Least Fave Characters

[Haggridd]

No: HPFGUIDX 19415

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., Magda Grantwich <mgrantwich at y...> wrote:
> I like most of the characters quite well as I think they fit snugly
> into their world and fill their roles (Best Friend - Male, Best
> Friend - Female, Wise Benevolent Grandfather Figure, etc.)
> wonderfully.
> 
> The characters I DON'T like are those that jar or take me out of the
> story.  Such as:
> 
> Winky: as someone (sorry, can't remember the name) said, it's Jar 
Jar
> Binks time.  She's just so irritating and I kept expecting her to 
say
> something about "birthin' babies".  I hope the other elves sound 
more
> like Dobby who has some great lines.
> 
> Rita Skeeter: I just could not believe that the Daily Prophet could
> be a regular newspaper for three books and then morph into a 
tabloid.
>  RS is not at all believable to me and I usually skipped quickly 
over
> any scenes that she was in.  
> 
> Lockheart: I had a hard time understanding why Dumbledore would hire
> him except for comic relief or to give Snape some dueling practice.
> 
> I also thought Madame Maxine's and Fleur's "French" accents were
> silly.  The French Canadians I know and work with don't sound
> anything like that, no matter how strong their accents are.
> 
> 
> 
I too dislike Rita Skeeter intensely, both as a character, and as an 
irritation in the furtherance of the story.  She seems to be grafted 
on to the saga, and not an organic growing character like the others. 
Perhaps this is because Rita was that necessary plot-hole filler that 
we all argued about earlier; I don't know.  I do know that I didn't 
enjoy reading here scenes, and that I didn't even care when Hermione 
trapped her in the bottle.  She is the worst character in the canon, 
IMHO.

I do like Winky and Dobby, however.  I don't perceive them as cutsey 
elves or Jar Jar Bink like at all.  I will admit that these 
characters, especially Winky, were vastly improved by hearing them 
speak, as interpreted by Jim Dale.  I understood Winky as a character 
far better after hearing Jim Dale's intonation.  They seem to be 
Earth magic, rather than the academic magic as learned by the 
wizards.  I have not yet gotten to GoF as read by Fry, so I cannot 
speak to his interpretaion. It is unfortunate that my understanding 
and enjoyment of the character was so dependent upon the hearing, 
rather than upon reading the book, but, IMO, the house-elves serve 
necessary plot function, appear natural, and do not have those cutsey 
qualities that so upset many of you.

Lockheart is fluff;  if he tickles your funnybone, he's funny, if not, 
he is dreadful.  He tickled mine.

I agree that the cartoon French accents of Mme. Maxime and  Mlle. de 
la Cour are two-dimensional in print, and, if anything, are made worse 
by hearing them.  It would have been better if JKR did not write their 
dialogue in dialect (" O, 'Arree.....)

I would like to add one character to this "least-loved" list:  
Karkaroff.  The same deficiencies that apply to the French apply to 
him.  His only function is to camouflage Crouch, Jr. as Voldemort's 
spy, and, like the Beaubatons ladies, his accent is even more dreadful 
when you hear Dale do it-- and by and large, I like the way Dale has 
interpreted the characters, even after hearing two and one half of the 
books read by Fry.  Perhaps, like many Englishmen, JKR just doesn't 
think much of foreigners, and it shows in her writing.  I mean that 
literally;  she doesn't put much thought into them.

Haggridd