I don't know. He shows emotion occasionally, but I think we're meant to see it as "actions speak louder than words," like with his "saving people thing."

He had nightmares about Cedric dying, and he hated the time he met Ced's parents afterward. I think he cared about him. He cried and stuff in the hospital wing later, when Mrs. Weasley hugged him.

He went ballistic in Dumbledore's office when it had sunk in that Sirius died. It took him a good chapter or so to figure that one out, though. But then during the next book it seemed he didn't care at all.

As for Dumbledore...yeah, he didn't seem to care about that very much. Same with Quirrell, and eleven-year-olds shouldn't be murderers. (Don't get me started on how he should have been able to see thestrals way before fifth year.)

So we're left with the conclusion that Harry is an unemotional prat, yet his power "that the Dark Lord knows not" is love. This doesn't quite work, eh?

I personally think it's crappy writing on JKR's part. She just doesn't write the internal things very well.

However, if we leave her out of the discussion, I think that Harry doesn't care about killing people, but he would indeed shed a few tears if his friends died. He might lose control if something happened to Ron and Hermione. Or..ugh...he probably cares about the whore, too.

I suppose it's up to the fanfic authors to write Harry a proper mental breakdown.

 

Heh, that's the only possibility is it, JKR is a horrible writer? Ugh whatever, be original.

Alright, you know about all of those people speaking out against violence on TV and in video games, blah blah. Well, despite the fact that we really don't care, they do have a point. Exposure to these things leads to becoming indifferent to them. Harry has seen hardship his entire life, he has been exposed to mental/physical abuse (no matter how minor) for his entire life, and has seen death at a young age. I'm of the opinion that he has become callous to such things through exposure to them.

 

But the question is, what would cause Harry to have a hatred so deep for somebody that he would just flip out and destroy everything in sight? That, Surrarin, is very intruiging. I'm thinking of something along the lines of everyone that he cares about being tortured and killed in front of him while he is bound and helpless. But, really, BMM got it down pat. Harry, having seen and done all of these terrible things, has this casual indifference towards killing and violence. It's really quite disturbing, but incredibly interesting at the same time.

Say something happens to Harry that finally surpasses his breaking point, what would happen then? Would he flip out and destroy everything in sight, like previously stated, or would he curl up in a ball, cutting himself off from the world? At the end of OotP, when he trashes Dumbledore's office, is that him at his breaking point, or was he just having a period where he lost control? Is Harry the kind of guy that, when pressed hard enough, will press back, or will he just give up? I think that is an integral part to this question. We've seen Harry furious with his friends and screaming at them, but he feels terrible afterwards. Does that mean that he's learned from that experience and hardened himself to emotional outbursts?

Wow, this topic has really got me thinking...for the first time this summer, in fact. Thanks a lot, Surrarin. This is very interesting.

 

With the way JK wrote Harry's character, it gets difficult to predict his reactions. He sometimes overeacts to things, other times, like in Umbridge's case, he shows an infinite fucking patience.

Fuegodefuerza mentioned that he may have hardened himself against emotional outbursts, and it seems that way for awhile during the sixth book, but then, out of the blue, he falls madly in love with the whore, panics during the inferi attack, etc.

Maybe seeing people he knows die in front of him would make him snap (he seemed to increase his physical strength when he got pissed in Dumbs office, right? Didn't he splintered a table or something?) and go on a rampage, but that would lead to the question 'Does he really care about other people?'

He's unstable, that's for sure, and getting used to losing people he cares about won't make it better, but I honestly can't predict what would cause him to snap; either because of JK's poor character development or due to pure emotional chaos on Harry's part, he's unpredictable.

 

I made a topic like this for Dumbledore, but I agree that it is very interesting to look at it from Harry's perspective. You'd need to look through the books and find what seems to make Harry the most angry, then take it up a notch. He seems to go fairly insane on Dumbledore when he feels extreme guilt. Maybe he would crack, not so much if he witnessed the death of one or more of his closest friends, but if he was the cause of their deaths inadvertently.

 

Well, maybe if he was given a love potion and caught the girl who he fell for cheating on him, he might go insane with jealousy.

Or... hmm... this isn't an easy one, because of all the fics out there where Harry goes postal for far less than what we've seen in the books.

I think there have been a few periods in his life where Harry was close to the edge, with the catalysts being Cho (at various points but mainly at the height of his crush during GoF-OotP), Draco, Snape (especially right after he killed Dumbledore - Harry seemed quite angry at that point) and Umbridge.

As for the exact trigger... that's a bit tougher, I think.

-J

 

Well, guilt seems to override any other emotions that he should probably be feeling during these disasters, so I am going to have to say that Ron and Hermione die, and it actually is his fault.

Maybe, he leaves them behind in his horuxes hunt, and the next day the Burrow gets blown up by Death Eaters.

