Does JKR want us to hate Draco? (was: Re: Admonishing Snape)

[pippin_999]

No: HPFGUIDX 129685

Betsy:
> If the only place to find out how a character should come across 
is  *outside* the text, has the author failed?  (Or, more
subversively, 
could JKR be yanking our chain with her out of the books 
commentary?)

Pippin:
JKR's interest runs counter to ours. She wants to hype the dramatic
tension, we are trying to resolve it. Suppose she wants to have 
Draco be redeemed, is it not obvious that he has to do something
seriously evil first? Slaughter the youngl-I mean, ickle Firsties, or 
blow up a planet or something? 

The main obstacle I see to redeemed!Draco is that he hasn't done
anything evil enough to make it dramatic.

I think a lot of the impetus behind Fanon!Draco is actually Fanon!
Harry. Canon!Harry is a tough, scrappy kid who's more than a bit
of a scamp -- he doesn't need a lovable scoundrel for a sidekick,
there isn't enough contrast. But there's a tendency in fandom to
see Harry as a lot more vulnerable and innocent than JKR portrays
him. That leaves the lovable scoundrel role open, and Fanon!
Draco was created to fill it. 


Pippin