think, and you're not exactly putting up anything revolutionary.

Also, why do you end every thread you create with a tilde?

 

Well I'm not exactly on here constantly so I haven't really seen many threads like this. And I find others preferred portrayal of Harry interesting.

As for using the '~' I don't really know. The titles just feel bare to me sometimes. Just a tick I have, nothing really all that important.

 

He's an average wizard whose saving grace is his ability to react well under pressure. Or to get really lucky. I didn't like the transformation from reluctant leader into angsty martyr in the last 2-3 books. I'd have liked to see him continue on the route he was on in book 5.

 

At the end of the day, it never mattered that he was an average wizard (I disagree with this- To me, he was always a fair bit better than the average wizard, but that's neither here nor there), because at the end of the series, no matter how it was achieved, he won. Voldemort died and he lived. Who cares if he was average? Voldemort was insanely powerful, yet he died and Harry survived, and that's really all there is to it.

 

I keep trying to draw out the last syllable in my head. Canon Harryyyy~

 

Didn't we had this same thread a few months ago? Less then 6 months, I'm pretty sure.

 

There's nothing particularly wrong with wanting to revisit an old topic and see where it leads with the new blood.
You have 400 posts. I have 2. To me, this is brand new.

Anyway, Harry is a boring character surrounded by more talented and interesting people. He's bland, straight-from-the-fridge vanilla yogurt with no toppings. That's his deal and I think that's where most people's reaction to him comes.
A lot of people want that in their protagonist, because he's so bland it allows them to basically wear Harry like a suit and be him, since an argument can be made that they would react exactly as he did. I think I read/saw some report on most popular protagonists being that way to allow for that feeling of self-insertion.
The people that hate Harry tend to be not-as-average people, that know themselves well enough to know exactly what they'd do different and obsessive enough to be driven crazy by how much better they'd be at this whole 'Chosen One' business. Either that or they hate him to be Trolls.

Of course, these are all broad generalizations, none of which have to apply to any particular person in this thread. I'm a believer in the greys over the black and whites.
Personally, I'm not sure where I'd fall. I've always seen Harry as just a stupid kid, so I never thought of his actions as all that relevant. But I like him well enough. Like, if I had kids, I'd be 'cool, this is a boy you can be friends with. He's not too terrible an influence. Just don't follow him on adventures'.

 

Harry's whole penchant for normalcy (even in a wizarding context) seemed odd figuring that the Dursley's obsession with it should have repulsed him away from it. Even just a little.

Harry as a character concept could be great but the execution of it we got a rather bland protag hero worshipping a dubious authority figure. He kinda reminds me of Wesley Crusher tbh.