Character complexity, cliches, 1/8 blood, and Binky

[saintbacchus]

No: HPFGUIDX 36071

Nyarth:

<<
"How complex are any of Rowling's other characters? Some
could argue, not very. A lot of the HP characters tend to
be two-dimensional caricatures. Very entertaining, but
not very complicated. Snape's a multi-faceted mystery now,
because we don't understand what motivates him, but once
this is explained, why should he remain anymore complex
than any other character in the book?" 
>>

Mmmmmmmm...she has a point about the characters being
entertaining but two-dimensional, to be sure. However, in
Snape's case, I think he'll remain complex. Or at least
conflicted. It's rather fascinating that he has been a
Death Eater, which implies a total lack of morality ala
Voldemort's own philosophy, yet chooses to honor his
life-debt to James Potter even though he despised James.
Yes, this could be explained away by a possible fear of
Voldemort's return, but I hope it won't be. I like my
characters emotionally crippled. ^_^


<<
But I do think she has a point to a certain extent.
Lupin is a were-wolf, on top of everything else he is,
and Hagrid is a half-giant. Do they escape walking
cliche-dom? Um, not really IMHO but we still love them
for it... right? Or wrong?
>>

I think Snape is much more of a cliche than these two
(if he is a vampire, which I heartily believe he is not).
Giants are supposed to be brutish and mean, and Hagrid
has definitely got heart. As for Lupin...well, I don't
know what werewolf cliches are, I guess.


Boggles:
<<
Yes, but barring the "Petunia is a Squib and at least
one of the Evanses was a wizard/witch" theories, Harry
still has two Muggle grandparents and qualifies under the
ancestors-theory. I can't make the simple
status-of-parents version fit either with Riddle's
comment, Ron's, or Ernie's, above.
>>

I bow to your superior book-learnin'. I like your
one-eighth theory; thus far, I've found the parallels to
real-world racial tension striking, and this fits very
well with that viewpoint.

Incidentally, I really love the idea that Petunia is a
squib, but I don't buy it. Sigh.

Wild speculation mode! Okay, so Lavender Brown's bunny
is named Binky, right? Binky the rabbit is also the hero
of Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strip. Is this a
coincidence or a clue? Talk amongst yourselves. ^_^

--Anna