Minerva McGonagall--DD's Right-Hand Woman or Truly a Secondary Character?

[nkafkafi]

No: HPFGUIDX 115504


> Siriusly Snapey Susan wrote:
> 
> Minerva McGonagall.  What do we know about her?
> <snip>

Neri:

I have one point I wanted to add, SSSusan: MM is one of seven "good"
wizards, all of them Gryffindors, who ever pronounced Voldemort's name
in canon. True, she only did so several times in the first chapter,
but that's already more than Hagrid, whom I also count among these
Incredible Seven and pronounced Voldemort's name only once. So this
criterion places MM as 6th from the top in the hierarchy of all the
anti-Voldemort heroes in the series. MM fans would perhaps make it 5th
now that Sirius is gone, and 3rd among the grownups, trailing only DD
and Lupin. I think this reflects JKR's esteem for MM.

I see MM as both DD's right hand woman AND a secondary character. IMO
there isn't a contradiction between the two. Even a character with
admirable qualities and a central importance to the plot may still be
undeveloped. True, we see MM a lot, but this is because she is an
important installation in the Hogwarts environment. Her character is
very well drawn, but still undeveloped relative to the stage time she
gets, and that's perfectly OK by me. You can't expect an author to
develop all the characters that are important to the plot or the books
would be three times as long (and besides, we have to leave something
for FF writers). That said, I won't object at all if JKR will manage
to add some depth or an unexpected twist to MM's character. Maybe the
"lion man" is her husband?

Neri