Does anyone else feel Harry was weak protagnist compared to the likes of Dresden, James Bond? For one he is afraid to kill unlike them. He isn't ruthless to his enemies like them.

 

He isn't an adult like them.

 

Harry may have been averse to killing, as was Dumbledore, but towards the end in Deathly Hallows he was willing to throw an Unforgivable or two about bar the AK for obvious reasons.

Anyways, this thread operates under the assumption that the desire or the capacity for a character to kill another equates to a sign of strength in the protagonist which elevates them above others, which is quite frankly, bullshit.

 

Depends on what kind of protagonist you think are 'strong'. You seem to favor more heavy-handed protagonists, so Harry naturally would be found somewhat lacking. Not that Harry doesn't have his ruthless and even vengeful side, his last words to Umbridge in OoTP and plenty of moments in DH show that.

As for me, I don't really like Harry that much but the overall story compensates for that.

 

The fact that he is not ruthless does not make him weak at all. His unwillingness defines who he is, as it did to Dumbledore. You could argue that he is a weak protagonists in the way that he really is just a little above average at magic, but because he won't kill? That's just plain stupidity.

 

Thats just one trait I mentioned. Harry also is average wizard, embarrasses himself in front of women, does not see beyond black and white, has no independent thought process(He basically listens to what Dumbledore, Hermione says without questioning them), forgives too easily (Ron).

 

Man...brace yourself for the shitstorm your comment will bring.

 

Woah. Hey guys, this thread seems to be operating in a time warp, its 2003 all up in here.

Harry is an above average wizard. This is proven by his mastery of complex spells early on in his life, the multiple times he's come out on top in fuels against people far older and more experienced than him and the fact that despite barely trying receives above average marks. Never mind the fact that he became an auror which would take a certain amount of skill.

I'm not going to dignify the comment about women with an answer as you've clearly never tasted the poon.

He sees beyong black and white plant as is shown while he's tossing around the cruciatus curse for shots and giggles in DH.

He told Lupin to go fuck himself in DH too, so he can be fairly independant.

You believe that forgiving too easily is a bad trait? Heeding advice from people wiser than yourself? You think that because Harry doesn't rock dual wands with a badass Mohawk that he's weak?

Either you're fourteen or retarded.

Possibly both.

 

Pretty much all that needs to be said. Pretty much everything "wrong" with Harry as a protagonist boils down to the fact that he's still a kid, and generally handles things the way a semi-ordinary kid would when thrust into such insane circumstances.

 

It's okay that Harry isn't ready to kill, I guess. The unforgivable part is that none of the good guys are. There apparently isn't a single person willing to get their hands dirty.

 

That's why they're good guys, zeel.

(And they're more than willing to kill for the record. Remus, Moody, freaking Molly weasley.)

 

No. You seem to overdose on shitty dark!Harry fics, OP.

And taking into account that in the Potterverse, killing when you have other options literally maims your soul, I'd say he's smart not to go around throwing AKs like they're going out of style.

 

Id have to go with yes he is but not because he's afraid to kill or any of those reasons but for the simple reason of he's so moody he reminds me of Sasuke Uchiha. He constantly has a ton of shit to worry about however he does nothing proactive and instead complains about it.

 

In a world with the Imperius, polyjuice and where the main antagonists' uniform includes a mask, the careless anti-hero who kills everything Death Eater shaped isn't the smartest or most moral guy around. The gritty anti-hero character may have once been a interesting novelty, but I'm honestly tired of it. Particularly the amateurish way that it's so commonly written (not only in fanfiction, unfortunately), just the superficial coolness of the anti-hero with none of the struggle that ought to come with tough decisions. Such as killing.

Give me an good heroic protagonist that do the things the hard and right way.

 

Would you say Harry's of stronger character than your spelling, OP?

 

Not wanting to kill people isn't a sign of weakness.

 

Doesn't necessarily apply to this conversation, but it reminded me of a quote.

 

The thing is, how good can the protagonist in this kind of story be before it loses all tension and suspense? A certain level of incompetence is required so that the protagonist and the story remain grounded and believable as opposed to boring wish-fulfillment. If you want readers to identify, there has to be something for the protagonist to struggle against, actually have a very difficult time against, in order to grow, again, believably, within the context of the setting provided.

Whether or not you think Voldemort was a good antagonist, I'd bet he would have been worse if Harry had been able to train his way to victory in seven years. How could anyone have believed he was a magical prodigy at that point?

EDIT: I could see Harry being something like an equivalent of what Dresden is to his world, at least magically, as an adult. But Harry Dresden, even as an adult, would probably still get his ass handed to him if he went up against someone like . . . Kemmler, say, with anything but an absurd amount of luck/deus ex, which is essentially what HP had.

 

Well at the minute Dresden would at the very least hold his own against Cowl. The great part about DF is he power ups slowly and realistically.

In storm front he would have shit himself when faced with Elder Gruff.

 

In Storm Front he would have died if faced by Elder Gruff.

In HP Harry is as strong as he should be. He's not some crazy prodigy or super wizard, one of the major points of the books was that strength itself isn't the most important thing. I always think back to the bit in Philosopher's Stone where Hermione says that Harry is the better wizard, there is more to it than just being good at magic.