 

I think its whenever he is wronged or something he sees as him being wrong to a strong degree.

1. Cedric got his girl.
2. Even in death Cedric still gets his girl
3. Bellatrix took away his 'father'
4. Dumbledore took away his life.
5. Snape took away his only chance at survival

See a pattern? The worse it gets the closer he gets to snaping.

 

I donno. The way Harry was written he is almost emotionally subdued. It could be due to JRK's writing but its also possible that he is conditioned to not show emotion. I mean think about it... do you think the Dursleys will accept a temper tantrum? Or crying? It's possible that Harry just doesn't allow himself to get emotional because it will only bring more pain.

In the case of OoTP he was getting close to the breaking point. He screamed at Hermione and Ron and destroyed Dumbledores office. But in essence those were just tantrums rather than him going postal.

What would make him go postal? Imo it would be continued hardship and pressure over a long period of time, without release. Then he would just let it out in one emotional blast of wild magic, which destroys houses or something.

 

Maybe he actually can´t go postal at all. Like Dark Syaoran said, he gets angry when someone dies, then sad, then doesn't think about it again.

If he were to snap for being under constant pressure and not having the opportunity of letting it out, he would have by now, I mean, he already has six years of constant pressure on top of him; the tantrums in OotP don't count, in my opinion.

He's such a bland, emotionally repressed character that he's starting to remind me of Shinji, in Evangelion.

 

I think it probably would be if someone did insult his parent's, or Sirius.

If you remember he got furious in Prisoner of Azkaban, because Marge insulted his parent's. I think the reason he got so angry at the end of book five, was because Sirius had died.

Although I think if he'd been expelled, that might also make him lose it. The only reason he put up with the Dursley's, after discovering magic was because he had the escape of Hogwarts. Take that away and drag his parents reputation through the mud and I could imagine him cracking.

I don't think Harry is emotionally stunted, he just has imploding anger. He bottles all his feelings till it explodes, which explains all the accidental magic he does. Imploders seem to be emotionally cold but in truth are time bombs. Just one slight too far can push them over the edge.

Well that's all I can think of at the moment,

Litha

 

I agree with Litha and Suarrin, in that he bottles up all anger over small things, and sometimes bigger things, and he snaps when someone insults or if harm comes to those he looks up to.

-Like Litha said, book 3: Marge insulted his parents and he blew her up

-Book 5, malfoy insulted Mrs Weasley at the quidditch match, harry looks to her as a kind of mother figure, and Harry beats the crap out of him. One of the only times we see him physically attack another student.

-Book 5, Sirius is killed. Harry trashes Dumbledores office after trying to torture Sirius' Killer. If 'crucio' isn't lashing out, i don't know what is.

-Book 6. Dumbledore, his grandfatherly roll model is killed, harry goes one-on-one in a serious duel, for the first time, with snape. We already know that if snape was truly evil and harry didn't have the prophesy, Harry wouldn't be alive at the end of book six.

And just to emphasise on harry's attatchment to his parents/guardians: obsession with the mirror of erised (and the fact that his utmost desire is being with his parents), his three most prized possesions:his invisibility cloak, from his father; the marauders map, from his father/godfather; and the photo album full of pictures of his parents and godfather.


IMO, harry was raised without being alowed to cry out in the dursley house, and this stuck with him for most of his life. At the beginning of fifth year, he begins to realise the dursley's can't control him, and that along with the whole teenage puberty thing, makes him easily pissed off, especially when it comes to his parents. But before fifth year, we rarely see him show any signs of anger, resentment, hate or sadness, except when it comes to attacks on his role models. Any other times, he's either happy, or just cold and emotionless.

 

Maybe he temporarily loses control in those cases when someone insults those he's closer to, but I don't think that's what Surarrin meant to ask in this thread.

I think he was asking about what would make Harry snap completely and go on a rampage, not the occasional burst of fury. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

Actually Harry snapped when Malfoy insulted HIS mother. I can't remember the exact wording but he was helping to keep F&G back until Malfoy threw in a part about his mother.

 

Something about his Mom living in a hovel.

I think it would just be his mother; his Dad has been insulted more times that I can count and he takes it in stride. Either Sirius or his Mom; maybe his mental stability.

 

Maybe he doesn't react to his father being insulted because its snape usually insulting him and he wont hit a teacher?

 

I have to agree with a great deal of the posters, but I disagree with Litha and Surarrin. Harry would not go ballistic if someone insulted his parents. The Dursleys probably deadened him to that one a long time ago. Not to mention, Draco does it all the time in both fanon and canon.

And my belief is that if he lost all the things precious to him in canon (the whore, broom, photo album, Hedwig, etc...) he would blow up. I'm not talking "Dumbledore's office" blow up, I'm talking "destroy half the fucking school" blow up. I don't doubt for a second that Harry will eventually be that powerful.