Hagrid (was: Re: Snape and Neville)

[Susana da Cunha]

No: HPFGUIDX 113559

> Tonks:


> Ah.. now what have you got against good ol' Hagrid? He is a

> sweetheart.. good natured .. not the sharpest.. but hearts in the

> right place.  What could anyone have against our buddy Hagrid? ??




Magda wrote:

"I liked Hagrid in PS/SS but I really think JKR made a mistake when

she made him a teacher.  He went from being a plainspoken, wise man

whose expertise wasn't in books to being a one-note joke who fumbled

lesson plans and introduced the kids to inappropriate "interestin'

creatures".

As a teacher Hagrid is much more one-dimensional and we don't get a

chance to see him at his best.  Frankly I just find him boring to

read now and I still can't believe we didn't get to see Ron's moment

of glory because we had to listen to some stupid story about going to

the giants for help.

And don't get me started on the Grawp subplot.  The big

Grawp-saves-the-kids moment was a total photocopy of the Flying Ford

Anglia rescuing the kids from the spiders in COS.  One of the few

times in the whole series when I felt cheated as a reader."

----------------



I don't think Teacher!Hagrid is one-dimensional at all, not even *much more*
one-dimensional. I agree the Grawp subplot was booorring, but that's because
giants are booorring! The way Hagrid acted in regard to Grawp reminds me of
the way Hermione acts regarding house elves. (I wouldn't have found it
boring to see that plot in house elves, I would have loved it!)

With a little luck, Hermione will teach Hagrid about giants and Hagrid will
teach Hermione about house elves. Tolerance and understanding of other races
fits poterverse like hand in glove.

But your analogy to Flying Ford Anglia is right on target! It was fun the
first time because they were children. At the age of 15 I'd expect they
would get out of a mistake that could have cost them their lives by their
own efforts and not by a fluke of luck. I was disappointed (not cheated, no)
but mostly I was scared. If Harry vanquishes Voldemort by luck I...



Susana

-- hoping she'll never need to verbalize that thought!