The dynamic Snape (was: Twist JKR? )/ Which characters are dynamic?

[hickengruendler]

No: HPFGUIDX 141768

Hickengruendler:

I snipped a part of Alla's post, in which she stated, that most adult 
characters, including Snape are non-dynamic. I agree with this 
completely. I don't even think I would call Dumbledore or Sirius 
dynamic. Maybe some aspects of their personalities, but not all. 
 
Alla:

> Honestly , does anybody have any examples of dynamics through the 
> books in adult characters? because I don't remember anything else 
> right now.

Hickengruendler:

They are far and between. I would go even further and say that 
everyone, who is older as Harry (with this I mean years older, not 
simply months like Ron and Hermione) doesn't really change. The twins 
are certainly the same as ever. Percy got worse, but did he really 
change or was it just because the circumstances changed and his real 
personality shone through? (And by the way, I am still a firm 
believer that he will redeem himself in the end, and that the family 
bears some responsibility as well). Sirius I would put in the same 
category as Percy. His change mostly reflects the situation in which 
he is. It are simply different aspects of a character that sine 
through, and I wouldn't call it a real personality change. The most 
notable exception would IMO be Tonks in HBP, who basically changed 
her whole personality. But this was explained at the end of the book 
as her being love sick, and she did seem to be her old self again in 
the last chapter, wearing pink hair on the funeral, (which I would 
find inappropriate, if I didn't think, that Dumbledore would probably 
have liked it), therefore the change was only temporarily. Then there 
is, surprisingly, Barty Crouch senior, who in fact changed a lot, if 
we compare the cold-hearted man during the Death Eater trials and 
even during the interrogation of Winky after the Dark Mark appeared 
on the sky, with the broken man shortly before he was killed. 
Granted, he was weakened by the Imperius Curse, but he also seemed to 
really regret some of his past choices. And, well, he's dead, too. 
While McGonagall's overall personality did not change, her behaviour 
towards Trelawney certainly did. I would call this a development, 
even if it happened in very extreme circumstances. It was said, that 
James changed while growing up, but this happened completely off-page 
for obvious reason. We only heard about it, and he was a youth at 
this time anyway. But that's pretty much all I can think about and 
given the amount of characters, it's not much. But I do think JKR did 
this on purpose, because she wants to write about Harry and to a 
lesser extent his friends coming into their own. The grown ups are 
either guidance or hindrance or both, and for this their role have to 
be static. It's not by accident that with the exception of Draco, 
only the grown-ups have talking names. They are the ones, whose 
personalities are already fully formed, while the kids are not.

Alla:
 
> I think that Trio undergoes the most dynamiuc development and I 
> absolutely think that as of now those three are the most complex 
and 
> well developed characters in the books. They are changing every 
time 
> we meet them, their reactions  to the same events are changing. NOT 
> because we are guessing, but because we are seeing it, reading 
about 
> it.
 
Hickengruendler:

I agree again. Then I think there's Neville, who got also a pretty 
good development, particularly considering his change from "I'm 
nobody" to "He's not alone, he still got me" in OotP. Although we saw 
hints of his hidden strengths from the very beginning, he finally 
started to believe in himself. Ginny changed, too, at least in the 
regard that she become more confidant around Harry. But since I found 
her development pretty much abysmal, I'm not happy about the change. 
But she *is* a dynamic character as well, at least I think so. (I 
would rather call it two different characters, who happen to have the 
same name). And then maybe Draco in HBP, but I'm not sure if we can 
really it call it a development, or rather a realization on his part, 
than life as a Death eater might not be as he imagined. But this 
realization could at least be the first step to a change.
 
Hickengruendler