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

[cubfanbudwoman]

No: HPFGUIDX 115537


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?


SSSusan:
Fun post, Neri!  Your point that it's NOT necessarily a contradiction 
to be both DD's right-hand woman *and* a secondary character is 
valid.  I certainly didn't make my "either/or" polar opposites, did I?

How did you rank *within* your "Incredible Seven" who've spoken 
Voldemort's name?  By the number of times they've said "Voldemort," 
or by some more subjective means?

I am especially interested in the thought of "lion man" being Mr. 
McGonagall. ;-)  I'd, not very creatively, figured it was Godric 
Gryffindor.

Siriusly Snapey Susan