A colossally unlucky kid, a pretty good wizard, and someone with a vastly underrated sense of sarcasm.

 

Also it's kinda subtle and might be a by-product of him being the necessarily bland POV, but Harry has issues with empathy. Well, maybe not empathy, but he isn't actually that compassionate of a person.

 

I'd have to disagree. The man allowed himself to be killed in order to spare everyone else. If that isn't an act of compassion then I'm Jesus.

 

He didn't let himself be killed to spare everyone else, or at least that was not his primary reason. He let himself be killed because it would take down Voldemort. Secondarily he did it because people close to him were dead and that hurt him personally. That's not a Jesus like gesture, where you give up yourself for literally every human being in existence.

In "real" life Harry's stream of consciousness shows that he's quite apathetic towards people being hurt, as long as they're the "right" people (i.e. not his friends). He in fact has a bit of a cruel streak; in PoA he's more than fine with Sirius and later Peter being Kissed, even after experiencing how horrible just being near Dementors is and having Lupin explain how much worse being Kissed is. He doesn't actually spare Peter's life out of mercy, he does it to prove Sirius' innocence.

My point being that he's not the sweet flower child portrayed in some fanfics, and he's quite vindictive when you get him going. His saving people thing is more of a saving his friends thing, though he gets better all of a sudden in DH (to be honest, even I would probably not waltz past while dozens of Muggleborns are being carted off to their incarceration/deaths).

 

Lol Harry scarifcing himself to take down Voldemort did mean the same to him as protecting everyone and you seem to forget that Harry's sacrifice did seem to protect everyone at the Batlle of Hogwarts even Slughorn and Kingsley eventhough he wasn't close to them and certainly didn't love them.

IIRC Harrys primary reason for sparing Peter was to spare his fathers best friends from becoming murders if that isn't compassion than I don't know what else is.

You also seem to forget that Harry never tried using lethal curses even against Death Eaters for which Lupin shit all over him or how he even showed compassion with fucking Voldemort telling him he could just give up the final battle show regret for his misdeeds and repair his broken soul despite knowing that Voldemort would kill himself if he just attacked him.

Or that he tried rescuing Hermione from the troll even though they weren't friends yet or telling Cedric the clue with the dragon so he would't die or 1000 other examples.

Harry could occasionally be vindictive but only under extreme stress for example his Crucio on the Death Eater or when he hated the other person iirc he said something along the lines of not minding if Snape died from the DADA curse which are still only words and we can't say if he truly meant it.

Harry wasn't a Saint but to not call him compassioned? Either you read too many fanfictions or smoked a pot of weed.

 

Your definition of compassion seems to be caring about everyone and everything. From what you are saying, nobody in this world is compassionate because I doubt everyone would put other people in front of their own family - Harry is no different. Saying how he has no compassion because doesn't spare the indirect murderer of his parents by the kindness of his heart is ridiculous.

Harry apparently only caring for his close friends and family isn't apathetic and uncaring at all. You should read those words up in the dictionary (not trying to bash/flame you, just letting you know about the exact words you used).

His primary reason for getting killed by the resident Dark Lord may have been to get rid of the horcrux, but the reason for that was so that no one else could die. Harry didn't have to go to his death, he could have just continued fighting, but he chose otherwise. For that act of love and selfless sacrifice, everyone at Hogwarts was protected from Voldemort. If he was as apathetic and uncaring as you say he is, the magic would never work.

My Jesus comment was an alternate metaphor to 'if this is the case, then pigs will fly'. In this case, if Harry isn't actually caring, then I am actually Jesus.

Back to the topic at hand, Harry Potter was one of the most compassionate characters in the series. His driving force was compassion, rather than revenge. He seemed to always think ahead - 'How many more people will die? How many more will die on my behalf? It's too dangerous for people to be around me.' (Not actual extracts, before you point that out) His only real act of revenge was his Crucio against Bellatrix, he basically snapped at that point.